Gaining Gibbs (Marco's MMA Boys #4) (16 page)

CHAPTER 36

JADE

After they finally get Clay to go to the locker room to clean up, I hug my sister as she squeals in my ear. I’d had this planned for a couple of weeks and I almost blew it all when he asked me to marry him the other day. My original idea was to ask him via poster board tonight, then he had to go and ask me. So I had to change things up a little.

I look up to see Roxanne moving away from our group. “Hey, where are you going?”

“Oh, I told Jacob I need to go. I have a class to teach early and I’m not feeling very well. I shouldn’t have eaten that sandwich from the coffee shop at the college today,” she rattles off nervously, trying to smile politely, but I can see a restlessness in her eyes. “So I’m just going to head out. I had fun tonight. Congratulations.” She seems to be even more jumpy as she keeps glancing back at Lox and Marco talking down by the cage.

I finally just give her a small smile. “Okay, well, hope you feel better soon.”

She gives me a wave as she walks toward the entrance. Something made her look like she’d seen a ghost. I don’t know who or what could’ve spooked her, but she couldn’t seem to get out of here quick enough.

Chelsea moves to the seat beside me. “So what kind of wedding are we planning?”

I laugh. “Not sure yet. I wouldn’t care if I ran to the courthouse tomorrow. I’m not all about the white poof ball dress, tiara, church and all of the hoopla.”

She laughs and then lowers her voice. “Have you guys talked anymore about…?”

I nod. “A little, but we’re going to wait to make any decisions until after I’m all clear from my leg stuff.”

“Oop, here come the guys out for the presentation,” Chelsea whispers.

Marco steps into the cage with the microphone, the guys following him. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming out tonight. We saw some great action tonight. I think it’s safe to say everyone can see that my boy, Gibbs, is still on top of his game.” That gets a laugh from the crowd.
Damn news reporters.
“I’m glad that we were able to all come together for a wonderful cause. Thanks to your help, we’ve raised twenty-five thousand dollars tonight and our gracious sponsors, Bellator, have decided to match that amount. So that’s fifty thousand dollars for some local families. Now I’m going to let Ms. Jenny Harmon, the first person we helped with this fundraiser, come up and speak for a moment.”

Chelsea’s mom steps in and takes the microphone. “A few years ago, I was battling stage four breast cancer and I’d just lost my husband. I was wondering how I was going to pay my bills. Having cancer isn’t cheap unless you aren’t treating it.” That gets a small chuckle from everyone. She grabs Huck and pulls him to her side. “Luckily, this big hunk of meat here, that later became my son-in-law, saw my struggle and the weight it placed on my daughter. He came up with the idea for nights like tonight. Locals helping locals, and it’s turned out wonderful. Thanks to everyone’s help tonight, and thanks to these wonderful fighters for donating not only their time, but the purse for tonight. Because of all of the generosity shown, we are going to be able to help TWO local families this year.” That causes a cheer to erupt through the crowd. “Thank you, thank you. Now I’m going to turn this back over to Marco.”

Marco takes the microphone back. “Thanks to medicine and the good Lord, Jenny has been in remission now for three years and we all hope it continues to stay that way.”

Huck hugs her tight and she gives him a kiss on the cheek. The rest of the fighters hug her as she leaves the cage. Marco speaks again. “Thank you again for coming out to support our locals tonight. I appreciate the media and the fighters for supporting this cause. Be careful going home tonight.”

~*~*~

A couple of hours later, we are all at a local diner that Marco always takes us to eat at. He gives me a big hug when I walk through the door. “Congratulations, sweetheart.” He’s the first of many. Once I finally make it to the table, I see the little red haired girl that was sitting with Sage tonight. I remember her from a day at the gym, but I didn’t get a chance to speak to her tonight. Making my way over to them, I smile at Sage. “Hey, buddy.”

He stands up. “Hey, Jade. I think it’s cool, you know? You and Gibbs getting married.”

I laugh. “Thanks, little man.” I turn to the little girl. “Hey, you’re Carrie, right?”

She nods her head, smiling. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, it’s good to see you again, Carrie. I’m glad you came out with us. You can help keep this guy straight.”

She dips her head and giggles, giving a shy, “Okay,” as an answer.

