Forever Love (Fghter Club 1) (3 page)

As they stormed up to the guy
James saw him bringing his arm back to hit Alexia and she had her
eyes closed waiting for the blow but James grabbed the guy and
dragged him off her before she saw him then dragged him to a corner
to punch him in the face.

‘
That’s my girl your
trying to hit pal,’ he said through gritted teeth.
“What the fuck? Where did that come
from? Not your girl anymore JT, you blew your chance,”
he thought to himself and his stomach tightened
at the reminder that he had broken her heart. Knowing what James
was capable of when he was angry, Matt pulled him back.

‘
Leave this to us James,
you can’t get messed up before your next fight.’

He left the guy in the
capable hands of Sam and Matt and went back to watch Alexia on the
dance floor. He ran back up to his office and as he sat down and
looked at the screen he noticed her looking right at him and his
heart started pounding again,
“Oh shit, she knows it was me, she knows I’m here,”
he thought to himself.
“Shall I go speak to her? NO! Leave it!”
She held her drink up to “cheers” him, downed it
in one and slammed the glass down on the bar. James sat there and
smiled at himself,
“Your
welcome baby,”
he thought and he knew
that she still felt it too.

6

The next morning the girls
arrived at Tony’s house to have breakfast with the kids, they all
got out the car and walked up to the front door and let themselves
in as usual, expecting to find him in the garden.

‘
Hey Dad,’ shouted Alexia
as she walked in, but as she passed the front room she saw him
lying on the floor not moving.

‘
OMG,’ she screamed,
‘NOOoooo.’ She ran to him and he was barely breathing, Sarah ran
upstairs to check the kids and to her relief they were still asleep
and Tracy called for an ambulance. Alexia travelled with him to the
hospital leaving the kids with Tracy and Sarah.

As they arrived at the hospital
they rushed Tony in to the A & E department and a nurse took
Alexia to the waiting room and got her a drink. Twenty minutes
later Tracy showed up to be with her. ‘Hey,’ Tracy said as she
walked up to Alexia and hugged her. ‘Any news yet?’

‘
No not yet. The doctor is
still with him,’ Alexia replied.

‘
Well hopefully we will
hear something soon. Sarah is at home with all the kids. I’ll go
get us some coffee whilst we wait,’ said Tracy.

After several cups of coffee and
what seemed like a life time the doctor came into the waiting
room.

‘
Hello, are you Mr Clay's
Daughter?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
Mr Clay, your father, is
lucky to be alive. He’s taken quite a beating. He has two broken
ribs, his right leg is broken, his left arm is broken and two of
his fingers, he has a broken nose and two black eyes and has some
quite severe swelling to the brain so we have put him into a
medically induced coma whilst it goes down and then when we can
investigate the extent of the damage, if there is any. It really is
now a case of waiting.’

‘
Ok thank you,’ Alexia
said and held out her hand for him to shake it. ‘When can I see
him?’

‘
I will go and get a nurse
to take you through now.’

‘
Thank you.’ She whispered
as tears ran down her face.

***********

For the two weeks that followed
Alexia had been backwards and forwards dividing herself between
home and the hospital. She had broken down quite a few times as it
brought back memories of when she was looking after her mother
before she died. Finally the day had arrived to take Tony out of
his coma. As Tony came round he was very confused and could only
respond slowly to what was going on around him. The doctors did
their checks and then let Alexia see him for a while.

‘
Dad, I’m here. You're in
hospital.’ She said in a whisper as she cried, he didn’t respond
and just looked at her confused but after a while he managed a
smile.

The next day when Alexia went to
see him it was like seeing a totally different person, he was
completely alert.

‘
Hi Dad, How are you
feeling?’

‘
Oh god I hurt,’ he said
in a whispered voice.

‘
I’m not surprised, you
took a good beating,’ she said looking at him as uncontrollable
tears started to fall.

‘
Hey baby girl, don’t cry.
Please don’t cry, I’m here and ok.’

‘
How can you say that dad?
You’re not ok look at you, you had a god damn beating for god
sake.’

Tony looked at her and knew he’d
have to explain to her why, which was going to hurt more than the
actual pain he was feeling.

