Matchmaker (DS Fight Club Book 7)

by Josie Kerr

  “Right, she’s just started at a new school. Why would I want to disrupt her life yet again? And you know she’s painfully shy. Oh, wait, you don’t, because you haven’t fucking been around her since she was three years old.” Buddy snapped his mouth shut, realizing that he’d almost been yelling. “Jesus Christ, Natalie. Are you that selfish?”

  Natalie sighed. “Just look at the paperwork before you make a decision, okay? It outlines all the protections that will be in place. And it would work out well for the fight club, too.”

  Buddy frowned. “What? How so?”

  “Oh, crap.” For the first time that evening, Natalie looked nervous.

  “Natalie, exactly how could this help DS Fight Club?”

  “Colin’s been approached by the studio to do some sort of competition show. Two rival gyms, two teams of fighters, blah blah blah. The end would be some sort of charity fight.”

  “And . . . ?”

  “And I kind of told them I was involved with someone who was part of the DS Fight Club team.” Natalie smiled sheepishly at Buddy. “I’ve already seen storyboards with crossover promos.”

  “Oh my God. Some unscripted show this is,” Buddy spat, sneering, making scare quotes with his fingers around the word “unscripted.”

  “It is! But there has to be a plan. It’s not like you can just do whatever. People won’t watch if there’s not a compelling reason. It’s entertainment. You should understand that better than anyone in that club. You know you don’t always pick the most deserving fighter; you pick the one who will make the most popular fight.”

  Buddy shook his head. “Maybe with Raptor, but not with Colin. DS Fight Club is all about making the best fights with the most qualified fighters.”

  “Jeez, I can see why you guys need help.” He narrowed his eyes at her, and she held up her hands. “Forget I said anything. It’s not a done deal anyway.” She heaved a sigh. “Just look it over, Bud, okay? I’m going to leave.”

  They both got up, and Buddy walked her to her car. He opened the door automatically, and Natalie turned to him and smiled.

  “You’re a good man, Buddy Thomas. You deserve better than what you’ve had in the past.” Then Natalie got into her car, backed out of the driveway, and drove away.

  When Buddy walked in through the front door, he saw Lucy lurking around the corner of the hallway. He sighed and then chuckled, saying, “Okay, sweet pea, I see you. Come in here.”

  He flopped onto the couch just as she launched herself at him, and he hugged her tightly to him. “What’s up, buttercup?” he asked, trying to keep his tone light. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “I don’t want to go to a different school, Daddy. I like being at school with Maude and I would miss Miss Mayhew and I wanna see the crabs get their new shells and Miss Mayhew said that we might get chicks in the spring and we’re definitely getting tadpoles and I like our house with our yard and I don’t want to live in an apartment again.” She blurted all these words in one breath while hiding her face in the crook of Buddy’s arm.

  “Lucy, look at me.” Lucy raised her head, and her little face just about broke his heart. “Sweet pea, I am going to do what’s best for you, period, and that means staying at Hembree Springs. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Buddy could tell she didn’t believe him at all.

  “You really like Miss Mayhew, don’t you?”

  Lucy nodded against his chest. “Yes, I do. A lot.” Lucy bolted upright. “Did you see her costume?”

  Buddy frowned as he tried to remember what the pretty teacher was wearing. He had a vague idea that she was some sort of fish.

  Lucy heaved an exasperated sigh. “She was a mermaid. She had a whole skirt like my bag. You know, the one that changes colors?”

  “Oh yeah? That’s pretty cool.”

  “She said she got the idea from me!”

  “Is that right?” Buddy murmured.

  Lucy snuggled back into the crook of his arm and yawned. “She’s the best teacher ever. She’s nice, and she smells good, and she tells us stories about her dog, Louise.”

  “Oh, I bet she has lots of stories about Louise. She’s a big clown.”

  Lucy giggled. “She is. She dumps the garbage over a lot and eats smelly stuff and tries to kiss her.” She yawned again. “I am going to go back into my room, and I promise not to look at any more books tonight.”

  “Okay, sweet pea.” Buddy gave Lucy a kiss on the forehead. “Want me to tuck you in?”