I look at Sloan and whisper, “Looks like our boy has a girlfriend.”

She laughs. “No, they’re just buddies from the class.”

Lox rolls his eyes and the rest of the guys chuckle.

Once we are all seated, Marco makes a point of congratulating us again and telling everyone how proud he is of this group. How far they’ve all come since they were teens. Then he stumps us all.

“I wanted to talk to you all at one time about some things that are coming up. Elaine and I have wasted our lives not being together and now we’ve decided that it’s time we do all of the things we should’ve been doing over the years. I’m going to semi-retire.” That gets a collective gasp around the table. “Don’t worry, I will still be an ever present body at the gym, I’m just turning some of my duties over to someone else. Which leads me to the next part of this talk. Huck is going to be taking over for me full-time at the gym. He’s also looking to retire from fighting. He wants to train and run the business part of the gym.”

Sly looks at his brother. “Do you think you should’ve shared this with me?”

“I wasn’t sure until tonight,” Huck answers.

“Still, you should’ve shared it with me. That you were even thinking about it,” Sly says with a bite to his voice.

Clay looks around the table. “Who is going to fight in Huck’s class now?”

Huck nods. “Well, after much thought, I think we’re going to ask Sergio if he would like to join our team.”

Marco speaks up. “If anyone has an issue with that, speak now,” he deadpans around the table. When no one speaks, he nods. “Okay, Huck and I are going to speak with him this week and extend an offer.”

After our food arrives, I start to feel Clay run his hand up my leg. I try not to let it get to me, but then I can’t stop. I lean to his ear. “I can’t wait to get home so we can celebrate.” I already had the girls go by the house to set up the things I’d need for tonight.

Suddenly, he stands up, pulling me with him. “Marco, thanks for dinner, but we’re gonna head out.”

Everyone except the kids start laughing because they know what’s about to happen. He practically drags me to the truck, me hobbling behind him.

Once we arrive at the house, I giggle as we enter the door. “I wanna fuck you right here. Just like we did that one night,” he whispers while kissing, licking and sucking on my neck.

I push back with both hands. “Wait, I have a surprise for you.” I put my hands up. “Just wait here until I call you. “Oh, and go ahead and strip to save us some time.” I wink as I make my way to our room.

After slipping into the emerald green lingerie I bought, I hobble around the room and light the candles. The girls have already put the beer in ice along with bottles of water and snacks by the bed.
We are not champagne and strawberry people. We are beer and snacks people.
I also have a bunch of our favorite movies set up on demand. I don’t plan to leave this bed for the next forty-eight hours.

I get the boot off my foot and settle on the bed. Once I call him, he sounds like a kid running down the hall. Crawling up on the bed with me, he grins. “Woman of my dreams.”

I level my eyes with his. “I don’t plan for us to leave this room or this bed for a while.”

He gives me an evil grin. “Oh, that sounds promising.”

He dips his head, taking one of my nipples in his mouth through the green satin while he runs his hand down my leg and back up to stroke me through the dainty panties I’m wearing.

“Fuck, you’re already wet.” He groans.

“Yeah. You made me that way during dinner,” I whisper.

He slowly pushes the panties down my legs and then lifts the top over my breasts. Once he thrusts inside of me, he kisses me deep and hard. “I just want you to know that you made me the happiest man alive tonight.”

He takes his time with me. We are normally down and dirty, get to the point fucks, but tonight we’re making love.

Taking his time to kiss every inch of my body, he waits until I’m about to break before he picks up his pace and thrusts into me hard and fast. I scream out his name in ecstasy right before he shudders, filling me with a warmth all the way to my heart.

I smile up at him. “I’m going to be Mrs. Clayton Gibbs.”

He rolls over so I’m on top of him. “Hell yes, you are.”

EPILOGUE

GIBBS

SIX MONTHS LATER…

While Jade lies there on the table after yet another examination, I try to keep her spirits up. “So, I have to say I’m getting pretty comfortable with another man looking at your snatch.”

She snorts. “Well, hopefully we’re gonna get something out of the deal.”

