by Tia Lewis
My heart ached as I felt some of those emotions from that horrible day when I pushed him away because of my grief. He had been hurting too, and we hadn’t been able to deal with it. “I’m sorry too.”
He cleared his throat and stepped back, some of the color returning to his face. “Well, um, are you involved with someone?”
Startled, I busied myself with the papers on my desk. “Why do you ask that?”
“That man, the fighter mentioned in the article. I was wondering if you were involved with him.”
I swallowed hard, thinking of the publicity that Benji had gotten. Some had hailed him a hero, and in my book, I owed him my life. He had taken a bullet for me, and a debt like that never could be repaid. “I think I am,” I said finally.
“Oh,” Tom said. “Well, I’m happy for you, but you know you can always come home.”
Home. What Tom was referring to was no longer home. What I had found with Benji and Amelia was the closest thing I had felt to a home in a long time. I couldn’t imagine going anywhere else. “Thanks, but I have something good going here.”
“Yeah sure,” he said, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I guess I should leave then.”
I sighed and walked from behind the desk, reaching out and pulling him into a hug. His arms wrapped around me and I breathed in his scent one last time. “Thank you for coming, Tom.”
“Always,” he said, releasing me. “I just, I want you to be safe Dannie. If our daughter hadn’t died...”
I waved him off. There was no need to rehash the past. We didn’t know if we would be together if she had survived. “We had a good life, Tom. I don’t regret any of it.”
“Me either,” he said, giving me a grin that had roped me in all those years ago. “See you, Dannie.”
“Bye Tom,” I said as he walked out. It felt good to close that chapter of my life.
The apartment was packed when I walked in, balancing a cake and Benji’s favorite chips in my hands. “Danielle!” Hannah exclaimed, grabbing the cake before I could dump it on the floor. “You made it finally.”
“Sorry,” I said with an apologetic smile. “I had something come up at the last minute.” I wasn’t about to tell her that it was my ex that had come up. I still couldn’t believe that he had driven all that way to check up on me when he could have easily picked up the phone and called.
“Well I am sure happy to see you,” Hannah said, setting the cake on the counter. The counter was already loaded with food of all kinds, with the sink full of bottles of beer packed in ice. “Benji is out on the balcony I think.”
“Thanks,” I said, wiping my hands together as I pushed through the crowd until I reached the small balcony, the door propped open to allow for easy access. I stepped out, immediately finding Benji all alone, leaning against the railing. His arm was still in the cast, but my heart still fluttered wildly at the sight of the strong profile. He turned, and I gave him a smile. “Hey, what are you doing out here?”
He grinned, reaching with his good hand. I laid my hand on his, and he pulled me close, pressing a hot kiss on my lips. “Hey, you. I’m glad you made it.”
“Of course,” I said, my lips tingling from his kiss. “But the party is in there, not out here.”
He sighed, squeezing my hand. “Yeah, I was just doing some thinking.”
“Might be trouble,” I laughed, laying my head on his good shoulder. “Care to share?”
“I’m just thinking about my future,” he stated, looking out into the night. “I probably won’t ever fight again.”
I felt for him. I knew fighting was his life, everything he had ever dreamed of. “You don’t know that.”
He let out a sigh. “Yeah well, it’s pretty much wrapped up. You know that fight, it was my last chance at being a champion, and I am okay with that.”
I tugged him around until he looked at me, taking his handsome face in my hands. “Are you sure?”
He nodded, leaning into my touch. Benji couldn’t hide the regret in his eyes, however. “I think so. I’m a dad now, and fighting, it was me in the past.” He slid his arm around me, pressing his forehead to mine. “I was kinda hoping you would be part of my future.”
My heart stopped in my chest. His future? Of course, I wanted to be part of his future, whatever that might be. “Y-yes,” I stammered, unbelieving that this was happening. “I love you, Benji. I just didn’t realize how much until I nearly lost you.”
His lips curved in a smile, tenderness in his eyes. “I love you too Danielle.”
Benji
I was so fucking glad to see her. To hear her say that she loved me, some washed up fighter who had no idea what he was going to do with his life was the highlight of my night. I kissed her again, unable to help myself. Suddenly I wanted my apartment emptied, spend my time and the rest of the night making furious love to the woman who had stolen my heart.
But I couldn’t, not yet. There was an apartment full of people who had come over to celebrate my return home. They were my family, my boys. I didn’t know what I would do without them.
“There you are! Dude, you can’t just suck face all night.”
I grinned as I looked over Danielle’s head at Tony, giving him the middle finger. “Like you have the room to talk about sucking face.”
Danielle giggled as she pulled away from me, giving me a look that caused my cock to stand at attention. Oh, hell yes, we were going to rock the springs out of my mattress later on. “I’m going to see if Hannah needs any help.”
She left the balcony, and I drew in a deep breath. “Cockblocker.”
Tony chuckled. “It’s not like you could get your thing on out here. Not with that injured arm.”
I shrugged. “I guess not. Anyone break anything yet?”
“Nah man you’ve not only baby proofed the place, but you have also drunk proofed it too,” Tony said with a grin. “So, what do we do now?”
