Kings of Denver - COMPLETE BOX SET 1-4

by Sheridan Anne

  “Kid, you need to know that if professional fighting is what you want to do, you have my full support, even though I don’t support this underground bullshit. It’s dangerous and honestly, you’re a stupid fool for getting yourself involved in it, but don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed as hell at you for not being forthcoming. Had news of this spread to the media, the team would have been fucked.”

  “I know, Coach and I apologize.”

  He lets out a heavy sigh. “Alright, kid,” he says, accepting my apology. “Get out of here. I need to figure out what the hell I’m going to tell the press.”

  “Shit,” I groan. “You won’t say anything about the underground, right?” I confirm.

  He gives me a blank stare like that is the stupidest question he has ever heard, which honestly, I guess it is, I should know Coach wouldn’t throw me under the bus like that. “No,” he says, “I’ll probably say that you have decided to put a hold on your hockey career while you pursue other avenues.”

  “Hmm,” I grunt. “Not bad.”

  “It’s not my first rodeo, kid,” he explains.

  “Got it,” I say, getting up from my chair and making my way out of his office.

  “Xander,” he calls after me. I turn back with a questioning eyebrow. “Be careful,” he says. “I’ve witnessed a few of those fights and it never ends well.”

  “I know, coach,” I say with a nod. “I’m careful. I should warn you though, the moment my father hears about this, he’s going to be knocking down your door.”

  “Let him. I have a few choice words for bastards like him. Now, I’ll see you around, kid.”

  “Bye, Coach,” I say with a smile. I step out of his office and for the first time in years, I feel a million times lighter.

  I walk back out to the rink with a strange sadness around me. I mean, I knew this day was coming, but for it to actually happen is a whole new thing. There has never been a time in my life where I have not been on a team and suddenly, I’m free to undergo my own dreams. I don’t know whether to be nervous or excited. Maybe both.

  The moment I walk out of this ice rink, I won’t be looking back. I have a brand new future before me and I’m going to do whatever it takes to succeed. I’ll train harder and faster, be stricter on my diet, study each and every match I can get my hands on, but no matter what. I will not fail.

  I come to the end of the hallway and find Charli, deep in conversation with a figure skater, talking about all the crazy shit she’s able to do. Charli is beaming at her in awe while the girl is sucking up as much attention as possible.

  “Hey,” I say, grabbing Charli’s attention.

  “Oh, hey,” she says quickly eyeing me, probably trying to guess my mood. She quickly says goodbye to the girl and heads over to me. “How’d it go?” she asks.

  “It could have been worse,” I tell her honestly as I lead her out of the rink. “Coach was pissed, but at the end of the day, he supports me fighting, well not in the underground at least.”

  “So, what does that mean for the team?” she asks with a slight cringe.

  “Means I’m off the team,” I tell her.

  “Shit,” she sighs, “I’m sorry.”

  I give her hand a comforting squeeze. “Don’t be. It means that I can finally focus solely on fighting and I can be honest with the guys so they can stop looking at me like I’m hiding something.”

  “A bit like Aaron?” she smirks.

  “Exactly like Aaron.”

  “Ok, so what now?” she asks.

  “Now, we head home and look for a place of our own.”

  “Um, what?” she sputters.

  “You heard me,” I say. “I give my father at least three days before he finds out and when he does, I want to be prepared.”

  “Ok,” she says, “But you mean your own place.”

  “No,” I correct her. “Our own place. I hate to drop a bomb on you like this, but now that I’ve got you, I’m not letting you go and fortunately for me, that means you’ll be coming with me to wherever that new place is going to be.”

  Her eyes light up with excitement, but I also see regret there. “Don’t get me wrong,” she says, “I really want to move in with you, but there is no way I can afford that,” she says.

  “Babe,” I say, stopping dead in the middle of the road just to make sure she truly understands me. “I don’t want you to worry about money, I’ve got us covered. I just want you to go to the salon every day, then go to Micky’s if you want to. I honestly don’t care what it is you want to do, as long as you’re happy and the person I come home to at the end of the day.”