I started researching
in vitro fertilization
and
intrauterine insemination
as
soon as we said our I dos. Jade wants a baby and I’m gonna make it happen. If that means I have to jizz in a cup, we have IVF or IUI, or we have to adopt, I don’t care. I have money I never wanted anything to do with, it cost people their lives, so I’m going to do my best to bring new ones into the world with it.

I am no idiot. I know my parents were into some bad shit. What other reason would you have to teach your child how to sneak away, how to have an escape plan? The money I have is dirty and I need to find a way to clean it. Besides donating a bunch to several causes and to our gym’s charity. I want kids and I want them with my Firecracker. After several doctors appointments and tests, we found out the likelihood of us conceiving with just hormones wasn’t that great. So here we are, a few weeks after our IUI procedure to find out if it worked.

The doctor comes in a few minutes later. “Well, Mrs. Gibbs, we can say with certainty that you are in fact pregnant.” I hear a sob come from Jade as the doctor smiles. “I’m very happy for you two. I wouldn’t tell a lot of people just yet. As you know, in an IUI situation you find out very early before most people. So as much as we hope everything goes okay, it may not. We aren’t even positive how many babies you have in there, but I want you to take it easy for the next few days.”

I nod. “She’s going to stay in bed for the next couple of weeks, Doc.”

She shoves at my chest. “I’m not staying in bed, but I will be careful. I promise, Dr. Coleman, and we have to tell our close family. Well, mainly because I know this guy is going to run his big fat mouth. But it won’t be more than that.”

He smiles and nods. “I’m sure your sister is already hounding you about your secret doctor appointments.”

I laugh. “Oh how well you know Kara Webb.”

He lets out a chuckle. “I’ve been through a lot with my patients. But Kara, I think, has given me some of the biggest scares in my career.”

Jade laughs. “She’s just an attention whore.”

That gets a big laugh out of the doctor. “I’m not sure if it’s her or Sly,” he says with a grin.

I nod. “That could be a race there.”

He shakes my hand and turns to Jade. “Take care and I will see you in a few weeks. Set up an appointment on your way out. If you have any cramping or spotting, anything of that sort, call this office immediately.”

She wipes her eyes and smiles. “Yes, sir.”

After the doctor walks out, I pull her into my chest and she cries. “Thank you for making my dreams come true, Clay Gibbs. Thank you for waiting for me, for loving me, putting up with me and giving me everything. I love you so much.”

I wipe the small tear I have coming from my eye. “I love you, too, Firecracker, more than anything.”

This is it for me. This is the life I’ve wanted. For so long, deep down inside I knew I wanted a family, even if I tried my best to push this one away to start with. It’s all mine now and I’ve gained so much by accepting it.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my readers.  Without you, I would not be having this awesome adventure.  You have helped make my dreams come true and for that, I’m truly blessed and grateful. I never would’ve dreamed Lox would take off like it did and that people would love Sly and Huck just as much.

To my family, thank you for being supportive. Special Thanks to my mom who listens to the endless ramblings about my characters.

I need to give a big Thank You to Chelly Peeler. She’s not only my editor but my friend. She always listens to my random crazy thoughts. She loves my characters and understands my craziness. Thank you again.

To my bestie, Chelsea Camaron, thank you for being my sounding board. Thank you for giving me those little bits of advice, for helping me think three books ahead. Not thinking my random late night texts are crazy or annoying. Understanding my need to format as I go and not laughing too hard at my attempt to outline the rest of the series. Love you. #commentbubblinbitch #blurbbitch

Kimberley Foster Holm for treating my books like Where’s Waldo and helping me find those little things that I’ve read over a hundred times. #warnagirl

A Special thanks to Patrick Salas, for not thinking it was weird that I asked you in front of a bunch of the soldiers to be on my cover. You did awesome and you’re a great guy.

Shelly Sale, my photographer, you’re awesome. You know the image I’m looking for before I do sometimes.

Donna Dull/Elizabeth Sharp with Sharp Designs, thank you so much for your wonderful covers. They make me squeal every time.

Thanks to all of the book bloggers out there who spend so much time helping us promote books and everyone who leaves a review, you are all awesome. 

To my street team Donaldson’s Dirty Debutantes you guys are just awesome. I don’t know what I would do without you.

To my Author friends, thank you for being supportive and inspirational all at the same time.