by Ciz, Alley
Trays of food were spread out on the coffee table, everyone filling their plates and grabbing drinks as they all took their places.
He tried to focus on the chaos around him, but he couldn't get past the irritation that came from just the mention of The Cutter minutes before.
The door leading to the back deck opened and a muscular guy with brown hair, a beard with a few days of growth to it and green eyes stepped into the room. Gage took him for another hockey teammate based on his build but couldn’t recall his face.
“Tink, can you call your mutt? He’s too fascinated by something in the yard and is disobeying his commanding officer.”
Maddey snorted, so he figured she must be Tink—with her five-foot frame, blonde hair and blue eyes, he could see the resemblance to Peter Pan’s favorite pixie. “That’s because I’m”—she pointed a finger to her chest—“his commanding officer, not you, Justin. Now, sit your ass down so we can get started.” She walked over to the open door and gave a whistle. “Trident.”
Seconds later, a large yellow lab bounded up to the door, sitting obediently at her feet, awaiting his next command. With a hand signal from Maddey, he followed her to her chair and lay down at her feet once she sat.
“Traitor,” Justin grumbled to the dog.
“You may be LPO to your team, but I’m the admiral in Trident’s life. Deal with it, big brother.”
Ryan snorted, and the dog rose from his spot to sit at his feet, resting his head on his leg.
Maddey's brother narrowed his eyes at the oldest Donnelly sibling. “Watch it, Donnelly. You no longer date my sister. You’re fair game now.”
“Pfff,” Ryan was clearly unconcerned. “You know she would retaliate if you did anything to me.” He tipped his beer bottle in the guy’s direction. “And you know she’s been friends with my sister for years, so her revenge game has really stepped up. Careful.” He sing-songed the last word.
“Fuck you, Donnelly.”
“Please, Just. You’re like the fourth scariest McClain, I think I’ll take my chances.”
“Fourth?”
“Yup.” Ryan made a popping sound with the p. “Your dad, Connor, and Maddey are all ahead of you. Tyler is a puppy dog under his fatigues, and Babs loves me like one of her own. So yeah. Fourth.”
“Sonofabitch, you’re an asshole.”
“Love you too, Just.” Ryan blew him a kiss.
“Can you two idiots behave?” Maddey scolded. "Gage, this is my oldest brother, Justin."
He reached to shake the guy's hand.
Before the group was able to come to order, the front door slammed shut and a familiar hot pink and green dyed head entered the room with a flourish. Lyle from the coffee shop and his much more subdued husband, Kyle, entered the room.
“So sorry we’re late, lovelies, hope you didn’t start without us.” He spotted Justin sitting on the couch next to Sammy and Becky. “Oooooooh, one of the SEALs is here. I love when you guys join us. Now take your shirt off.”
Justin ignored him, turning to Sammy on his right instead. “Have I ever thanked you for never objectifying me?”
“Oh, I objectified you. Just not to your face like Lyle,” Sammy confessed.
“True. It was one of my least favorite subjects,” Maddey confirmed.
Sammy was definitely more unassuming when compared to Lyle’s loud and proud flamboyance.
“Hey, babe,” Jordan called out to her husband. “Can you video call Tuck on the TV stream?”
“Why am I not surprised you had his schedule free for book club?” Jake said as he fiddled with a remote to connect the call.
Jordan shrugged the shoulder the baby rested against. “Someone has to keep you boys in line.”
“Yeah, if we left you to your own devices it would be anarchy,” Skye added.
There was a chorus of "M-Dubs!" shouted when Tucker Hayes, a winger for the Chicago Fire, filled the screen of the flat screen above the fireplace. Gage saw the guy’s eyes widen in shock when he saw him sitting amongst his friends.
“Okay, boys.” Becky called the room to order when the conversation turned to discuss the next string of hockey games coming up. “Time to talk about Holly and Jackson and how they give us all the feels.”
