by Nikki Ash
“I’m ready,” I blurt out like an idiot.
“I would hope so. If not, it’s too late.” Fuck! It would help if I explained myself better.
“No, I didn’t mean about the fight. I meant I’m ready to ask your permission to marry Bella.” Cooper stares at me showing no emotion. “I know it’s only been six months since we’ve been together but I love her.”
“You left her today,” he argues.
“I didn’t leave. I was in shock that Logan died and I did leave the house but I came right back. We both know I’m not perfect. I’m pretty fucked up. I know it’s been fifteen years since my mom killed herself and I know I have lived a life most kids dream of since then. But for some reason, I just never stopped running. It’s how I ended up at your gym when I was eleven years old. I was running from my home, from my life.”
“And are you done running?”
“Bella is my safe place. I hate that it took me so long to come to terms with that. But she’s it for me.”
Cooper looks me dead in the eyes. “I’ve cared about you like my own son since I met you and I’ll give you my permission to marry my daughter, but Marco, if you ever hurt her like you did when you ran, I’ll hunt you down myself and kill you.” Then he smiles and adds, “Welcome to the family, son.”
Bella
Shortly after I’m cleaned up and checked out thoroughly by Hayley, my dad and I make our way to the seats Caleb has reserved for us. Hayley is the medic for Marco’s fight so she stays back, and Kaden, since he’s Marco’s trainer, stays back as well. We watch each fight, cheering for the guys we know and want to win, until the main fight of the night comes on. The music goes silent as the ring announcer announces up next is the main fight.
When Marco’s name is called, the crowd goes nuts. He walks out with his mini entourage but my eyes are only on him. He looks sexy as hell and he’s all mine. Once he gets to the ring, Antoine is announced and the crowd cheers almost as loud.
The two men are given the rules by the referee and the fight begins. Both guys are throwing punches and kicks, getting hits in. It seems like an even match up. Neither giving in or making any huge moves. Round one ends.
The guys are broken apart and cleaned up.
Round two begins and they both come at each other swinging. They are getting more hits in. Marco’s left hook connects with Antoine’s face. Antoine’s kick connects with Marco’s leg causing Marco to almost stumble back. The atmosphere suddenly changes. They both start giving it all they got. Marco’s punches get stronger, he connects harder. Antoine’s knee connects with Marco’s ribs. Marco jumps back then comes at Antoine with sheer determination and force. He attacks his body over and over again, pinning him up against the cage. Antoine has nowhere to go. He’s blocking but isn’t fighting back. The horn blows. Round two ends.
Round three begins and Marco doesn’t hold back. He charges at Antoine, punching, kicking, kneeing. Antoine swings but misses. You can see he’s winded. Marco gets Antoine against the fence again, and with an upper cut has Antoine close to giving up. Marco follows through with blow after blow until Antoine goes still and the referee has to pull Marco off Antoine announcing him the winner.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, with a TKO in the third round, the winner and still reigning champ is Marco ‘The Maniac’ Michaels.” The commentator raises Marco’s hand as Daniel West comes out with the belt to put it back on Marco for the second time. I’m jumping up and down, screaming. He did it, again! And this time, I am here to witness it firsthand.
Marco takes the mic from Daniel West. “Thank you,” he says and everyone screams. He waits for the crowd to calm down before he continues. “I would like dedicate this win to my best friend, Logan. Some of you might know him. He was my best friend and he passed away this morning. So, Logan, this one is for you.” He looks toward the ceiling, trying to collect himself.
“I would like to thank my girlfriend, Bella, for standing by my side these last several months. Baby, we have been through so damn much. I love you.” At this, there several ‘aww’s’ mixed with plenty of ‘boo’s’ coming from the audience. I shake my head and laugh.
“I have an announcement to make. I am officially retiring from the UFC. I have made the decision to focus on my family. Thank you to everyone who has supported my career, Kaden, Cooper, and my dad who taught me everything I know, and my mom, who always made sure I was cared for after each fight. To my fans, you guys fucking rock! Thank you!”
Marco hands the mic back to Daniel West, shakes his hand, and then is led back to the locker room to get cleaned up for the post fight press conferences. A couple hours later and we are heading out of the arena. Marco is quiet and I’m sure it has a lot do with that fact that a year and a half ago, when he won his title fight and became a champion, tragedy followed. Holding Marco’s hand, we make our way out of the arena and to the hotel part of the MGM Grand.
He walks up to the front desk. “I need to check in. Last name is Michaels.”
“We’re staying here?” He glances my way and nods then takes the keys from the woman and signs the necessary paperwork.
“Can you please have our luggage brought up?”
“Yes sir. I’ll have valet go out to get it.” I wasn’t even aware we had luggage.
“Does my mom know we are staying the night? She has Micaela.”
“Yeah, she knows. We are going to meet them for breakfast in the morning. It’s already after midnight. We wouldn’t want to wake her to bring her home anyway.”
Marco presses the button for the elevator and once we are inside, inserts a card and hits the button for the penthouse. We take it straight up to the top and get off.
