Huck pumps his fist at Slick. Kara is bouncing Krista up and down, helping her clap her little chubby hands.
A few minutes later, we are dead into this fight. The guy gets a drop on Huck and has him locked up. I step forward and before I realize it, I’m yelling at Huck. “Come on, Huck! Get out from under him!” I’m walking up to the barrier. “Come on, babe, you can do this! Kick his ass!”
Huck comes out of the hold and gets the upper hand back. I’m still screaming his name and cheering, until the official is holding his hand up in the air. He comes tearing out and runs over to me, picking me up by the waist and kissing me hard on the lips. “Heard you cheering for me, babe.”
I smile and laugh as he sits me down on my feet. He takes off back to the dressing room. So many emotions swim over me. The push and pull of what resembles a relationship between us are making me crazy. Crazy and turned on…
I step back over to our seats, earning a wink from my mom. Sloan and Kara give me a smile. Liz leans to my ear, “You looked like a seasoned fight fan. Then you looked like a fighter’s woman.” She laughs as she pulls away. Oh how I’d love to be that fighter’s woman, but I wonder if it’s ever going to really happen.
Huck’s fight was the last one of the night. After the officials announce all of the winners for tonight and how much they donated to what charity, Marco steps into the cage, taking the microphone with him. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out tonight. With your help, we’ve raised over twenty-five thousand dollars for our cause!” He waits for the applause to die down. “We’re blessed that Ms. Harmon is feeling well enough to join us tonight.” He glances straight to me. “Chelsea, hun, can you bring your mom up here for me?”
I nod with tears in my eyes. Taking my mom’s hand, I walk up the walkway with her to the cage and inside. My mom automatically hugs him. Marco pulls her into his side. “Many of you know that my boy Huck was the one to come up with this idea for tonight. Huck’s always been our thinker in the group, always inside of his own head, so when he came up with this, I knew we had to make it happen. My boys do their best to never let me down and I do the same. So thanks to the fighters and our sponsor, Bellator, we were able to make it happen.” The crowd gets loud again and I see why. Huck is out of the locker room and stepping into the cage with us. Marco points to him. “This boy right here is like a son to me. The late Detective Harmon helped save the life of Sly’s girl and his baby. Our family has always been a little different, but we work. As Huck pointed out, family looks after family and since Detective Harmon did such a good job looking out for ours, we’re gonna look out for his.” My mom is crying harder now. “Jenny, we want you to know you have a center full of people here praying for you and helping look after things. I’m very proud and full in my heart that we could make tonight happen.” He motions for Huck to come over. He must’ve ran through the shower because I can tell he’s freshly showered.
Huck doesn’t take the microphone, he steps straight to Mom, handing her a check. She looks at the check and hugs him, pulling down her mask to kiss his cheek. After she lets him go, he stalks over to me and wraps me up, kissing me hard on the lips. The crowd is going crazy and when he pulls away, he smiles at me. “Tired of playing games, babe. It’s you and me now.”
I nod with tears in my eyes. “Yep.” That’s all I can manage to get out. I’m so overwhelmed, a knowing feeling washes over me, I want Huck and I want him forever.
I hear Marco explaining the check that Huck just handed my mom to the crowd, but it’s like I’m in a dream.
The next hour moves quickly. Marco and Elaine give my mom a ride home. They’re taking Slick and Krista home with them so that all of us can go out.
CHAPTER 30
HUCK
We’re using the car service tonight, thank God! Training like we’ve been doing, we need a night off to have fun, all of us. The only people not drinking are either not old enough or pregnant.
Sloan slips up beside me. “So, I hear you’re going to take over my place.”
I nod, taking a sip from my beer. “Yes, I am.” I lean down to her ear. “Congrats by the way.”
I pull back to see her face bright with happiness. “I’m so excited. I could barely keep it from Marco and Elaine tonight, but we got them the cutest gifts for next weekend.” Then I see a glimmer of tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I pull her in close.
