FIGHTER: An MMA Romance Novel (10 page)

P
ulse throbbing in her neck
, embarrassment burning in her cheeks, Nicole cut across the lobby of Kade's office. Each click of her heels rang out loud against the silence as if to draw attention to her shame.

Nicole never felt bad about sex, she was no prude, but Kade demeaning her while he degraded his assistant was jarring. Everyone has little lines in the dirt that can’t be crossed, and Kade just rolled over hers by a mile.

She couldn’t believe how wrong she’d been about him. She really thought he cared about her. All his flattery, his gifts, his talks about the future. She was so wrong.

So fucking wrong.

The trip to Brazil. The couture dress. The party with his snobby group of friends. All of it was a sham. All of it meant to distract her from the rotten foundation the billionaire was built from. And yet even though he'd deceived her, the worst of the shame came from within. Nicole was disappointed in herself. Not even a month ago that she came across the aging drunk woman in the bathroom and told herself she'd never end up like that. But her selfish desire to keep living a fast paced, carefree life won out, and now look where she was.

It was time to stop living her life one party at a time. Nicole thought back to Friday night, the expression on Jax's face when at last the three of them were exhausted.

Regret. Mild disgust.

The memory stung far worse than the things Kade just said to her in his office. She knew she blew her chance with the one man whose smile made her heart beat like she'd run a marathon. Tears stung her eyes as she considered the consequences of her thoughtless actions.

Frazzled by Kade’s meeting, there was no way she could go back to work. Instead, Nicole rode the elevator to the ground floor. Sin city and all of its indulgences spread out before her. She wanted a drink. Or ten. She wanted to get lost in a club and forget Kade Holland ever existed.

Nicole pushed the thought away, instead catching the bus at the central terminal. If she succumbed to an easy fix, the party girl who threatened her future would never die. It was time to face life as an adult. It was time to go see her family.

Alone with her thoughts, she stared out the window and collected herself in silence. When her stop arrived, Nicole felt like she’d managed her emotions. Being around Benny and his family would do her good, even if meeting them at this location broke her heart.

Starward's Children's Hospital waited for her.

Benny and his daughter, Abby, were in and out of the hospital, these days mostly in. The fight against cystic fibrosis wasn't easy, but Abby was the toughest person she knew. The doctors gave her another thirty years, as long as her condition didn’t deteriorate any further. It was long enough to enjoy childhood, get through university, and hopefully find love. But it was far from a long life.

Nicole knocked on the door to Abby's room.

"Ohmygawd-you're-late-you're—!" The door opened, Abby on the other side. Her hand clutched the doorknob, eyes wide and bright, grinning in a way that only a seven-year-old could. Messy, frizzy hair fell to her shoulders, and she wore a hospital gown and a pair of white socks. When she saw Nicole, the grin faded.

"Oh, hi Auntie Nicole. I thought you were someone else. I'm sorry. I didn't know you were coming."

"Auntie Nicole?" Benny asked from inside the room. He approached the door and stood behind his daughter, lifting a brow as he looked at Nicole. "Auntie Nicole should be at work."

"And I should be at school, but sometimes we need to go to different places to feel better," Abby advised, wise as ever. Nicole couldn't help but smile.

"You're right, and today I need to be right here with you and your dad. Family is more important than anything else."

Abby looked up at her with a quizzical, almost sour expression, then shrugged. Nicole saw her brother's face when she looked at Abby. They shared the same broad nose, the same cheeks, the same eyelashes. Abby's nutmeg colored skin matched Nicole's own.

"Come on," Benny invited her. "We're just about to head to the common room. It's lucky you caught us."

"What's happening in the common room?" Nicole asked. Benny closed the door behind her as she entered. Abby had already crossed the room and gone back to her bed where an assortment of plastic bead necklaces laid. She looked down upon them with concentration.

"Oh, I’m sure you already know. Every week there's a—"

Benny stopped his sentence short. From perfectly fine to doubled over coughing, Abby's lungs fought to breathe. In a fraction of a second Benny was at her side, soothing her as she worked through the episode. All Nicole could do was watch, insides twisting. Compared to the struggles Abby was facing, Nicole's problems were pathetic. Guilt beat down over her body like ocean waves.
How could she sit and mope about her own issues? She had her health, didn’t she? A roof over her head?
As she watched Abby gasp for air, she hated herself for the pity party she’d had on the bus.