Once he unlocks the door, we don’t even make it all the way into the room before he stops short causing me to bump into him from behind. He turns around and says, “I thought about all the places I could take you tonight but every place meant getting into a car. I know it sounds ridiculous but…”
“No, it doesn’t sound ridiculous.”
“I booked this room the day I knew we would be fighting, once I made the decision to fight. My first thought was history repeating itself. If something happened to you…”
“Marco, let’s sit down. It’s been a long ass day. My body is sore as hell.”
Taking Marco’s hand in mine, I steer us to the couch so we can sit down. “I think my body is in shock.”
Marco chuckles. “Wait until tomorrow. You won’t want to get out of bed.”
“It was worth it. I want to fight again.” I grin wide and then groan in pain. My busted lip doesn’t appreciate me smiling.
“You will fight again. You did great, Belles. I’m proud of you.” Pride bursts inside me. Marco is one of the best fighters I know, and while this might only be my first fight, him complimenting me feels good.
“And you won the belt, again. I know you mentioned retiring but I just thought it was because you were scared. I thought once you got in the octagon and fought, you might change your mind.”
Marco takes my hands in his, bringing them up to his lips to kiss each of my battered knuckles. “I’m done fighting, Belles. If you would have asked me two years ago, I would have told you I would fight until they scraped my old ass off the mat but things have changed. Your dad is giving me an opportunity I can’t pass up. To run the gym and train is exactly what I want.”
“Are you ok with me fighting?” I don’t know what I will even say if he says no. Fighting is my dream and I’ve only just begun.
“You don’t need my permission to fight, Belles. Whatever you do in life, my job is to support you but I don’t want to support you as your boyfriend. I want to support you as your husband. I want to run the gym with you, raise our daughter with you, grow old with you.”
Marco pulls a small blue box from his pocket and opens it up. Then he gets down on one knee in front of me. “Baby, I told you this morning, the only person I would submit to is you and this is me, down on one knee, tapping out, and
asking you, will you marry me?” Tears fill my lids, quickly spilling over. My hand goes to my mouth in excitement. I nod yes until I can make the words come out. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you.” Marco takes my left hand and guides the ring up my finger then raises it to give it a kiss. He gets back up onto his feet, lifts me into his arms and takes me to bed, where he very carefully and gently makes love to me for the remainder of the night.
Epilogue
Marco
Roughly five years later…
I wake up and peek open my one eye to check the time. Six in the morning. That means I have about an hour until Micaela wakes up, maybe a little less because we are in a hotel and she’s excited to celebrate her cousin’s birthday. Technically, they aren’t really cousins but try to tell them that and they might knock your ass out.
Bella is laying on her back sprawled out across the bed, her hair everywhere, legs spread open leaving me barely any room, and of course, she has all the blankets. Fucking blanket hogger!
I scoot down the bed and once I get to the bottom, I pull the sheets off the bed and lay myself between my wife’s legs, staring up at the perfect view of her bare cunt. I love it when she falls asleep without panties on.
Starting at her ankle, I trail kisses starting at her calf, moving up her leg, ending at the apex of her thighs. She visibly shivers, and when I look up, I see her blinking at me, barely awake. Spreading her pussy lips, I dive right in, my tongue swiping at her clit—not wasting any time, because let’s face it, when you’re a parent time is limited. I push two fingers in and Bella’s hips buck in pleasure as she releases a soft moan.
“Shh… you have to be quiet. Our daughter is still asleep.” She moans out her acknowledgement and then I go back to eating her pussy like it’s my fucking breakfast until she comes all over my tongue and fingers.
“Get up here and fuck me,” she whines. At six months pregnant, my wife is even hornier than usual. Without needing to be told twice, I situate myself at her entrance and guide myself into her slowly. With her legs hooked around my arms, I’m in the perfect position to fuck her slow and deep. I feel her orgasm building again and when she screams in ecstasy, I thrust harder, my orgasm following right behind her.
“Let’s shower before Micaela wakes up.” I lean down and give her cute as hell pregnant belly a kiss.
“And you know she will be up soon,” Bella adds knowingly. “She’s been counting down the days until our trip to Los Angeles to celebrate Lexi’s Birthday. Speaking of which, I should call Tristan and see if he needs any help setting up for the party.
Bella
Marco, Micaela, and I walk into the bowling alley where we spot Tristan, Mason, and Lexi along with Tristan’s family and a bunch of their friends. Micaela goes running straight for Lexi who runs toward Micaela meeting her halfway. The two girls hug like they haven’t seen each other in years, when the truth is they video chat several times a week.
“Happy Birthday Lexi!” Micaela hands her the wrapped gift with the big number five on the front.
“Thank you, Micaela! My daddy said you can spend the night tonight after the party! And my grandma is going to watch us!”
I give Tristan a pointed look but he just shrugs and smirks. Every time we come out to visit him and Lexi, he always insists on taking us out to show us more of Los Angeles. I think he believes if he makes us fall in love with the city, we’ll make the move here. We have all begged him to move back home over the last several years, since Lexi was born but he says he loves where he lives. He loves rooming with Mason, and he loves owning his own gym.
Tristan walks over and gives me a hug. “Thanks for flying out.”
