Stacked Up: Worth the Fight Series (9 page)

“Travis, I need to know what’s going on. This isn’t about you. It’s not even about me. I have a daughter, and I need to know what she and I are dealing with. Give me your phone, please.”

Hesitantly he handed her his phone, and she began to scroll through the Internet.

“Oh. My. God.” Her voice wavered.

Preacher’s daughter has secret love child with cage fighter.

Preacher’s daughter is stripper at local strip club.

Preacher’s daughter runs away from home due to a drug problem.

Preacher’s daughter seen dancing naked and making out with local celebrity on HBO’s hit show
Fight Night,
Travis Calhoun, and all his friends.

“No. No. No.” She began to cry. “This is bad. This is so bad.”

She crouched down and put her hands on either side of her head. Then she stood and began to pace again.

It broke his heart to see her this defeated. If there was one thing he knew about her, it was that for the most part she had it all together. “Penny, I get you’ve been doing shit on your own for a while now. But you’re not alone.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s exactly what I am.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Travis, yesterday you couldn’t even stand to look at me.”

“That’s not true. Not even a little bit. I was just surprised. I care about you. And I said a horrible thing. Something I’ll never forgive myself for saying.”

“Emotions were high. I already forgave you for that.”

“That’s the religiousness, isn’t it?” he said apprehensively.

“What good would being mad at you do me? I have enough issues. Forgiveness doesn’t make you weak; it makes you strong, because it allows you to move on. But if you ever say something like that to me again, I’ll walk away and we will never be friends again. No matter what happens, I don’t deserve to be spoken to like that, ever. Understand?”

“Well, aren’t you sassy?” He gave her a small smile. “It’s on me, sugar. I’d never say anything like that to you again. I only said it out of my own insecurities. I am truly sorry.”

“So that’s that. No more talking about it.” She stood and walked toward Belle. “I need to feed her.”

She still looked so damn broken. “Wait up.” He pulled her by the shirt toward him and tightened his grip around her. “Remember that night? The night we kissed?” he asked, placing a kiss on the top of her head as she rested her cheek on his chest. “You needed a hug back then.”

“Desperately.”

“Did you feel better after?”

“Yes.”

He tightened his arms around her. “Well, I’m here. I haven’t left. I’ve just been…confused. But I am your friend, Penny. Have been for a while. Even before we slept together. So let me help. You can’t do things alone. Wait, let me rephrase that. You can. You’re strong and eventually you’ll figure shit out. But you don’t
need
to do it alone. I’m here.”

She nodded into his chest. “Okay,” she said softly. “So what do I do about the reporters camped outside my apartment?”

“Do you work tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Well, they’re probably swarming Ruby’s now. Why don’t I call Joe for you, let him know what’s going on?”

“No. It’s my first day.”

“Joe’d understand.”

She shook her head. “Maybe Ms. Hannigan—”

“No. You’ve got to keep away from your apartment complex today.”

“Now that Violet knows about Belle, you think that maybe she’d watch her?”

“Yes. Great idea. But tonight you and your kid stay with me, and hopefully things’ll have died down by tomorrow.”

“Travis, no. I can’t let you—”

“You can and you will. Honestly, I feel bad that I kissed you in front of those cameras. I feel responsible.”

“It’s not your fault. I couldn’t hide forever.”

He cupped her face and kissed her lips softly. “Go get your kid and come stay with me at my house for just a day or two until things settle down, okay?”

She looked hesitant but desperate. Finally she let out a big breath. “Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Travis. Thank you.”

Penny went and picked up her daughter, then walked back over to Travis. “Travis, I’d like you to officially meet Sarabelle.”

“Belle,” the little girl said.

“Belle, excuse me,” Penny laughed. “Travis, this is Belle. Belle, this is my friend Travis.”

The little girl hid her face in her mother’s neck.

“She’s very shy.”

“ ’S okay. I’m not.” He moved closer to Belle. “Hey, kid, I’m Travis. Who’s this?” he asked, pointing to the tattered bear she held.

“Bubba,” she mumbled into her mother’s neck.

