by Nikki Ash
Tristan looks me in my eyes. “I love you, Dad. Thank you.”
One would think he’s thanking me for the card and keys but I know it’s more than that. I might not be his father biologically, but Tristan is my damn kid just as much as his sisters are.
“No.” I shake my head. “Thank you.” This kid has given me so much more than I could ever give him.
Marco
“Merry Christmas.” A soft, feminine voice wakes me from my sleep. Afraid to open my eyes, I lay still and pray this is a dream. It won’t be the first time I’ve dreamt of her. Then I feel a delicate hand come up and run down my middle toward my dick and I know it’s not a dream.
Grabbing the hand before it touches my dick, I count to three then open my eyes.
Yep… I’m fucked.
Bella
It’s Christmas night and everyone is together at Kayla and Bentley’s house for dinner. Well, everyone except for Marco. He made up some ridiculous excuse and took off back to California. Caleb begged him to stay and fly out tomorrow but he insisted he had to fly out today.
I look around me and feel so blessed. I was only four years old when I met my dad so I don’t really remember it, but what I do remember is with him came an entire family. First it was the guys then came the women and kids. Over the years, it went from my mom, Aunt Kay, and me to an entire swarm of family.
I have never felt alone. I never had the opportunity to feel alone. Between my aunts and uncles, my siblings and pseudo cousins, and my best friend, Tristan, there’s always someone around. But even with all these people here, surrounding me with their love—and there’s got to be like twenty-five people here—for the first time I feel lonely. I feel like a piece of me is missing.
I can’t explain it. It’s like a hole in my heart… like a rock in my stomach. It hurts and aches and it feels like even the with all the love and laughter emitting off everyone in this room, it’s still not enough.
But instead of dwelling on this weird feeling, I push it to the side. Like I said, I am blessed. I don’t have a right to complain and I sure as hell can’t make someone want to be a part of my life.
I spot Tristan on the other side of the room and he shoots me a smile. It’s crazy to think about the fact that in five months I will be in San Diego at the University of California and shortly after, Tristan will be joining me. While I am not thrilled about going to college, I am excited to start this new chapter of my life. I’m excited to kick up my UFC goals a notch. In two months, I will be eighteen and I have every intention of making a name for myself in the UFC. I’m also look forward to going to New York with Tristan and Mason. That trip will be epic.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I glance over and Tristan is now sitting next to me.
“We have the best family.”
“Hell yeah, we do.” He hands me a wrapped present. “Merry Christmas, Bella.”
I take it from him. It’s small but thick and solid. I try to shake it but it’s heavy.
“Just open it!” Tristan laughs.
I tear the wrapping paper off, finding a book inside. “Open it.” Tristan encourages. I open the thick cover and what I find inside knocks the breath out of me. It’s a photo album. The first image is of my mom, Aunt Kay, and me when I was little. One in front of our old house, of my dad and me holding the Maleficent doll he bought me. Then there’s one of Tristan and me on our first day of MMA classes with our toothy grins. There’s one of the day my dad’s name was added to my birth certificate and I had my last name changed to Cooper. I keep flipping the pages as hot tears begin fall. There’s so many pictures and they are in chronological order. Tristan and me at tournaments, ones of Marco and me sparring, at the aquarium when we were younger. Me holding Nathan when he was a baby. Lilly and me baking our dad a cake for his Birthday.
The tears are coming down so heavily, I have to blink them away so I can see the photos.
“Tristan, this is beautiful.”
“Your mom helped me make it. We’ve been through a lot together, Bella. But this isn’t the end.”
I look up at him and he gives me a soft smile.
“It’s just the beginning.”
THE END
I hope you enjoyed Fighting series. Please continue reading for the first two chapters of Tapping Out: A Fighting Love Novel, as well as the first chapter of Bordello: A Mob Romance .
Other books by Nikki Ash
All books can be read as standalones
The Fighting Series
Fighting for a Second Chance
Fighting with Faith
Fighting for Your Touch
Fighting for Your Love
Fighting ‘round the Christmas Tree: A Fighting Series Novella
Fighting Love novels
Tapping Out
Clinched
Takedown
Stand-alones
Bordello
Knocked Down
Unbroken Promises
Heath
The Pickup (coming in 2019)
Tapping Out
One
Bella
Present day…
Two lines mean pregnant. One line means not.
Two lines. Pregnant.
One line. Not.
I sit on the edge of the tub in the bathroom with the door locked. My head is down as I stare at the tiled floor. There are thirty-four tiles. One is cracked. The grout is dirty. I should buy better cleaning supplies. The test said three minutes. It’s probably been closer to ten but I can’t look. Will the test still be accurate if I don’t look right away? Maybe I should take another one just in case.
Two lines and my life changes.
One line and nothing changes.
“Bella! You have been in there forever. Are we still going to dinner? The shower isn’t even running. Gina is going to be here any minute.” When I don’t respond, Tristan knocks on the door, again. “Bella!”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” I yell through the door praying he can’t hear the tremble in my voice. If he knows I’m freaking out, he will without a doubt force his way in here to find out what’s going on, and right now, Tristan is probably the last person I want to know what’s going on.