“Can we talk about how we do too many hockey books, and can we please have a good badass SEAL in a story?” Justin complained good-naturedly.
“You don’t get a say. I never know when you guys get to actually come for book club, so you get stuck with what we pick.” Maddey laid down the law. “Besides, we’ve done plenty of military romance.”
Who knew book club could be so cutthroat?
BOOK CLUB WAS just another excuse for Rocky and her friends to get together.
Did they all read the same book?
Yes.
Did they discuss it at book club?
Again, the answer was yes.
Did they stay on topic?
Hell no. They all had the attention span of goldfish, never able to stay on topic for more than a few seconds.
Was book club a good time?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
“Give me my niece.” Jase made a gimme gesture with his hands.
“Umm, I’m pretty sure our sister gave birth to a carbon copy of this one, so go get your own,” Ryan retorted, shifting his body to hold out an arm like he was posing as the Heisman.
“Yeah, but this one is my godchild. Hand her over and take your own advice and get your own. Lay is mine.” Jase feigned lunging for the baby.
“How the hell do you know? It’s so hard to tell them apart up close. How are you able to from all the way over there?” Ryan moved so he was on the other side of the couch.
“I’m a twin. We know these things,” Jase said confidently.
Ryan let out a bark of laughter so loud he startled the baby on his shoulder and was quick to soothe her before she could cry. “You’re a fraternal twin, bro. Doesn’t count when it comes to telling identicals apart.”
“Can you two idiots please stop playing keep away with my baby?” Jordan scolded her brothers.
“Besides, Ry, he’s right—you’re holding Lacey, Rocky has Lu.” Jordan pointed to where she sat with her own perfect bundle dressed in a Minnie Mouse onesie and polka dot pants.
“Don’t even think about it, Cap.” She pointed a finger toward him in warning. “Until your sister pops out another kid and makes me a godmother, I’m getting all my baby loving in with this one.”
“I’ll fight you for her,” Ryan taunted.
“The hell you will,” Jordan declared.
“Please.” She rolled her eyes so dramatically, it was a shock they didn’t fall out. “There are so many reasons why you wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh, yeah?” Ryan passed Lacey over to her godfather. “Name two.”
How did he still underestimate her after all this time?
She held up the hand not cuddling Lucy to tick the reasons off on her fingers. “One, because Jordan would kill you.” She pointed at her best friend, looking like the fierce mama bear she was. “Two, your enforcer”—her finger moved to indicate Jase—“is my best friend.” Her fingers curled to point to herself. “And three, if you try and come after me, my boyfriend—you know the current Heavyweight Champion of the UFC—will kick your ass.”
“Oh, I will?” Gage asked with a hint of teasing.
“Yes. You will,” she confirmed, never taking her eyes off Ryan.
“Good to know.” Out the corner of her eye, she saw a satisfied smirk spread across Gage’s ridiculously handsome scruffy face. “Also good to know I’m your boyfriend.”
Oh, shit. Did I call him my boyfriend?
Damn, I did.
I mean I think he’s my boyfriend. We’ve spent almost all of our time together lately. We’ve gone on dates. We’re sleeping together almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day. What does it matter that we have to keep it a secret at the gym? It doesn’t make it any less real. Right?
“This is brand new information,” Becky cried. Her best friend, the stand-up comedian, ladies and gentlemen.
“Yeah. For someone so smart, Alphabet Soup, you sure are slow,” Deck joked and she flipped him off.
“So we’re like…official?” Her voice squeaked at the end. Damn if she didn’t feel like she was back in high school again.
“How’s this for official?” He held out his phone, pulling her against his side, snapping a quick selfie of them.
She watched as he went to his Instagram account, posting the picture and sharing it to all his social media accounts. @TheKrakenUFC Finally got this pretty girl to tap out and agree to be my girlfriend @RockyToughAsSteele #CoupleGoals #FitCouple #GymBuddy #GymRats #BeautyAndTheBeast.