She waves it off. “Nothing, just hormones. I feel bad because I’m so excited this time and when I was at this stage with Sage, I wasn’t this happy. I was angry, scared, but not happy. I’m just having some guilt over it, I guess.”
I pull her into a side arm hug. “Hey, it’s completely different this time. You’re allowed to be happy. You’ve got a hell of a guy and,” I motion around us, “a big ass support system.”
She smiles up at me. “Thanks, Huck. You’re a good man.”
“I’ll second that,” I hear behind me.
I turn around to see Chelsea standing there. “Well thank you, babe.”
Sloan casually walks away, leaving the two of us there. Chelsea smiles at me. “So can I buy you a drink?” she says slyly.
I grin at her. “Nope. But I’ll buy you one.”
Making our way to the bar, I buy her a beer. “So you think I’m a good man?”
She takes a sip from her beer. “Yep, not bad on the eyes or in bed either.”
I pull her close. “You wanna revisit my bed sometime soon?”
She puts her arms around my neck and looks up at me, winking. “That might be a possibility.”
“Are you already tipsy, babe?”
She giggles. “Just a little. Kara and Liz made me do some shots as soon as we got here.” She keeps grinning up at me for a second until the song “Porn Star Dancing” comes on. “I wanna dance.” She pulls me behind her to the dance floor.
I can say on the plus side, dancing with a stripper is very, very fucking hot. The way she grinds her ass against me, my dick is so hard it could beat nails into a brick wall. Fuck me.
An hour later, we’re in my room at the house. As soon as we got in the door, I snatched her up and rushed in here. Tugging her skirt up, I grab the strings of her panties and break them. She fumbles with my pants, shoving them down enough that I can slam into her.
“Oh God!” I put my hand over her mouth.
“Shh. Babe. We’re not alone.”
She kisses the inside of my hand. I steadily pound into her on the edge of my dresser. This sex is hot and wanton. She’s clawing at my back through my shirt and I’m sucking on her neck. We’re both sweating and I can hear our bodies slapping together.
I feel her start to clench around my dick. “You almost there, greedy girl?’
She nods, trying to be quiet. “Um hmm.”
I slide my hand between us and rub her clit with my thumb, taking her over the edge. She bites my shoulder to keep from screaming. Feeling her lock onto my dick as she comes combined with the pain of her biting me, I come hard.
Once I stop moving, I lean over her. “Damn, baby.” I whisper. “I think you drew blood.”
She covers her mouth. “Oh my gosh.” She pulls my shirt over my head, touching the bite mark. “Holy crap. I did. I’m so sorry.”
I exhale. “No way, baby. I’m proud of that war wound. That was - intense.” I kiss her on the lips. “Best sex ever.”
She blushes, looking down at where we’re still joined. “I was trying not to be loud. That was the only thing I could think to do.”
“Babe, like I said, it was hot. Soon I’ll have my own place and we won’t have to worry about being loud,” I say as I’m pulling out of her.
Hopping off of the dresser, she smiles. “So you’re getting your own place?”
“Yeah, Sloan and Lox have found a house they want to buy, but she’s still in her lease for a few months so they need someone to sub it out to.”
She smiles. “Well that’s good. So how far along is Sloan?”
That catches me off guard. “What?”
“Come on. I know I don’t know her very well, but she wasn’t drinking tonight. Got kinda misty eyed over some stupid shit a couple of times.” She shrugs. “Just kinda pieced it together. Plus, I caught Lox looking at her with this look. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.”
“I don’t know how far along she is. They haven’t really told anyone because they’re surprising Marco and Elaine next weekend at the wedding with it,” I say, smiling.
She gets this far off look in her eyes and I can tell she’s holding back about something. “That’s great.”
Pulling her over to the bed, we fall down. I brush her hair back out of her face. “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re holding something back.”
She shrugs, looking down. “I don’t know. It’s just-. I felt like I kept my life on hold for so long, with a man I couldn’t actually have a future with. All of the people my age are starting a future while I’m still stuck because of my past.”
