The Fighting Series (Books 1-5)

by Nikki Ash

30-DAY

  PERSONAL PROPERTY

  NOTICE

  Pursuant to the foreclosure sale conducted on June 22nd, 2016, Las Vegas Community Bank is now the owner of this property. You must remove all personal property, including all furniture immediately.

  On July 22nd, 2016, the doors will be locked and any items still in home will be forfeited.

  “You’re about to get kicked out of your home.”

  “Yeah, I stopped paying in January.”

  “Why did you borrow all that money and not pay your mortgage?” He looks at me incredulously.

  “I borrowed the money to pay off my ex. He was threatening to take my son and said he would hand over his rights for thirty thousand dollars. I kept putting off paying the mortgage to pay you. I just couldn’t get caught up in time.”

  Suddenly it all is just too damn much. The tears start falling and I can’t stop them.

  “I lost my job teaching a few weeks ago. I’ve been trying to find another job, but I haven’t found anything yet.”

  “Oh, Bellissima, do you have any of my money this month?” Giovanni takes my chin between his fingers and raises my face, forcing me to look at him.

  “I have a little bit of it. If you could just give me a little more time…”

  “Beautiful, if I give you more time then I have to give everyone else more time. If I let everyone pay whenever they could, I wouldn’t be the businessman I am. Nobody would take me seriously.”

  He places his hand on my shoulder, and for a minute, I let him comfort me—if that’s what this even is.

  “How about this? You come to work for me at my club for six months and I will wipe your debt clean.”

  The tears flow harder. The idea of having sex for money makes me feel sick. I get that there are women who can do it, but I just can’t. I don’t know how to fix this, though. I have a feeling Giovanni is trying to be nice about this, but he’s really letting me know I don’t have a choice. I made a deal and I couldn’t hold up my end of it. I figure it’ll be easier to go willingly at this point. “I guess I don’t…”

  “Everything okay here?”

  I look around Giovanni to see Kaden standing in front of my porch.

  “Everything is all good,” Giovanni says.

  “What’s going on?” Kaden asks.

  Giovanni is the one to answer. “Ashley and I were just discussing a business opportunity that has arose I think she might be interested in.”

  “Ashley, what the hell is going on? Who is this guy?” Kaden ignores Giovanni completely, focusing on me.

  “This is Giovanni. He’s a friend of Don’s, my boss at Double D’s. I owe him some money.”

  Kaden’s eyebrows shoot up recognizing the name from the night Giovanni texted me. He walks up and joins us on the porch. My tiny porch suddenly feels extremely claustrophobic with these two large guys both crowding me in.

  “How much does she owe you?” Kaden directs this question to Giovanni, but before he can say twenty-two thousand, I say, “four thousand.” Thankfully Giovanni doesn’t give anything away.

  “Why do you owe him so much money?”

  “I borrowed it from him to pay off some bills.”

  “I’m assuming you aren’t going to accept a check, so why don’t you follow me to the bank and I’ll give you the money she owes you.”

  Giovanni looks to me. “You good with that?”

  I want to say no. The last thing I want is to owe yet another man, but I would be a fool to say no right now.

  “Yeah.”

  Giovanni puts his hand out to shake mine and I look at him quizzically. The foreclosure notice is exchanged from his hand to mine. He holds my hand for a moment before he says, “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.” And then softly so only I can hear he adds, “Please don’t be late next month.”

  Both men take off and I go inside to stress clean. I don’t even know why I bother. In thirty days, this will no longer be my home. Hell, technically right now this is no longer my home. I’m only allowed here to remove my belongings. I take a moment to walk down the hallway and look at the pictures hanging on the wall. They start off with Tristan as a baby. Then move to him in preschool. One of him in Kindergarten. Another of him at his first MMA tournament last year. There’s one of us during Christmas last year. Kaden is in the picture as well. We were at my parents’ house before Tyler came through like a tornado destroying everything in his wake.