“You are so corny,” she said, but internally she was swooning so hard, if she were wearing underwear they would have fallen through the floor they dropped so hard.
“Oh, you are going to be a dream client to manage,” Skye said, already clicking away, whispering with Jordan on how to best optimize and promote Gage’s post.
She had to agree. Gage really was a dream. She just hoped her alarm didn’t go off before she got her happy ending.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Three times a week, Rocky and her father would meet at The Steele Maker about an hour before the athletes would arrive for their training. They would use the time to discuss who was recovering from an injury, who had something she would have to watch, treatment plans, changes to the training curriculum, and anything else either considered it important for the other to know.
Walking into her father’s office, black coffee for him in one hand and a pecan pie latte—Lyle’s better-than-sex variation on the basic bitch PSL—in the other, she wasn’t prepared for his first topic of discussion.
Vic Steele had never been one to play power games. His reputation and stature did the work for him. For that reason, most of his meetings with her and the other members of the staff were conducted sitting in either the armchairs or couch that surrounded a low metal coffee table, as opposed to from behind his desk.
Today he was behind the desk.
As she handed over his coffee, he did the same with an iPad. A quick glance at the screen showed Gage’s Instagram post from Saturday.
Welp. Happy Monday morning to me.
She took a giant gulp of her latte, not caring how it scalded her throat. Getting caffeinated as soon as humanly possible was needed—how she wanted an IV drip to speed things along—if she was going to survive “The Talk” with her dad early on a Monday morning.
He didn’t say a word, not out loud at least. But his eyes—those were shouting like a fight announcer, looking at her then down at the screen and back again.
“Dad—” she started but he cut her off with the wave of his hand.
“The information itself doesn’t surprise me,” he stated.
“It doesn’t?” She couldn’t help but ask.
“No.” There was a small curl to the ends of his lips. “I’ve been married to your mother for over twenty-six years. I know how a man looks at a woman when he’s in love.”
She was taking another sip of her latte and sputtered into her cup, then a coughing fit ensued as the liquid went down the wrong pipe in her throat.
Love?
It was too soon for Gage to love her. Right?
“That boy has had hearts in his eyes from the day he stepped into the gym. Plus, I’ve seen the way you’ve been acting around each other this last week. Again, I’ll remind you of your mother.”
This was true. Both Steele brothers—her dad and her uncle Mick—treated their wives like queens. The Steele Maker had a strict policy around respect that was a major contributor to developing the woman’s self-defense classes. When Vic learned the sordid details of what Jordan went through with Tommy—her dick-weasel of an ex, now thankfully serving a long prison sentence—he'd developed a program so even the smallest woman would be able to defend herself against an attacker.
“However…” The gray eyes she'd inherited were hard as stone as they looked at her. “I can’t say I’m not concerned.”
“Dad—”
“Don’t, Raquel.” He cut her off again, the use of her legal name making her wince. “I put these rules in place for a reason.”
She swallowed thickly. She’d been so caught up in how exciting it was that Gage claimed her as his girlfriend, making her feel like she was the priority for the first time with a fighter, that she completely disregarded the fact that he did it on a public forum.
They had been so careful not to reveal anything at the gym—though, based on her father’s comments, maybe not as careful as they thought. But the social media posting was a grave error in judgment.
“Gage is new to the gym. He’s a title holder. That means his first fight out of our gym will be a title bout. I can’t have my fighter distracted because of relationship drama.”
And there it was.
It wasn’t that Gage was dating his daughter that was the problem, it was that his daughter was dating his fighter. Once again, she came in second place.
Will I ever come first?
Choking back her feelings—it wouldn’t bode well for her to get emotional—she cleared her throat. “Dad.” A deep breath. “Gage and I have been together for over a week and it hasn’t affected his training. There’s no drama here.”
“Oh, no?” Her dad pressed a finger to the picture of the screen. Gage looking all smoldery and too damn hot for his own good in a blue henley a few shades darker than his eyes, only making those baby blues pop more with the contrast, and a few days of scruff on his jaw and her looking all starry-eyed, her messy bun tipping to the side as they mugged it up for the camera.
