Hold Book 3

by Jayne Blue

  Cassidy flinched too. She did not want to see Gustavo’s arm snap in front of her. Thank god, he tapped out! Gustavo tapped out! Craddock won.

  He looked at her as the ref checked on an infuriated Gustavo.

  “I think you won,” she said and a laugh escaped with her standard line.

  Craddock pointed a gloved hand at her and they lifted his arm.

  Dylan jumped up and down and yelled.

  “My brother’s going to fight for the championship!”

  “Incredible right?” She replied.

  “Can we do new t-shirts?” Dylan asked.

  “Uh, sure, I’d say absolutely.” Dylan gave her a bear hug that lifted her off the ground.

  After the interviews had been given and the tweets tweeted, Team Craddock made their way back to the condo. He sat on the side of the bed, exhausted from the day, the last three weeks really. She was so proud. Craddock had done exactly what he’d set out to do.

  “So what’s next Craddock Flynn?” She took his shirt over his head and inspected him. There were some cuts and nasty bruises. She made a point of kissing each one and then made a point of pushing him down on the bed to strip off his sweats.

  “Well you’re going to keep doing that kissing me thing that’s for sure what’s next.”

  “Yes, I am going to keep doing that. I mean what about tomorrow and the day after?”

  “Home for about six weeks and then all of us will go out to L.A. to get ready for Kane.”

  “Us?”

  “Yep if you don’t go I don’t go. You missed a spot.” He pointed to his sexy hipbone.

  “I don’t see an injury there?” She gently lifted the elastic band of his boxers.

  “Internal.” She placed a soft kiss on his hipbones and worked around to his abs.

  “So Grand City is home?”

  “Home is wherever I can get you naked. Seem like a plan?”

  “So the stairwell is home?”

  “There you go smart ass.” He dragged her up to his lips. Playtime was over. Or had it just begun?

  Epilogue

  Craddock

  He was late. Sometimes that happened.

  He had had a satellite interview at the local television station, WLUV, for ESPN, a contract to sign for the sport’s drink endorsement, and a site to approve for the GPG. That was the most fun. Sawyer said his Great Puppy Gym business plan for little kids to learn martial arts was a winner.

  Still he was late and he was cursing himself.

  They had saved him a seat. Shit, it was toward the front and in the center of the auditorium.

  It was probably Dylan’s plan; he loved to be close to the action. Craddock felt bad, he didn’t want to steal her thunder.

  This was Cassidy Parker’s moment and she had earned it.

  He heard a few whispers as he made his way through the folding chairs. “That’s him.”

  “He’s even better looking in person, no wonder he signed a movie deal.”

  “Hey you stepped on my foot asshole.”

  “Ooh, sorry, sorry, excuse me.”

  He finally made it to the seat Jessie had saved him. Jessie, Whitey, Sawyer, Bess, and her son were all here. Dylan was right next to him and was looking sharp. Cassidy had instituted a less sugar plan and Dylan had lost thirty pounds in his gut.

  They were all in suits. The last time they had all been in suits was for G-Man. This was a better reason. A much better reason.

  A woman in a cap and gown who he did not recognize at all was talking.

  “That’s Dr. Clarissa Wilburn. She’s the head of the department and a leader in her field.” Dylan pointed to the program and read the bio verbatim.

  “Oh, I see.”

  “I’ll save the program so you can read it later,” Dylan whispered.

  Dr. Wilburn spoke to the assembled crowd.

  “Before I turn the microphone over to our valedictorian I have the pleasure of announcing a new scholarship, five new scholarships, actually. The Garry Gullich Grant will be awarded to five incoming freshmen in our program every year. It will be given to the high school senior with high grades, excellent test scores, but only to students who have been in the foster system. The scholarship has been provided to Wayne U through the generous donation of the 21st Century Fighting League and named in honor of Grand City, Michigan’s own Garry Gullich, who died tragically while on tour with that organization. This will be another tool we can offer our brightest at risk students so that they may achieve their dreams and continue their education.”

  The crowd clapped and Craddock made a note, score another one for Meyer Thompson. The guy had rebuilt 21C into something even bigger and had not forgotten G-Man. Craddock could still learn from Thompson.

  Then it was time for the main event in Craddock’s eyes.

  “It is my great pleasure to introduce the valedictorian, Cassidy Parker.” Their row of Hoolihans and hooligans whistled, clapped, and generally made spectacle of themselves.

  Cassidy had done it; she had completed her bachelors of social work. The last year even switching from online to on-campus classes. She never quit even when he dragged her all over the country to watch him fight.

  She did not quit when Dylan melted down at McDonalds over his order right before her final exam.

  She did not quit when he was so flush with cash from his 21C World Championship that she never needed to work again if she did not want to.

  Instead, she thought of ways to make his wealth work for other people. He had only thought of success, in the beginning, in terms of paying off his mom’s house or making sure Dylan was okay. She showed him that they could do more, so much more, if they were on the same team.

