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HOLD TRILOGY
Book Three
By
Jayne Blue
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Text copyright ©2015
Jayne Blue
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author or publisher, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
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Series by Jayne Blue
Bonus Excerpt from WLUV Book One – The Consultant
(Featuring Hold’s Meyer Thompson’s Billionaire Brother)
Don’t Miss Jayne Blue’s Great Wolves Series!
The Men of the Great Wolves M.C.
First Look at the Ride Trilogy
Chapter One
Craddock
Women had been throwing themselves at him his entire life. He was used to it.
It used to be fun; they would do anything for him.
But that was until he met Cassidy. She always played it cool around him. Tried to deny what she felt. He knew how to turn from cool-to-hot with this woman. All he had to do was growl in her ear.
All he used to have to do.
Cassidy had blocked him out completely. She believed the worst about him.
It was not going to stay that way. Craddock Flynn was a man of action. He was not going to tour the country without his woman at his side. Well, she was not technically his woman right now, but she would be.
He had pretty much trapped her, made it so she had to be near him. She was furious. Cassidy in a rage was something to see, and when she realized what he had done, she was pissed.
He could wait it out, though. Cassidy was going to be his if it took a major donation to her school, a tug at her sympathy with Dylan, and every other move he had.
He was heading out on a tour to promote the new stars of the 21st Century Fighting League with G-Man. At the end, G-Man was going to fight the World Champion and Craddock was going to have Cassidy back.
He was not afraid to fight for what he wanted, and what he wanted was Cassidy.
He only felt a little guilty for tricking her into it but he could not make Cassidy his if he was on the road with G-Man and she was in Grand City. So he solved that problem, pretty creatively het thought.
He’d set in a motion a plan where Cassidy would be there for Dylan, she could hardly say no to his scheme after he donated to her professor’s precious research program, he knew he could break down her walls in that time.
Cassidy would be only inches away from him traveling in the same bus; she would be sitting in his corner with his brother Dylan. Eventually, she would let him in.
More than that, he would have her begging for him again. He knew every inch of her and he knew she was made for him.
He knew every beat of his fighter’s heart was for her.
Cassidy
“Ted, grab her bag. Cassidy, welcome to your new home. Make yourself comfortable. I’m going to check on the other busses and see how close we are to rolling.” Craddock said.
He clearly relished being the king in this rolling kingdom. It amused him to have her locked in it with him. But she was not going to make it easy for Craddock Flynn. She was going to fight him, every step of the way, including his bus assignment plan.
“I’d rather go in the same bus as Dylan.” Alone time with Craddock was going to be unavoidable but the first leg? Right away, she would be face- to-face with Craddock, with no buffer.
“You’re on my bus.” Craddock left no more room for argument.
“I’m riding in this one Cassidy! The TV is bigger in G-Man’s!” Dylan pointed to G-Man’s rolling house.
Both busses were designed to turn heads as they made their way cross-country on the tour for 21C.
The level of bus fancy was related to the status of the two fighters she noticed.
G-Man was the contender for the upcoming title fight and Craddock was a rung below him. Sure he had signed a huge professional contract but he did not have world champion on his resume as G-Man could very soon.
Thus, G-Man’s bus was “the bomb dot com” according to Dylan anyway.
Although Dylan was her responsibility, apparently he would be in G-Man’s bus for this first leg, at least. Her new boss had seen to it that this was starting out as awkwardly as possible. She had hoped to use Dylan as a shield but Craddock just took that away. King Craddock really thought he was smart.
Cassidy stepped on the bus, although 'bus' was not the right word for it. The thing was a mini-palace on wheels, tricked out with anything anyone could need.
Meyer Thompson, 21C League CEO, was calling this the Fresh Blood Tour. G-Man and Craddock Flynn were the fresh blood in MMA but somehow felt as though she was the one being served up on a plate.
She walked to the front. A driver named Ted was behind the wheel. This rolling house had a kitchen bigger than her apartment, bucket seats to travel in, a bathroom, and as she walked the length of the behemoth, she discovered it had a bedroom.
A king-sized bed stretched wall-to-wall. She swallowed hard. There were also bunks, and thankfully one of those was hers. It looked a thousand times more comfortable than her crappy apartment but she could not imagine sleeping this close to Craddock. Not to mention, Dylan snoring away on the bottom bunk.
She got madder and madder just thinking about how Craddock had set her up.
When she had explained the situation to Bess just a few short days ago it became painfully clear there was no way out.
“So, your university has funding to do the work that you know is going to change lives, thanks to your former boyfriend?”
“Yes, Craddock has paid to fund Dr. Showers' research, and for an actual assistant, and for a grant to a student. This year that student is me.”
