by JJ Knight
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1: Hudson
Chapter 2: Chloe
Chapter 3: Hudson
Chapter 4: Chloe
Chapter 5: Hudson
Chapter 6: Chloe
Chapter 7: Hudson
Chapter 8: Chloe
Chapter 9: Hudson
Chapter 10: Chloe
Chapter 11: Hudson
Chapter 12: Chloe
Chapter 13: Hudson
Chapter 14: Chloe
Chapter 15: Hudson
Chapter 16: Chloe
Chapter 17: Hudson
Chapter 18: Chloe
Chapter 19: Hudson
Chapter 20: Chloe
Epilogue: Hudson
***
Also by JJ Knight
JJ and her MMA trainer
Reckless Attraction
Volume 3
An MMA Contemporary Romance
By JJ Knight
author of
Uncaged Love
Fight for Her
Single Dad on Top
The Accidental Harem
Revenge
Blue Shoes
Summary:
The final book in the heart-pounding trilogy between an MMA fighter and the woman who seeks to bring down the sport he loves.
Copyright © 2018 by JJ Knight All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews, fan-made graphics, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
v2
JJ Knight
www.jjknight.com
Chapter 1: Hudson
I’m in the center of an all-out brawl.
My fist connects with a security guard’s jaw. I don't pause for a second, instantly shifting my weight to move directly into a roundhouse kick that takes out one of the idiot punks who approached Chloe. He drops to the ground.
I don't think about anything except where to plant my leg, how to twist, and what type of blow will come next.
It's mostly instinct. All my years of sparring are paying off.
The three young punks causing all the trouble are down in seconds. The security men are another matter entirely. The two who nabbed Chloe are quickly joined by three more, all clumsily blocking my hits. They’re not fighters, but they get by on brute strength.
I'm vaguely aware that the crowd has turned to us. This doesn't matter to me. All I care about is knocking past these guards so I can get Chloe out of here. Thanks to those punks, they figured out that she’s the one busting the illegal fights. She’s definitely not safe.
Someone approaches and tries to grab me from behind, and before I can register who he is, I've already dropped him with a side kick. Damn it. It’s my friend Mike. I don’t have time to stop and apologize, turning to assess who’s still a threat to me and Chloe.
Mike’s been trained, so he pops right back up like any fighter should. “Dammit, Hudson,” he says. “Knock this shit off.”
What the hell? I hesitate when he says that, a fatal mistake. The security guys get a free moment to react, and suddenly four heavyweights stand between me and Chloe. The fifth has his hands locked on her arms, holding her tightly against his chest. Her feet fly in the air as she kicks to get away.
I lunge between the guards to get to her, but they are a wall.
“Hudson, stop it!” Mike shouts. “What are you doing?”
He doesn’t know about Chloe. He has no idea why I’m in this brawl. But in my world, friends have your back no matter what. The fact that Mike is even questioning me pisses me off.
I take another straight jab at the security guard standing directly between me and Chloe. I’m outnumbered now, big time. He blocks it, and all four of the guards circle me.
I try to go into the whirlwind I see my sister Jo sometimes do. She’s crazy like that. But that family trait isn’t mine. I get off a couple kicks and a handful of jabs before two of them grab my arms and pull them behind me. Within seconds, I’m shackled behind my back. Dammit.
“Don't touch her,” I growl at them. “Don't you lay a finger on her.”
Chloe struggles against the man who has her captured. She puts up a pretty good fight, stomping his feet and elbowing him anywhere she can.
One of the punks manages to sit up. “Check the bitch’s phone. I’m telling you, she called the cops.” He puts his hand to his bloody nose. “Shit.”
A guard turns to me. “She said she was your girlfriend. Is she the snitch?”
“Why would she be busting fights when I’m the headliner?” I ask, lunging his direction, even with my arms locked behind me.
One of the guards jerks me away, so I rear back and head butt him instead.
“Cut that shit out,” he says, holding his own nose. “Damn it all, you hothead fighters.”
“We’re here to watch out for you,” another guard says. “And your girl has been acting guilty as hell.”
The punk I laid out manages to get to his feet. His cheek is swelling. I'd like to do a lot more.
“She lied about her name,” he says.
“If you were sniffing up my ass, I’d lie too,” I hiss. “You assholes won’t leave her alone. She’s got to shake you one way or another.”
“I didn't do nothing to her,” he says.
Chloe makes another lunge, and her leg connects with the guy, sending him staggering back.
One of his friends snorts from the floor. Blood is streaming from a cut over his eye. “She got you, Arthur. True love, my ass.”
The guard holding Chloe steps back so she’s out of range of them.
She spits at them. Damn, she’s something else. She keeps kicking as she says, “I can take care of myself.”
The security guy shakes his head. “Feisty one.”
