The Fighting Series Boxset

by Ash, Nikki

  “Oh boy,” Kayla says.

  “Oh, boy is right,” I say.

  “Let me guess. Kaden found out you stripped and that you were assaulted. He was scared and pissed. So of course, he acted on being pissed because he’s a man. Easier to focus on being mad then on being scared,” Liz adds.

  “Yeah, well, he has been gone for a week now. And I am pretty sure I’m pregnant.”

  “Does he know?”

  “No, I don’t even know for sure. And I’m not going to tell him. I don’t want him coming back just because I’m pregnant.”

  “I understand that completely but Kaden loves you. This is just a fight,” Hayley says.

  “Well let’s do a test to find out. I’m sure I have one somewhere,” Liz says.

  The four of us go to her bathroom and sure enough, she has a box of them. “Damn, girl. You trying to get knocked up again?”

  “No way. They are from Nathan. Bella and Nathan are enough for me. If Cooper had it his way, he would keep knocking me up, but I think I’m done.”

  “Same here. Marco and Mackenzie are all I need,” Hayley says.

  “Bentley wants to adopt one more time. Chloe and Faith are definitely enough but I wouldn’t be against having another little one in the house one day.”

  I pee on a stick and of course the girls all stay. Apparently once you have kids you no longer care who’s in the room while you are peeing.

  Pregnant the stick reads, and the tears start pouring. The girls all gather me in a group hug.

  “Don’t cry sweetie.”

  “I’m just sad Kaden isn’t here with me right now. He’s like a hundred feet from me yet it feels like he’s hundreds of miles away. I don’t know how to fix this.”

  “You can start by putting on a super skimpy bikini and we all go play on the water slides!” Kayla laughs.

  “And how will that help?”

  “Umm… duh! He’s a man… One look at your sexy ass in a bikini and he will be salivating for you.”

  “I didn’t bring one. Liz doesn’t have a pool.”

  “Which will be changing soon. Cooper agreed to build one! But I have a couple extra suits I bought on sale and haven’t used yet. We are almost the same size.”

  After we all change into our swimsuits Kayla says, “Don’t take this the wrong way Ashley, but how far along are you?”

  “Why? Do I look fat?”

  “No, you look great but your belly is definitely showing a bump.”

  “I’m not sure… I haven’t gotten my period in two months so maybe like six to eight weeks.”

  “Make an appointment to see a doctor soon.”

  “I will.”

  We all walk out to join the kids for fun and Kayla whispers to me, “Don’t look at him. It will make him want you even more.”

  It takes everything in me but I don’t look at Kaden. I can feel his eyes on me, though. I want nothing more than to run to him, to sit on his lap and kiss him, while apologizing for messing up. But I don’t. I walk by pretending the love of my life doesn’t exist, praying I am still his.

  Thirty-Two

  Kaden

  “Fuckin’ A, I’ve got the hottest woman here.” Bentley waggles his eyebrows.

  “Bullshit, my wife is the hottest.” Cooper hits Bentley on the chest.

  “Both of you guys are a bunch of dumbasses. Hayley’s perfect ass blows them all away.”

  I just chuckle at the three man-children arguing over who’s woman is the hottest. Then I look to the left and see the four women all walking toward the water area, and my eyes land on the sexiest fucking woman at this party. Fuck that! In this goddamned universe. Ashley is swaying her hips in a bathing suit I’ve never seen. It’s pink and white striped and looks to be just a smidge too small on her, fitting her curves like a glove. I don’t even bother arguing with the other guys. Hands down, my woman is the sexiest, most beautiful one here.

  My woman? Is she still mine? She has text me several times this week apologizing but I have only texted back if she asks me if I’m ok. I would never want her to think something happened to me, but I’m not ready to talk to her about us yet.

  When the call came in, saying she had been assaulted at the club, I freaked the hell out. I was beyond pissed. But when I learned the entire story, I became a mix of emotions. Sure, I was still pissed. But I was also hurt and scared. I was pissed she lied and stripped for a bunch of men. I know she didn’t let them touch her, but I was still pissed, nonetheless. I was hurt she put her job above our relationship. She never should have let those men see her like that. But more than that, I was scared because she was assaulted and almost raped by some crazy fucker.

