The Fighting Series (Books 1-5)

by Nikki Ash

  She just shakes her head. Well, that shit isn’t going to fly.

  “I can see the dried-up tears. Please tell me what’s wrong. Does it have something to do with you booking a sleazy motel with your card?” Okay, well that wasn’t how I planned to broach the subject, but now that it’s out there…

  Her eyes go wide for a second, but she quickly reins her shock in. “Were you seriously going through my computer, Cooper?” Damn it, leave it to a woman to turn it around on the guy like it’s his damn fault.

  “No, Liz, I wasn’t. I got on to pull up my email and it was on the front screen.”

  “Oh, well no, I’m not booking a motel. It was just an ad that popped up.”

  “So, why was your credit card out? The one you only use for emergencies?” I force the issue because she isn’t giving me much and something isn’t adding up.

  She looks at me and then loses it. She starts bawling her eyes out. I’m talking full- on crying. I don’t even know what to think. Is she leaving me? What the fuck happened to make her cry like this?

  I do the only thing I can do and move closer to hold her. She wraps her arms around me and bawls her eyes out. I can feel the snot dripping off her onto my shirt but I’m not about to say anything right now. It’s breaking my heart to see her this emotional, especially since I don’t know what’s going on or how to fix it.

  Bella walks in at this moment and I can tell from her soft voice she heard her mom crying. “Mommy, Daddy. Are you okay?”

  Liz sucks in her snot and picks her head up to wipe her nose, trying to get herself together. “Nothing is wrong, Angel, I promise. I’m just really tired.”

  Bella looks from me to her mom and says, “When I’m so tired that I cry you always tell me to go to bed. Maybe you should go to bed.” God bless our sweet daughter. May she always stay this innocent.

  Liz nods her head in agreement and says to me, “I think I’m going to go lie down. Dinner is done. Can you take it out of the oven in fifteen minutes and give some to Bella?”

  One, I don’t like how she never acknowledged the issue of the credit card, and two, I definitely don’t like that my girl looks like the world has beaten her up and thrown her out in to the cold. However, now is not the time to get to the bottom of this, especially with our four-yea-old in front of us. So, I agree and let her walk away from me.

  When the food is ready, I dish it out, and Bella and I eat together in front of the television, finishing up her movie. It’s something her mother barely ever allows, so I know it’ll keep her entertained because she feels like she’s getting away with something.

  After the movie’s over, I give her a bath, read her a story, and put her to bed. Liz still hasn’t come out of her room, so I tell Bella I’m giving her two kisses, one from me and one from her mom. This makes her think. “Wait, if you can give me kisses from Mommy, can you give me kisses from other people?”

  You’d think after living with a four-year old the last few months I would see what’s coming, but I don’t, and I fall right into her trap. “I guess.”

  “Great! I want a kiss from grandma. Oh, and a kiss from grandpa. Then I want a kiss from Auntie Kay…”

  Twenty minutes and fifty kisses later—from everybody my four-year old knows to some people she doesn’t know like Cinderella—and she’s down for the night.

  I walk into our dark bedroom to find Liz sound asleep. I want to ask her what’s going on, but I don’t have the heart to wake her up. So instead I strip down to my boxers and wrap my girl up in my arms, praying whatever’s wrong doesn’t involve her leaving me.

  Forty

  Liz

  How I have managed to avoid the conversation with Cooper the last four days I have no clue. When he said he saw the motels webpage and credit card I thought for sure I was screwed. Luckily, when he mentioned them, it reminded me that I’m hiding my pregnancy from him, which reminded me that Kayla won’t be there for me because she’s moving, and then I remembered I’m not allowed to tell Cooper, and so I lost it. Poor guy had no clue what to do. He definitely handled it like a trooper though, accepting my snot all over his shirt like it wasn’t even a big deal.

