by Lane Hart
“Ah, yeah. I’m going to train to be a circus acrobat.”
“I would pay good money to see that,” Macy snorts again. “So you’re gonna finally fucking fight? About time!” she says, reaching over to punch me in my upper arm. “Have you told Mom and Dad? No, of course you haven’t,” she says, answering her own question with another roll of her eyes. “If you had, Dad would’ve been screaming it from the rooftops.” Pumping both of her fists in the air, she deepens her voice to imitate our dad and says, “The prodigal son has returned!”
“Every time I see him, he’s bragging about you and your success in the cage,” I point out.
“Pah-lease,” she drawls. “I’m just a scrawny girl goofing off in a man’s world. You’re gonna be the real deal.”
“You’re not a scrawny girl goofing around,” I assure her. “You’re on a ten-win streak, which is huge!”
“Yeah, yeah,” she mutters.
“Do you really think I can be the real deal?” I can’t help but ask.
“Honestly? I’m already jealous of your MMA career, and you haven’t even started yet!” she exclaims.
“Thanks,” I tell her. “Could you just not mention anything to Mom or Dad until I sign a contract? Coach Briggs is still waiting for someone to bite on a fight. And I’m not looking forward to mom flipping out about me giving up practicing. At least I can wait until it’s official before they find out.”
“Oh, no,” Macy starts, reaching for her cell phone from the coffee table in front of the sofa. “You’re not gonna drop this bomb and then back out of it.”
“What are you doing?” I ask as her fingers move over the phone.
“Making sure you don’t back out.”
“Oh hell no!” I exclaim as I try to grab for her device. My sister’s expecting my lunge, so she quickly jumps out of my reach.
“Don’t tell them yet, Macy!” I warn her because I’m not going to tackle my sister. “Please?”
“Watch out MMA world,” my sister says as she continues to type on her phone. “Xavier Jackson Malone is finally ready to kick some ass in the cage,” she finishes. “There! I tweeted it. No takebacks.”
All I can do is blink at her, completely speechless because my sister is not one to bullshit. If she says she sent that message out on social media, I have no doubt that she really did it. I thought she was going to text our parents, not share it with the entire fucking world!
The phone in my hand starts dinging as notifications pop up on the screen one right after another.
“Shit,” I grumble as I turn it face down on the coffee table. “Do Mom and Dad follow you?”
“Of course!” Macy says.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I tell her with a sigh and a shake of my head.
“You’re welcome,” she replies with a grin as she retakes her seat.
“I wasn’t thanking you.”
“You will one day. I know you, Xavier. You always need a little push in the right direction before you’ll take the first step. Fighting is what you want to do, right?” she asks.
“Yes, but…”
“No buts! You’re going to get your ass in the cage. And now that word is out, you’ll have offers coming from every direction.”
“I’m gonna get you back for that one of these days,” I threaten her.
“I’m sure you will. But for now, I’m going to sit back and enjoy this moment,” she replies. “Besides, now that you’re stepping into the spotlight, everyone is going to forget there’s another Malone sibling. My career is going straight down the toilet,” Macy says with a thumbs-down while her mouth makes a raspberry. “I hope you’re happy about ruining my life.”
“That’s not true. I’m not ruining your life,” I tell her. “You’re gonna be known as the Malone sibling who wins all of her fights, and I’ll be the loser Malone who gave up law to get knocked out.”
“If anyone knocks you out, I’ll kick their ass myself,” my sister declares.
“Thanks, sis,” I tell her before reaching over to put her in a headlock and give her a noogie, laughing the entire time she yells and tries to escape.
It’s been nice talking to Macy and getting my mind off of my fuck up with Cass for a few minutes. That problem isn’t going to fix itself. I’m going to have to figure out some way to convince Cass to forgive me. The only good thing about being away from her for the next two weeks is that it will give me plenty of time to think, which I soon realize I won’t get here because my phone starts to ring with my dad calling…
“Hey Dad,” I say when I answer. “What are you doing up so late?” I ask as I glare at Macy.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you’re going to fight?” he asks, dropping one of his usual f-bombs. I remember the first time I said fuck in front of my dad when I was like sixteen and the lawnmower wouldn’t start for me. I thought for sure he would punch me in the mouth for swearing since I had never heard him or my mother ever cuss. Instead, he was relieved; said he was tired of watching his language and glad he could finally swear again now that I was grown. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to make the right decision to join my side of the family business?” he asks me. “Where are you? I’m coming over. We need to talk so I can get all the details and we can come up with a training plan.”
“I’m at Macy’s,” I tell him. “But it’s late, so I think I’m gonna crash...”
“Stay there! Your mom and I are on the way!” he says in a rush, completely ignoring me before he ends the call.
“They coming over?” Macy asks.
“Yep.”
“Great! Now I have five minutes to get this place clean, so you’re gonna have to help since this midnight visit is all your fault,” she orders.
“It’s actually your fault,” I remind her. “But what else is there for me to do? I’m too hyped to sleep.”
“Good. Grab the vacuum while I do the dishes,” Macy instructs.
