"A role?" she asked, her voice even; not betraying any emotion.

Art was in his ‘sales mode’ and he wouldn't have had to sell her on a new series, or Movie-of-the-Week, or TV guest-shot. Cat knew this wasn't about an acting job. She glanced at the contract header; the corporate logo for Hanes underwear.

"Better, hon; a fight," Artie smirked, licking his lips lasciviously.

Cat's glance took in the name - Jeri Ryan - and she pursed her lips. "I fought Jeri what, a half a dozen times last year?" Cat said, her eyes hardening. "It's getting personal, Art. We need a break from each other."

Howe smiled, sat back in his leather recliner, put his hands behind his head. "That's why they want you two - you know that. C'mon - where's your competitive spirit? She kicked your ass in Chicago, babe, dontcha wanna get that back?" Bell glared, fingered the pages of the contract, saying nothing. Art continued, "It's pretty standard really. Hanes’ll front you 10, with an additional bonus 2 points-gross for winning. It'll be on tape delay and the network's guaranteeing us at least semi-main status on their Saturday Night show. I need you to do some local coverage - nothing heavy; work the West Coast media spots. Jeri will handle New York. Read over the incentives Cat; full point-gross for smothering Jeri; half-points for various body-part bounties and holds; you know, the usual. Do her right and you can net 18, 19 maybe 20k on this, Cat. It's a damn good deal!"

"They're all good deals - on paper - Art," Cat said. "Until Jeri wraps her legs around your throat. And what about punching?"

"There's punching Cat - Hanes always wants punching. I'll talk to Jeri's rep; see if I can get him to get her to ease up on that. No promises."

"Hey - there never are," she sighed.

"What the hell, Cat - what is this?" Art leaned forward, genuinely hurt. "You want this or not? Because if you don't - I've got Molly Sims on speed dial and I've been putting Ali Landry off for a month because I wanted to see you get back on track. And, of course, there’s always Theron, you know she’d give her eye teeth to get her hands on Ryan - or you - again. Losing never sits well with that one. She’d walk thru fire for a chance to even the score with Ryan for that face fulla tit she got in Miami! There’s plenty of girls out there got scores to settle with her if you aren’t up to it. You know the game Cat - fight Jeri, get paid - the acting stuff will come around…in due course. "

"I'd say the course is due," Cat snarled. Her mind suddenly flashed on Jeri's raised fist - a dim memory from their last contest. She hurriedly forced it back into her subconscious.

"You know what else is due?" Art said, no longer her 'friend' - that part of the sales pitch was over. "How 'bout a win, Cat? You need Jeri on her back at the end of this one, you savvy? I swear, if I have to answer questions about your age one more time, I may just start changing my answer."

Cat smiled. She'd heard this from Art before - he'd shift from confidante to bully and back again in the course of one conversation to get what he wanted. But he was right about winning. Cat couldn't afford to drop another fight to Jeri - not back-to-back; not on PPV and certainly not with a corporate sponsorship on the line.

"Got a pen?" Bell said, lifting her eyebrows to end negotiation.
*********
The air reeked of expensive single malt and even more expensive perfume. The crowd roared - a jarring, animal bellow in the chic LA penthouse. The fight had been underway for some time and after an early surge by Bell, Ryan has taken command…

"UHHH!" Cat grunted as she pitched forward, her butt tight to the wall; pinched face upturned; eyes squeezed shut. Jeri had clasped her hands and swung away baseball bat style to the pit of Bell's stomach, the blonde standing just off Cat's left shoulder. Ryan's hair - straight, soft, and long - swept across her face. She blew strands back out of her eyes, smiling cruelly as Bell hugged her tummy and staggered to her right along the wall, her sweaty back leaving a damp smear on the surface.

Jeri wore a black cotton two-piece; the top looked bra-like and the bottom cut in a boy leg. She limped slightly and her left thigh was already showing a deepening bruise where Bell's well-conceived kicks had been targeted from the opening bell.

Cat wore a scarlet cotton two-piece with more of a sports-bra style top and bikini-cut bottom. Jeri reached for those bottoms with her left hand, tugging the waistband as she slammed her right forearm down onto Cat's lower back.

PAKK! “UNNNGH!” Bell cried out - high and sweet - as her knees buckled.

Jeri wrapped up Cat from behind around the tummy and slammed her face-first into the wall - kicking at Cat's calves to get her to assume the position, like a cop breaking down a perp. Bell turned her face to the left, lips parted in stupor, arms folded under her torso; hands pressed flat against the wall. She grimaced as Jeri’s fists pounded away with hard lefts and rights to her back. Cat’s body trembled when Jeri brought knees driving up into her buttocks, bunching up the meat. Dimly, Cat knew Jeri was collecting incentive money, playing to the crowd. So much for Art getting Jeri to go easy with her fists!