  That is why he loved her. She wanted to work, she wanted to change lives, and she wanted to do what Bess did for her.

  Craddock was in awe of her. She got up to the mic and started her speech. Her warm voice resonated across the auditorium as she talked about her research with Dr. Showers, who was on the stage in a gown as well.

  She talked about how Bess changed her life and he saw Bess tear up, Sawyer offered her a tissue.

  It was beautiful and inspiring and he knew she was damn glad when it was over. Being on stage was not her favorite.

  When the ceremonies were over the crew all hugged her, congratulated her, and it was decided they would all head to his Uncle Thomas’s restaurant. A massive spread was already in the works.

  Craddock put his arm around his graduate, looking adorable in her cap and gown.

  “Nice speech baby,” he said.

  “Thanks. Not too long?” She asked.

  “No just right.”

  “Good, I left one part out though.”

  “What?”

  “You, I didn’t talk about you.”

  “That’s okay these people all know I’m impressive,” he squeezed her closer.

  “So true. No, I just wanted to thank you. You taught me the most important lesson of my life.”

  “Come on.” He always felt she was the one doing the teaching of the two of them.

  “How to hold on to people you love. You taught me that.”

  “It wasn’t easy, you keep trying to escape.” He kissed her and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I promise I won’t try again, unless you really piss me off.” He squeezed her tighter.

  Dylan yelled at them.

  “Come on! I’m starving to death!” He only partially broke his hold on her as they caught up with Dylan and headed to their celebration dinner.

  The End

  You’ve reached Cassidy and Craddock’s Happy Ending but there’s more MMA Romance on the way.

  Ride Trilogy debuts in October 2015. There’s a first look at the end of this book at the hot and dangerous romance between MMA fighter Mace Alois and his gorgeous new neighbor!

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  Jayne Blue

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  Series by Jayne Blue

  Visit http://jayneblue.com for the most up to date book list and buy links!

  Hold Trilogy - Meet the sexy alpha MMA fighters of the Great Wolves Gym. More adventures coming soon in the same world as the Hold Trilogy!

  Ride Trilogy – Mace Alois was Zeke Powell’s sparring partner in Hold 3. He’s got a dark past and a sultry new neighbor. Soon he’ll be fighting in the cage to keep her safe!

  The Marilyn Job – Lincoln McCall is assigned to protect the most gorgeous call girl on the planet. The trouble starts when he falls in love. Check out The Marilyn Job when you’re in the mood for a possessive alpha male and action adventure.

  Call Girl, Inc. – Take a sexy and very sassy adventure with Nina Sharpe. This is one smart, sexy, and very in control lady of the evening. Call Girl Inc. turns the business of love upside down.

  Torrid Trilogy - Sex, murder, politics, and a love that can’t be denied. Lose yourself in the Torrid Trilogy.

  The Great Wolves Motorcycle Club - This MC romance series features hot bikers and the women they love but can’t quite tame.

  WLUV - Billionaire Romance with a newsy twist! WLUV follows three women of news as they fall in crazy, head-over-spiked-heels love.

  Bonus Excerpt from WLUV Book One – The Consultant

  (Featuring Hold’s Meyer Thompson’s Billionaire Brother)

  There it was on the front page of the USA Today Lifestyle section, the headline more tabloid than news: “Sports Anchor Phil Strong Marries America’s Sweetheart, Kirstie Pippin!” A picture of the lovely couple splashed across the paper and included an inset shot of their infant daughter in a stroller festooned with flowers. With this all over the papers today, Macy was glad to be in the air traveling instead of in a hotel hate-reading all of it. And she wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or enraged that she didn’t even rate a footnote in the coverage.

  Thanks to the network’s efficient corporate damage control, Macy had been out of the way of the happy couple’s fairy tale for months now. They had obliterated her career as the network’s lead investigative journalist to make way for the better storyline and bigger stars.

  For the most part, her broken heart had mended and then set like a bone; it was tougher and knit together. She liked it that way. Her heart matched her head and her head matched her new career path.

  Macy checked the directions on her phone. WLUV was a third-place television news station. The new owner and GM wanted some changes, and so he hired an outside firm to come in and fix the place. There were only a few big news consulting firms in the country, and after being bounced hard out of her network reporting career, Macy needed a job. Luckily she had some friends at the firm and that’s how her second, decidedly less glamorous career was born.

  It was now her job to read the research on a floundering station, offer her advice, and implement plans for fixing things. She traveled the country nurturing progress at her roster of stations. She used to travel the country chasing the big stories...but that was before the “Phil Situation.”

  She’d been doing so well, not letting it get to her. But the wedding was this weekend and so she was mentally picking at the scab that had formed over her old life. Macy struggled to put it out of her mind and concentrate on her assignment.

  WLUV, her newest client, was a mess.

