by Nikki Ash
“Then you should do it. I will have to check out these strip clubs once they reopen. Why don’t we have my family over for dinner and I can ask my sister what she thinks since she is an attorney. Maybe she can even represent you.”
“That would be great, thanks.” I grab her hips and pull her onto my lap. Now that I have had a taste of this woman I can’t get enough.
“Was that Kayla on the phone?” I ask while situating her on me so she’s sitting with her legs on each side of me facing me.
“Yes, she dropped Marco off at school. He loves spending time with Chloe. I am so glad Kayla and Bentley are getting approved to adopt her.”
“They are good people. So are you. You choosing to bring Marco home making the choice to adopt him is one of the most selfless acts I have witnessed. Providing him this home, a room to call his own, clothes, food… You are amazing.”
She nuzzles her face into my shoulder shaking her head. I pull her back up to look at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just sometimes it doesn’t feel selfless… Sometimes it feels like I need Marco more than he needs me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Before he moved in here I felt so alone.” She shrugs and continues. “I’m not exactly young, Caleb. I am in my thirties. I spent so many years focusing on school I never got serious with a guy, and with my younger sister getting engaged I realized maybe having my own kids won’t be possible. Adopting Marco means creating my own family. Even if I meet someone one day; taking the time to get to know him, getting married, and him wanting kids, it could be years. What if I’m too old by then and can’t have my own kids?”
I think about everything she just said and a gut-wrenching feeling of jealousy consumes me. The thought of her meeting another man and getting married makes my hands tighten on her hips. I want to be that man. I want to be part of that family she just described. I don’t, however, want to scare her with too much too soon. Shit, these thoughts are scaring me!
“You are amazing. Marco is so lucky to have you. I love that a family to you isn’t just biology. I love that you already consider Marco your child, but don’t give up on having your own kids. Plus… you aren’t that old.” I give her a wink and she glares at me crinkling her nose at the word old.
“I’m not that old huh? How old are you?”
“Still in my twenties,” I say nonchalantly. I am only a few years younger than Hayley but it’s fun to mess with her. She slaps my chest laughing and I can’t help but give her a kiss. Her stomach growls causing us both to laugh, so we head out to get breakfast before she heads to work. On our way out I notice the car Hayley was talking about parked a few houses down but don’t mention it to her. I don’t want to scare her. It’s the same car from the day I saw Marco talking to Hector and Santos. The third guy that was there got out of that car. He was the one dressed nicer, looking out of place.
We get to the restaurant, a little hole-in-the-wall place Hayley loves, and the waiter comes over to take our order.
“Hey Hayley, How are you?”
“I’m good. You?”
I can see the look in his eyes. He wants her. It’s obvious they know each other.
“I’m good. I haven’t seen you in here recently.”
“Things have been crazy busy. Can I get a coffee and the breakfast special?”
“Sure thing,” he says giving her a wink. Is this guy serious? Does he not see me sitting right here with her?
“I’m going to use the restroom to wash my hands.” Hayley stands up from her seat and heads toward the restrooms. Instead of taking my order, the fucker watches her ass as she walks away.
I clear my throat loudly, causing him to turn to face me. Lifting one eyebrow I glare at him. “You ready to take my order or would you like to continue to stare at my woman’s ass?” Holy fuck! Did I just call her my woman? Yes, I did because she is mine, and she sure as fuck isn’t his.
His eyes go wide realizing I caught him and he at least has the decency to look a little embarrassed.
“I want a coffee, a water, and I will have the breakfast special as well.”
He nods his head and scurries off to put in our orders.
When Hayley returns, instead of sitting across from her I move into the booth next to her.
“What are you doing?”
“I just want to sit next to you.” She giggles and it makes my heart soar. I love that fucking giggling. The waiter sets our drinks down and let’s us know our food will be out shortly.
“The waiter has the hot’s for you.”
“Oh stop it!” Hayley says, backhanding my chest playfully. “I’ve been eating here for years. He just knows me.”