  I can see it in his face that he wants answers, but dammit, I’ve made it to Christmas Eve, and I’m not going to give in now. After he gave me back my credit card, I was able to book the flights and hotel, and purchase the Disney theme park tickets. I even had matching shirts overnighted that have our names on them: Mommy, Daddy, and Bella, and for the surprise, I had put on mine below my name an arrow pointing down that reads, “Plus baby”.

  Everybody came over for Christmas Eve dinner and I have to say it was a bit awkward. I don’t know what has happened between Bentley and Kayla, since neither of them are talking, but man their emotions are flying high. It probably doesn’t help that Bentley brought a guest.

  After everyone left, Bella set out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, along with a note telling Santa to fly safe. Now the three of us are sitting in Bella’s room while Cooper reads The Grinch That Stole Christmas to her. I had asked Cooper about the swing-set she wants and he said he has it covered. I haven’t seen anything in the backyard, but if he says he has it covered, I trust him. When he’s finished reading the book, we both give her kisses and tell her we’ll see her in the morning.

  We go downstairs and begin setting out all the presents we’ve kept hidden in the gym. I’m pretty sure there’s double the number of gifts here than I bought. It’s Cooper’s first Christmas with Bella, so I let it go.

  I’m kind of shocked about one thing, so I decide to bring it up. “You know, I thought for sure you would have had that puppy under this tree, but I’m pretty sure I don’t hear any barking.”

  He just chuckles and shakes his head. What is he up to?

  Forty-One

  Cooper

  Oh boy, if only this woman knew what I have been up to these last few days. She’s not the only one who can keep secrets. When she decided she wasn’t going to talk to me, I had two options: Freak the fuck out and assume the worst or go all in. I chose the latter. If she has any intention of leaving me, I’m going to make it hard as hell for her. I meant it when I said I’m going to fight for this second chance, and if I go down, at least I’ll go down swinging, knowing I’ve done everything in my power to show her how much I love her. So, this is the part where I should tell you everything but… Nah. You’ll have to wait to find out like the rest of them.

  Forty-Two

  Liz

  “Mommy! Daddy! Santa came!”

  Cooper and I finished putting the presents out at almost two in the morning. Of course, I never learned where the swing-set or puppy is, or if there is even one. Sneaky bastard.

  “What time is it? I don’t even think the sun is up.” Cooper moans and places a pillow over his face before throwing it to the side and getting up.

  “It doesn’t matter what time a child normally wakes up. On Christmas, their brain wakes them up before five, always.”

  We make our way down the stairs and Cooper puts some coffee on and makes Bella a hot chocolate. We sit on the couch, while she opens up her stocking first, and she’s in heaven! There are new nail polishes, and candy, and tons of Barbie accessories.

  Once she’s done with her stocking, she moves on to her presents. She gets excited about every single one and thanks us for the ones that have our names on them. I don’t think there is a single toy this child didn’t get for Christmas, thanks to Cooper.

  When she gets to her last present, her smile falters for a second. I don’t care how good of a kid you have, when they realize they didn’t get the couple items they asked for they’re going to be sad. It doesn’t make them spoiled… it makes them human. She opens the present and says thank you to the both of us.

  Cooper looks way too happy with himself when he asks if she had a good Christmas. Bella says yes, and then he tells her he has one more gift, but it’s for all of us and it’s not here. I can see she gets her ho
pes up, but she doesn’t mention it or ask.

  “Before we get to your gift for all of us, I have one for all of us as well,” I say.

  I pull a box from the back of the tree and hand it to Cooper and Bella to open. Bella smiles as she tears apart the wrapping paper and shakes the top off. Nestled inside are the three shirts I ordered. I made sure to put mine on the bottom.

  Bella pulls them out and attempts to read them. She’s not a great reader yet, but she’s definitely improving. “Bella,” she reads the first one. It has a picture of a Minnie mouse with a crown under her name. She doesn’t understand it yet, but I think Cooper does because his lips curl into a huge grin.

  Next, she reads Cooper’s shirt. “Daddy.” This one has a mickey mouse on the front as well.