“Bubba the bear. I like that.” Travis noticed that Belle did that same move her mother did, shaking her head slightly to get her hair out of her eyes, but in this case it was one fat blond curl. Then she looked up, and her big blue eyes stared back at him—blue eyes that looked almost identical to his and Jamie Lynn’s. Her soft milky skin, chubby cheeks, and shy smile took him aback. “Twavis,” she whispered, then hid her face again.

His feelings were scattered all over the place as he walked back to his car. What the hell was he getting himself into?

Sarabelle was still fast asleep in Penny’s arms by the time Travis parked in front of Target to pick up a change of clothes and a few other necessities. Penny carefully hopped out of the truck just as Travis made it around to the truck’s passenger side.

“I was coming around to help you.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine.”

He shook his head and let out a frustrated breath. “You’re just going to carry her the entire time?”

“What else am I supposed to do with her? She doesn’t walk yet.”

“She doesn’t?” he said, surprised.

“No, Travis,” she huffed. “She wobbles a little, but that’s about it. She’s just a baby. Besides, I didn’t exactly plan all this out. Her stroller’s in the apartment.”

As they walked in, she went to grab a basket, but he pulled out a cart.

“We don’t need that many things,” she protested.

“Maybe not, but a car seat isn’t going to fit in a basket.”

“Car seat?” she said, a little louder than she intended. “I don’t even own a car.”

“Yeah, but I do.” He began to push the cart. “Come on.”

“Travis, we only need to get from here to your house. That’s like half a mile. A car seat is…I don’t know, a hundred or two hundred dollars.”

“You can’t have her going around in my truck on your lap. It ain’t safe, plus I’ll get a ticket.”

“She’s not going around in your truck. It’s just this one time. I don’t have two hundred dollars to just throw around for something I don’t need.”

He stopped and turned, almost crashing right into her. He took a deep breath and tried to reset himself. “Listen, like I said, I feel this is partly my fault. I’ll pay. So don’t worry.”

“I can’t let you do that, Travis.”

“You need diapers, a change of clothes, formula or whatever else it eats. I have money for all that. If it makes you feel better you can pay me back.”

She groaned and relented because what else could she really do. “Okay. Fine. But I’ll pay you back. And don’t call Belle ‘it.’ ”

“Okay, okay. Now come on, momma. I want to make this quick. Don’t want anyone to recognize me or you.”

Half an hour later Penny was sitting on the bed of the truck waiting while Travis installed the new three-hundred-dollar car seat. “I can’t believe you bought the most expensive seat.”

“It was the best one. Plus, you’ll be able to use it as she grows.”

Under her breath she muttered, “I don’t have a car.”

“If I could only fucking figure out how the hell this shit works,” he complained, fumbling around the seat.

In a louder voice she said, “And I told you I already have a stroller.” She looked behind her at the exorbitant number of bags. “I didn’t need so many diapers, and one change of clothes would’ve sufficed, and—”

“Aha! I got it!” he said as he moved out of the car. “Go ahead and buckle her in.”

Travis was nothing if not a hurricane of energy. She’d learned that when he was into whatever thing he was doing, he didn’t do much listening. It was just his way. She didn’t take it personally and knew it was his way of trying to do right by her. She accepted it, and on the way to his house said a silent prayer to God in thanks for having brought people such as Travis into her life. Because whether or not they were together, she had a feeling that the man wouldn’t ever let her down. It just wasn’t in him to do that—to anyone.

“Are you sure that Cain and Violet won’t be inconvenienced by coming over here instead of taking Belle over there?”

“Don’t worry about it. Vi loves kids. I’ve known her since we were in high school. She’s excited. Her house is a mess with all the construction, and she doesn’t think it’s safe.”

“If you say so,” Penny said from the spare room, where she’d put all the things Travis had purchased. She slipped on a pair of shorts she’d purchased and a T-shirt. She had already spoken to Joe, who’d told her he’d give her a new shirt when she came into work today. She was worried about the media being there, but she couldn’t simply not show up for work.