“He was watching your ass while you walked away.” Hayley’s head flies back against the back of the booth and full on laughs out loud. It reminds me of the day at the gym when I saw Stephen make her laugh like that. I love that I am the one making her laugh now.
“Well I can’t stop people from watching my ass.” She chuckles.
“No but I can. It’s my ass.”
“What did you say? That you are an ass?” She laughs again.
“Very funny. I said… It’s. My. Ass. I don’t want anybody looking at it but me.”
“How very alpha of you.” Hayley laughs softly and then leans in and gives me a peck on my lips. I lean in closer wanting more. My tongue seeks entrance and she willingly grants access. As we kiss, my hand lands on her thigh and I can’t help but squeeze it tightly. I have never wanted a woman as much as I want her. Suddenly I hear a clank on the table and look up to see the waiter loudly setting our food down. My fist tightens on Hayley’s thigh and I can feel her silently shaking with laughter.
Taking her face into my hands I look her in the eyes. “Mine.” Her laughter stops but her smile remains as she nods her head yes. Damn right, this woman is mine.
After we finish breakfast, Hayley heads to work and I decide to have a chat with Jarred about the car. He let’s me know that unless there is any type of physical contact there isn’t much he can do. Even if it is Hector and Santos, unless they are breaking a law there is nothing we can do. He also tells me he already has a restraining order out on the men who are out on bail requiring them to stay a thousand yards from Marco and I until the court case. Apparently they are looking into Hector and Santos and the man they work for. His name is Antonio and he has been under surveillance for a while now but they don’t have enough evidence against him to make an arrest. At this point all we can do is keep our eyes open and if something more happens let him know.
We decide while I am there to go over all the specifics, the questions I will be asked and how I should answer. Because they are trying all of them separately their attorneys requested extensions. Luckily I will only have to give my recollection of the events once during my deposition. I won’t actually have to take the stand four different times unless their attorney calls me in for cross-examination.
When I leave the courthouse I see a text from Hayley letting me know her family are all coming for brunch this coming Sunday. This will be my first time meeting somebody’s parents, which makes me think about the fact that I don’t even really know where Hayley and I stand. That’s definitely a conversation we should have soon. I realize it’s almost three o’clock and head home to meet Marco at the bus stop since Hayley is working late.
“Hey bud! How was your day?”
“Really good! I wrote an essay in Language Arts and the teacher said I am a natural writer. Want to read it?”
“Sure.”
He pulls the essay out of his backpack and hands it to me suddenly looking nervous. I begin reading it. The topic is asking him who he looks up to. The entire essay is about me, and how he wants to be just like me. But what tugs at my heart is the fact that there is barely anything even mentioned about me as a fighter. Every example Marco gave was regarding me as a person. He writes about how much I care and how patient I am when teaching him to fight. He wr
ites about how protective I am referring to saving him and Hayley the day in the parking lot. Then he writes about when I gave him twenty dollars to play video games and let him order anything he wanted from the kid’s menu. He even says it was one of the best days of his life. Damn, this kid is just so unbelievable. To most kids twenty bucks at an arcade is a normal occurrence, but to Marco he writes about it like he was taken to Disney Land.
I can’t help but get choked up and when I look over at him to tell him how much his essay means to me he looks unsure of himself. “Marco, this is the best essay I have ever read, kid. The things you wrote about me…” I have to swallow the lump in my throat to continue speaking. “Can I keep this, please?”
His face lights up. “You want to keep my essay? You like it that much?”
“It’s the nicest thing anybody has ever written about me.” I lean over and hug him hard not wanting to let go.
“How about we go surprise Hayley at work and steal her away so we can go do something fun?”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
We get to the gym and I look for the guys to say hi to while Marco runs over to a couple kids who are about to begin a class. I find Cooper, Bentley, and Kaden bullshitting near the locker rooms with Alex and Stephen and a couple other younger guys who train here as well. They are all laughing and making digs at Kaden.