“And you have to go with them when they travel to help manage Dylan?”
“Yep, professional fighters travel with coaches, managers, assistants and a bunch of staff. I’m the staff.”
“Jesus. Flynn made way more cash than I would have guessed on that show.”
“What do you mean?”
“Funding the program was probably a quarter of a million dollars.” Cassidy felt light headed at that number and had to sit down.
She ran away from Craddock Flynn and Paul Showers after they explained the deal to her. She headed straight to Bess, but she hadn’t come with a solution to being between a Craddock and hard place.
“A quarter of a what?” The amount of money that
Craddock had, and had given away, was more than she could wrap her head around.
“Well, funding for this year and three more years is what you said. That has to be huge.”
“Good God.”
“And your Prince Charming has also threatened to pull the funds all together if you’re not assigned to his brother? This is unethical, ridiculous; I’m going to complain to the state board of...”
“No.”
“You can’t be expected to do this.”
“Paul’s research is going to change lives. I have to suck it up and just be the better person.”
“You’ve got no track record resisting Craddock Flynn.”
“There’s a first time for everything. I’m doing it. I have no choice. If I really believe in the work that Dr. Showers is doing, and I really do, than I can handle a little awkwardness.” She knew awkward was an understatement.
She had fallen hard for Craddock Flynn, twice. Both times, he had broken her heart.
This time was different. She was different. Cassidy was not the same girl who walked into the Great Wolves Gym. She had learned a few hard lessons.
Dr. Showers' research was important. Her grant for tuition was important, even if Craddock Flynn funded it.
She was going to prove to him and to herself that she could help Dylan, help Showers, and get her work done despite Craddock’s wanting to play games with her heart.
Craddock Flynn was going to learn a lesson and Cassidy was going be the one to teach it. Being big, tough, and bossy was not the way to get what you want. If Craddock wanted her, he was going to be very disappointed.
She knew Craddock thought he had already won.
Well, Bad Boy of the MMA, you have only won a round, Cassidy was determined to win the fight. That meant he would not worm his way back into her heart.
Still there was that king-sized bed. It was hard not to think about what he would do to her if they both crawled in together. He was good at sex and that was it, she told herself. Well sex and kicking the crap out of his opponents.
If she was going to rise above memories of Craddock touching her and protect her heart she needed to start right now. Cassidy turned on her heel away from the bed.
Flynn was suddenly there and blocking her exit with his broad shoulders. Even toe-to-toe she only came up to his impressive chest. She tried not to let his clean smell turn her on. Everything about him used to. This was a new Cassidy. He had trapped her into this job and she was not going to let him win. She had closed everything off to him.
“You like my room?”
“It’s fine.” She was polite but cold. He was, as always, molten sex appeal.
“You’re welcome to stretch out here whenever you want.”
“I’ll be fine up there, thanks.” She pointed to the bunk. She slid under his arm and around him to get away. She was careful that her body did not brush against his impossibly muscled one. She moved fast enough in hope that he would get the idea to stay away.
“I’ll join you up front.”
“Just don’t touch me and we’ll get through this little scenario you’ve concocted.” She was being as professional as she could be, mean even.
“When I touch you the next time it will be because you beg me to.” He whispered in her ear, lips close to her lobe, but as promised not grazing her.
She ignored him and sat in the bucket seat. She flipped open her new laptop.
Sawyer, her boss at the GWG had gotten her a laptop as a bonus for her work setting up his very successful fight with GWG’s Zeke Powell and Cary Latanza. Because of that fight, the GWG in Grand City had three professional fighters come up from their ranks.
Craddock, Gary Gullich, or G-Man, and Zeke Powell, who was offered a deal after he creamed Lantaza of the 21C back in Grand City. Sawyer said it was really unheard of to have one gym and this kind of success.
Zeke was not supposed to win but he fought like a man possessed when given the chance. She was glad he was living his dream and that Meyer Thompson had brought him into the 21C but she was also glad he was living it somewhere else. It was yet another romantic complication she did not need right now.
Cassidy looked around the tour bus and marveled again at the place she was supposed to call home for the next few weeks.
It looked like a country music world tour. Instead of cowboy hats and guitars, it was going to be all muscle and mayhem. The 21C Fresh Blood tour was about meeting fans, visiting gyms, and fighting.
At the end, G-Man, who had been in the league longer than Craddock, would have the fight of his life with the World Champion. Craddock had told Cassidy this tour was more about PR than punching until they got to L.A. where G-Man would have a his shot. The Heavyweight World Title was billed as the Super Bowl of MMA. It was the marquee event for the 21C and it meant billions of dollars according to Sawyer’s estimation.
