Luke (A Cocky Cage Fighter Novel Book 8)

by Lane Hart

  “Hey, Luke, man. Your nephew is cute as shit,” Mace says when he comes up to the cage where Alex and I are going at it.

  “What?” I ask Mace, pulling my gloves off and dropping them on the canvas to signal a timeout.

  “Your mom’s up front with Eli’s little boy,” Mace tells me, pointing his tattooed hand toward the front desk. “The little guy was asking for you.”

  “Shit! I didn’t know she was coming by,” I mutter in a panic before pushing past Mace in the door. “Give me a minute,” I tell Alex over my shoulder who waves me on.

  With everything going on, and this being the first day at Havoc since finding out Meg was back in town, I haven’t had a chance to warn Nate about Eli’s son; and I’m pretty sure I saw him in his office earlier today.

  I jog up to the front desk that’s drawn quite a crowd. Guess even fighters like kids, especially when they see one that’s like the ghost of their former friend.

  When I’m only a few feet away, I realize that Nate’s already part of the group and is moving closer to my mom and Lennox in the center.

  Shit!

  I push my way through the guys just in time to hear Nate telling my mother, “He’s not Eli’s.”

  Fucking hell.

  “Of course he is!” my mother rebukes with a scoff. “He looks just like him!”

  “There’s no way!” Nate counters.

  “Hey, mom. Hi, Lennox,” I say in greeting, ruffling his blond head when I approach. Then I seize Nate’s arm. “Nate, man, can we talk for a second?” I ask him, tugging him back toward his office.

  Nate thankfully doesn’t put up any resistance, still looking dazed and confused. Once we’re both inside, I shut his door to give us some privacy.

  “Megan’s lying!” he tells me right off the bat, setting off all of my protective instincts. It’s one helluva accusation he’s making, especially about a woman I care about and trust, which makes me feel defensive.

  “She’s not lying. Why the hell would she?” I ask him, since there is no benefit to Meg naming Eli the father. He sure as hell won’t be paying her any child support.

  Nate shakes his head as he paces in front of the closed door. “I don’t know why she would lie, but Eli never slept with her.”

  That assumption makes me scoff. “Eli sure as shit wasn’t honest with her about you, so how could you possibly know if –”

  “He told me, Luke! The day he died, Eli looked me in the eye and told me that he had never slept with Megan and that she was still a virgin! So unless it was an immaculate conception with his ghost, that kid is not his!”

  “Eli told you that…” I ask him in stunned disbelief. “That she was…and that they never…”

  “Never. And Eli wouldn’t have lied to me. In fact, I had assumed that the two of them had been fucking the whole time we were together, so I was shocked as shit when he said he’d never actually been with her.”

  “So…so Megan was a virgin the night he died?” I ask, feeling a little queasy and dizzy as the room begins to spin around me. Someone’s lying, and it’s either my dead brother or the woman I care about.

  “Yes, I mean, unless she had sex with someone else without Eli knowing...” Nate suggests.

  “Right,” I mutter, swallowing around the boulder now stuck in my throat. I’m certain that Megan didn’t fool around behind Eli’s back. She loved him way too much to hurt him the same way he hurt her. Which means…

  “Do girls, I mean, they don’t usually…bleed during sex, do they?” I ask aloud the question that’s been on my mind for years.

  “Hell no,” Nate answers. “Well, let me amend that, not unless it’s the time of the month, the sex is rough, or you pop their cherry. Why?” he asks.

  “I knew it!” I exclaim. “Meg told me that she wasn’t a virgin that night, but she was!”

  “Hold on. What night?” Nate asks before his eyes widen in understanding. “You slept with Megan?”

  “Yeah, the night of Eli’s funeral. I’m such a shitty brother,” I say with my throat burning and a tornado swirling around inside my stomach.

  “Luke, don’t you get it? You are probably that boy’s father!”

  “Holy shit,” I mutter, having to brace myself on Nate’s desk when the weight of those words hit me. Is that even possible? I was definitely a fucking idiot for not wearing a condom that night.