“What’s up?” I ask fist bumping everyone.
“We’re all going out tonight and Kaden is acting like a little pussy not wanting to go out,” Stephen says laughing.
“Yeah,” Alex chimes in. “I get those two not wanting to go out,” he nods to Bentley and Cooper. “They are pussy whipped with kids but supposedly Kaden isn’t even getting any from Ashley because they are just friends, yet he’d rather go sit on her couch and hang out then try to catch some tail. What happened to the playboy you used to be?”
Kaden laughs it off. Only a few people know Kaden’s story and why he acts the way he does. “First of all, keep Ashley’s name out of your mouth and second, I’m getting plenty of pussy, you dick. Worry about your damn self.”
Just as he says this he looks over my shoulder like a deer caught in the headlights as Tristan comes running past us toward the class and trailing behind him is Ashley. She clearly heard his last comment.
She looks hurt but quickly smiles and laughs playing it off. “Yeah, don’t worry. Kaden hanging out with me is only slightly putting a damper on his little black book. Feel free to go out tonight. I have to work anyway.”
She walks away without saying a word and Kaden runs after her not giving a shit that they are about to argue in front of half the gym.
“What do you mean you are working tonight? I thought you only worked two days a week.”
“Well things changed. I have… bills to pay.”
“Do you need me to watch Tristan? What’s going on?”
“Nothing is going on. And no, I have a babysitter watching him but thank you.” She smiles softly at him and then stands on her tippy toes giving him a kiss on his cheek before walking away from him. Kaden doesn’t go after her this time. He just stands there with his jaw clenching. I am not sure if he’s mad at himself for the comment he stupidly made or mad at her for blowing him off and acting like she didn’t care. But either way, it’s the most emotion I have seen from him since I’ve known him.
I say bye to the guys and call Marco over to join me. We find Hayley in her office where she is typing away on the computer not realizing we are watching her. I clear my throat and she jumps.
“Geez boys! You scared me.”
“We are here to steal you,” Marco says.
Hayley laughs at the excitement in his voice.
“And where are you going to take me?”
“Caleb said to do something fun but he didn’t say what.”
“Well, ok then. I am all yours.” She shuts down her computer and we take off. While I am driving I hand her the essay Marco wrote. When she is done reading it her face is wearing a matching expression to how I feel… complete love. Words don’t need to be exchanged to know how much we both love that little boy.
We pull up to GameWorks and its clear Marco and Hayley have never been here. It’s a huge state of the art arcade that also has a five star restaurant and a bowling alley. When we enter through the doors I buy the biggest package possible that includes dinner, a ridiculous amount of credits for the video games, and a game of bowling for the three of us.
Once I hand Marco and Hayley their cards with the credits on them we walk inside. Marco stops and looks around taking it all in, and Hayley looks at me grinning wide knowing what I am up to. Marco thought the tiny arcade was so amazing; well this place blows it away. They aren’t even in the same league of arcades.
“We can play any game we want?” Marco asks in shock never having seen anything like this before.
“Anything you want, and you earn tickets that will let you pick out prizes at the end. Now lead the way, kid.”
His first stop is Air Hockey. Him and Hayley team up against me. Within minutes I am kicking their ass but they are both cracking up laughing. Hayley tries to put her arm across the goal to block the puck.
“Really? You are going to resort to cheating?” I taunt her.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she says leaning over the goal giving me a tiny peek at her ample cleavage.
“Ok, but when the puck bruises your arm I don’t want to hear it.” I grab the striker and line up the puck pretending like I am going to hit it across the table. Hayley’s eyes narrow and her head tilts slightly daring me to try it.
I hit the puck to the left knowing Marco will hit it and sure enough he does. He knocks the puck into my goal and they both jump up and down giving each other a high five. They lost miserably but it doesn’t stop them from cheering about Marco’s goal. Hayley walks over to me and gives me a peck on my cheek.
“I knew you wouldn’t hurt me.”