The General ambles up to the scene, no doubt angry that I’ve disrupted his fight schedule. This is his show, and I’m making a mess of it. The crowd has completely abandoned the cage and the betting tables to watch us.
I’m not sure how to get Chloe out of this. The best way is to insist she’s my girlfriend, so it doesn’t make sense to accuse her.
The General takes in my handcuffs and the still-kicking Chloe.
“What the hell is going on? Why is my lead fighter in cuffs?”
Arthur takes an unsteady step toward him. “Check her phone. She's the snitch. I'll bet she's taken video to send to the cops. Check her texts. Her calls.”
The General shifts his beady stare to him. “Isn’t this the girl you brought in two weeks ago? Mama Bertie says you three showed up with a college type with blond hair. She fits the bill.”
Now the punk stammers. “She tricked us. Went on and on about how she was trying to get in the fights but her ex dumped her.”
He wipes at the blood on his nose and looks over at me. “She's a good liar. You better watch your back.”
Fuck it. I rear back against the guards holding my arms, using them for leverage to thrust both legs in the air. My cross trainers land a hard kick to his chest, leaving a dusty print on his black shirt as he flies backward.
One of his friends scrambles over to him where he lies on the ground. I lunge again, but the guards hold me more tightly now.
The General holds out his hand. “Reckless, take it down a notch. I understand you’re upset that your girl is being accused. It seems like a rather simple matter to solve.” He nods to a security guy. “Let's look at her phone.”
Chloe goes still, and I know that doesn't mean anything good. If she's already texted somebody to send the cops, we’re in deep shit.
“You leave her phone alone,” I say, “or I will walk on this fight. You can take all that money people have put down on me and shove it up your ass.”
The General looks at me, his eyebrows raised. “Now this is very interesting,” he says. “You come up to me, saying you want me to move up your fight. And now you’re against me looking at your girl’s phone. This would make a man wonder what’s going on, wouldn’t it?”
“I don't like people messing with what is mine,” I hiss. “And she is mine.”
“You asshole,” Chloe shouts. “I do not belong to you!’
“Your girl’s got a potty mouth,” Arthur says.
“You shut up before I kill you,” I growl. “I don't need hands for that.”
The General raises his arms. “Let's end all the ugliness right now. We’ve disrupted my fights, and we need to get on with the night. Gentlemen, collect her phone.”
Another one of the guards turns to Chloe, and she immediately lurches her legs up and starts kicking again. This does not look good for her. Or me. I have no idea what serves as justice among people like The General. I could use The Cure right now. I have a feeling he knows exactly how to handle a situation like this.
The security guard feels up Chloe all over, taking way more time than he needs. I lunge again. Finally he finds her phone in the pocket of her sweatshirt.
“Got it,” he says.
“Use her finger,” The General says.
Interestingly enough, Chloe doesn't fight them now.
“You're killing my arms,” she says. “Just hand it to me, and I’ll unlock it.”
The guard glares at her with suspicion. “I'll hold it, thank you very much. Just put your cute little thumb right here.”
Chloe stands still and waits for the guard to point the phone toward her. She jerks her arm away from the security guard who’s holding her and presses her thumb to the screen.
The phone chimes.
“Hand it over,” The General says.
The guard passes him the phone. The General’s eyes dart along the surface of the screen. He reads texts and opens the photographs, sliding his fingers through pictures. Then he passes the phone back to Chloe.
“Nothing there but cute little love notes to this lug,” he says. “Let it go.” He waves at the guard to take off my handcuffs.
“What?” Arthur says. He’s still kneeling on the floor after my drop kick, his breath wheezing in and out. “It's gotta be her. Who else can it be?”
The General turns away. “Escort those three out,” he says to his security. “They are no longer welcome in this establishment.”
He glances at me. “I’m aware that we have offended you and your young lady. If you choose not to fight tonight, then let us know and we’ll remove you from the fight card. Otherwise, I will double your winnings if you defeat Face Wrecker.”
And with that, he walks away.
I stand there for a moment, filled with surprise. Did Chloe not intend to bust the fights tonight?
I turn to her as she tucks the phone back into her pocket and massages her arms where the guards held her. They mumble an apology and move on.
I have no idea what to think.
Chapter 2: Chloe
As soon as the security guards clear out of our space, Hudson leads me into a corner.
“Chloe! What happened? I thought you were here to bust us.”
I don’t do anything but shrug. I already told him I was gathering evidence. Evidence I just had to wipe from my phone to save my skin. Action for Action uses an app that will erase your most recent activity from your phone, as well as any contacts you’ve marked to purge. It’s programmed to do its work if you triple click the home button on your phone, easy enough to do at the same time you activate it with your thumb.
But I’m not going to offer that information up. Hudson can think what he wants to think. We’re not on a date.