  A horn honks, prompting us to continue across the road. “Are you serious?” she asks.

  “Dead serious.”

  “Ok,” she says with tears of joy in her eyes. “But I’m contributing as much as I can,” she says with her stubborn little attitude.

  I roll my eyes. “We’ll see,” I murmur as I take her hand and lead her home.

  Chapter 17

  Charli

  It must only be seven in the morning when a loud pounding comes at the door. I practically spring out of bed. Who the hell would be here at seven in the morning? I grab Xander’s shirt off the floor and throw it over my naked body.

  I dash down the stairs and come to a standstill in front of the door. Shit, what if it’s my step mom or her boyfriend, have they found me?

  No. Of course not, right? It’s Xander’s place, so it’s probably the boys from the hockey team coming to rat him out about the whole illegal fighting thing. I’m sure Coach would have let them all know by now.

  Feeling a little more confident, I double check myself, just to make sure none of my lady bits are hanging out anywhere and I step forward to answer the door.

  The loud pounding starts up again just as I pull the door open and I nearly get punched in the head by some older man. I jump back out of the way and the guy at least has the decency to lower his hand. A small woman stands beside him looking down at me, though, I don’t know how that is even possible as I’m taller than her.

  “Who the hell are you?” the man demands.

  “Excuse me?” I ask, completely on edge. I mean, who are these people to come here so early on a Sunday morning, nearly break down the door and start demanding answers. Nu uh, I don’t think so. “I could ask the same question,” I say but in the last few seconds I’m starting to realize who these people are and it’s no wonder Xander prefers to stay as far away from them as possible.

  They ignore my question just as I had theirs. “Where’s my son?” the man demands.

  Realizing there really isn’t much I can do in this situation, I decide to be a little helpful, I mean, the sooner they get their answers, the sooner they’ll be gone, right? “He’s in bed. I’ll go wake him.”

  His mother scoffs at me, but I turn my back and leave them standing in the doorway, not bothering with an invitation to come in, though from what I’ve heard from Xander, that probably would have brought along snarky comments about how it’s their house and they don’t need to be invited in, they can come and go as they please.

  Geez, I know we only started looking for a place to live together, but I suddenly can’t get out of this place quicker.

  I dash up the stairs and back into the bedroom. I walk straight over to Xander’s side and bend to wake him, only his hand snakes out and grabs me around the waist and he pulls me to him. “What the hell are you doing out of bed? The sun has hardly risen,” he says as he begins to roll on top of me.

  “Stop it, you big buffoon,” I laugh. “First of all, it’s just after seven and the sun certainly has risen and secondly, your parents nearly broke down the door trying to let themselves in.”

  His playfulness is suddenly gone. “What?” he asks, wide eyed. “My parents are here?”

  “Yep,” I confirm, popping the ‘P’. “And let me tell you, they are the most pleasant people I have ever met. I don’t know why you haven’t introduced us earlier.”


  “Shit, babe,” he sighs as he hops off the bed and pulls on a pair of jeans. “I’m sorry, I thought we had a few days before this happened.”

  “Apparently not,” I say, also getting up and pulling on a pair of jeans.

  Xander heads to the stairs, but I detour to the bathroom to make sure I look a little decent, after all, these are his parents, no matter how much Xander despises them.

  I head back down the stairs to find Xander’s parents have most certainly invited themselves in. Xander’s father stands in the centre of the living room, arms folded across his chest as he scowls at his son while his mother goes about in the kitchen, making herself a coffee.

  I’m hardly down the stairs by the time Xander’s father is getting stuck into him. “What the fuck is this shit I hear about you being kicked off the team?” he demands.

  “Da-,“ Xander starts but he’s cut off by his father who seems to be on a roll.