  She’d perused their website on the flight from New York. It was an old station, expanded from radio, like most of the country’s first local television stations. Based in Grand City, it served the upper portion of Western Michigan. Television markets were ranked in terms of size; the number one market in the country was New York, of course. Out of 210 television markets, total, WLUV ranked 117th. In other words, it was small.

  And it was a cash-hemorrhaging joke. Its deep pocketed owner, Rush Thompson, kept it afloat likely out of nostalgia—or more likely a tax write-off. His focus was on the growth of the Thompson-Hardaway portfolio, and so the station managers at WLUV did the bare minimum to keep its network affiliation and FCC license. It was the first business he’d owned and he couldn’t bear to just put it out its misery. Instead, he placed his son Wes in charge to see what could be done with it. After decades of neglect, Wes Thompson was at least making an attempt to fix things at the station.

  Still, Macy suspected it was a case of a silver spoon type of guy playing with one of his toys. She’d never met him, but she figured that Wes Thompson was bringing her in so he could flip the station as if it were a dilapidated house. He’d slap on a new coat of paint, mow the yard, and then try to convince someone to buy it. Turn a little profit and get out. She didn’t have a lot of hope that this was a place for real news or talent development.

  Her bosses at American News Consulting and Research gave her a secondary mission with the stations she consulted: she was to scout out good talent. ANCR could then place the talent with jobs at the other stations in its client list. That’s actually how the consulting firm had found her, fifteen years ago, doing local news in a little town just like Grand City.

  She’d loved her days as a television news reporter, ferreting out a story, meeting deadlines, and going live to share it with the viewers. Maybe one or two of the faces she saw on the station website biography page had that same passion.

  If WLUV was too far gone she’d salvage the situation and find a few of the meat puppets – lovely name for on-air talent – to pillage. But before that happened she was committed to doing her best. Though she was no longer a hard-driving network reporter, she’d found surprising satisfaction in her ability to mentor journalists and add zip to a station. She was going to try like hell at WLUV just as she did at her other stations, and it was going to be a challenge—her biggest yet as a consultant.

  Macy had low expectations when she pulled into the station’s parking lot just outside of downtown Grand City, Michigan on that January day. She was a perfectionist though, and fixing newsrooms was what she did best these days. She certainly wouldn’t make any friends at WLUV, but maybe she could make a dent in their ratings.

  ***

  Three months earlier ...

  “You’re sending me where?” Wes’s father, Rush Thompson, was a self-made billionaire, and at 80 years old he was sharp as ever. But this suggestion, order, assignment, banishment – whatever it was – proved the old man was losing it, Wes thought; dementia had set in overnight.

  “You’re going to go get your hands dirty at my first business, WLUV-TV.”

  “Where again? Wisconsin?” Wes unbuttoned his suit jacket as he walked towards the window and glared at one of the many tall bookcases in the room, “From the time I was eighteen, I’ve done everything your company needed. As far as getting my hands dirty, I hardly think I’m wet behind the ears.”

  It was true. He helped take his father’s holdings in Michigan nationwide, then worldwide. They’d turned a few media properties into a billion-dollar hedge fund. Since finishing his finance degree, he’d worked every day to build on what his father started. Hell, he’d burned through a marriage doing it. And now, at 45 – just when he was ready to take his dad’s place at the
top – he was being sent to the minor leagues.

  “Not Wisconsin, Michigan! Grand City. I grew up just outside there... it’s beautiful. It’s no backwater though; I hear Grand City has all the things your refined tastes are used to.” Rush and Wes sat in the study. Books were piled everywhere, and a fire roared, like always, in the fireplace. Rush Thompson lived more like a college professor than a corporate raider. He was a student first, a conqueror next, an investor last.

  And WLUV was the place that started it all for him. Thompson Broadcasting turned into Thompson Media, which turned into Thompson-Hardaway, Inc. A conglomerate with a portfolio from ice cream shops to microchips.

  “I’ve got three sons. And you’ve all learned this business from the top down.” Rush’s deep voice had gotten gravely in his old age, perhaps a result of his daily cigar.

  “I think you owe us a bit of credit for doing everything we could – everything you asked – to turn it into what it is.”

  “I do. But I have a decision to make. I have to decide what to do with Thompson-Hardaway after I’m gone. All three of you would make fine CEO’s, but don’t forget we’ve got the Hardaway heirs out there,” Rush said. They owned a lesser percentage, but what his father said was true. The Hardaway siblings had some claim to the top job.

  “I’m assigning you and your brothers each a few tasks. I want to see how you do. No interference from me. At the end of the year I’ll decide what I want to do.”

  “Is this some sort of test? I won’t compete with Sloan and Max.” Wes loved his brothers. They were competitive with each other but not cutthroat. Their father had brought them up as a team.

  “No, it’s not a competition. In fact all of the businesses need help. We need to take a good look and decide whether to save, sell, or shutdown these losers. To be honest, I’m entrusting my favorite business to you. WLUV has a place in my heart.” Wes’s dad lost focus on the conversation and seemed to be rolling something around in his memory.