  I hear the door slam shut and tentatively go down the hall to see who’s there. Kaden is sitting on the couch with his hands in his hair, his face down. I can tell by his actions he’s trying to calm himself down.

  “Hey,” I say quietly. Kaden has never yelled at me or hurt me so I don’t know why I’m nervous.

  “Hey,” he says back, patting the couch for me to join him.

  “Thank you for paying him. I’ll pay you back.”

  Kaden shakes his head. “I don’t care about the money, Ash. What’s going on? Liz said Tristan isn’t going to Cooper’s Gym anymore.”

  “He’s spending the summer at my parents.”

  “You know he loves MMA. Why would you do that? If it’s the money, you don’t need to worry about that. I paid his membership in full for the year.”

  “What the hell, Kaden! I didn’t ask you to do that!”

  “You’re right, you didn’t ask. You never ask for anything. You’re my best friend, and I can see you’re struggling, but you won’t let me in. Let me in, please.”

  Now would be the perfect time to tell him the entire truth, but I can’t make this his problem. I can’t count on another man.

  “I appreciate you paying for his MMA, but he’s spending the summer with my parents. And as for me, I am fine. I will pay you back as soon as I can.”

  He assesses me for a moment and I can tell he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying, but instead of calling me out on it, he simply nods.

  “Okay, let’s do something fun tonight. I miss my best friend.” Kaden throws his arm over my shoulder and pulls me into him, giving me a kiss to my temple. To him, it’s nothing more than a friend being affectionate, but unfortunately, my body and heart don’t see it that way at all, and the butterflies in my belly prove that.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “How about we go to dinner and go watch the fountains at Bellagio. We can take a walk on the strip.”

  “Okay, that sounds good. Let me get dressed.”

  And just like that the tension between us is gone.

  * * *

  “Morning.” I roll over and see Kaden lying next to me in my bed. We had a blast last night. We ate dinner at a delicious steakhouse and then walked down the strip acting like tourists going in and out of all the little shops. We stopped at the fountains and watched two of the shows before heading home to watch a few episodes of House on DVD. It’s one of my favorite shows and months ago I insisted Kaden watch them with me. Now he’s as addicted as I am to the crazy doctor. We eventually fell asleep watching one of the episodes.

  “Caleb texted asking if we want to go to breakfast with everyone. I guess they were all kidless last night and are going to breakfast before going to pick them up.”

  “Sure, I’m going to jump in the shower.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll take one after you.”

  We get to the diner that Hayley always insists we eat at and everyone is already there. Hayley and Caleb are sitting across from Liz and Cooper, and Kayla and Bentley are sitting across from Alex and his fiancée, Jessica. Toward the back there are two seats open across from Stephen and whatever girl he woke up next to this morning. We say hello to everyone and make our way to the two empty seats.

  After everyone has ordered, the conversation flows and eventually moves to Alex and Jessica’s upcoming wedding. “Caleb, we should do Alex’s bachelor party at your club,” Stephen suggests.

  “Does it bother you that your husband owns a strip club?” Stephen’s date asks. Rude much?

/>   If her question bothers Hayley at all, she doesn’t show it. “No, not at all. Plus, Liz works there several days a week, so I’m sure she keeps him in check.” She winks at Caleb and he laughs, leaning over to give her a kiss.

  “I’m not planning to be there as often as I have been. I’m still getting things situated, but once it’s all under control, I’m planning to train someone to manage the place.”

  “Before you do that you need to hire a dancer,” Liz says. “Shayla got married and left last week.”

  “Yeah, I know. Any chance you can set me up a couple interviews? Weed out the crazy chicks…”

  Liz laughs. “Already done.”

  “So… what about the bachelor party?” Stephen asks again.

  “Yeah, I don’t see why not. Just let me know the date and I’ll make sure I put it down so you’re taken care of.”

  “Nice, dude!”

  Kaden’s phone goes off and he checks it, frowns, and puts it back in his pocket.

  “Everything okay?” I ask.