  And when I first heard Megan had a son, I was almost certain he was mine. Did she actually lie to my face about me being Lennox’s father? Not only that, but kept him from me for three goddamn years!

  I know the answer, just like I’ve known since the moment I saw him…but now it’s too late. “Oh fuck. She lied to my parents and me. God, this will destroy my mom…”

  “I’m sorry Luke. Maybe we’re wrong and she was with someone else after Eli died. I don’t even know the kid’s birthday,” Nate offers the alternative, but it’s weak.

  Lennox is mine. He has to be.

  “I don’t know what she’s up to, but you need to go get a DNA test right now,” Nate suggests. “But if you ask my opinion, he’s obviously yours. He looks just like you, man, not Eli!”

  “He’s three, and I’ve only known him for a handful of days,” I mutter. “How could she do this to me? How fucking could she?” I shout before my fist rams into the office door, splintering the wood because all the anger and hurt bubbling up inside me needed an outlet before I explode.

  The pain and destruction doesn’t calm me like I needed.

  I trusted Meg! Hell, I’ve been in love with her for years, thinking about her, missing her. All this time…

  “Don’t overreact yet. After you have your proof, then you can ask Megan what the hell is going on,” Nate says.

  “Fuck that! I’m not waiting any longer. Megan and I are gonna have a talk right this fucking second!”

  Before I can leave, the office door flies open, banging against the wall and, no surprise, Jude and Linc are standing on the other side with WTF written on both their faces.

  “Holy shit, we thought Nate was in here murderin’ you or somethin’,” Linc says.

  Rather than argue the point that I could just as well be murdering Nate, I send a pleading look Nate’s way, asking him not to spill the beans on this to anyone until I figure out the truth.

  “Sorry about the door,” Nate says while rubbing the back of his neck. “Just a lot to take in finding out about the kid and all, you know?”

  Thankful that Nate’s covering for me, I slip my right hand behind my back since my knuckles are busted and probably bleeding through my tape.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jude says with a wave of his hand. “As long as everyone is still breathing…”

  “Right,” Linc echoes as they start to back out and shut the door that’s now sporting a peephole. “Sorry to barge in.”

  “No problem,” Nate calls out.

  “Thanks,” I tell him quietly once we’re alone again. “Even if it’s true…no one can know, or it’ll get back to my mom.”

  “Damn, Luke. This is seriously fucked up. But at least hear Megan out first before you lay into her, okay?” he asks. “Every story has two sides.”

  “It better be one helluva story for her to decide I don’t deserve to be a father,” I reply.

  Chapter Twelve

  Megan

  “Good afternoon,” I say to the room full of bored and disinterested high school students, trying not to let my nervousness show. “My name is Ms. Warner, and I’m the new school nurse. I want you to feel comfortable coming to me with any health concerns you have. While I’ll only have office hours here on Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday, I’m just a phone call away if you need to discuss urgent mental and physical health issues, drugs and alcohol use, bullying, STDs, pregnancy or any other sexual health concerns.”

  One of the boys in the back of the classroom raises his hand and asks, “Can I get some condoms?” followed by a roomful of snickers.

  “Actually
you can, as well as birth control pills and Plan B, which is useful for the careless occasions when you’re too caught up in the moment to use protection. All you have to do is schedule an appointment with me.”

  Even if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change a thing like preventing my pregnancy with Lennox. My life may not have been easy the last few years, but I wouldn’t trade my little man for anything in the world.

  “What’s your favorite sexual position, Ms. Warner?” another guy asks, causing a more boisterous wave of laughter.

  “We’re not here to talk about me or my preferences,” I reply coolly. “This class is to educate you on safe sexual health only.”

  The truth is, I sort of feel like a fraud standing in front of these kids since I don’t know shit about sex. I’ve only had actual intercourse once and very limited foreplay with my former high school boyfriend who died way too young and surprisingly turned out to be gay. Oh, and then the little bit I’ve learned from his younger brother Luke this past weekend. How can I simultaneously sound like a slut and inexperienced?