But Jeri was getting greedy, taking too much buttock; slugging mindlessly with her head down. Cat swung her left elbow back, awkwardly clubbing it against Jeri's left ear. The blonde staggered to her right more startled than hurt - and Cat pushed off the wall, teeth bared.

The women came to grips - grabbing each other's biceps, bulging chest straining against hulking chest - and Cat muscled Jeri’s back against the wall! With her left hand pinning Jeri's right arm on the wall, Cat slapped a clapping open-hand right against Ryan's cheek, drawing a cry of shock from the blonde. Another blow landed - harder, louder - Cat's right foot coming prettily off the cream-colored carpet as she turned the clout over.

Ryan instinctively raised her fists to her temples, slumping, tucking her chin and whining. Cat leaned in close and buried her right fist deep in the pit of Jeri's stomach, wrenching a sputtering blurt of pain from the blondes lips. Jeri shuddered as Cat splayed her hands on either side of Ryan's ribcage, pressing the blonde back hard into the wall with a dull THUD! Jeri sobbed aloud - head tilted back, lolling side to side - her hands near her shoulders, wrists bent back in classic ‘don't-hurt-me’ posture.

Reaching her right hand down past her left hip - Cat unleashed a shattering backhand across Jeri’s face - spinning her ragdoll style a complete 360 across the wall's white surface. Bell drew the back of her striking hand across her lips, eyes blazing, massive bosom heaving. She'd heard something in Jeri's cry that time - something distinctive, something familiar; the sound of Quit. Not total submission - not a wail of defeat so obvious the audience would know it for what it was - but between two fighters who knew every curve of their opponent's bodies; knew those curves as well as they knew their own - it was a telling signal.

Ryan blinked back tears as she staggered across the room - the back of her left hand caressing her throbbing right cheek. Cat staggered after her, lips curled back off her teeth, dark hair sleek and shiny against her shoulders. Angling towards the king-size bed. Cat leapt against Jeri's back, bearing her face down on the soft sheets in a tangle of long arms and legs.

Instantly, both women scrambled to secure head locks, writhing tummy-to-tummy, legs thrashing trying to ensnare the other. Breathy grunts and moist moans punctuated the hot, steamy, struggle as first Cat wrestled her way on top, then Jeri, as hips gulped and feet pushed. Wrapping each other tightly up top, it was a long time but, slowly but surely, Cat managed to stabilize Jeri beneath her. Ryan couldn’t buck Cat off, or twist her aside, she was trapped!

Bell's knees dug into the bedspread either side of Jeri's thighs, securing the brunette for the hard work of breaking Jeri's defensive headlock. Face to face, her breath panting damp into Jeri’s gaping mouth, Cat wriggled her left hand inside Jeri's grip, then slowly levered it apart. Taking Jeri's right wrist in her left hand, Cat took great pleasure in pinning that limb to the bed near Jeri's head.

Ryan sniveled. Her left arm was still tight behind Cat's head - but her position was worsening every second. Cat was pouring through now, dominating Jeri body to body. Then with a sudden lurch, Cat slapped her breasts onto Jeri's face as howls of approval from a smother-hungry audience rose in pitch as Ryan sobbed in protest, kicking her legs with fresh vigor.

Bell grinned and licked her lips, sliding her left hand under Jeri's head in hopes of securing a reverse-sleeper - but Ryan wouldn't have it. Bucking and writhing with the last of her reserves - Jeri twisted onto her left side, sliding her face out from under Cat's cotton-swaddled bosom. Bell hunched in close again, knees drawn up beneath her as she leaned all her weight on the right side of Jeri's torso; her head tucked in close by Jeri's; sliding her arms 'round to encircle Jeri over her left shoulder and under her right arm, trapping her raised right limb in a tight hug.

‘Take my weight,’ Cat thought as her lips pursed tight, kneeing into the bed for balance; hunkering down heavy on her foe.

Ryan knew the danger of her position; knew Cat was working millimeter by millimeter to secure a front choke with that trapped limb of Jeri's pressing against her own throat and so more of Jeri's precious energy was expended in resistance.

After a long sequence of simply lying beneath Cat, Jeri began bucking and kicking her legs up, twisting in Bell's grip to relieve the pressure. But just as the choke was foiled by Jeri going onto her back again, Cat lurched up and tried for another breast smother; hugging Jeri's head to her bosom; leaning forward. Bell's right cheek nestled in the pillows at the head of the bed, her lips curling in a hard-working grin at Jeri's increasingly desperate struggles.