When the fit passed, Benny breathed in deep with relief and turned back to look at his sister. The conversation they'd had was forgotten.

"Abby was trying to pick out a necklace to wear today when you arrived," he told her. "Dad's not all that good at fashion, but Auntie Nicole has an eye for that stuff. Do you think you can help her pick out something pretty to wear?"

"Of course."

It was the least she could do. Nicole crossed the small room and joined Abby, placing a hand upon her back in comfort. The bead necklaces were next to each other, some longer, some shorter. A string of glistening purple beads caught Nicole's eye.

"What about that one?" she asked, plucking the costume jewelry from the bed. "Purple looks so good with your complexion and eye color, Abby. I think it'd look beautiful if you wore this one today."

Still shaken from her episode, Abby only nodded. Wordless, she took the string of beads from Nicole's fingers and slipped it on. The spell broke when a new set of footsteps echoed down the hall. Confident and heavy, even Nicole took notice of the sound.

"Omygawd," Abby squealed. "Dad, dad we have to go now, please! We're going to be late."

"What's happening?" Nicole asked, clueless. As though her health fully restored, Abby scrambled from the bedside and back towards the door to her room. The beads she wore clicked one against the other in her haste.

"He's here," Abby insisted. On the tips of her toes, fingertips clutching at the window on the door, she could just peek out into the hallway. "Dad I see him, he's going into the common room. Pleeeeease can we go?"

"Abby's boyfriend is here," Benny teased with a mischievous smirk. Abby pushed away from the window and shook her head at her father.

"He's not my boyfriend," she huffed.

"My apologies. Abby's friend-who-is-a-boy is here," Benny corrected. He caught Nicole's eye and winked. "Let's go see him."

"Thank you!"

The youngest Washington wrenched the door open and flew out into the hall, leaving the adults to follow. Thoroughly confused, Nicole trailed behind her brother to the common room. The children who were well enough gathered there, and in the middle of the crowd stood Jax. He'd already set one of the younger boys upon his shoulders, the child howling with glee.

"Oh my god," Nicole whispered, stopping short of the doors. Abby burst into the room, powering her way through the crowd to stand right in front of the fighter.

"Hey Abby. I was wondering where you were," Jax said. The warmth in his voice touched Nicole's heart. Visiting with these kids was clearly something he wanted to do. "Nice necklace. Did you make it yourself?"

Abby twisted the necklace around one of her fingers, bashful.

"Un-huh. You want it, Jax?"

"Abby," Benny corrected from the door.

"I mean, um, Mr. Jax," Abby corrected herself.

"I'd love that. Thanks, kid." Jax swung the boy on his shoulders down, setting him back on the ground. Abby placed her necklace on Jax, then stepped back and smiled. The rest of the kids were going crazy, pulling at his hands and pant legs, begging for attention. Nicole had never seen anything like it. Overcoming her shock, she entered the room. Jax turned his gaze towards her and froze.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him. As far as she knew, the UFL had nothing to do with this. No one had ever mentioned any involvement with the children's hospital. The way the kids were acting led her to believe this was not Jax's first visit.

"I—"

"Nicole," Benny cut in, incredulous, "aren’t you supposed to be some kind of social media guru for the UFL? And you don't even know your own fighter visits Starward's every week? What are they paying you for?" Benny didn't know any better, but the playful attack stung. Based on how he treated his personal assistant, Nicole had a good idea why Kade gave her the job. "Congrats on your last big win, Jax. Abby and I watched it at home. Man, you should’ve seen her jumping around the living room when you came out swinging."

Uneasily, Jax tore his eyes off Nicole to look to her brother.

"Thanks. Is uh, is Nicole your wife, Mr. Washington?"

What? Why was he asking? The hairs on the back of Nicole's neck stood on end. Even surrounded by a gang of wild kids with a string of purple beads around his neck, Jax took her breath away. This time it was about more than just looks, though. The man was stunning on the inside and out. His big heart only made him more attractive, but Nicole knew she'd sunk any chance with him. The ménage was a mistake, and now she was beginning to realize how much she'd lost from it.