Belle was playing on the floor of the room and Penny was almost done getting dressed when she heard a blender.

She finished dressing and carried Belle with her to the kitchen. “What are you doing?”

“Making a protein shake. Want one?”

She made a face and shook her head. “I was going to make some sandwiches before work with all the stuff you bought. You want one?”

He looked at his shake, then back at her. “How ’bout I make them and you hang out with baby girl over there in the living room? Put some cartoons or something on for her.”

“I don’t mind preparing them. It’s the least I can do.”

“You don’t have to do anything. I bet you haven’t just done nothing in a long time.” He began to take out things from the refrigerator. “There’s not that much time, but at least enjoy it for the half hour you’ve got.”

As they finished eating, the doorbell rang, and Travis let Cain and Violet in.

After Penny thanked them and gave Violet some instructions, Travis drove her to work.

“You didn’t have to drive me,” she told him as they drove. “I could’ve taken the bus.”

“Don’t mind,” Travis said. “You think the kid’ll be okay while you’re gone? I mean, she doesn’t know any of us.”

“She’ll be fine. Thrilled that she has new people to play with.” She looked over at him. “Are
you
scared of Belle?”

“Fucking petrified,” he confessed, with a shaky laugh. “What if I break her? She’s so little and fragile.”

“She’s actually not that little or fragile. Plus, you have Violet and Cain there with you. I wouldn’t leave her with people I didn’t think could handle it.”

“You think I can handle it?”

“Maybe not by yourself just yet. And mostly because you’re so nervous, not because you’re not capable. But soon,” she said as they parked.

Travis reached into his glove compartment and took out two old baseball caps. “Lift up your hair,” he said. Once she had bunched it all on top of her head, he put the cap on her. He took off his cowboy hat and put on a cap of his own. “I spoke to Joe, and he said there’s been a few photographers hanging around. But when the bouncer kicked out one of them, who landed on his ass, the other ones seemed to have dispersed,” he explained. “But the hat is a precaution until you get inside. We’re also going to go in through the back, which is only for employees.”

“Thank you for thinking of all this.”

He lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “Are you nervous? About your new job, I mean.”

“I was, but with everything that’s happened with Lawrence and the media in the last few days, my mind’s been scattered and I haven’t had a chance to think about it.”

“Come on, I’ll walk you in.” She jumped out of the truck, and he followed.

They were in the back parking lot, near the employee entrance. It was dark and empty. Just as they reached the door, he grabbed one of the belt loops on her shorts and swung her around. “C’mere, sugar. A kiss, for luck on your first day.”

She smiled coyly. His kind face with its sexy dimples warmed her heart and heated her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck and got on the tips of her toes. He leaned down, his lips touching hers for a brief second before she swiped her tongue across his bottom lip. He groaned into her mouth. “Penny, darlin’, you’re the sweetest kind of sugar there is. You’re gonna make takin’ it slow the best kind of torture, aren’t you?” he said, squeezing her tighter against him.

She pushed away a little and smoothed down her T-shirt. “Do I look okay? Pretend I’m not wearing this hat. Joe’s going to give me a new shirt, but everything else?” She fidgeted with her shorts. “I want to fit in. Everyone’s so sexy and sure of themselves. I wore a little makeup.”

He pulled her to him. “You know what I find sexy, darlin’? A woman who’s so fuckin’ hot, she doesn’t have to flaunt it. Hell, she doesn’t even know it. A woman who is nice and proper with everyone else but likes my hand wrapped around her throat when she comes. A little rough and a lot of sweet. That’s what’s sexy. So whoever thinks otherwise is so stupid they couldn’t find water if they fell off a boat.”

She chuckled, but her face was red all the way down to her collarbones. “Wow, cowboy, you have a really dirty mouth.” She kissed him gently one last time and began to walk to the door.

“You like my dirty mouth.”

“I think it’s you who’s going to make taking it slow torture,” she said with a laugh, and knocked on the door.

A man she hadn’t met before opened the door. “You the new girl?”

“Yes, I’m Penny.”

