by Josie Kerr
Lucy and Molly were enraptured by their drinks, and Buddy shook his head. “We’re good, Meghan. I’ll come up to the bar if I need something.”
Meghan nodded and went back into the main restaurant, dodging a racing Maude, who came to a screeching halt when she saw Lucy’s drink. “Whoa!”
“Dear God, it’s a glitter drink.” Colin shook his head. “Great. Just what we need.”
Bailey swatted her husband. “Oh, don’t be such a grouch. You know you love glitter.”
“I most certainly do not. I swear I’m still finding glitter in places that I definitely didn’t put it, after that Halloween fiasco. No comments from the peanut gallery, Thomas.”
“Wasn’t gonna,” Buddy said with a snicker.
Fighters on the DS Fight Club roster slowly trickled in, and soon the entire team and their families were gathered at the table.
Colin clinked his knife on the edge of his glass, and the patio quieted. He cleared his throat and began speaking.
“Okay, well, you know this isn’t really my thing, this ‘making speeches’ business, but sometimes it needs to be done. People, we have a whole lot to celebrate right now. Lots and lots of changes to DS Fight Club. We have the first official member of the women’s featherweight division, Bridget Doherty.” He gestured at the woman from Southie, who inclined her head and gave a shy grin, blushing when a burly fellow next to her kissed her on the cheek. Colin shook his head. “Nolan, you can wait to play grab-ass—”
“Colin, language, please.” Bailey shot her husband a stern look.
The big former champion grimaced at his wife, prompting snickers from several of the fighters. “Babydoll, let me get through this.” Bailey arched an eyebrow at him but then gave him a little secret smile. He grinned at her and continued, despite the chuckling and hooting of the people around the table.
“We’ve got not one, not two, but three title fights coming up. Pierce is defending his heavyweight belt for the second time. Tig’s going into his third title defense at featherweight. And Dig is gonna show the light heavyweights how the big boys play. And speaking of Dig, we all need to congratulate him and his lovely wife on their, uh . . .” Colin faltered, seemingly trying to find the right phrase.
“Knocked up, what what!” Nanda shimmied in her chair. “Baby Dig on the way!”
The room erupted in whoops and cheers, but Colin’s voice rose above the clamor. “Okay, one more, y’all. One more. We all know we couldn’t have survived Future Cage Legends without his mad matchmaking skills. He’s Bailey’s big brother, and the father of yet another DS Fight Club daughter and another on the way”—more chuckling from the group, as there had yet to be a DS Fight Club son— “he’s our matchmaker, Buddy Thomas.”
“That’s you, Daddy,” Lucy stage-whispered, beaming.
“I know, sweet pea,” Buddy whispered back.
“So let’s raise our glasses to each other and celebrate a job well done.” Everyone raised their glasses and “Sláinte,” “Salud,” and “Cheers” rang through the air. Colin banged on his glass again, and people settled down, but not as completely or as quietly as before. “One last thing, y’all: get ready for a major shit show when Future Cage Legends premiers in a few weeks, because I feel like it’s gonna be a wild-ass ride.”
“Colin!” Bailey covered her face with her hands.
“I’m gonna shut up now because I can’t stop cussing, but I want you to know, y’all are awesome, and I . . .” Colin licked his lips, and the room held its collective breath. “Man, I have so much respect for every fucking one of you, and I am blessed to work with such a fantastic group of people.” He blew out a breath. “So let’s celebrate tonight, because most of these sumbitches are going to have to start cutting weight soon. Cheers, y’all!”
Colin sat down, and Buddy watched him grab Bailey and kiss her soundly. She looked stunned afterward, and Colin just shrugged. Buddy had to laugh.
“You good, Buddy?” Molly squeezed his hand.
“Oh yeah, babe, I am perfect.”
The End
Buddy & Molly’s Playlist
You Look Good — Lady Antebellum
Mama’s Broken Heart — Miranda Lambert
Meant to Be — Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line
Woke Up like This — River Town Saints
Might as Well Be Me — Chad Brownlee
Middle of a Memory — Cole Swindell
A Woman Like — Johnny Reed
Whatcha — Madeline Merlo
Breathless – Joe Nichols
Letter to my Readers
It all started out as a character sketch of a kickboxing cowboy who then morphed into a throwaway character in Colin’s story, but that throwaway character continued to run his mouth, and so Tig got his own damn book to join Junior, because everyone loves Junior, right? And then Junior’s baby sister and her tattooed, Eagle Scout of a lady’s man, Dig. So four books, in what was originally a five story set.
But what about Ryan? He was complicated. And dammit, what if Pierce the bad boy wasn’t really that bad? But there’s a girl fighter, too. And gaah – Bailey’s brother? What about him? So, eight books, instead of five.
Eight books.
And maybe a spin-off series. Okay, definitely a spin-off series. Maybe two, or more, because what about Cal’s brothers, and heaven forbid we exclude the other five Richards men, especially Jason as he continues to tangle with Meghan, the Foley’s bartender. Oops that might be three.
Huh. Looks like I’ve got a lot of writing to do.
I want to thank everyone for their love and support, but a few people need a special shout out:
To Alex, Tiffany and Yvette for letting me ramble on and on, switch characters, and give me great feedback. I couldn’t do it without y’all.
Café Denizens, you make me laugh. I love your support and appreciation of the male figure. ;)
Randy Sewell of Model Images Photography for photographing some of those males appreciated by the Denizens, and Matt, Alfie, Niko, Justin, and Chris, for being those males.
And especially the readers of the DS Fight Club series. Your emails and Facebook messages and comments inspire me to keep writing.
Thank you so much.
With love, books, and glitter!
Josie Kerr
Also by Josie Kerr
The Second Chance Neighbors series
A Bad Bit Nice
The Best Ever
The DS Fight Club Series
Fighter
Kicker
Trainer
Striker
Brawler
Cutman
Clincher
Matchmaker
Forthcoming
The Harper Brothers (2018)
(Nolan, Cal Harper and Tobias Harper)
The Richards Men (2018)
(Ryan, Jason, Kyle, Darren, Johnny, and Jack Richards)
About the Author
Josie Kerr is a transplanted West Texan living on the edge of semi-profoundly rural Georgia, a.k.a. the southernmost edge of the northernmost county in Metro Atlanta.
She has an M.Ed. in Secondary English Education, but discovered that she hated high school more the second time than she did the first, so she decided to meld her love of technology with her background in education and became an Instructional Designer. When not writing articles about how to fire someone without getting sued or why you should really not apply for jobs using your [email protected] email address, she writes steamy romance novels that feature grown-up heroes and heroines.
Connect with Josie:
Website: www.josiekerr.com
Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorJosieKerr
Twitter: @AuthorJosieKerr
Pinterest: pinterest.com/AuthorJosieKerr
Spotify: AuthorJosieKerr
Amazon: Author.to/AuthorJosieKerr
For bonus material, giveaways, and special sales, sign up for Josie’s newsletter. (She’ll never sell your info or give it to a third
party.)