‘
Tell me what happened
dad.’

He sighed and looked down at the
floor, and composed himself.

‘
About a year ago I was
struggling for money as the garage went through a dry spell. There
was no work for me so I went and took out a loan. Because of
everything that went on with the divorce from your mother, I can't
get a loan from a bank so I had to pursue other options,’ he looked
at her with shame, eye contact seemed too much to bear.

Alexia was gobsmacked to say the
least and sat dumbfounded. ‘Oh my god dad....why didn't you come to
me? I would've helped you, you know how much mum left me when she
died.’

‘
I know but I didn't want
you to think I was using you for your money and I didn't want to
take anything away from you and the children.’

‘
Dad! Mum left me £3
million. I have done what I need to with it. I have paid off my
debts, bought a house, a brand new car and sorted the rest into
savings for me and the kids for rainy days. How much do you
owe?’

Tony just sat and looked at her
‘DAD?’

He signed again. ‘£200,000. I
borrowed enough to pay off my debts but I’m a month late with my
payment and when I got home from shopping with kids for snacks I
noticed a black SUV sat opposite my house and I knew who it was. I
drove round to see if they would get bored but it didn’t help. The
kids were asking what I was doing but I couldn’t think of an excuse
other than “The car feels funny,” but I never thought those guys
would have come in knowing the kids were there.

‘
Where do I find this loan
shark?’ Alexia growled with anger for her dad and kids.

‘
Forget it Alexia, you’re
not going there!’ Tony said with a stern voice.

‘
Hell, I'm not, I'm going
to go pay him his money and make sure I insert it where the sun
doesn’t shine, the bastard!!’

‘
Alexia there is no way
I’m going to tell you so drop it, I’ll sort it out.’

I’ll go to your house right now
and ransack the place if I have to dad. You must have
documents...letters...bank details even of this arsehole! I will
find out.

‘
He’s dangerous Alexia,
he’s known for it, he’s a cage fighter and a good one at that. He’s
not to be messed with,’ he signed.

‘
A cage fighter...well he
won’t be to hard track down then. Just tell me his name. I promise
I won’t do anything stupid. I just need to pay him his money so
nothing like this happens again. The kids were there
dad...’

She was right. Tony knew
he had to give him his money. He
had
discovered that JT, the loan shark was the very same James who was
the twins’ father the day he had put up the photos in Ben and
Amber’s room and knew then that it was only a matter for time
before all this came out.

‘
His name is James
Taylor.’

Alexia felt her heart stop
beating. ‘James Taylor? My James? As in the twins father
James?’

She couldn’t speak. She told
herself there must be hundreds of James Taylors’, but the
coincidence was too strong. A few weeks ago in the club....and now.
It had to be him, she felt it.

‘
Yes your James. I’m sorry
Alexia, I had no idea of the connection until I saw a picture of
him.’

‘
Oh god...,’ her voice
trailed off as her mouth went dry.

7

The next day Alexia drove to
James’ office with Tracy after spending the evening with her and
Sarah explaining what happened but she left the important detail of
“who it was” out, Tracy thought it would be best to go with her
knowing what loan sharks could be capable of. Alexia was in full
“don’t mess with me mode” as she pulled into the car park, parked
the car, got out and stormed in to the office with Tracy running
behind her. Alexia marched straight up to a woman sat at her desk
on her own.

‘
Where can I find James? I
want to see him now!’ She said through gritted teeth and the woman
looked up to her knowing she was obviously out of her
depth.

‘
I will call his
P.A….er..wife to come through,’ she said as she tries to find her
fingers. ‘Hi there’s a very angry woman here to see Mr Taylor...
....yes..... OK.’ The woman puts the phone down and looks back at
Alexia, ‘Mr Taylors’ wife Rachel is on her way down
now.’

“
RACHEL!”
Alexia saw red at
hearing her name. ‘Forget it, I’m not waiting for that home
wrecking bitch!’ she says and storms through the door leaving Tracy
in complete shock and still catching up. Alexia headed towards
James’ office and met Rachel on the way. But she just pushed past
her and ignored her shouting.