Taking a deep breath, I stand up and walk slowly toward the counter silently praying for one line, like praying now is going to make a difference, like if I pray right this second, the results will miraculously change in my favor. The second line will just disappear and all will be right with the world. Maybe I don’t need a miracle. Maybe there’s only one line. Maybe I am freaking out over nothing. I swear to God if there’s only one line, I am getting on birth control today! Not that I’ll need it, because if I’m not pregnant, I’m never having sex again! Okay, maybe not never again but not anytime in the near future.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. After holding it in for a few seconds, I slowly exhale. Nope doesn’t work, I’m still freaking out. I open my eyes and stare at the test.
Two
Bella
Five years ago…
I’m sitting in my bedroom staring outside at the beautiful weather. After five days straight of rain, I am sick of being indoors. The sun is shining and there isn’t a cloud in sight. I’m dying to go for a run but I am not in the mood for another run on the treadmill indoors, so I text message my two best friends, Marco and Tristan. Surely, one of them will want to join me for a run.
Group text: (Marco, Tristan, Bella)
Me: What are you guys doing? I’m bored.
Tristan: Mom is making me help clean the house. You?
Me: That sucks. Watching Something About Mary.
Marco: Of course you are…
Me: Oh hush! Wanna go for a run?
Tristan: Can’t… cleaning!
Marco: Where?
Me: Red Rock.
Marco: Okay. Pick you up in twenty.
Me: Okay.
Tristan: Have fun!
I pause my favorite movie and throw on m
y athletic shorts, a sports bra, and a thin tank top, then grab my favorite hoodie from over the back of my chair and throw it on over my head. Even though it’s April in Vegas, the weather is cooler along the trails. I put on my socks and running shoes and grab my water bottle from my nightstand to fill it up in the kitchen. Then I grab the hair tie from around my wrist and throw my thick mane up into a pony tail.
As I am leaving my room, I get a text, so I stop and check it.
Lucas: Wanna hang out?
Me: Can’t.
I stuff my phone into the front pocket of my hoodie then pull it back out.
Me: Sorry. Another time?
Ever since starting high school this year, it feels like everything is changing. For so long, I was just Bella, the MMA fighter. Guys always saw me as one of them. But this year, something shifted.
I look at myself in the mirror to see if anything significant has changed but I’m still just… me. I have chocolate brown hair that has a natural curl to it and matching brown eyes just like my dad. I am on the skinnier side from years of working out but was blessed with decent cleavage. I take a closer look in the mirror. My lips are naturally full like my mom’s and my skin tone is an olive color like my dad’s. Most people say I am the perfect mixture of both my parents.
While I don’t think I’m ugly, I don’t think I’ve suddenly morphed into some hot chick. I don’t wear makeup, my hair is almost always up in a ponytail out of my face, and I can usually be found wearing nothing but athletic attire when I’m not in my school uniform since I pretty much live and breathe fighting.
My phone dings again.
Lucas: Sure. Maybe we can go to the movies?
Not having any idea how I want to respond to his question, I closeout the text and put my phone away. I don’t think I look any different than I did last year but for some reason the guys are acting like I’m the new girl in town. I was born in Las Vegas and have lived here my entire life, so I don’t get it. I take one last look at myself in the mirror then turn my light off and head downstairs.
“Mom, dad!” I yell as I walk through the living room. “I’m going running with Marco.”
No answer.
I get to the kitchen and see my younger siblings, Nathan and Lilly, both sitting at the bar eating a bowl of cereal. Nathan is five years younger than me and Lilly is seven years younger. Long story short, my parents met when they were young, real young. My mom was eighteen and fresh out of high school and my dad was twenty-two. They fell for each other instantly but were both heading in different directions in life. My mom had no idea she was pregnant when they parted ways and once she knew, she had no way to get ahold of my dad. Five years later, they found each other and surprise! I was in tow. Once they fell back in love, they got married and then came my brother and sister.
“Hey, where’s mom and dad?” I grab an apple from the fridge, my go-to fruit in the morning, and take a bite, then fill up my bottle with cold water and ice.
“In their room,” Nathan says through a mouthful of cereal. I look at the clock. It reads eight in the morning. There’s only one reason my parents would still be in their room this late and I don’t even want to think about that reason. Sure, I’m aware that’s how my siblings and I were brought into this world but still…
“Okay, well, let them know I went running with Marco.”
“Ugh. Running.” Lilly scrunches her little nose in disgust. She clearly takes after our mom when it comes to exercise, which means it doesn’t happen. Like at all. Give my mom a book and a couch and she’s good to go. My dad on the other hand, is a retired UFC fighter and owns a UFC training facility here in Las Vegas called Cooper’s Fight Club. While I enjoy curling up with a good book on a rainy day, I have grown up in the gym and will choose anything athletic over lounging around like a couch potato.