On her haunches, the brunette straddled the blonde's upper body, slowly but surely wearing her down. Again and again, Jeri fought free of Cat's suffocating breasts - each escape prompting applause for her gallantry - but Bell had all the answers! Having writhed out of a smother, Jeri was obliged to wriggle away from a choke - only to be resecured and forced to bear the patient weight of her tormentress. Jeri's eyes were tightly shut; her hair a damp disheveled mess across her face or clumped at the hollow of her neck.

Cat's eyes were bright, alert. She licked her lips and grunted softly as she adjusted her weight and tightened her grip. Breasts, weight and constriction all threatening Ryan. Time was Jeri’s enemy as much as it was Cat's friend. The attrition was all one way. Or was it? Suddenly, Bell pushed up off her foe and crawled to the edge of the bed and slithered off to a smattering of applause amid murmurs of speculation. Her lush body was dripping with sweat, the skin flushed from her effort.

"Water," Cat rasped, beckoning to an attendant as she approached him. A crystal goblet was filled from a clear glass pitcher and handed to Bell. She drank with deep, greedy gulps - sweat tracking down her long swan's throat as her head tilted back. Tasting a faint hint of lemon, Cat wiped her lips with her forearm, panting hard. When she saw the attendant take a step toward Ryan, Cat's voice was hard, firm, “NO! None for her!"

The waiter stopped, and nodded. Bell had earned deference tonight. She stalked back to the bed where Jeri lay on her back, her chest shuddering as she drew deep, ragged, weepy, breaths. Ryan was exhausted, trembling from oxygen debt as, blubbering, she rolled to her left and let her legs drop over the edge of the bed. She wiped her eyes and stood on rubbery, unsteady legs. She came 'round the bed to meet Cat to stood looking at her, waiting, hands on hips. The crowd hushed as the bout was approaching its decisive climax.

Ryan snarled, lifting her right fist high and attempting to club it down on Cat's face but Bell stepped into the blow, blocked it with her left and carried her right snug into the pit of Jeri's belly. Ryan gurgled, pitched forward hugging her gut, then reached for the carpet as she settled slowly on hands and knees.

‘Time to get paid,’ thought Cat Bell.

She recalled the terms of her contract clearly, especially the performance incentives. She crouched down on Jeri and began to collect. A photographer's flash went off, capturing Cat looping her right leg over Jeri's back while planting on her left knee. Jeri settled onto her haunches, her left side snug against Cat's body. By groggy instinct, the blonde's left arm threaded around Cat's right thigh, holding the brunette even closer.

Cat's right hand clenched a fistful of hair close to blonde scalp, pushing Jeri's head backward, lifting her face. Ryan's lips pursed, blubbered, her eyelashes fluttered. Cat lifted her left arm high, fist clenched - she stared into the drowsy face of her foe and then…THUMP, pounded down with forearm and bicep - smacking Jeri across the mouth…WHUMP, then across her chest…THWACK, then across her eyebrows. Ryan moaned, tried to turn into Cat's body, but Bell was too strong to be denied. The crude, picturesque bludgeoning continued - the meaty spanking noise carrying thick throughout the apartment.

A flashbulb burst (Flash)

Ryan eventually succeeded in turning into Cat, toppling them both to the carpet - but Bell rode the tumble well, controlling it. With Bell on her right side, Jeri on her left, Cat worked her legs around Jeri's hips, crossed at the ankle to sink in the waist scissors. Bell had her hands clasped behind Jeri's head, pulling it down to secure the leglock - but once she had it locked in - Cat released Jeri’s skull to grab her wrists; holding her hands tight against brunette breasts.

The women lay side by side on the carpet - one torturing the other - as a camera man moved in to capture the action from a direct overhead angle. Jeri groaned, her agonized face just inches from Cat's staring intensity. Ryan's legs bicycled pathetically on the carpet, her body numb from the awful grip of Bell's world-class limbs. Bell forced eye-contact, drinking in her foe's distress, reveling in the anguished gasps as Jeri's fighting spirit began to ebb. Bell's lips parted - as they tended to do when she had imposed her will on someone - a sensual mannerism of which Cat was completely oblivious.

(Flash)

Cat balanced on her knees, lips parted almost in curiosity; Jeri up on her knees as well, but swaying, eyes half closed. Sliding her left arm around Jeri's lower back, crowding in close against Jeri's right side - Cat jerked her fist up, smiting Ryan hard on the mouth, driving the blonde's head back. Ryan's right arm rode limp across Cat's shoulders, too weak to clinch.