  Looking at her right now, I just want to grab ahold of her and kiss the fuck out of her. I want to love her and protect her and worship her.

  “You still not talking to her?” Bentley nudges me.

  “Benjamin told me what happened. Is she ok?”

  “Yeah, I think so. I was so pissed she stripped after promising she wouldn’t, I left.”

  “Your girl gets assaulted and you left?” Cooper exclaims.

  “It wasn’t like that. I was pissed she fucking stripped after she promised she wouldn’t. I made sure she was ok before I left.”

  Cooper looks at me like I’m stupid. Fuck! He’s right. I left her after she was assaulted and almost raped all because I was pissed she stripped. I’m a fucking asshole.

  “Kaden, Cooper, someone come here.” I look over to the waterslides to see Liz sitting on the ground holding Ashley in her arms. I shoot out of my chair straight for Ashley.

  “What happened?” I ask, taking Ashley out of Liz’s arms, pulling her into mine. Her eyes are droopy and she looks pale. She flops into my arms like a sack of flour.

  “We were running around chasing the kids and she said she felt lightheaded. She hasn’t been feeling well. I think she’s dehydrated.”

  Cooper brings over a bottle of water and hands it to me. I open it up and put it up to Ashley’s mouth. She guzzles it too quickly before I can tell her to slow down and bends over to throw up.

  “Shit, baby. You can’t drink that fast when you’re dehydrated. We need to take you to the hospital. If you are throwing up over a small drink you can be severely dehydrated.”

  “I’m ok,” Ashley says softly before she bends over to dry heave.

  “Alright, up you go. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

  “We can watch Tristan for you,” Liz says.

  I pick Ashley up and carry her bridal style to my car.

  “Kaden, wait!” Liz comes running out waving something in her hand. “Here’s a cover up for Ashley.”

  I look over and see she’s still in her bikini. “Thanks.”

  Once we get to the hospital, I sign her into the ER and begin filling out the forms.

  “Umm… actually, I’m pregnant,” Ashley says when she sees me checkmark not pregnant. My pen stops writing and my eyes go straight to her stomach. She is wearing a hoodie and sweatpants Liz ran and grabbed her to throw on over her swim suit.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I just confirmed it today with one of Liz’s tests. I haven’t been to the OB yet.” And fuck if I don’t feel like the biggest asshole for walking away. Now her emotional rollercoaster these past several weeks make sense. And now that I’m thinking about it, we haven’t had to stop having sex due to her period in quite some time.

  “Baby, have you been sick all week?”

  “Yeah, I haven’t been to work all week. I’m pretty sure Benjamin is going to fire me.”

  “You don’t even need that job. You are pregnant with our baby. And you are sick and now possibly dehydrated. You need to take care of yourself. Please don’t worry about working.” Ashley’s eyes fill with tears.

  I finish filling out the form and give it back to the nurse, then once I’m sitting back down on the bench, I pull her to me so her head is in my lap. I play with her hair until I can hear her soft snores
telling me she’s asleep. My mind goes to when I found out Gabby was pregnant. We were so excited the day she missed her period, we ran to the store together and picked up the test. She took it and when it showed two lines we called everyone in our family and then went to dinner to celebrate.

  Ashley has been sick all week, worrying over whether I was going to leave her. She took a test with her friends instead of with me, and instead of telling me, she pretended like she wasn’t pregnant or hurting because she didn’t know where we stood.

  “Ashley Myers,” the nurse calls out.

  “Ashley, wake up, baby. They are calling your name.” She stirs awake and stands. Her legs wobble and I catch her.

  “Can we get a wheel chair, please.”

  “Yes, sir.” The nurse grabs one and Ashley sits down in it.