"My sister," he replied. "And thank god for that. I don't think I could put up with all her whining on the day to day. It's bad enough she chased me out here from the east coast."

Benny's fist bumped her arm, and Nicole stirred from her thoughts. A joke. She stuck out her tongue at him and furrowed her brow.

"I didn't know any of our fighters did charity here," she admitted. "If you knew the kind of details I have to track every day, you wouldn't be giving me such a hard time."

"It's not through the UFL, anyway," Jax said to back her up. "I do this on my own time, low key. Nobody knows. Well, nobody knew. I guess the secret's out of the bag, though." He scratched the back of his head with one hand, equal parts embarrassed and flustered.

"Your secret's safe with me," Nicole assured him with a little nod of her head. When Jax caught her eye again, a thrill ran down her spine. It wasn't every day she met someone who wanted to keep their good deeds a secret. Humble, sweet, and sexy.
Why did she have to go and ruin everything?

A group of boys broke the connection between them. One tugged at Jax's hand hard, and he turned his gaze from Nicole to the children gathered around him.

"You said this time we’d get to wrestle you, Jax," one of the boys insisted. "Come on! We're all ready for you."

The group of them all flexed and grunted with exertion to prove how tough they were. Abby wandered the outside of the group, eyes still on Jax.

"I did say that, didn't I?" Jax said. "I guess I'll just have to show you all what I'm made of. It's time for some takedowns!" All the kids screamed with glee at once, and Jax caught his first victim. The young man twisted and laughed as Jax lifted him up, grunted theatrically, then gently lowered him onto the ground so that he was on his back.

"Takedown!" Jax exclaimed as the others laughed. And then the chase began. No longer concerned with adult conversations, Jax chased the kids through the room as they yelled and laughed. Whenever he caught one, he hefted the child into the air and lowered them with care onto the floor and cried the same word over and over. "Takedown!"

All the while, Nicole watched. Benny settled into one of the room's chairs and kept a careful eye on the kids. Other parents sat around the room, but none of them batted an eyelash to see Jax with the children. He had to be well loved, Nicole thought. The happiness in his eyes told her that he cared about them too.

"Jaaaax, you'll never catch me!" Abby called to him from across the room. Benny looked up from his phone and fixed her with a flat stare. Abby grimaced. "I mean, Mr. Jaaaax."

When he abandoned his latest takedown to chase her, Abby laughed and ran. The chase was over quickly — before long, Abby was sky bound, and then, her back was on the floor.

"Better luck next time, kid," Jax told her with a grin. "You keep gettin' better, keep workin' on running, and one day you'll be faster than I am."

"Yeah! Like tomorrow!" Abby declared. "You'll see! Next time you come in, I'm gonna be all better and I'm gonna be the one who does a takedown on you!"

Nicole had never seen her niece filled with so much joy. Plagued with cystic fibrosis since birth, Abby hadn't had a normal childhood. But in that moment, she was no different than any other little girl her age. Jax had given her something no one else had — Jax made her feel normal. Nicole couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Bent over to takedown Abby, Jax was left vulnerable to attack. Before he could stand back up, several of the boys launched themselves and knocked him to the ground in a heap. Instead of get angry, the fighter laughed.

"Oh no!"

"Taaaakedowwwwnn!" the boys cried in unison. All of the kids joined the heap, pinning Jax in whatever way they could. For that blissful moment, none of the kids in that room were sick. Each one of them was filled with life and energy. Nicole knew she was melting, but she also knew that the man she was melting for was out of her reach.

To Jax she was just some party girl looking to get laid, and now that he'd experienced her body, he'd move on. No man wanted to get involved with a woman who agreed to threesomes on a whim, or who wanted the things Nicole wanted in bed. Her feelings began to resurface. Seeing Abby struggle made her want to move on with her life, but seeing Jax weakened her resolve and reminded her of the opportunities she'd lost. Nicole looked away.

She sank into the chair next to Benny and did her best to keep her mind from Jax. With him so close, it was hard.