I pull her close. “You aren’t stuck. You might be stuck with me, but you aren’t stuck.”
She smiles and flutters her eyes. “Why, Huck Webb. Are you saying you want to be my boyfriend?”
I shake my head and look dead into her eyes. “No, I wanna be your man.”
CHAPTER 31
CHELSEA
I don’t know how I managed to luck up and get this weekend off. I’m sure Elaine may have had something to do with it since she and Huck invited me to Clearwater with all of them this weekend. We’ve had a great time. He threatened me that he’d spank my ass if I left him like I did in Jacksonville. I had my doubts, but it’s been wonderful. Elaine and Marco’s wedding was beautiful. The best moment was when they opened their gifts from Sloan and Lox. Elaine cried and hugged all of them. Slick acts like he’s super excited to get to be a big brother.
Mom did her last treatment this week and she goes for a scan and blood work later in the week. Hopefully they’ll tell us she’s in remission. I know she’s ready to be done with this. The week after chemo is always rough for her. My aunt came to stay with her again this weekend while I’m gone. For me, not having to worry about taking my clothes off for money again has helped my spirits a lot. I don’t know if I’ll ever thank the boys enough for what they’ve made possible.
I feel lips on my neck. “Mmm. You look gorgeous.”
Looking up in the mirror, I smile. “Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.”
“Damn, baby, if we don’t get going we’re not going to make dinner with everyone,” he says in my ear.
I look at the clock. “We have plenty of time, we’re not going to miss dinner.”
He nods his head, kissing my exposed neck. “Yes we will because the longer I’m in this room with you, the less likely I am to want to leave.”
I laugh and push him back away from me. “You get out, I’m almost finished and then we’ll go.” He grins at me. “I’m serious, my girl parts need a damn rest. I’m surprised you didn’t tackle me during the wedding yesterday.”
“Not because I didn’t think about it. I was trying to hold it together for Elaine and Marco.” He pops me on the ass.
“Oh, so that’s the reason during the reception you took me in a storage closet,” I say, spritzing my hairspray.
“Hey, I’d waited almost all day. You were in that dress and much like tonight, you looked good enough to eat,” he says with that damn grin that makes me want to jump up on this counter so he can take me right here.
I spin around to walk out the door but he stops me. “Hey, I’ve been waiting on you for years, I’m just making up for some lost time.”
I wrap my arms around his neck. “Hey, we’ve got nothing but time now. We’re okay.” I think for once in my life I’m on the right path and I get to have it all for myself.
He grins, pulling me out the door of the room. “Hurry, let’s go eat with everyone so we can come back and I can eat you.”
~*~*~
Rereading the text message on my phone, I smile.
HUCK: Got moved into the new place. Get your ass over here after work.
I grin to myself as I text back
ME: My ass is that all you want?
HUCK: Nope I’m greedy. I want the whole damn thing.
ME: See you a little after 6. I need to run by my place and grab a change of clothes.
“Girl, what has you looking like a big ole’ dose of sunshine?” Gladys, an older black lady that works with me, asks. “I’m gonna guess from that puppy dog look on your face, it’s a man.”
I laugh. “It is.” I scroll to a picture of Huck and me at Elaine’s wedding a few weeks ago.
“Whoo, honey child. He’s a big ole’ hunk of man.” She fans herself. “Wait, he’s one of Elaine’s boys, isn’t he? One of them twins?”
I nod. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Honey, you better hang on to a man like that,” she says, laughing and walking away.
Mom’s test results came back great. She has to go back every few months and get more bloodwork done but other than keeping that in check, she’s in remission. That’s been a huge relief. She’s gone to stay with my aunt for a couple of weeks. She’s taking the first steps to starting over. I know it’s going to be hard for her with him gone, but he’s her own personal guardian angel, which is great because I can’t lose her too. She’s shown me, she has the fight to endure anything.
Sloan, Slick and Lox got moved into their new place and so Huck finished moving today, I guess.
