Free Against the Ropes by Sarah Castille

polite but not expecting her to come.”
    Homicide, Rampage, and Torment stare at me as if I’ve suddenly grown a second head.
    “Women don’t think the same as you.” I use small, simple words so they can understand. “I’ll bet if you asked her to come with you and showed her around, she would love to watch you fight.”
    Homicide scratches his head. Rampage grunts. Torment studies me like I’m a delightful curiosity in a zoo.
    “Maybe you should ask her to pick you up,” I continue. “People like to know they are needed.”
    ***
    By the time Homicide’s wife arrives to take him home, the gym is almost empty. Rampage and Jake wash down the mats and equipment and then head to the kitchen to have a drink with an impatient Pinkaluscious and her friend, Shayla, otherwise known as Shilla the Killa.
    I lock up the first aid room and find Torment and Jimmy on the mats practicing grappling holds. Torment is lying on top of a stuffed leather grapple dummy. Unlike the dummies that resemble a man standing straight, this one has legs curved into a bow shape and arms bent up and over its head. Torment’s hips are between the dummy’s legs, his pelvis pressed against the juncture of the dummy’s thighs.
    I have never seen anything as titillating in my life.
    “It’s a submission dummy,” Torment says, looking up. “We just got it in. The arms and legs are flexible. It’s very useful for practicing arm bars, chokes, side mounts, and submissions.”
    “I’m sure it is,” I murmur. Sweat trickles down my back. I berate myself for my dirty mind. He is practicing a fight position using fight equipment. This is NOT sexual. Not in the least.
    Torment talks Jimmy through the position and then slides down the dummy’s body until his head is where his hips used to be.
    My breath catches in my throat. My head spins. I grasp one of the ring poles and hold on for dear life.
    “Hmmm. It’s not working,” he says to Jimmy.
    Really? It’s working pretty good for me. So good, in fact, I need to get home right away.
    Jimmy joins him on the mat and they practice a few holds. For some reason watching Torment lie on top of Jimmy isn’t quite as arousing.
    Torment wraps his arms around Jimmy’s head and pulls him down. Jimmy struggles and finally slaps the mat. Torment rolls off him.
    “I can’t get it,” Jimmy says. “It seemed easy when you had the dummy, but I can’t break that triangle. I need to see it with a real person.” He looks up and catches my gaze. “Hey, Makayla. Can you give us a hand?”
    I stiffen and shake my head. “I don’t know anything about grappling. I wouldn’t be any use.”
    Torment gives me a wicked grin. “We just need a warm body.”
    Oh God, so do I.
    He holds out his hand. “Come on. I won’t bite.”
    Maybe not. But if he lies on top of me in my current state of arousal, I just might. I make an effort to feign modesty when, really, all I want to do is throw myself into the fray. “No, I don’t think—”
    “Please.”
    I study his impassive face. He has to know how suggestive the positions are. How he isn’t constantly aroused I don’t know. If I had to spend my evenings sliding over a grapple dummy, I wouldn’t need my Rabbit. Maybe I’ve been single too long.
    “You’ll learn something,” he says. His voice takes on the authoritative teaching tone he used with Homicide. “If you understand the positions, you can better understand the injuries.”
    Hmmm. Do I want to roll around on the mat with two half-naked, super-fit men? Yes, please!
    “Okay, if it will help you out.” I slip off my shoes and kneel on the mat while Torment and Jimmy discuss what to do with me. My pulse pounds so hard I can barely hear them over the rush of blood through my veins. This is sports. It has nothing to do with sex. Sports. Sports. Sports.
    Torment puts his hand on my shoulder. “Lie on your back, hands over your head, legs apart.”
    Sex.
    I lay on the mat just as he explained, and he