  “No, I’m good.” Lucy popped up and scampered to her room, leaving Buddy to ponder Miss Molly Mayhew in her mermaid skirt until he fell asleep on the couch.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Molly made it through the whole school day without falling apart, though she was jumpy and the few times someone knocked on her classroom door, she found herself holding her breath until she knew it wasn’t Boone that was going to walk into the room. By the time she got to DS Fight Club for her personal training session, Molly was ready to work out some frustration. She stomped into the women’s locker room and began to change. Seeing the scrapes and scabs on her knees and legs was enough to push Molly over the edge from irritated to angry, though she wasn’t sure if her anger was directed more at her pompous ex or herself.

  “Oh, figures,” she muttered when she put her fingernail through the material of her leggings as she pulled them on. She finished pulling the tight pants up, did a few squats, and decided the resulting hole would be less of an issue than answering questions about her legs.

  Exhaling a frustrated huff, she set off in search of Bridget to begin their session. The feisty female fighter was always wanting Molly to be more aggressive during her sessions. Molly thought Bridget might be getting more than she bargained for today. Spying her trainer across the gym, she headed toward her, ready to put some good work in.

  Halfway across the big gym floor, Molly heard a familiar voice call out her name. Just yesterday she would have been thrilled at the sound, but thanks to her run-in with Boone and her conversation with a certain beautiful redhead, all Molly felt was dread and disappointment. Steeling herself for the interaction, she turned just in time for Buddy to reach her.

  “Hey, Molly,” he said. His smile was different—not as bright, and more hesitant.

  “Hi, Buddy.” Molly didn’t trust herself to say anything else for fear of blurting out every single thing she felt, regardless of whether it actually applied to Buddy or not. They stood there, not talking, just looking at each other for a few long moments until Buddy cleared his throat.

  “So, I won’t keep you long—I know that Bridget will be ready to start in a few moments—but I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime.”

  Molly blinked. He was asking her out? What. The. Hell?

  “Uh, what?”

  “Would you like to go out sometime? On a date?” Buddy seemed even more unsure when he repeated his proposition.

  “Are you sure your woman would approve of that?” Molly heard the acid seep into her tone, but she wasn’t sure that she cared.

  Buddy frowned. “My woman? Who the hell would that be?”

  “Natalie? Your companion at the Fall Funfest?” Molly tapped her foot in irritation. She wasn’t going to fall for the “playing dumb” thing again. Then Buddy surprised her by not making excuses, but rather seeming to grow angry.

  “Natalie is not my woman,” he ground out. “Natalie is Lucy’s mother, though I gather that she didn’t tell you that.”

  “Er, no, she didn’t.” Looking at Buddy’s face, at his lip curling up in contempt, convinced her that she did not need to get involved with him. She didn’t need another volatile man in her life. “But I don’t date the fathers of my students. It can lead to unnecessary complications for everyone.”

  “That sounds like you’ve learned a hard lesson there,” Buddy remarked. “But I get it. I, uh, appreciate your honesty, if you are actually being honest.”

  “Yes, to both statements.”

&nb
sp; “Okay, um. Yeah, okay. Have a nice weekend, Molly. Sorry to take time away from your training.” Buddy looked like he might throw up, and Molly sure felt like she was going to do the same. He did give her a weak smile, but that disappeared almost immediately. He turned on his heel and set off across the gym floor as Bridget’s ear-piercing whistle rang out across the space. Molly watched Buddy’s retreating figure for a moment and then went to, hopefully, clear her mind with intense physical activity.

  *****

  Molly sat at her kitchen table, moving salad around on the plate and tossing Lou the carrot and radish chips as she fished them out of the mixed greens. All throughout her workout with Bridget, she kept thinking about Buddy and his expression when she turned him down. She didn’t think she’d ever elicited that sort of reaction in a man, and she didn’t quite know how she felt about it.

  “He looked so sad, Lou. No, not sad—defeated.”

  Lou lay down, her jaw on her paws, and looked up at her with reproachful eyes. Even the dog knew she was second-guessing her decision to turn down a date with Buddy. She tossed the big dog another radish, then got up and dumped the rest of the salad into a bowl and put it back into the refrigerator. She’d finish it later.