“Then what do you call this?”
He scrolled down to the comments underneath the post and there in black text was a comment from The Cutter.
@TheCutterUFC: Hey @TheKrackenUFC sleeping with your new coach’s daughter won’t help you beat me. Stop hiding behind the Princess and fight me like a man. #ScaredToLose #ReallyAPauper #TooScaredToFight #Can’tHandleThePressure #NotUpToTheChallenge.
Taking the iPad, she scrolled, already seeing the post had been shared and reposted everywhere. This was bad.
“Cutter has been trying to get Gage to rematch for two years," she said. "This is just his latest attempt.”
“Oh, I know.” Her father’s jaw was clenched tighter than she’d ever seen it. “I’ve already spoken with Jordan about doing damage control.”
“Isn’t that a bit dramatic? This will blow over in a day or so.”
“No.” The word boomed through the room. “I’ve worked too hard to establish the Steele name throughout the UFC. I’m not going to let this asshole use you to ruin our reputation.”
Her heart felt like it went the five full rounds inside the cage. She knew her father loved her, she never questioned that. But when it came to The Steele Maker, it was like Vic Steele wore blinders to everything except the success of his legacy, including his daughter.
“This is why we have the rule about dating inside the gym.”
She braced a hand on the chair in front of her. He couldn’t possibly mean…
“You—you want me to break up with Gage?” She kept her face impassive while everything inside her railed against the idea.
“Yes.”
Her heart stopped beating as she waited for him to elaborate, to say more on the subject, but nothing else came. No, she was just expected to do as he said, no questions asked.
“No.”
“Raquel, this isn’t up for debate. Besides…it’s against the terms of your employment.”
What? Was he out of his mind?
“You mean the job you practically forced me to take? Is that the job you’re referring to?” She was seething, so fucking angry she could breathe fire. How dare he throw her job in her face. She did
n’t even want it. She wanted to work for the Blizzards but like the dutiful daughter she was, she gave in to familial obligations.
“Don’t be melodramatic, Raquel. This gym is your legacy.”
It took everything in her power not to roll her eyes or stomp her foot. She didn’t want a legacy, she wanted love. She wanted to be seen for who she was. To be put first for once.
“One last thing.”
Now what?
“Your mother already called demanding a family dinner. It seems someone at the hospital saw the post and was asking all about her daughter’s new boyfriend. “
Family Dinner AKA The Inquisition.
“We expect all you kids over for dinner at the house tonight.” There was no getting out of it.
“You will come to dinner. You will bring Gage. Let your mother have her moment to celebrate. But make no mistake.” He leveled her with another hard look. “You will end this relationship with my fighter before you step foot inside my gym tomorrow.”
What the fuck am I going to do?
* * *
ALPHABET SOUP: So Papa Steele just laid down the law this morning. Family dinner tonight. Clear your schedules Gem and Beck
PROTEIN PRINCESS: Way to over dramatize. Family dinner rocks
YOU KNOW YOU WANNA: Yeah. Especially if Gem’s mom is the one doing the cooking
YOU KNOW YOU WANNA: *GIF of Fat Bastard saying “Get in my belly!*
ALPHABET SOUP: Normally I would agree. But for this dinner, he told me I have to bring Gage
PROTEIN PRINCESS: Oh shit *shocked face emoji*
YOU KNOW YOU WANNA: *GIF of man cocking a shotgun*
MOTHER OF DRAGONS: OMG!! If I get my parents to watch the girls can I come?
MAKES BOYS CRY: Me too. There’s no way in hell I want to miss this
MAKES BOYS CRY: *GIF of movie watcher wearing 3-D glasses eating popcorn*
MAKES BOYS CRY: If you didn’t understand why I chose this one. It’s me rocking some sweet 3-D glasses so I DON’T MISS a thing.