“Hey, Texas,” the man said looking over her shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Penny. I’m Isaac.”

“Didn’t know you were still working here, Isaac,” Travis said.

“Yeah, just came back. This your girl?”

“Sure is. Take good care of her.”

“ ’Course,” Isaac replied, letting Penny inside. “Joe already told me to keep the paparazzi out of here.”

“Thanks, Isaac. Have a good night, darlin’,” Travis called out as Penny made her way inside. “See you right here at one.”

“Travis, I can take the bus.”

Both Travis and Isaac snorted. “Ain’t ever gonna happen, darlin’,” Travis drawled over his shoulder as he walked back to his truck.

Travis drove home with thoughts of Penny: Penny under him. Over him. Wrapped around him. There was something about her that drew him to her. From the first day he’d seen her, he’d wanted her. He’d never had such a visceral reaction to anyone in his life. He’d never had a problem attracting women, but there’d also never been a woman who’d held his attention for more than a few hours. He loved sex and he loved women. But once he had sex with them, his mind drifted to his training and the adrenaline rush that came from being in a cage, dodging a fist at his face or landing a roundhouse kick to his opponent’s side. And it wasn’t the violence of it. Not at all. He’d had to be violent at one point in his life. It was either fight or die. His tattoos and his criminal record didn’t lie. He had never been particularly good at school. But fighting—that he was good at. And the skill that he’d learned, the hours he put into it—that’s what he loved. He was untouchable in the cage. He knew it, and his opponents knew it. And when he tired them out enough, that’s when he landed his signature combo and they were done.

But now his mind didn’t drift to his workout tomorrow or how he was planning to tire out his opponent, Lemmon, in a few weeks. He was thinking about the woman who was working at a strip club. A place where men ogled women. He was not at all comfortable with this situation. Plus, he knew he couldn’t sleep with her again for a little while. They had to take things slow. He owed it to her and her daughter to make sure that he could handle them both in his life. He wasn’t his father or his mother—he wouldn’t toy with Belle’s feelings. It wasn’t fair to her.

He opened the door to his house expecting pandemonium—the kid crying or running around messing up his things, not that he cared if anything broke. So quiet was the last thing he expected. Cain had his feet up on the coffee table watching a Disney movie, and Violet sat nearby on the carpet with Sarabelle and the teddy bear on her lap.

When Travis cleared his throat, Violet looked over. “You need toys. Well, not you. She does.”

“She don’t live here. Sure she’s got toys in her house.”

“Doubt that,” Cain said.

“Yeah, I don’t think they have much, Travis,” Violet said. “You remember how it was back then for you and JL?”

Travis walked into the kitchen and came back with a couple of beers. He handed one to Cain. “That’s different. My mom was shit and I lived in a single-wide trailer in the crap part of the crappiest part of Texas.”

“Just because Penny’s not a bad mom doesn’t mean she has the means to buy things for Belle, Travis. Penny’s struggling. I don’t know how she managed so long on her own, quite frankly. You’ve seen those apartments where she lives—they’re old and tiny. I think that Penny did what she could, which is admirable. I’m not knocking it. I’m just saying I don’t think they have much.”

“We’ll get her some toys tomorrow, babe,” Cain offered.

“You think? Fuck, I feel bad now.” Travis remembered how shitty his upbringing had been. “She looks happy, though, no?” He looked at the little girl hesitantly. He hadn’t been lying to Penny—he was scared to death of Belle. But suddenly that little girl being happy seemed like the most important thing in the world.

“Sure. She has a good mom. Why wouldn’t she be? All I’m saying is, she needs toys.”

Travis nodded and sat back to watch the princess movie with his friends and this new addition to his world.

Olivia reminded Penny of JL, and they hit it off immediately. Olivia was married and had a two-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy. She had been working at Ruby’s for ten years, she told Penny; she’d started as a stripper, but, as she put it, “no one wants to see a C-section scar and saggy tits,” so she’d asked to be transferred to bartender. The woman looked like she worked out ten times a day, and Penny doubted that she looked anything less than perfect naked even after two kids, but she seemed happy as a bartender.