(Flash)

Jeri lay on her back, her head supported by Cat's crotch and lower belly; Cat's legs looped over Jeri's shoulders, the knees on either side calling to mind the shoulder-restraints on a roller-coaster. Jeri clutched pathetically at those knees, throwing her head back and wailing in fresh torment. Bell sat up pretty - back erect - supporting herself on her hands. She flopped her legs to the right while her torso twisted up and ever so slightly to the left, revealing her depth-of-breast for the camera. She squeezed her magnificent legs, ankles rubbing and slapping together with effort. Oh how Jeri suffered. Cat earned a bonus for sustaining the hold more than a minute - while showing off her Hanes top in conspicuous fashion.

(Flash)

Cat's left hand gripped at Jeri's right wrist as the girls staggered in front of one another. With room to work, Bell planted on her left leg, hoisted the right up into a sweeping, lugging kick to Jeri’s sloshing breasts. Jeri cried out - her head tossing back as she sponged up the boot. Cat grinned happily, color high, eyes dancing. Cat was paying Jeri back for similar treatment the other way around, earlier in the night.

(Flash)

Jeri lay on her back, on the carpet - limp, beaten. Cat - upright on her knees just off Jeri's right shoulder - stared down, taking in the marvel of Jeri Ryan’s quivering and spent body. Time to finish her. Straddling Ryan's torso, Cat pushed aside Jeri's fluttering hands - the last, pitiful vestiges of resistance the blonde had to offer - then pinned Jeri's wrists to carpet and rode out Ryan's fretful pelvic thrusts; the gulping hips feeble; the once-dominant legs unable to thrash their way into the clear.

Cat leaned forward, her chest engulfing Jeri's open-mouthed face, closing off Ryan's despondent sigh in a muffle of cotton. Her arms threaded in around Ryan's head, hugging her skull close - Bell's right hand gripping her left shoulder; her right hand cupping her left elbow. Cat rested her right cheek on the carpet; her weight on Jeri's face; brunette legs spread wide; toes digging into carpet; calves flexing into heart stopping relief.

Breathing deeply, easily, Cat noticed that Jeri's scent had changed. The perfume she had begun the bout with had long since been scrubbed off onto the carpet, couch and walls; sweated away by the fierce mutual contact. When Jeri had been fresh, and competitive, her exertions lent her body a spicy aroma. Now, drenched in the cold sweat of fear and defeat, Jeri smelled salty - like limp kelp washed up on Cat’s favorite stretch of ‘Muscle Beach.’ Cat wondered what her body must smell like to Jeri, and the thought warmed her. Her lips parted as she squirmed slightly, tightening her grip.

Jeri's feet pushed slowly, sadly, at carpet; her arms hugged uselessly around Cat's strong lower back. Ryan was too proud to tap - she just couldn't - not to Cat's breasts. When the blonde's hands relaxed and her bent knees flopped to one side, officials stepped in, pulling at Cat's shoulders and arms to reef her up off the conquered blonde.

Bell stood swaying; exhaustion shivering it's way through her toned limbs. She stared dumbly down at Jeri - pale, clammy-faced Jeri, her lips parted and head turned to the left in repose. Someone took Cat’s left wrist and led her in a daze through the cheering crowd as everyone wished her well.

Charlize glided past, a champagne flute in her right hand. She gently trailed her left hand over Cat's still-quivering tummy. "Nice," Charlize purred, her tone dripping challenge. Bell flinched at her touch, her head ringing.

Then other hands were pawing at her, patting her back, pushing at her hips as voices congratulated her from the crowd. She was taken to a large bathroom; all white with gold fixtures. Closing the door and locking it, she leaned on the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror…alone; the sounds outside muffled and indistinct.

She ran hot water in the shower and stood under its caress, steam rising from her body fogging the glass of the enclosure. Tension released, Cat smiled - even laughed as she faced up into the streaming pulse. Victory had a way of numbing hurt: Bell knew that her hurt felt far different than Jeri's which would linger and nag her for a long time while Cat was already feeling refreshed, and vital. Cat didn't hate Jeri - certainly not the way Ryan hated her - but Catherine allowed herself to feel a private exultation nonetheless. She felt the same way she would if she’d just taken a man away from Jeri. Exactly so!

Cat gave herself a long time in the shower; giving the officials time to collect Jeri, pay her the loser's portion - and remove her from the penthouse. Catherine knew what a long, lonely limo ride that would be for Ryan - not so long ago, she’d been put into that same limo by Jeri.