Taking her by her waist I say softly so only she can hear, “The only thing I ever want to do is bring you happiness, baby.”
She smiles wide and it makes my heart melt.
“C’mon guys!” Marco yells over the noise of the arcade. We start working our way through the arcade games. We race each other in Mario Cart, challenge each other shooting hoops in Super Shots Basketball, play the classic Skee-ball game where I know Marco distracts me so Hayley can run up and put her ball into the highest slot, and after we are done playing probably every game imaginable we take our cards and Marco picks out several dozen crappy prizes that he believes are the best prizes ever. We take a gaming break for dinner and afterwards we take Marco bowling for the first time.
When there is nothing left to play or win we head home and Marco thanks us no less than a dozen times before he passes out in bed.
Hayley and I cuddle on the couch and partake in a hot make out session while watching The Bachelor.
“Thank you, Hayles.”
“For what? GameWorks was all because of you.”
“Yeah but this life… my newfound happiness… it’s all because you.”
Chapter Ten
Hayley
It’s Friday evening and everybody has decided to meet at a club on the strip for drinks. While I am at work I can’t help but think about where Caleb and I stand. We haven’t had sex yet but it feels like everything we have done has been even more intimate. The late night talks that lead to the late night kisses and cuddling. If he is able to make my body feel that alive without bringing me to an orgasm I can’t even imagine what will happen when we finally do have sex. My pent up sexual needs are at an all time high for sure. But I am letting Caleb run this show even if I die from sexual frustration in the process.
Since I knew I had a late meeting with one of the fighters, I brought a change of clothes with me, and Caleb is dropping Marco off at Bentley’s parents’ house. Kayla and Ashley are both dropping their kids off there as well. Liz and Cooper are coming
out but his mom is watching their two little ones wanting some grandma time. I text Caleb to let him know I will meet him at the club, unlock my car door and sit down to turn the ignition on when I see a piece of paper on my windshield. Ugh! It’s probably one of those advertisements to lose weight or for a free dental cleaning. I swing the door open and hop out to grab it from underneath the windshield wiper and shove it into my purse.
I get to the club and valet park. The guy hands me a ticket and I thank him. I spot Caleb waiting for me near the front door and walk up to him. He pulls me into his embrace, giving me a kiss that ends far too soon. We go straight to the bouncer and Caleb must know him because they shake hands and we go right in without having to wait in line.
When we get inside I see everybody is already there. Kaden and Ashley are sitting together laughing, Bentley has Kayla on his lap, and Liz and Cooper are slow dancing next to the booth. I also notice Alex is there with a couple other guys from the gym. I invited my sister and her fiancé Gavin, and they are both there talking to Kayla and Bentley. Kayla and Liz both know my sister from her visits over the years. I met Liz and Kayla while working at a bistro with them years ago when I was in medical school.
Caleb and I walk up and everybody’s eyes turn to us. I look down nervously wondering if maybe I have my dress on backwards or inside out, but it seems fine. Then I notice Caleb’s hand is still in mine, and everybody is staring at our hands. I go to pull my hand away from his but he grabs ahold of it tighter giving me an I don’t think so look. Nobody is sure what to say so they choose to ignore what is happening and greet us.
Hannah gets up to hug me but it is a one armed hug since Caleb still won’t let go of my hand.
We walk over to Gavin and make introductions. After everybody knows everybody we find an empty seat and then order our drinks from the waitress. I go with my favorite, a Lemon Drop Martini, and Caleb orders a beer.
“C’mon girls… Let’s dance!” Kayla yells over the music. She grabs my hand and Liz’s with Ashley and Hannah following behind us. We get to the center of the dance floor and the song is one I love. Somebody by Natalie La Rose is pumping through the speakers making me want to dance that much more. I get into the song with Ashley. While I can definitely hold my own, this woman has got some serious moves. We are grinding up against each other playfully when a couple of guys come up asking to join in. We look at each other, laugh and politely decline, continuing to dance with each other.