  And finally, she reads mine. “Mommy. And there’s an arrow pointing down. It says pl…us plus b.a.by. Plus, baby?”

  Cooper whips his head around to me, and with wide eyes, asks, “Are you pregnant?”

  Forty-Three

  Cooper

  It killed me to watch Bella open all her gifts, knowing the only three she asked for aren’t under the tree. I was able to take care of two of them, but the baby part is unfortunately out of my control.

  Liz telling us she has a gift for us definitely peaks my curiosity. This is the happiest I’ve seen her so it must be good. Bella opens the box and begins reading the name on the shirts. I see Bella’s shirt with her name on it and Minnie Mouse, and I know right away we’re going to Disney. Not only am I excited to experience this with my two girls, but it also makes sense why she was using her credit card and looking up hotels. Although, hopefully she has better sense than to book one of those nasty motels that were up on her page. She pulls out my shirt next which has Daddy written on it with a mickey mouse under it.

  Bella gets to her mom’s shirt and she’s struggling to read it, but we both let her sound it out. “…plus, baby?”

  Putting all the pieces together, I go into shock. “Are you pregnant?”

  Excitedly, Liz nods, and Bella starts going nuts, singing that she’s going to have a baby brother or sister.

  Grabbing her by her waist, I give her a kiss then move down to her belly and lift her shirt. It’s too soon for there to be a bump, but I still have to kiss it. I look up with blurry eyes from the unshed tears and say thank you. This woman has just made me the happiest man in the world.

  I stand and ask how far along she is. She laughs and says, “I’ll be nine weeks on the thirtieth. I suspected I was pregnant on Thanksgiving and had it confirmed the day we returned. I thought it would be fun to surprise you for Christmas along with a family trip for just the three of us, but I didn’t realize keeping a secret from you for a month would be so difficult.”

  Damn, now it all makes sense. The secret phone call and outing by herself, the way she’s been up and down with her emotions, and going out of her way not to talk to me about her credit card. I’m so glad I chose to have trust in us instead of flipping out. Now it’s my turn to give them my present, and with a baby coming, it makes the present even better.

  “Okay, you two get dressed. We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.” They both look at me like I am stupid. Yeah, I know they will never get out the door in fifteen minutes but I still keep saying it in hopes they will one day get ready in under an hour. Please let this baby be a boy.

  An hour later we’re in my SUV driving towards the surprise and I text everybody to meet me there. This is more like four surprises in one. We pull up to the gated community and I pull my resident card out to swipe so I can be let in. It’s a temporary one until we get our barcode decals. I look over at Liz, and she looks utterly confused.

  Forty-Four

  Liz

  When we pull up to a beautiful gated community I think maybe we’re going to visit someone, but then Cooper pulls out what looks like a resident pass and I’m back to square one. We drive down a few roads until we get to a massive house on the left and Cooper turns into the driveway. Parked along the road are our friends’ vehicles. Maybe there’s a Christmas party going on here?

  We all get out and Cooper takes a key out of his pocket to unlock the door. When he opens the door, the cutest brown and black little puppy comes barreling down the hall and straight into Bella’s arms. She scoops her up and looks at her father with hope in her eyes. “Is she mine?”

  “Yes, Princess, she’s yours. Merry Christmas.” He kisses her on her forehead.

  “Does she have a name?”

  “She’s yours, so you can pick the name.”

  She thinks about it, and when she figures out the name she wants, her entire faces lights up. “I know! I want to name her Princess!”

  “But that’s what I call you.”

  Bella pouts, but thinks of another name. “Okay, how about Elsa?”

  We both laugh. “Elsa, it is!”

  “Can I bring her home with me? Why wasn’t she at my home?”

  “This is her home, Bella. Do you like this house?” Bella looks around, and I do as well. The home is gorgeous. We’re only standing in the foyer, but even from here I can see the spacious living room and the beautiful staircase that leads to the upstairs. Off to the side is what looks like a beautiful kitchen with a separate dining room. The floors are all hardwood, and the home is empty, but it’s still stunning.