I ran a hand through my hair, thinking that Tony probably didn’t want to hear what I really wanted to do right now. Hell, it was written plain on my face. “I guess you are talking about the gym.”
“Yeah,” Tony answered as Paul’s face appeared around the door, stepping out. The new father was fucking glowing even though it had been a couple of weeks since Sarah had pushed out his child. I knew the feeling. I felt that way every day when I woke Amelia to start her day, watching as she learned something new. Paul didn’t know what he had coming for him. “What are you fuckers doing out here?”
“Talking about the gym,” Tony said, sliding his eyes over to Paul. “Do you think we should expand?”
Paul shrugged. “I think you can afford it and I’m willing to pony up any extra money I can pull out of the couch cushions. Having a baby is fucking expensive dude.”
I chuckled, completely understanding what he meant. Thank god I wasn’t buying formula.
“Damn,” Tony chuckled. “I never thought we would standing here, shooting the breeze about fucking babies.”
“Times have changed,” I announced, pushing away from the railing with my good hand. A year ago, I would never have expected to be doing this, to be in love with one woman, and thinking of a career past fighting. I thought I would retire from MMA. “I’m going to do some digging, look at expanding.”
“I’m fine with that,” Tony said. “We will have to check with Travis.”
I nodded, giving two out three partners a thumb’s up. This was the next phase in our lives. Hell, I was the last one to settle down, and none of us were fighting any longer. No, we were concerned with bills and diapers and shit.
“So, it’s settled,” Paul said a moment later. “We are officially washed up and fucking old.”
I chuckled, pushing at his shoulder. “Speak for yourself.”
Hours later I let the last person out of the apartment with a wave, shutting the door firmly and throwing the locks. The place was an absolute wreck. We might be washed up, but we still partied like fucking teenagers.
I turned back around to find Danielle with a trash bag in her hand, picking up the leftover food on the counter. “Don’t do that.”
She arched a brow. “You’re kidding, right? I will not be able to sleep knowing this mess is out here.”
“Fine,” I said, sticking my lip out. She laughed and resumed her cleaning, filling up four trash bags before the apartment was looking like a resemblance of normalcy again.
Placing the bags beside the door, I grabbed her hand and spun her around, trapping her with my one good arm. “Now can we have some fun?”
She plucked at my shirt, a saucy smile on her face. “Depends on your idea of fun.”
I leaned down and kissed her hard. “Fun that will have your toes curling madam.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Danielle answered as my lips traveled over her jaw, then down to the sensitive area on her neck. She sighed happily as her arms went around my neck, giving me better access to her neck. I was never going to grow tired of this woman. I was never going to regret the day that I gave her my fucking heart. “I love you,” I said, whispering against her neck. “I’ve never said that to another woman before, so I hope you believe me.”
She laughed huskily. “Well, I don’t care who you have said it to really, I just hope I’m the last one.”
“I can do that,” I grinned, releasing her. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”
Danielle
The Next Day…
I pulled the car into the lot and shut off the engine, looking over at Benji in the passenger seat. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
He nodded, looking up at the house. “I think I have to, for Amelia’s sake.”
I couldn’t help but agree. When we finally crawled out of bed this morning, Benji had suggested going and finding where Amelia had lived previously, putting to rest that chapter of her life. I had agreed, and now we were here, at the address that had been on Marcie’s driver's license. The house itself was one of those cookie-cutter houses along a quiet little street, surprisingly only about an hour outside of Chicago. I couldn’t imagine what was going through Benji’s mind knowing that his daughter had lived so close, yet if it wasn’t for this happening, this tragic event, that he would have possibly never known about her. “Come on,” I said, opening the door. “Let’s see if anyone is home.”
Benji climbed out, and I was glad we hadn’t brought Amelia, leaving her in the capable hands of Hannah and Tony instead. If we ran into a bad situation here, I didn’t want her to witness what her daddy might do. Benji grabbed my hand as we walked up the walkway to the front door, knocking on it without hesitation. “I feel like I’m about to do something stupid,” he said, his hand shaking in mine. “God, I’m nervous.”
I squeezed his hand lightly, giving him a smile. “It will be okay. Whatever happens, Amelia is yours, and she will have a life full of love and happiness.” I loved that little girl like my own now and was looking forward to being part of her life as she grew up into a beautiful woman. I could already imagine the birthdays, dates, dances, and school events that she was bound to experience.
“I love you,” he said as the door opened, revealing a tiny older woman.
“May I help you?”
“Um yes,” Benji started out, shooting her one of his winning smiles. “I am looking for someone who might know Marcie Henson.”
“Marcie?” she asked, emotion clouding her face. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but she died a few weeks ago.”
“I know,” Benji replied. “I am, well, I found out that I was her child’s father.”
“That poor little girl,” the woman breathed, tears in her eyes. “She was precious. Come on in then. I’m sure you have questions.”
Benji looked at me, and I shrugged, following the woman inside the neat little house. There was a smell of cookies in the air as we walked into the living room area, full of furniture and knick-knacks. “Please have a seat, will you?” she said, motioning toward the couch, covered with a colorful afghan. “Would you like a cookie?”