  Once we get to the room, the nurse asks her a bunch of questions and takes her blood. She has her give her a urine sample and tells us once the tests have been run, the doctor will be in to speak with us.

  “How are you feeling?” I sit down next to her and take her hand in mine.

  “My stomach feels sore.”

  “From throwing up nothing. You were dry heaving earlier. They will more than likely give you fluids through an IV to prevent you from throwing it up.”

  Ashley nods and closes her eyes. The nurse comes in a few minutes later and sets up the IV. “This is to help you hydrate. Your urine came back and shows signs of dehydration and with you saying you can’t keep anything down, we want to make sure you are hydrated.”

  She inserts the needle into Ashley’s vein and after setting up the fluids, she leaves. Ashley goes back to sleep and I continue to hold her hand praying everything is ok with her and the baby.

  Thirty-Three

  Ashley

  “My name is Toni and I’m the ultrasound tech. I’m just going to wheel you down the hall to do an ultrasound and then the doctor will come in and speak to you once he reads the chart.”

  Toni wheels my bed to the room and once she sets up the ultrasound machine lifts my shirt up. “I’m going to try to see from here but since we don’t know how far along you are, I might have to switch to a vaginal ultrasound.”

  She squirts the warm gooey gel onto my stomach and starts clicking buttons on the monitor. “Ok, I am able to see like this, so we won’t have to do a vaginal scan.” She presses hard into my stomach and I want to tell her to chill the fuck out before I puke on her but I keep my mouth shut.

  “Ok, let’s see here.” She continues to click. A whooshing sound hits the speakers and I know it’s the heartbeat. The breath I didn’t know I was holding releases. Kaden squeezes my hand giving me a knowing look. I forgot that even though he doesn’t have any children, him and his wife went through this so he must recognize the sound of a heartbeat.

  “Ok, that’s the heartbeat.” She types baby A on the monitor and screen shots it. “And…. there’s the other heartbeat.” She types baby B and screenshots it again. It takes a second for me to put two and two together but it takes Kaden less than a second because he blurts out, “Holy fuck! There’s two… like two babies in there?”

  “Yep! Two babies, and it looks like you are about ten weeks. Your due date is estimated to be September seventeenth, but it can change once you see your OB.”

  “Huh… well Kaden… Which position do you think it was we created twins in??”

  The ultrasound tech looks at us in confusion but Kaden throws his head back, laughing.

  “It could have been any number of them. Maybe it was the time in the bathroom…”

  “Ok!” I cut him off. “I’m pretty sure Toni here doesn’t want a play-by-play of our sex positions.”

  “Hey now! You asked.”

  Thankfully, the tech speaks up. “I’m just going to take a couple more shots of the uterus for the doctor and then I can print a couple pictures of your little kumquats.”

  “Excuse me?” I manage to find my words. “What did you call my babies?”

  Toni laughs. “Kumquats. It’s a small fruit. I always use fruits to determine the size of the babies. Week eleven they will be the size of brussel sprouts and at twelve weeks they will be the size of a passion fruit! My favorite week though is week twenty-nine, butternut squash. I love butternut squash! Oh, and week thirty-three! Pineapples! You will have two pineapples in you!”

  Pineapples? The heavy green fruit with hard pointy things sticking out of it!? I must give Kaden a look of horror because he stops her from continuing. “That’s great. Can we get those pictures you mentioned?”

  “Sure thing.” She prints them and wheels me back to the room. My eyes don’t leave the pictures of my two Kumquats. Jesus! I am going to need to find another way to describe them. I can’t spend the next seven months calling my babies fruits! Holy shit! I’m having two babies!

  “Yes, we are.” Kaden smiles at me.

  “Huh?”

  “You said you are having two babies.”

  “I said that out loud?” Kaden laughs and nods.

  After the doctor comes in and confirms what the ultrasound tech already told us. He also lets me know he is going to keep me on fluids for a few hours to make sure I’m hydrated. Apparently being pregnant with twins ups your HCG count and can cause you to have even worse morning sickness. He prescribes me nausea medication and prenatal vitamins.