If just being in the league meant you could fund a university program like Craddock had, she wondered what kind of money it would mean for G-Man to be world champion. It was strange to think of the men who had been scraping by with her in Irish Town could probably buy half the block if they kept winning.
Money was not what she was after. A rich boyfriend was not her plan. Her plan had never wavered.
She was glad she had her new laptop and she could keep up with class. It was the one thing she did understand. Her own goals were not in this bus or in a ring. They were in knocking out her college credits three at a time.
She had gotten permission from Sawyer to be on the road for the six weeks. She knew her gym job would be waiting when they were done.
“You’re doing good work for the GWG helping Flynn and Gullich out in the road. I can hold down the fort here this summer,” he had said.
When G-Man faced the current champion, Kane “Lucky Devil” Broadman, at the end of their tour, she would be finished with facing down Craddock. She just had to stay strong.
Craddock and G-Man decided to bring Coach Boggs on the trip, with Whitey’s approval, of course his brother Dylan was along and some marketing person from the 21C. Jessie Hoolihan, Craddock’s best friend and fellow fighter from the Great Wolves Gym, was also coming along to spar and train with Craddock and G-Man. The busses and drivers had been provided by 21C. G-Man and Craddock paid for the staff. A fact that sat uncomfortably in her stomach but there it was. Because Craddock funded her internship by donating to the university he was now technically her boss.
Despite the opulence on wheels it really was a traveling circus of muscle, dysfunction, and in her case resentment. She did not want to be here, did not want to be under Craddock’s thumb, but she had no choice. As Craddock stretched his long legs out on the couch area of the bus, he checked in with Ted the driver.
“We okay? Gassed and ready?”
“Yep. Just waiting on one more vehicle.”
“What?” Craddock asked. She too thought they were all set with the 21C Fresh Blood Tour.
That is when another gigantic bus rolled up. They looked out the windows to see the new arrival.
The bus was tricked out, just like G-Man’s and Craddock’s, but the marketing on this new bus was unmistakable.
Clouds, blue sky, a single gold cross.
The Preacher’s Son had arrived.
Fuck, shit, damn. She had no other words for this development.
From the bus emerged 21C’s boss, billionaire Meyer Thompson, behind him The Preacher himself, Zeke’s dad, and then Zeke Powell.
“Well I guess the fight caravan turned into a rolling tent revival.” She quipped more to herself than Craddock. He did not miss a beat.
“You’re still with me.” Craddock said, “If you step foot in his bus I’ll tear him apart.”
She had no doubt that this was no threat. Craddock stalked out to the parking lot with a look of utter murder on his face.
Craddock
If that fucker messed with him or Cassidy, he would lay him out for good. That’s the first thought that came in his
head as the light blue bus with heavenly clouds pulled up next to his. All three fighters were now obliged to listen to Meyer Thompson as he gathered them around for his latest pronouncement.
“Well Gentlemen, I must say I like what the marketing boys have done with all three busses. Your own names and brands and the unmistakable 21C sanctioned logo. You will be rolling cross-country ads for the 21C. I love it.”
“We’re all going on the same tour?” G-Man asked the question that Craddock already knew the answer to; of course, they were going to be on the same tour. Craddock could not shake Zeke Powell; here he was again. This time, right up on his bumper.
“Yes, my contender,” Thompson nodded at G-Man.
“My new superstar Tough to the Top Champion,” he said with and gestured to Craddock, “And meet my new fair haired underdog, Zeke Powell. We really had to hustle to get his bus ready in time, I just added him to the tour.”
“Great.” Craddock did not plan to play nice.
“Each of your drivers has the itinerary as do you. I am not here to babysit or hold your hands. This is about you building your followings, your fan base, and making sure there are asses in the seats and pay per view parties across the land for G-Man’s title shot. You will be doing exhibitions, workouts, clinics, and autographs. G-Man is the star, but you two could be next. It’s about making the rounds.”
Craddock wanted that next rung as much as G-Man did. Kane Broadman had the belt they wanted, World Champion; he had had it for a year. G-Man and Craddock were gunning for it.
Craddock did not have enough fights in the pro ranks to rate a title bout. G-Man had beaten him into the league and he had been tearing it up with every fight he got. So, he was getting his shot. Maybe he would even win, knock Kane Broadman out? The odds were against it but getting the match was the key for Gullich. He was going to be able to try. Anything could happen in the octagon.
Craddock knew that someday that belt would have his name on it. For now, he was there for G-Man as he got ready to try to grab it for himself.
Craddock did not want to think about if G-Man did win. Someday they might be in the ring together, facing off, as they were now in sparring sessions. He would worry about that when it happened.