  The phone rang, and Molly picked up the handset and glanced at the caller ID. Just when the day couldn’t get crappier, it does.

  “Hello, Mother.”

  “Well, don’t sound so excited, dear.”

  “Believe me, I’m not,” Molly replied with a humorless chuckle. “How are you?”

  “I’m good, but you’re not. My mother’s intuition tells me that something’s up.”

  Molly groaned. “I’m fine. I’ve just had a rough couple of days.”

  “Tell Mama all about it, Molly Sue. It’ll make you feel better.” Molly groaned again but began relating the events from the past twenty-four hours, glossing over the altercation with Boone because, truly, she didn’t need that grief when she was already kicking herself about the way she’d handled that situation. She also omitted the bit where Buddy asked her out, because she hadn’t finished processing that, either. Of course, Barbara Mayhew knew something else was up, and Molly ended up confessing that she’d turned down a date with Buddy.

  “Did you just fall out of a tree, Molly? Why on earth did you turn that man down?” Molly could picture her mother pacing in the study, arms flailing, with a pencil clutched between her fingers as a substitution for her beloved cigarettes, which she’d recently given up. “Do not tell me it’s because of that jackass Boone.”

  “No, it’s not because of Boone,” Molly lied. “It’s just not very professional to date a student’s parent.”

  Barbara snorted. “It didn’t stop you before.”

  “And look where it got me, Mother.”

  “So it is because of that rat bastard Boone.” Barbara’s tone had softened. “Honey, you can’t let that jackass ruin the rest of your life. I know he was the first man you’ve really been serious with in a long—”

  “Mother, don’t.”

  “No, Molly, this needs to be said. Your father and I worry about you. I know you’re happy and fulfilled by yourself, and we’re thrilled that you are. But . . .” Barbara’s voice trailed off, so Molly finished her statement for her mother.

  “ ‘We wish you would open yourself up for the possibilities that a relationship can offer.’ I know, Mother. I know.” She sighed. “And I think I made a mistake.”

  “Made a mistake?”

  “In turning Buddy down. He seemed . . . crushed. And shocked.”

  “Shocked that you turned him down? That’s a cheeky bastard.”

  Molly laughed at her mother’s terrible approximation of a British accent. “No, not at that—at the fact that Natalie insinuated that they were together. Ugh, I’ve been sitting here and going over the whole thing in my head for the past few hours.”

  “Well, only you know what’s right for you, but I think you need to give this man a chance. You might gain a friend, maybe something more. You never know unless you put yourself out there, honey, and you’ve not done that. Even with Boone, I never got the sense that you ever really let him in.”

  Molly didn’t have a response to that because it was absolutely true—just when she thought she might be ready to open herself up, the truth had come out and her carefully curated world had fallen apart. She’d spent the past eight months picking up the pieces, and she wasn’t sure she could handle that sort of disappointment ever again.

  “Okay, honey, I know you’re tired. You get up awfully early, and I know you went to the gym today. I’ll let you go. Let me know if you want to do something this weekend.”

  “Sure, Mother,” Molly said, thankful for her mother’s reprieve. “And thanks. For everything.”

  “That’s what mothers are for, sweetheart. Have a good night.”

  “You, too.”

  Molly hung up the phone and sank down onto the couch. Lou rested her head on the cushion. Molly laughed and patted the space next to her, and the one-hundred-seventy-pound mastiff climbed up onto the couch and immediately rolled to her back. Molly obliged her with a round of belly and chin scratches while looking at a photo taken twenty-five years earlier, a whole lifetime ago.

  Well, crap. She closed her eyes and, for the first time in months, let herself shed a few tears for the man who had perished in the desert all those years ago and for her ability to love that seemed to have died with him. When her tears were dry, she got off the couch, turned off the lights in the living room and kitchen, and after making sure all the door and window alarms were set, she got ready for bed, determined that the next day, she’d start again. Start what again? Hell if she knew, but she’d do it.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Buddy folded the last of the gym towels and placed it on the laundry trolley. He fully acknowledged that he was wallowing, but after having to suck it up and be a grown-up for the previous eighteen hours, he felt like he deserved a little time to pout.