********

James was sat at his desk
talking to his two best friends and right hand men Sam Knight and
Matt Williams when he heard his wife shouting. ‘You can’t go back
there you bitch, he’s mine now....he’s my husband’. Just as they
stand up to see what’s going on, the door flies open and he watches
a woman walk up to him and slap him hard across the face.

‘
You fucking bastard,’
Alexia screams at him, ‘You really are in the fucking gutter aren’t
you, you piece of shit!!!’

It took James a few seconds to
work out that the feisty woman was Alexia. He looked at her and
then to everyone around the room ‘Everyone get out,’ he ordered
with the tone in his voice everyone feared, apart from Alexia. She
continued to stare him down whilst everyone got out but he saw a
movement next to her as Rachel sat down. James didn’t take his eyes
off Alexia, he couldn’t of even if he’d wanted too, as he spoke
again.‘I said get out Rachel!’

‘
You don’t really think
I'm going to leave you with her do you?’

‘
GET THE FUCK OUT!!’
Rachel jumped and scuffled out like a child who had just been sent
to they’re room. Once she closed the door James walked round and
sat on the desk in front of Alexia. She tried not to let her knees
buckle in front of him, not because she was scared but because he
looked and smelt so good. He sat there wearing a black three piece
suit and tie with a white shirt, his black hair was short and he
had a few days worth of stubble on his jaw and those all familiar
and unforgettable green eyes never moving off her. Her heart
beating so fast she could feel it her ears. He was the image of her
favourite male model Derron McLaury. After what seemed like a
lifetime James spoke. ‘Alexia that was quite an entrance after nine
years, but I’m not sure why I deserved that slap across the face,’
he didn’t take his eyes off her
“and after I fucking got that dick off you at the club that
night....thanks!”
he thought to
himself.

‘
Well apart from the fact
that it’s the first time I’ve seen you since you broke my heart and
married the fucking bitch you cheated on me with,’ She saw him
flinch “
Yeah you can fucking
flinch you bastard
” she though to herself
but carried on ‘I then find out that you lent my dad money and
because he can’t afford to pay it back you sent your two heavies
round to beat him up and put him in hospital!!!’ She stopped and
took a breath, ‘Which I have just discovered is Sam and Matt, so
they want to stay out of my fucking way to, I’ll be sure to tell
Sarah and Tracy!’ she added.

‘
Your dad?' He looked at
her confused, 'you don't have a dad.’

‘
Not that it’s any of your
business but I do actually, I found him when my mother died and I
want to pay off his debt to you.’

‘
Your mum died? Alexia I
had no idea, I’m sorry,’ he looked at her with genuine
sympathy.

‘
Cut the crap James! I’m
not here for your Mr Nice….Mr Loving side or whatever you want to
call it!’

He looked at her and sighed.
‘What's your dad’s name?’

‘
Tony Clay.’

‘
Tony Clay? He’s your dad?
How did I not make the connection? Well then now I know he’s your
dad, he owes me nothing.’

‘
I told you cut the crap
James!’ She said again angry with him and herself for feeling...
aroused by him. Being this close to him was almost too much.
‘You’re not holding anything over me, I want to pay it off!’ she
put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

James sat and admired her but
couldn’t take it anymore. He has loved Alexia since they were
fifteen and she was making him painfully hard. She was wearing a
long black flowing skirt, a white vest top and black sandals. Her
brown shoulder length hair was flowing nicely over her shoulders
and her light blue eyes staring into his. He stood up and hit a
button on his desk locking the door. He grabbed her slamming his
mouth down on hers as he picked her up. Her body betraying her as
her legs automatically wrapped around him as he spun her around to
sit her on the edge of the desk so there was no escape. His mouth
never leaving hers, his hands grabbed her ankles and moved them
slowly up her legs pushing her skirt up as he does, when he finds
his way to the top of her thighs he lifted her up and pushed it up
around her waist then sat her back down. He pulled away from her
and put his hand between her legs to run his finger over her lace
underwear as she lets out a quiet moan, he moved them to the side
and inserted his fingers in and she gasped.