We both declined, seating ourselves on the couch, our knees touching. “How did you know Marcie?” Benji asked after a moment.
“Oh, my I haven’t told you who I am,” she laughed. “My name is Gertie, Gertie Travele. Marcie lived with me as my caretaker.”
I let out a breath. “How long did she work for you?”
Gertie placed a finger to her chin, deep in thought for a moment. “Well, my husband died five years ago so about that long? Marcie was a sweet girl, studying to be a nurse she was.”
So, she was the girl next door. I looked over at Benji, attempting to see his expression on what he was learning but he kept his friendly, a face I had seen numerous times before. It had to be a relief to know that Amelia had a happy childhood and a wonderful, hard working mother.
“And that baby of hers. I heard that she was not hurt?”
“No ma’am,” Benji replied, shaking his head. “She’s a happy child.”
“Good,” Gertie replied with a satisfied smile. “That was a precious child. She never made a peep. I let them stay in the house you know since it was just me and paid her a few dollars a week to do the shopping and pay my own bills. It’s sad to know that she died so young.”
“Yes ma’am,” Benji said respectfully.
“I had all her things moved to storage,” Gertie continued on. “I have the key somewhere around here. Got me a new caretaker, a sweet girl, who is running errands right now. You can have the key, and maybe that precious girl can have her mother’s things and hers as well.”
Benji cleared his throat. “I would like to bring Amelia to see you.”
The older woman’s eyes clouded with tears behind her thick glasses. “I would like that very much.”
We chatted just a few minutes longer, and Gertie located the storage key, wishing us well as we walked out of the house. I didn’t say anything as we climbed back into my car, some of the worries lifted off my shoulders. Amelia had been loved. There was no doubt about it.
I looked over at Benji, his jaw clenched tightly as he stared out of the windshield. There was anguish on his face at what he had learned, and I doubted because he was worried about Amelia any longer. Reaching over, I touched his good arm. “Don’t beat yourself up about this Benji. The good thing is that Marcie was a good mother, the best it sounds like, and now you have someone who can tell Amelia stories about her, good stories.”
He looked over at me. “I remember her.”
That wasn’t what I was expecting to come out of his mouth. “Y-you remember Marcie?”
He leaned against the headset, his jaw clenched tightly. “It was at a party after one of my matches. She was in a group of women who had been invited. I remember her looking like she was out of her element and went over to strike up a conversation with her. I guess we had too much to drink and, well, you know the rest. I woke up alone the next morning and didn’t even remember sleeping with her.”
I listened to him explain, his voice sounding tortured. “It’s not your fault,” I said gently, reaching over to stroke the back of his neck lightly. “It sounds like she took it all in stride and with all the options she had, she kept Amelia.”
“I just wish she had told me,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face wearily. “I would have helped her out you know?”
I nodded, a lump in my throat. This was the man who had stolen my heart. “Come on,” I said as I turned on the car. “Let’s get you back to the gym.”
Hours later I walked back into the gym, an envelope burning a hole in my hand. After dropping Benji off, I had gone back to work, smiling as a packet of papers had been handed to me to hand-deliver. I hadn’t opened the envelope of course, but what was inside didn’t matter. Benji was going to be Amelia’s father, and if all went well, I was going to be that little girl’s mom one day.
Benji was sitting in the office, pouring over some blueprints when I entered, taking a moment to watch him at work. I would never grow tired
of watching him, whether it was while he played with his daughter or when he attempted to mentor a young fighter. Benji had been full of surprises, and I felt that he had finally let go of the demon that had been plaguing him since he had taken Amelia into his arms that night. Today had helped that happen, and I was glad to know that Amelia had experienced a good life before she had found her father. On the way back to the gym, he had talked about the storage building and how we would bring some of the things back to Amelia and save the rest of her mom’s stuff for when she was a little older. If I hadn’t already loved the man with everything I had, I would have fallen in love with him all over again today. “Hey you,” I finally said, walking into the office. “What are you doing?”
He looked up and that oh so sexy grin crossed his face. “Hey. I didn’t hear you come in.”
I walked up to the desk and laid the envelope down in front of him. “This came today, and I was asked to hand-deliver it to you.”
Benji’s jaw worked as he stared at the envelope. “What if it doesn’t say what it needs to?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I reminded him gently. “The paperwork is in there. Unless you forgot to sign something, you are more than likely Amelia’s legal guardian.”
He blew out a breath and tore open the envelope, pulling out the stack of papers that was inside. I waited with bated breath as he read the contents, his expression giving nothing away. “I’m the father,” he finally said, looking up at me.
I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding, tears coming to my eyes as I saw pure happiness on his face. “Congrats.”
“Thank you,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Damn. You don’t know how good this feels.”
“I can kind of guess,” I said with a wry smile. “Are we having another party tonight?”
He winked at me, stuffing the papers back into the envelope for safe keeping. “Only if it’s just the two of us. We will celebrate with the rest of the team later.”