A little later that evening Darlene walked in, even perkier than last time. “Hi! Yay! You started today.” She pranced up and gave both Olivia and Penny loud smacking kisses on their cheeks. “If you need anything, just let me know, ’kay?” She headed out to the floor, her bare breasts bouncing as she walked.

“Goodness,” Penny muttered under her breath.

Olivia chuckled. “Darlene’s good people. Not the sharpest pencil in the box, but good to the core,” she said as she wiped down the counter. “Joe told me you were a little shy. If you’re going to work here, you’ve got to try to loosen up.”

“I’m still getting used to all of it, but I’ll be fine,” Penny said as she read over the menu of specialty drinks.

“Remember, the more you flirt the bigger the tips. You don’t have to sleep with them, just pretend you’re going to.”

Penny scrunched up her face. “I don’t know if I can do that,” she admitted.

“Sure you can.” Olivia put down her rag and reached for Penny. “May I?” she asked, and Penny nodded.

As Olivia took off Penny’s headband, and fluffed her hair with her fingers, Penny told her, “I’m trying, and it’s not like I don’t want to. I just don’t really know how to.”

Olivia took a pair of scissors and cut Penny’s tank top right between her breasts, creating a V.

“What are you doing?” Penny shrieked.

“You have small boobs, so I’m helping them out a little.” Olivia reached out toward Penny’s chest, but Penny took a step back, and Olivia laughed.

“Okay, do this.” Olivia cupped her own boobs and pushed them up. Apprehensively Penny did the same thing. Judging from the reflection in the mirror above the bar, it made her look sexier, not vulgar.

“Now go put on some eyeliner and mascara and lipstick,” Olivia ordered, handing her a small bag of makeup.

Once she was done, Penny thought she would blend in much better now. Granted, the red lipstick was a little much; she decided that she would go buy something a little more subtle for next time. But all in all she liked the new look and hoped she’d be able to get used to it.

It was toward the end of the shift and Olivia had gone to the stockroom when three men walked in.

“Three shots of tequila,” one of the guys yelled out.

“You new?” the best-looking one of the three asked. He smiled brightly as he took a seat at the bar.

“Yes. First day.” She remembered she needed to be friendly. “You three are my first customers.”

“Well, we’re honored to pop that cherry,” the third guy said with a laugh. “How about you join us for a shot in honor of your first day?”

“No, thank you,” she replied as she poured the drinks. The guys pouted and booed.

“Hey, y’all!” Olivia rounded the corner, and as soon as the three men saw her they leaned in and hugged her. “You being nice to Penny over here?”

“Penny, huh?” the cute one said. “Pretty name for a pretty girl.”

Her face reddened, and she looked down to put away the bottle.

“I think you embarrassed her, James. Be nice. She’s shy.”

“Shit, sorry. I was just teasing you.” He reached over to squeeze her hand. Penny looked up and smiled nervously. “No, no. It’s fine. I’m fine.” She pushed the drinks toward them, but her nervousness caused her to spill one of the shots. The guys hollered and laughed playfully. “You know what that means—you have to drink with us now!”

“No, really, it’s—”

“Come on, gents, let’s loosen her up a bit,” Olivia said, pouring three more shots: one for the spilled one, one for herself, and one for Penny.

The others all tipped their heads back and downed the liquid, but Penny hesitated before following suit. She coughed and grimaced for a second as the liquid warmed her. A few minutes later she felt a lot more relaxed and light on her feet. The men stayed by the bar talking with her and laughing as she continued to read through the menu.

“Looky there. It’s the town’s newest celebrity, Texas Calhoun,” Olivia announced with a whistle.

Penny looked up and saw Travis coming toward her, and she couldn’t help the smile that instantly spread on her face. He wore his cowboy hat, a white button-down, and jeans.

“Travis, buddy, how are you?” The men stood and shook hands with him. Apparently they all knew each other.

The cute one turned to look at Penny. “And this beautiful lady is Ruby’s newest addition, Penny. She’s shy,” he added, reaching out and throwing an arm around her.