I shake my head as one of the nurses walks by. “Can you take this out to the waiting room? One of the patients brought it back with them and left it.” I look down at the newspaper in her hand and nod.
I see it was yesterday’s paper. Glancing down at it, I see a picture of Pavel in handcuffs. Mack took the information I gave him and ran with it. They linked the guy, Mitch Rosso, that attacked me to Pavel and Richard Markov. They’ve brought charges against Pavel. Theresa has filed for divorce and custody of their children. This is the first I’ve read about it in the paper, I’ve pretty much stayed away from it. Mack has kept me updated on the proceedings but that reminds me, I may want to call him just to check in.
Looking at the clock, I see it’s time for me to get out of here. Just as I’m thinking that, Mona, my relief tonight, comes in. I spend a minute or two updating her on everything that’s been going on today before I pack up and leave.
Smiling, I walk to my dad’s truck, returning a couple of texts to the girls. We’re planning a big housewarming cookout for Sloan and Lox at the new place so we’ve been having some group texts about it.
Once I finish that, I drive on to my place. Running inside and straight up to my room, I start tossing some items in a duffle bag. I grab the backup toiletries I have in my bathroom, I might as well keep some at Huck’s place.
Zipping up the bag, I run to the front door, swing it open and come to a screeching halt. I’m face to face with Pavel. I try to slam it back shut but he stops me by slamming his hand against it.
“Leave! Now!”
“Now Chelsea, dear, why would I do that? I know you’ve missed me.” He looks at me coldly.
I spin around to hit the panic button on the alarm panel but I’m knocked to the floor. Flipping over, I kick him in the stomach but he catches my foot.
Reaching down, he snatches me up by my shirt. “Damn it, Chelsea! I thought I could trust you.”
“Oh you thought you could trust me? Hmm, maybe I thought I could trust you for oh, I don’t know, six years! Or maybe I thought I could trust you when some asshole tried to cut up my damn face because you hired him to kill someone!”
I taste the blood when he backhands me across the face. “You do not speak to me in that tone!” He sighs. “Your friend here at the local sheriff’s department has started to make my life a living hell. You’d already started it with my wife.” He sits me in one of my mother’s straight back chairs.
“I’m sure
you’re so upset about your divorce. You always told me you were just waiting on her anyway. So it shouldn’t be a big deal…oh wait…that was a lie, too, right?” That gets me another knock to the face.
Snatching the house phone off the table, he takes the cord. I struggle against him as he uses it to bind my hands to the chair. “You know, someone is expecting me to meet them soon. They’ll come looking for me.”
“Oh, that steroid hopped up fighter? Is that who’s waiting for you?” he says right in my face.
I spit in his face. “Fuck you! I actually feel like I finally have a future with someone, you jealous greedy fuck! I hope someone fucking kills you in prison.”
He wipes the spit from his face calmly. “Oh, I’m not going to prison. I have plans to leave this country. I’m leaving it and with most of my money.”
“Oh, so you leave your wife and children with nothing? You really are a shitbag.”
“She had a choice to make and she chose. Now she gets nothing, along with her children,” he says, standing over me.
“You are a worthless fuck. You don’t even care about your own children,” I snap out. “You’re not a man, you’re a fucking coward.”
He hits me. Suddenly, my head feels heavy and everything goes black.
When I start to come around, I hear someone knocking on the door and calling my name. I try to call out but a hand slaps over my mouth.
I struggle, but all I accomplish is to knock over a picture frame.
CHAPTER 32
HUCK
Looking over at the clock, it’s almost eight. I’ve been trying to call and text Chelsea to see where she is. Around seven I called the hospital to see if she had to stay late. They said no. I called Kara and she said Chelsea texted them when she got off work about the cookout, but no one has heard from her since then. She should have been here by now. Grabbing my keys from the counter, I jog out to my truck. I call Mack from my phone and let him know I’m going over to her parents to check on her, something just feels off. She would’ve called me if she changed her mind. He tells me he’ll be there in a few minutes.
Holding Huck's Heart (Marco's MMA Boys #3) Page 15