“You know we wouldn’t miss her birthday. We have been to every single one.” Tristan hooks his arms around my neck and over my shoulder as we join everyone. “Would be nice if you moved back to Vegas. Then we wouldn’t have to fly or drive five hours to get to you.” I elbow him playfully and he doubles over pretending I hurt him.
“I have to second that,” Ashley says.
“We’re not moving to Vegas,” Mason says. “The only hot available women in Vegas are prostitutes.”
He earns a slap to his gut courtesy of Tristan’s sister, Emma. “Don’t be a douche.”
Mason chuckles. “I said available. You’re unavailable until you’re thirty. Don’t make me and Tristan come to Vegas to whoop some guy’s ass.”
“You’re not going to Vegas to beat up any guys so give it a rest.”
“Hell yes, we will. It would be a lot easier if you would just make the move to L.A. like Morgan did. You can go to college here and room with her.”
“Can you stop trying to convince my only child who is still living near me to move?” Kaden growls out. “If she moves, we’re going to have no choice but to move here. Ashley is already bringing it up more and more.”
Ignoring their continuing banter back and forth, Tristan quietly asks, “So, is it a boy or a girl?”
“You have to wait to find out like everybody else.” I laugh. Marco and I couldn’t agree on whether to find out the sex of the baby. I wanted to know; he wanted to be surprised. So, we compromised and I found out but agreed not to tell anyone else. The nursery door stays closed so Marco won’t find out. Micaela knows the sex but hasn’t let it slip yet. It’s only been a few weeks, though.
“Give me back my wife and stop trying to find out the sex. There’s only a few surprises in life and this is one of them.”
“Are you hoping for a boy this time?” Tristan asks.
Marco pulls me out of Tristan’s arms, plops himself down onto a chair and pulls me onto his lap. He tilts my head back and gives me a hard, wet kiss on my lips. “It doesn’t matter what the sex is because we will be having at least three or four more.” He waggles his eyebrows at me and I roll my eyes because he’s lost his mind.
“I’m just kidding. All that matters, is that the baby is healthy… and comes out wanting to fight. Because lord knows, that pretty pink princess over there has no desire to fight.” We all laugh. Marco might be joking about the baby coming out wanting to fight but he is dead serious about the pink princess part.
As soon as Micaela was old enough to pick out anything for herself, it had to be pink. Pink dolls, pink babies, pink clothes, pink shoes, pink leotards. Yep, that’s right, our daughter, who is being raised in a family of fighters, does gymnastics and dance, and you better believe Marco is right there at every recital cheering her on like she’s going in for a UFC championship, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
The End
WANT TO READ Marco’s letters he wrote to Bella during his time in rehab? Continue reading.
CURIOUS TO KNOW Tristan’s story? Add Clinched to your Goodreads today: Clinched and check out an excerpt from his book following Marco’s letters.
Marco’s Letters to Bella
1
October 18th
Dear Bella,
Shit, that sounds so formal, like you haven’t been my best friend since I was twelve years old. I’m sitting here in rehab and there’s so much I need to say to you. So, I decided to write you. First of all, I know you are pregnant with my kid. I shouldn’t have told you to have an abortion when you came to see me that day but maybe it’s for the best I did because it forced you to walk away from me. I spent years saying I would never end up like my mom yet I ended up just like her. High on coke and heroin. Only, I know our stories won’t be the same, because you would never let me destroy our child the way my mom did. I know that’s why you decided to name Tristan as her dad, to protect her, and I need you to know I don’t fault you for that. You are doing something my mom never knew how to do. You are putting your baby first.
When I get out of here, I will sign whatever papers you need me to sign. I’ll sign over my rights. I don’t deserve you or that baby. If you would have listened to me, she would have been aborted. I’m glad you didn’t listen to me.
Marco
2
October 1
9th
Dear Bella,
Today has been rough. It’s been 11 days since I’ve had a single drug and while my 10 days of detox ended yesterday and the drugs are technically out of my system, it feels like I’m drugged out. My body is craving the drugs. Do me a favor, please? Never tell your baby about me. Pretend like I don’t exist. Don’t tell him, he comes from druggie bloodlines. Keep him the fuck away from all temptation. I’m not saying he will go that way and I’m not using the excuse of my genetics as to why I turned to drugs. But just to be on the safe side, make sure he never goes near them. Don’t let him ever be a fuck up like me.
Marco
3
October 20th
Dear Bella,
I hope your pregnancy is going good. I noticed in my previous letters I referred to the baby as a “he”. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t want to know the sex. I think it will hurt too much to know. It must be how a woman feels when giving her baby up for adoption. The less she knows the less it will hurt. Even though nothing will stop the pain.
Marco
4
October 21st
Dear Bella,
I want drugs. My back hurts and my head hurts and everything just fucking hurts. I want the fuck out of here. I came here to get better when I found out you were carrying my baby but what for? It’s not like I’m ever going to see him. Maybe I did it so I can say my blood running through his veins isn’t tainted but I was wrong. It is. It’s tainted. Just make sure whatever you do, you keep him away from me.
Marco
5
October 22nd
Dear Bella,