  Things had devolved rapidly after Molly had shot him down. No, that wasn’t fair. She hadn’t been cruel or rude, and honestly, she had a completely reasonable excuse for not accepting, even though the way she wouldn’t meet his eyes led him to believe that there might be a lot more to her refusal.

  And really, what was he thinking, asking Molly out? Even though Lucy knew her, Buddy knew better than to rush into incorporating a new person into their lives. He snorted at the thought because that was exactly what he’d done with Natalie. Even though Natalie was Lucy’s biological mother, Lucy didn’t really know the woman. And yet, he’d sent her to spend the day with a virtual stranger, all because he was afraid of legal issues. Natalie had called right after he’d talked with Molly, and she’d finally played the “joint custody” card, invoking her visitation rights. She’d wanted Lucy to spend the night, but Buddy had put his foot down on that and convinced her that an all-day outing would be plenty, at least for now. Thank God the woman had agreed.

  So now here he was, at the fight club at ten o’clock in the morning, doing laundry. He loathed doing laundry, but hell if he had anything else to do. Actually, he did have other things to do. He had matches to make, and this reality series thing was heating up quickly. But truly, he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to really contemplate matching up fighters, so he’d most likely go home, do more laundry, and pout. Buddy’s phone buzzed in his pocket, indicating an incoming text.

  Had pancakes. Going to Legoland now.

  Buddy snorted. Well, at least Natalie was doing things Lucy enjoyed. He still couldn’t believe he’d gotten his five-year-old a phone. Nothing fancy, but a cell phone that had his number and his sister’s number programmed into it in case disaster struck and Lucy felt like she needed to come home. He prayed she’d never have cause to use it, but better safe than sorry, right?

  Sounds yummy. Have fun at Legoland. I miss you.

  Buddy erased the final three words of his message, realizing that they’d just upset
his daughter. He replaced them with “Hugs and love,” which was their usual farewell phrase, and got a “Hugs and love” back from her. He was standing there staring at the phone, eyes blurry with tears, when someone behind him cleared her throat. He wiped his eyes and looked up to find Molly standing in front of him with a very unsure smile on her face.

  “Oh, uh, hey, Molly,” he said with a sniff. “What brings you to the gym on a Saturday?”

  “You.”

  “What?”

  Molly took a step toward him. “I’ve thought about it, and if the offer still stands, yes, I’d like to go out sometime. But there are some stipulations.” She wrung her hands together, twisting her fingers into seemingly impossible knots. “So, uh, would you like to get some coffee or a smoothie or something, and we can talk about it?”

  “Yeah. Hell yeah. Let’s do that.” Buddy grinned. “Let me finish up here, and we can go someplace. It’ll take me all of six seconds.”

  “Oh, take your time. I don’t want to rush you,” she stammered, seemingly unsure of herself.

  Buddy pushed the towel-laden cart into the storage room, pulled the door closed, and locked it. “All done.”

  “Oh, uh, okay.” Molly took a deep breath. “So, sure, okay. Uh, where do you want to go?”

  “How about that doughnut place in Edgewood?” Buddy suggested, acting on a hunch.

  She beamed at him. “Man, I love Revolution.”

  “I do, too. Um, so, one car or two?”

  *****

  Buddy lathered up his neck, not really believing that he was not only shaving in the middle of the day but was putting on something other than workout clothes in preparation for meeting a woman for a very early dinner at a casual-dining restaurant. His first date in more than six years. He couldn’t think about that too hard, or he’d end up having an anxiety attack, and that’d be no good at all.

  As he carefully shaved his throat, he thought about his conversation with Molly. He’d been right that there was more at play than just the parent-of-a-student thing, but he still didn’t think she’d revealed the entire story to him. He wasn’t surprised to find that she’d been burned before, and when he found out who it was, that didn’t necessarily surprise him either. That obnoxious jackass Boone Cash didn’t seem like Molly’s type, but who knew? Maybe the guy had a giant dick; Boone certainly seemed to be a giant dick.