  “You get yourself in trouble?” he questions. “What is it? Drugs? Partying? Or you just couldn’t cut it in training? You’ve always been useless. Do you know what kind of strings I had to pull to get you on this team? I should have known you’d screw up like this, you don’t have the drive that I had.”

  Xander leans back against the stairs railing and I slip my hand through the gap to rest it on his shoulder. His body is shaking with rage and I sense him trying to hold himself back. “First of all,” Xander starts, not allowing his father to continue. “I’ve been a better player than you ever were for years, always have been, always will. I train my ass off every day so don’t you come storming in here telling me I have no drive. Secondly. If you even knew a damn thing about me, you’d know I don’t fuck around with drugs.”

  “Then what the hell happened?” his father cuts in again.

  “I was fighting,” he says.

  “What?” his mother finally cuts in. “You got kicked off the team for fighting? That seems a bit harsh now, doesn’t it?”

  “No mom. It doesn’t,” Xander says with annoyance in his tone.

  “Don’t you speak to your mother like that,” his father scolds, earning himself a groan out of Xander. “Now, what are you talking about?” he questions, finally starting to calm down. “Fights have always been excused, especially with hockey. I’ll have to go down there and speak to Coach Harris. He’s just trying to make an example out of you. That damn fool.”

  Geez. His dad’s mood swings are giving me whiplash. First, he has the shits with Xander and now Coach Harris? How is it possible for one man to be so blind?

  “Dad, would you shut the fuck up?” Xander scolds. “I didn’t get kicked out for getting into a stupid fist fight. I got kicked out for fighting in an illegal underground ring.”

  Oh shit.

  His father turns bright red and his hands turn into fists at his side. Xander notices immediately and straightens up. “Just fucking try it. I dare you,” he insists.

  His dad takes one big step forward making my hand squeeze down into the flesh of Xander’s strong shoulder. “Underground fighting?” he says with disgust. “You’re throwing away your future for trash like that.”

  “How many times do I need to tell you before you will listen? I don’t want to be in the NHL. I never have. That’s your dream, not mine. My future is MMA,” Xander says and it’s clear this is an old argument.

  “The hell it is. You march your ass back to that ice rink and tell Coach the fighting is finished. You’re going to beg for your spot back and I don’t care how much of a fool you make yourself look.”

  “Are you serious right now?” Xander scoffs. “I don’t want to play hockey. I don’t want to go to the NHL and I don’t want to have this conversation again. It’s over. Hockey is over. Get it through that thick brain of yours.”

  By this stage, it’s clear his father is beyond furious. “You ungrateful, piece of shit,” he yells.

  That’s it. My fuse is blown. How dare he speak to my man like that? “Hey,” I yell, as I storm down the rest of the stairs and come to a standstill in front of Xander’s father. “Don’t you talk to him like that. If you had even the littlest bit of decency, you would notice that your son is amazing and could easily make it in the professional circuit, probably earning two times the amount of a skater in the NHL, but you’re so damn self consumed that you can’t see anything in front of your own damn nose.”

  My whole body shakes but it instantly relaxes when Xander threads his arm around my waist and pulls me into his chest.

  “It’s this little hussy, isn’t it?” his father says to Xander, ignoring my outburst. “She’s the one who has corrupted your mind, turned you into this disgraceful version of yourself.”

  Within seconds, I find myself behind Xander while his fist flies forward and nails his father in the jaw. My hands come to a rest on his naked back and feel the vibrations through his skin as he roars at his father. “Get the fuck out. No one speaks about my girl like that.”

  “You’re going to regret that,” his father scolds as he spits a mouthful of blood onto the cold morning tiles.

  “Fucking try it, dad. I’m done with you. I don’t need your bribery or your damn money,” he says before leaning over to the hallway stand and grabbing the keys to his truck. “Here,” he says, tossing them at his father as his mother begins sobbing, “Take that, too. I’m finished with you, with both of you.”

  “You’re going to regret this,” his father repeats as he storms towards the door with his wife on his heels.