  “Any other questions before we get started on the symptoms of common STDs?”

  “I’ve got a question,” a deep masculine voice says from the doorway.

  When I glance over, my jaw drops because there stands Luke, looking angry and yet hot as hell. Wearing a snug black tee that hugs his biceps, his hands are shoved in the pockets of his loose-fitting jeans. Strolling further into the classroom, he asks, “So what are the odds that a boy could knock up a girl the night they both lose their virginity?”

  Oh shit.

  “Th-that is a good question,” I stutter, looking from the angry man to the classroom of gape-mouthed teenagers. “It only takes having intercourse one time without protection to conceive a child.”

  “Speaking from experience?” Luke asks, clenching his jaw while arching a blond eyebrow that’s identical to his son’s.

  Oh God, he knows.

  I’m not sure how, but that’s obviously the reason he’s shown up here out of the blue. Something happened, and now he knows that I’ve lied to him. He looks seriously pissed off too, as he has every right to be. I’ve hurt him enough for a lifetime, so I don’t even consider lying to him again.

  “Yes,” I finally answer on a heavy exhale, causing gasps and murmured whispers from the class, but I’m too distracted to care, strangely entranced by Luke’s livid yet sexy, confident swagger as he comes closer to me. “I-I was just a teenager when I got pregnant with my son the, um, night I lost my virginity to an even younger virgin.”

  “And were you ever planning on telling me the fucking truth?” he shouts with his fists now balled up at his sides, finally losing his hold on his composure.

  “Luke!” I warn him, eying the classroom of high school students, who are now, of course, very attentive when minutes before they were on their cell phones not giving two shits about what I was saying. This is not exactly how I ever imagined having this conversation, but we definitely don’t need an audience.

  “Class dismissed early,” I tell them. “Remember to always practice safe sex. Tonight, set the alarms on your phone to go off every two hours so you can see what it would be like to have a baby waking you up.”

  After the students slowly collect their things and file out of the room, I shut the classroom door and turn to Luke. “How did you find me?” I ask, noticing the visitor sticker on his chest.

  “I called both schools and they said you were here,” he answers, his blue eyes still holding mine while his strong jaw continues to tick. “Now are you gonna answer me? Why the fuck did you lie to me and to my parents, Meg?” Luke demands.

  “You were so young; you still are,” I start to explain, but it sounds so weak. And it is. I was gonna tell him after we moved back. So now I have to tell how, instead of being honest, I let my fear of his anger and losing my son win out over telling him. “And, um, well, your father called me the afternoon I ran into your mom at the grocery story. He knew. I don’t know how, maybe because of his name, but Phillip knew Lennox was yours. He told me that…that you would hate me once you found out I had kept him from you and that you would try to take him from me. Your dad, um, he promised me that none of you would go to court to seek custody if I said Lennox was Eli’s.”

  “My dad told you to lie to me?” Luke exclaims before he falls to his knees and drops his head in his hands. My chest aches, watching as his heart shatters into a million pieces, especially since I’m the one responsible, along with his own father. “Are you…are you fucking kidding me?” he stammers.

  “I’m sorry, Luke. He just thought it would be best for your mom too…”

  “Best for her, but what about me? Don’t I have a right to know he’s my son?” he asks, lifting his head to glare at me; and when moisture fills his blue eyes and overflows, it’s contagious. “Doesn’t Lennox…doesn’t he deserve to have a father?”

  “I didn’t know what to do!” I tell him, swallowing around the giant knot in my throat as the first tears fall. The threat from his father kept me from telling the truth, but at what cost?

  “This wasn’t just your decision to make!” Luke yells through gritted teeth. “How could you do this to me? Now…fuck, it’s too late! I can’t tell my mom the truth, or it will fucking crush her!”

  “I’m sorry,” I say to him again as tears roll steadily down my cheeks.