  He leans over and gives me a kiss on my temple like he always does, and as usual the butterflies appear.

  Hayley catches my eye, waggling her eyebrows, and I roll my eyes at her. Things between Kaden and I will never be more than friends, and I have accepted that. Whatever it is he is looking for isn’t me.

  “My mom is asking again about my flight to Colorado. It’s my grandma’s eightieth birthday coming up at the end of August. Any chance you and Tristan would want to join me? I know they would love to see you guys.”

  “Tristan goes back to school at the end of August. As long as we’re back before he starts school, we should be good to go.”

  “Yeah? Awesome. I’ll book our tickets tonight. You and Tristan joining me will definitely make this trip better.”

  The waitress delivers our food and it all looks delicious. I ordered pancakes, while Kaden ordered bacon, eggs, and potatoes. He is forever eating healthy, except for when I cook for him. Then he gives in to the temptation of the delicious carbs.

  I try to snatch a piece of bacon from his plate, but I’m rejected when he blocks my hand.

  “Hey! I just want a small piece,” I say with a pout. He laughs, knowing I’m a faker. I’ll eat all his bacon if he turns away for too long.

  “A small piece to you is the entire strip.” He rips off a piece of the bacon and places it up to my mouth. I part my lips and snatch the piece with my teeth, biting the tips of his fingers in the process.

  “Oops, sorry.”

  “Yeah, I bet you are.” He feeds me another bite, and I take it this time without nipping at him.

  “Let’s go get Tristan,” he says.

  “Huh?”

  “Let’s bring him back. I paid for his membership. I don’t want him missing class. If you need to work I can watch him. Please. I miss him.”

  His comment makes my stomach do somersaults. For so long it’s just been Tristan and me. It’s weird to have someone else care about him aside from my parents.

  “Okay.”

  “Good, we can go get him together. I haven’t seen your parents in a while.”

  He puts another piece of bacon up to my mouth, smiling when I bite his fingers, completely missing the bacon.

  Chapter Seven

  Kaden

  Tonight is the night of Alex’s bachelor party, and while I should be excited to see some T and A, the idea of hanging out with these guys while watching some naked women shake their ass on stage does nothing for me. I would much rather be hanging out with Ashley and Tristan. Ever since she took on more hours at Double D’s she rarely has time to hang out, and as much as I love hanging out with Tristan while she’s at work, I miss hanging out with Ashley. Tonight just happens to be her night off and while she’s at home, I’m stuck going out.

  Instead of lounging around her house watching one of her crazy shows, I’m in a limo on my way to Assets, Caleb’s strip club, to party with Alex and the other guys before he gets married in a couple weeks. The bachelor party was originally scheduled for next weekend, but when the promotions manager of the UFC said they need him in New York to do a photo shoot for his upcoming fight we all got a text last minute letting us know it’s happening tonight.

  After getting dropped off at the front, we walk up to the hostess stand. Caleb greets her and lets her know we’re going to be using private room C. She marks something off on her paper and tells us to enjoy ourselves.

  Once inside, I can see why this club is ridiculously popular. Scanning the room, I see the walls are all a matted black with shiny marble flooring. There’s blood red accenting the dark room, making it look seductive yet romantic—it’s all tastefully done. The booths and tables are high quality, black, distressed wood with plush black leather seats throughout. Everything is clean looking. If it wasn’t for the women currently dancing on the stages in the back of the restaurant you wouldn’t even know it’s a strip club.

  We walk past the bar, which has mirrored walls behind it going up two floors with black glass covering the bar tops, to the steps leading to the second floor.

  “Damn, Caleb. This place looks great,” I tell him. I know he’s been hard at work turning this club around while he couldn’t fight, and it shows.

  “Thanks, you know I wasn’t keen on the idea of owning a strip club. It seems like living in Vegas, the term stripper is given a bad name. But once I started working on the one in Colorado, I realized I could make them classy. I had no idea they would blow up to be this big, though. I just sold the one in Colorado for way more than I thought I would be able to get for it, and the guy is considering buying this one as well.”