  “Yes, I like this house. But why does she have to stay here? I want her with me.”

  Cooper looks at me as he answers Bella’s question. “I bought this home for all of us. I was hoping we could all live here together as a family. I didn’t know about the baby, but now it’s even more perfect. I figured it would give us more room to grow as a family. It’s empty so we can furnish it together.”

  He gets down on one knee and my breath hitches. I look around, realizing we aren’t alone, which makes sense because all of our friends’ cars were parked along the road when we pulled up. But now that I’m looking, I see that my parents and brother are also here, as well as Lauren, Cooper’s mom.

  Turning my attention back to Cooper, I see he’s holding up a tiny box with a sparkly ring nestled inside of it.

  “Lizbeth, when we met five years ago in Miami at that club it was lust at first sight.” Everybody laughs, and I can feel the tears coming. “When I walked away from you, it was the hardest thing I ever chose to do. The only thing I can think of is that everything happens for a reason and maybe it just wasn’t our time yet. Seeing you that night at my fight, I knew we were meant to be together. It took me a couple tries, but I finally came around. You have been so patient with me. Even when I didn’t deserve a second chance you still gave it to me, and when I didn’t have enough trust and belief in us, you did for the both of us. When I felt weak in this relationship, you held me up with your strength. You are an amazing mother to Bella and you’re going to be just as amazing to this new baby. I want to spend the rest of our life reminding you why you will never regret giving me that second chance. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes!” is all I can say before he’s back on his feet, putting the beautiful ring on my finger. I don’t know much about rings, but it has one big princess cut diamond in the center with smaller clusters of diamonds around the edges, and it fits me perfectly.

  Cooper cups my chin and kisses me softly. “Thank you, baby girl.”

  Everyone watching takes that as their cue to come over and congratulate us. “Oh, sweetheart. I am so happy for you. A new home, an engagement, and a baby on the way! This is quite the Christmas for you. Congratulations,” my mom says as she hugs me.

  Everybody takes turns hugging us and when Kayla gets over to me we hug extra hard. “Please tell me you’ve changed your mind,” I say quietly, so only she can hear.

  She pulls away, but stays looking into my eyes. I already know the answer before she gives it. “No, Liz. I’m still leaving tomorrow, but I’ll visit often, and I’ll definitely be back before the baby’s here. I just need to go. Please understand that.”

/>   “Okay, but please know I’m only a phone call and a plane ride away. Does Cooper know you’re quitting?”

  “Yes, I told him yesterday. He said he doesn’t need two weeks’ notice, so I’m flying out tomorrow night.”

  We hug again and then I watch Kayla slip out the door. I look over at Bentley and see him watching her leave as well. He’s showing no emotions, but I know he cares. And if I’m honest, I hate him a little bit right now because I believe whatever is going on with them is the reason she’s leaving me.

  Cooper announces there is one more present and asks for everybody to join us in the backyard. When we walk out the backdoors, Bella goes running straight to the swing set. I don’t even think you can call it that, though. The word swing set doesn’t even begin to do this thing justice. It’s an enormous pink and purple princess castle with a rock wall, swings, a slide, and of course attached to the end is the cutest little picnic table and benches.

  “Look Mommy, Daddy. Santa brought me my swing set just like I asked! He must have known this was going to be our new house.”

  Cooper holds me in his arms and nuzzles his face into my hair. We just stand like this for a while, just letting it all soak in. It may have taken a little longer to get here, but I wouldn’t trade our journey for anything, because every step we took led us to this moment right here, right now, with our friends and family. And these people mean everything to me.

  Epilogue

  Cooper

  Two Months Later

  I’m standing in the center of the octagon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in my hometown city of Las Vegas. My eye is swollen so it’s hard to see, and I’m pretty sure I have at least two fractured ribs, but it’s all worth it because at this very moment the referee has my hand in the air, announcing me the new UFC Champion. They hand me my belt and it feels damn good to know I’ve finally made it to where I wanted to be.