  After I am released from the hospital, Kaden goes through the pharmacy drive-thru to pick up my prescriptions then takes me to get something to eat. After we are seated, Kaden orders us both waters.

  “Anything look good?” He looks up from his menu to me.

  “Everything… nothing… I don’t know. I’m afraid whatever I eat will make me sick.”

  He hands me a pill for nausea. “You have to eat. Even if it’s something small.”

  I take the pill with the water the waitress delivers. When she returns to take our orders, I order chicken noodle soup and a piece of chocolate banana cake, then change my mind when I wonder if a banana is on the list of baby sizes. “Actually, I will take the cheesecake.”

  “With strawberries?”

  “No, no fruit. Thank you.”

  Kaden laughs, then orders a grilled chicken sandwich with a side of vegetables.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t texted you all week.”

  “Where have you been?”

  “At a hotel. Working out at the gym there. With Alex taking his honeymoon this week, I took the week off.”

  “I don’t want you to forgive me and marry me because I am pregnant.”

  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a rectangular box. “Open this.”

  Lifting the lid, I see two silver puzzle pieces. They are put together and have an engraving across them.

  One reads: You are my missing piece.

  The other reads: You fit me perfectly.

  “I saw them in the storefront yesterday and had them engraved. You are my missing piece, baby.”

  “You bought these yesterday?”

  “Yes, obviously before I knew you were pregnant. I planned to talk to you today after the party. I just couldn’t figure out how I felt about all of it. But I knew I loved you. I love you so much, baby. No matter what. And I’m sorry for leaving.”

  Kaden gets out of the booth and comes around to my side of the table, scooting in close to me. “You were assaulted and I put my anger above your feelings and wellbeing. Can you forgive me?”

  “Yes, I missed you so much. And I’m quitting the club. I just want to focus on our babies and on us and Tristan.”

  Kaden grins and gives me a kiss. “I would really love that, but only if that’s what you want to do.”

  “It is.”

  He takes my keys out of my purse and slides the keychain onto my keys. “So, you always have a piece of my heart with you.”

  “I love it.”

  “There’s actually something I have been meaning to talk to you about. You know the recreational center will be breaking ground hopefu
lly next month.”

  “Yeah, I can’t wait to see it all done. It’s going to be amazing.”

  “The guys and I were talking and we thought you would be the perfect person to run the place. You will have help of course. Liz will be handling the accounting side, and we will have to hire people and reach out to those who wish to volunteer, but you mentioned you would like to work with kids so I thought maybe you would want to work there.”

  “Kaden, I would love to manage the rec center. I have so many ideas. The different sports and programs we can offer. While I was teaching, I saw so many kids wish for after school activities that weren’t offered because of budgeting. I’m so excited.”

  “Perfect. The place won’t be up and running until the beginning of next year but we want to make sure we are doing it right along the way. We can sit down and go over the plans, see if there’s anything we need to add or change. Sound good?”

  “Sounds amazing.”

  After we finish eating, we go to Liz’s to pick up Tristan. The party has ended and Tristan and Bella are in the living room watching Ultimate Fighter on the television.

  “How’d it go?” Liz whispers.

  “Kaden knows.”

  “Ok, good. I wasn’t sure whether to say anything outside. I’m so glad you’re ok!”

  Liz pulls me into a hug. “How did he take it?”

  “How did who take what?” Kaden comes over and puts his arms around me absently rubbing my belly as he nuzzles his face into my hair, giving me a kiss under my ear. I sink back into his arms welcoming the feel of his body against mine after a week of being without it.

  “How did you take me being pregnant.”

  “You’re pregnant?” Tristan comes into the kitchen with Bella following him.

  “I am. What do you think about that?”

  “I think that’s awesome. I hope it’s a boy so I can have a brother.”

  “You can borrow my brother if you want,” Bella says scrunching her nose.

  “You don’t like your brother?” Cooper asks.

  “Of course, I do! I love him. But if Tristan needs to practice, I don’t mind lending Nathan to him.”