  “No,” Xander says as confidently as ever. “I’m not.”

  He turns back around, just before slamming the door. “You have one week to vacate this property.”

  “Consider me already gone.”

  The door slams with a shattering bang and we stand in silence for a moment. “They seem nice,” I say, trying to hold back my tears.

  Xander scoffs but pulls me against him once again. “I’m sorry you had to witness that,” he says as he leans his head down to my shoulder.

  “Don’t worry,” I tell him. I bring my hand up his strong back and weave my nails through his hair. “Are you ok?”

  He pulls back ever so slightly so he can look me in the eye. “You know, I think I am. I feel free,” he says on an exhale. “I never have to worry about them again. I can go and pursue MMA, join the professional circuit and make whatever career choices I want.”

  I smile up at him and realize he is ok, in fact, he’s more than ok. He seems full of confidence, like nothing can stop him getting what he wants and I’ve never been so proud.

  “Alright babe,” he says, pulling me towards the couch and flopping down. He pulls the iPad out of the coffee table drawer and puts it on my lap. “Get searching. We have a week to find a new place.”

  “Ok,” I say, “But you know Micky would let us stay at the bar, there’s no reason to rush.”

  He becomes thoughtful but I know he wouldn’t be too keen on the idea. “I don’t know, I’d feel like I was invading on his hospitality.”

  “He wouldn’t feel that way,” I tell him.

  “I know, but I would,” he explains.

  “Fine,” I say, swiping my finger across the iPad to unlock it. I get searching and instantly find hundreds of places that I could only dream about before I narrow my search to places a little more in our realm of reality.

  I point out a few and not an hour later, we are walking through properties, making pro’s and con’s lists.

  By that night, we’re both exhausted and curl up in bed, wrapped in each other’s arms. “So, if the cat’s out of the bag now, does that mean you can start training for the professional circuit?” I ask on a yawn.

  “Technically I can, but I want to finish the competition first before I put my name out there. I can’t have anything leading me back to the underground once I go pro,” he explains.

  “Oh, so you still want to finish the competition?” I ask, a little disappointed.

  “Yeah, I can’t give in now, es
pecially after everything that’s happened. It would mean it was all for nothing.”

  “Yeah,” I agree. “I guess I’m just nervous about ‘Pitt Bull’,” I tell him.

  “Don’t be,” he says, pulling me in tighter. “I’ll be fine. There are only a few weeks left and then it’s over. I can handle him.”

  “I know,” I sigh.

  Xander rolls me over and presses his lips to mine. “Quit worrying so much,” he tells me.

  “I can’t help it,” I grin as another yawn takes over. I lay my head down on Xander’s chest and listen to the steady beat of his heart. Sleep takes over within moments and before I know it, I’m waking up to start another day in the arms of the man I love.

  Chapter 18

  Xander

  It’s been five days since my parent’s intrusion and life couldn’t be better, or at least, it will be the second I get out of that house.

  Though, I have to admit, it still pisses me off the way they barged into my home and spoke to my girl. I can handle the shit they gave me, after all, I’ve gotten it from them my whole life, but for them to turn that bullshit on Charli. That was uncalled for and completely sealed the deal for me. From that moment, I swore to myself that I will never put myself or Charli through the ugliness of having anything to do with my parents. They will never intrude on our future again.

  I have no doubt I will make it in the professional circuit and I know the moment my name starts spreading around, my parents will be right back, begging for a piece of the attention, but they have burned their bridges and I will never go back on my word. I am done with them.

  The moment the decision was made, I felt like I was free. like my chains had finally been broken away and I could be who I truly am. The feeling was like flying and I will never put myself back in that position again.

  Cole and the boys at Rebels Advocate were thrilled when I walked in on Monday morning as a free agent. They always hated the hockey thing, not the actual sport, but knowing it wasn’t truly me and that it was wasting good energy that I could have been spending on training for upcoming fights.