“Can I go?” Nathan asks. Like me, Nathan enjoys the more physical activities. He’s not really into fighting but he loves to sweat. He usually spends his days at the Recreational Center my dad and his friends started years ago. It’s a sport complex for kids and teens to spend their time at, as opposed to running the streets. Nathan is really into football and for only being ten years old, he’s actually really good at it.
“Not today. I’m hoping to get in at least seven miles. How about we go for a run together around the neighborhood tomorrow after school?”
“Okay, cool,” Nathan says, shoving more cereal into his mouth. I finish eating my apple and throw the core in the garbage. I grab a cereal bar and my bottle of water and head toward the front door to wait for Marco as my parents come down the stairs.
“Morning. Just getting up?” I give them a knowing look.
“Actually, we have been up for a couple hours. We just had to go upstairs to…” My mom blushes at the realization she’s about to be busted.
So, of course, my dad saves her. “Find something. Where are you going?” Good change of subject, dad.
“I’m going jogging over at Red Rock with Marco.”
“Have a good run, honey.” My mom gives me a quick kiss on my cheek before going to the kitchen.
“Make sure you warm up good, first,” my dad says. Always in trainer mode.
“You got it!” I say back to both my parents.
Marco pulls up in his black Audi A5, a birthday present from his parents for his eighteenth birthday, so I yell bye and run out the door toward his car. I still have ten months until I turn sixteen but I am hoping I get something half as hot as his car.
“Hey!” I say getting in and putting on my seatbelt.
“Morning Belles,” he replies. Just like I do every time I get in his car, I begin to fidget with the music. I grab the auxiliary cord and plug my phone in, clicking play on my playlist.
“Damn, Bella. It’s too early in the morning for your girly shit.”
“Don’t talk trash about Avril. She’s badass.” I stick my tongue out and Marco rolls his eyes at me but still lets me turn it up.
The ride to Red Rock is about twenty-five minutes and the entire way I sing the lyrics to the songs obnoxiously. Marco shakes his head but I can see him smiling. Our friendship has always been easy. Even when he hit high school, and I was much younger, things pretty much stayed the same between us. Sure, he made new friends and would hang out with them occasionally but he still made fighting and training his number one priority which meant I still saw him daily at my dad’s gym. He didn’t care that I’m six years younger than him. He has always treated me like his equal.
Then, when he turned eighteen and started fighting professionally, I was a little older, and in the back of my mind I thought for sure he would forget about me and our friendship, but here we are almost three years later and still hanging out like we always have. Marco knows what fighting means to me and he is amazing about encouraging and supporting me.
The only person I am closer to than Marco is Tristan. Tristan and I have been friends since we were born (okay, not really, but pretty much). But while Tristan loves to fight and enjoys it as a hobby, he doesn’t really plan to go professional with it. He has mentioned taking the training route like his dad or even possibly becoming a sports agent one day. Who knows.
Fighting, in some shape or form, has been a part of our lives for as far back as I can remember. Marco’s dad, Caleb, is a retired fighter from the UFC just like my dad, and Marco’s mom is a doctor who runs a sports medicine clinic. My mom does the accounting at the Rec Center and my dad’s gym. Tristan’s dad, Kaden, is a trainer at the gym and his mom, Ashley, runs the Rec Center. My dad’s best friend Bentley used to be a UFC fighter but quit to become a stay-at-home dad years ago and my Aunt Kayla, who pretty much helped raise me for the first four years of my life, works with Marco’s mom at the sports clinic as a physical therapist.
See what I mean? Fighting is my life. My dream is to one day become a UFC women’s champion. Marco understands where I’m coming from because his goal is just like mine. Since he started fighting, he has been in seve
ral fights in the last couple years and he is undefeated in his weight class. His most recent fight was a few weeks ago and he was the main card event on Pay-Per-View. It’s the first fight he made seriously good money on, especially since he won but more importantly he has become a household name. He has women showing up to the gym wanting to go out with him, they are stalking his social media, and guys will ask him for his autograph while we are out somewhere.
Watching him fight and win is amazing. If Marco can do it, then I know I can as well. He might be older but I’ve been fighting longer. I can’t wait to turn eighteen and join the UFC, and I will join the UFC because I am determined. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.
“You ready to do this?” Marco parks his car in the parking lot and turns to me, his smile making my heart beat just a little out of rhythm. With black eyes the color of onyx, dark black hair shaved short, and caramel colored skin courtesy of his Hispanic roots, Marco Michaels is a damn good-looking guy. Then you add his carefree attitude and his fit body and it’s no wonder girls swoon over him on a regular basis.
I ignore the way his smile makes me feel and answer him. “Yep!”
We get out of the car and walk to the trail. After warming up and stretching we start on our run. While Marco could easily outrun me, he always runs next to me, keeping at the same pace. We run side by side in comfortable silence. The only noise is my app letting us know when we hit each mile. After the third mile, Marco slows down.
“Holy shit! I feel like I haven’t run in years.” Marco comes to a standstill, sitting down on a rock on the side of the dirt trail.
“What have you been doing the last few weeks since you won your fight?” I laugh, continuing to jog in place to keep up the momentum.