  “I’m so sick of hearing that shit from you!” he exclaims, hurt evident in his strained voice. “That’s the same thing you said to me that night, right after you fucked me and told me to leave. I was nothing to you but a revenge fuck or…or a runner-up to my brother, and I forgave you for that, but not this…” he says with a shake of his hanging head. “There are not enough apologies in the world to make up for what you’ve done!”

  He’s right, and I feel so helpless because I want to fix things so badly, to make it all up to him, and I know that’s impossible.

  Instead of apologizing again, I kneel down beside him to wrap my arms around his waist, not sure if he’ll shove me away or not. He doesn’t actually hug me back, but he doesn’t push me away either, proving that he’s a much better person than I will ever be.

  “You were only sixteen and had just lost your brother,” I try to explain in a rush. “I was…so ashamed of what I did. It was wrong of me to…initiate things with you when we were both so grief-stricken, not thinking clearly…”

  “Get away from me,” Luke interrupts, so I let go of him and crawl backward a few feet to give him space. “Do you really believe I had never thought about you that way before that night?” he asks. “Because I did! The whole time you were with Eli and even before that.”

  “Oh,” I mutter in surprise at his confession. For me, it had been a heat of the moment, out of my mind decision. To know it was more than that for Luke and that I not only asked him to leave afterward but up and left town the next day without saying goodbye makes me feel almost as bad as lying to him about his son.

  Wiping his cheeks with the heel of his hands, he says, “I don’t know what the hell to do now. I can’t possibly tell my mom the truth. It would be like…it would be like Eli dying all over again.”

  “I know,” I reply, swallowing down another apology. “How…how can I make this up to you?” I ask, willing to do anything it takes to try and one day earn his forgiveness.

  “How do you make up for the three fucking years I missed of my son’s life you mean? Or do you want to try and make up for the fact that all I’ll ever be to him now is his uncle?”

  “Both,” I answer honestly. “Please, Luke. I know I can’t go back and do things differently, but what can I possibly do to try to repair the damage I’ve done?” I ask him, but he remains silent, staring at the floor. “Do you…do you want to spend more time with him?”

  “Yes, God, yes! Of course I want to spend more time with him!” he declares when he looks up at me again, wetness still glistening on his cheeks. Pointing a finger at me, he says,
“And you are gonna let me see him whenever the hell I want, morning, noon and even nights.”

  “Okay,” I agree. “But I can’t leave my son overnight with people he’s just met.”

  “Fine,” he replies through clenched teeth. “I’ll come to your place until he’s comfortable staying with his uncle.”

  “You mean, you’re gonna stay over, like sleep in my house?” I ask him in confusion.

  “Morning. Noon. And night,” he repeats slowly and deliberately, leaving no room for argument. “You owe me this, Meg.”

  With a nod of agreement, Luke’s broad shoulders finally relax on a heavy exhale.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Luke

  I have a son.

  I still can’t believe that I’m actually here, kneeling on the floor of Meg’s classroom, talking about child custody so casually with the first woman I ever loved. On the inside, I’m freaking the fuck out since I’ve only held Eden, Senn and Abby’s toddler, a few times and played with Lennox for a few hours. That’s the extent of my knowledge of kids, and now I have to learn how to be a father. But I can’t let Megan see any hesitancy or she won’t ever trust me with him.

  And I don’t want her to see me as the same sixteen-year-old, awkward boy I was the night we had sex.

  “So you’re not gonna tell your mom the truth?” Megan asks after she agreed to let me spend more time with Lennox.

  “No,” I admit, rubbing at the stabbing pain in my chest. “It means the world to my mom to believe she’s got a part of Eli back…I can’t take that from her.”

  “What if she eventually finds out? Then it will hurt her even more. I should’ve told your father no. I get that now. But he thought this was best for you too, for you to be able to live your life without the responsibility.”

  “Look, Lennox is still their grandson either way, so we can just keep this between my dad and us, okay?” I suggest. “And I don’t even wanna get started on how fucked up it is that you didn’t trust that I could do this…"

  “I do trust you, Luke,” she replies. “That wasn’t it at all! I just didn’t want you to feel obligated to do the right thing…"