  “You should be proud of this place.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Upstairs, the music is a bit faster unlike downstairs where the music is slower and quieter. There are two girls dancing, one on each side of the stage, and the place is packed with guys sitting at the bar and tables that are surrounding the two circular stages.

  We get to the end of the area and there’s a narrow hallway filled with several doors on each side. Each door has a small letter on it. When we get to the letter C, Caleb opens the door and the club’s red and black theme continues. The room is obviously smaller than the open areas, but it doesn’t look any different. It’s just a smaller version of the same setup. We have a seat at the tables surrounding the stage and I can hear the faint sound of music playing in the background.

  There are about a dozen of us here celebrating the end of Alex’s bachelorhood. Most of the guys are from the gym, but there are a few others I was introduced to but don’t know. A couple of them are his brothers and one is his future brother-in-law. I think there’s also a couple guys he knows from high school.

  I sit at the table with Caleb, Bentley, Cooper, and Stephen. We aren’t even sitting a few seconds when the stage lights turn on and Black Widow by Iggy Azalea comes across the surround sound.

  At the same time, a woman wearing a tight red tank top that has Assets written across her tits in black appears handing us menus.

  “What can I get you fellas?” She smiles seductively at me, and it should probably do something to me, turn me on in some way, but it does absolutely nothing. Not too long ago, I would have found this woman attractive and would have been figuring out where I could take her to fuck her. Now, while I’m not blind and know a beautiful woman when I see one, the only woman on my mind is Ashley.

  I decide to keep it simple. “I’ll take a Jack and Coke.”

  “Sure thing, handsome.”

  She moves on to the other guys and I take the opportunity to check my phone. I have a couple new texts from Ashley. They were sent a couple hours ago.

  Ashley: Hey can you watch Tristan tonight? I got called into work.

  Thirty minutes later.

  Ashley: Okay, you must be busy. Tristan is spending the night at Hayley’s. If you want to come over later I should be home around 2.

  Me: Alex’s bachelor party got moved t
o tonight. I’ll come over when it’s over.

  She doesn’t keep her phone on her while she’s at work, so I stick my phone back in my pocket without waiting for a reply, then look up to see the curtain opening and a woman walking out onto the stage. It’s too dark to see her at first, but once she gets to the center of the stage where the pole is located, I can see her clearly.

  Caramel-colored brown hair pin straight down her back and light eye makeup making her hazel eyes pop are just the beginning. She’s wearing a black lacy top that is just not see-through with her perfect-sized tits peeking out enough to tease me. My eyes trail down her toned stomach and land on black silky-looking shorts. Her legs are long and toned and she’s wearing black fuck-me heels.

  She walks to the pole but doesn’t stop until she’s standing in front of it. Raising her hands above her head she grabs the pole behind her with both hands and drops her body almost all the way to the ground, allowing her back and ass to glide down the front of the pole. She is without a doubt fucking stunning.

  Lowering herself a little farther to the ground, she bends backward, causing her shorts to stretch, and giving the entire room a sneak peak of what’s underneath. The sight of her body on display shakes me out of my frozen state of shock and it hits me. The stunning woman isn’t just any woman—it’s fucking Ashley! What in the actual fuck!

  I look around at the guys gauging their reactions. The ones who know Ashley are all sitting in silence unsure of what to do. The ones who don’t know her are making comments about her body and how they would love to have her beneath them. Caleb looks over at me with wide eyes, and I realize he isn’t shocked to see Ashley on stage. He’s shocked that I’m seeing her on stage.

  Without thinking, I get out of my seat, knocking it over in the process, and jump onto the stage. With her back to the tables, she doesn’t see me coming, but the instant I grab her by her torso and fling her over my shoulder, she screams, not knowing what is going on. She starts hitting and kicking me, trying to get me to let go of her and put her down, but I’m not having it.

  “Don’t fucking move!”