Or naked in a hotel room.
My face flushes. Going out with him was my worst idea ever.
He rubs his wrists absently. His hands and knuckles are bruised and bloody from the all-out war he declared on the people here. I kind of feel bad for them, especially Arthur. But only a little bit.
Now they all assume I’m his girlfriend. It was cute that he came to my rescue, but I had it well in hand. They weren’t going to be able to pin anything on me.
Still, he put his own future on the line. That’s something.
Hudson keeps looking at me, waiting for me to answer him, but I play it cool. A smattering of people linger a few yards away, watching us. Most of the crowd, however, has returned to the cage and the fights.
He seems to have no intention of leaving. After a while, I say, “So they said to you were the headliner. I guess that's a big deal.”
He frowns. “It doesn't seem like it would've made a difference, since you were dead set against me fighting.”
I look out over the room. It's hard to meet his gaze. “That's probably true. I don't understand why you need to do any of this.”
“At this point, I’m guessing you never will.”
One match ends, and two more fighters climb into the cage. I'm a little stuck right now. I have to retake all the footage. And I have to re-add some contacts so that I can write Clarissa again. As it stands, she and all the other members of Action for Action have been wiped from my phone.
It doesn't matter that much. I have her contact information memorized. But it's still a hassle. Particularly in a place where I’m not allowed to get my phone out.
“I guess they’re going to watch me like a hawk,” I say.
“I'm sure. I doubt they were fooled. Just outsmarted for now.”
“I hate that I got those guys ejected. They were really helpful to me.”
He pushes away from the wall. “What? Those punks?”
“Yeah, they’ve been getting me into the fights and telling me where they are. Losing them is huge to my cause.”
He lets out a long rush of air like he's trying to control himself. I get that he's mad. I'm here complaining about the very thing that impacts him.
Hudson rubs at the dried blood on his knuckles. “I guess you have to bust us tonight then, since you lost your informants.”
“Unless I get a new informant,” I say, looking up at him.
He barks out a laugh. “I've got to go prepare for the fight. If you’re going to bust it, then bust it. But I won't have anything to do with it.”
The dead monotone of his voice is ice to my heart. It sounds like it’s over for us. But it has to be that way.
Still, my throat is tight at the thought. He was literally the best thing to ever happen to me.
He walks away, but he’s only taken a few steps when he turns around. “Hey. If you get arrested, call me. I’ll get you out. I don’t want you having to spend the night there.”
His face tells me everything as our eyes meet. He feels the same. Conflicted. Bereft.
“It’s hopeless, isn’t it?” I say.
“Only if we give up.” He turns and strides back to the door to the fighter room.
Damn. What the hell do I do now? How has it come to this? Choosing Hudson or my job? I have a lot on the line. This bust meant donations, a scholarship so I can finish my degree.
And I had to get caught.
I hang out by the wall for little while, assessing my options. One fight leads into the next. Literally. A couple of them are so short that they only get a few blows off before someone crumples to the ground. I'm glad I'm far away. I don’t need to see this up close.
The security guards patrol the room. Th
ey’re careful not to glance at me, but I sense that I’m in the periphery of their vision.
I have no idea how to get this bust off now. There’s no bathroom to hide in. This is a big open space. I'm being watched. Maybe I should just give up.
Except it's just like Hudson said. I don't know where the next fight will be. If I don't get this one, then I'm stuck. My only option would be to try to get information out of Hudson, which I don't want to do. Neither does he.
He says we’re not hopeless, but how can we keep seeing each other? I’ll be listening for clues that he’s going to a fight. He’ll be watching for evidence that I’m only there to get information.
There’s no way real emotions can flourish in that environment.
I have to make this night work.
I wander through the crowd, careful to keep my phone hidden. I feel eyes on me. Spectators, security guards. At one point, I turn to the betting tables to see the fixed gaze of the hulking man who checked my phone. He isn’t trying to hide his interest in me. He nods his head and shifts his attention back to the girls taking money.
The crowd is the best place to go. Mingle tightly in the most densely packed areas. But that means getting close to the cage.
A new match starts up as I worm my way through the mass of bodies. I find a spot with a short girl in front of me so I’m not completely blocked. I could totally get the video I need if I could just figure out a safe way to get my camera out.
I try to fit in, act the part of a fighter’s girlfriend so people will stop watching me. I cheer when the others cheer, jump when they jump, and yell words I don’t understand, like strike and tap out and submission.
My behavior is bound to look good. Even if the guards can see me, I’ve acted normal for long enough that they’ll shift their eyes on other things.
From here I have two choices. Attempt to video inside the crowd despite the warnings. Or create a diversion so I can take some quick shots. I won’t even try to finish the bust from inside. I’ll geo-tag from outside the walls.