“So, you’re serious?” my dad asks, grabbing me by my shoulders in the middle of the living room as soon as he barges into Macy’s apartment without knocking. The fact that she doesn’t even bat an eye makes me think it’s a common occurrence. No wonder she doesn’t date.
“I’m serious,” I reply. “Tomorrow, I’m going to finish up loose ends in Seattle, and then I’ll be back in two weeks to start training at Havoc.”
My father’s dark eyes that I inherited suddenly turn all glassy like I’ve never seen before. “You’re moving home too? For good?”
“Well, yeah. I thought that was a given. If I’m going to do this, why not train with the best in the world?”
“Holy shit, this is great!” my dad says as he throws his arms around me.
“I think you’re gonna make him cry,” Macy deadpans.
“Leave your father alone,” our mother says from behind him. “We’re happy to have our son back. It’ll be nice to see you more than two or three times a year,” she adds before turning it into a group hug.
“It’s like watching a Hallmark movie right in the middle of my living room,” Macy mutters. And when I glance over while being squeezed to death, she mimes eating her invisible popcorn.
“So now that you’ve both heard my good news, it’s time to give you the bad news,” I warn them, and they both let me go with looks of concern on their faces. “I’m getting divorced,” I say and then hold up my palm to stop him when my dad opens his mouth to comment. “This isn’t a discussion. It’s a statement. I waited months before making this decision, so it’s not something I’m doing on a whim,” I explain. “Camilla cheated on me. And I don’t know if either of you have been cheated on, but it sucks. It hurts. Bad. The worst part is, I think I’m relieved that she messed up so that I would have a valid reason to walk away because I wasn’t happy with her or with working at the law firm or being all the way across the country when my family is here. This past week, Cass helped me finally figure out what I want for myself. This is what I want – a divorc
e, to give fighting a try, and to move home so I can be with all of you and with her, with Cass.”
“Those are a lot of big changes to make in a week,” my mom remarks.
“It’s not just a week, though. It’s ten years of my life that I haven’t been happy,” I explain. “I kept waiting for one phase to be over so I could get to the happy part, and it never came because I wasn’t on the right path. I didn’t want to take chances, so I took the easy road.”
“Well, if you’re sure these changes are what you want, then we’ll support you one-hundred percent,” my dad says.
“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I tell them. “And it would really help if you go easy on me. Don’t put too much pressure on me. I already do that to myself. I’ll probably never live up to your legacy in the cage. I know that.”
“We know you’ll do great at whatever you set your heart on,” my mom responds. “I just don’t want you to regret turning your back on the law after all the time and effort it took for you to graduate with that degree.”
“I won’t regret it,” I tell her. “I’m tired of the boring desk work and the long hours. It’s not what I’m cut out for.”
“I knew you belonged in the cage since the night you were born during my title fight,” Dad says with his chest puffed out. “You and Macy are both naturals with enough raw talent to go as far as you want in this profession.”
“Hopefully we’ll both win titles. And how much does this all pay?” I ask. “That’s something we probably should’ve talked about before I called my boss and quit my job.”
“You’ll make plenty, possibly more than you did as an attorney,” my dad informs me.
“Seriously?” I ask in surprise.
“More,” Macy says. “Just your name alone will rake in the dough. As soon as you win, they’ll be setting you up with million-dollar purses, you lucky bastard.”
“How much do you make?” I ask her, and she flips me off.
“Macy!” my mother chides her. “This sort of rude behavior is exactly why you don’t have a boyfriend!”
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend because guys are too scared to date a woman who can whip their ass,” my dad explains. “Bunch of pussies.”
“Jax!” Mom exclaims.
“Dad’s right,” Macy says.
“Anyway…” Mom huffs. “So you’re leaving tomorrow, and we’ll see you in two weeks?” she asks me.
“That’s the plan,” I agree. “I’ll reassign my cases and pack. Although I don’t yet have any place to live once I move back…”
“We’ll find you an apartment,” my dad offers to which my mom elbows him.
“Or Xavier can come home and stay with us for as long as he needs.”
“Xavier wants to stay with Cass, but he pissed her off,” Macy blurts out.
“What did you do to Cassidy?” Mom asks me.
“I just sort of let her believe I was already divorced before we were together.”
“He lied to her,” Macy explains more simply. “So he’s got some groveling to do when he gets back if he wants a chance to finally be with the woman he was always supposed to end up with.”
“You and Cass?” Mom asks with a grin. “Really?”
“Really,” I answer.
“I knew she always had a crush on you but didn’t think you would ever wake up and realize it.”
“Well, I finally realized it this week, and that is all I’m going to be sharing about my love life for now,” I tell them. “You all just worry about my training so that I don’t look like an idiot in my first fight and let me handle my relationship. Cass will forgive me eventually, though, right?”
“Good luck,” Mom says as she grabs my dad’s arm to pull him toward the door.
“You made that mess. Now you have to clean it up, son,” Dad tells me on the way out. “Night, kids!”
“Goodnight, mommy and daddy!” Macy calls out with a grin. “It’s been fun!”
“Night,” I tell them before taking a seat on the sofa. “So now what?” I ask her.
“Now we brainstorm ideas for getting Cass to forgive you, because if you two are on the outs, you’re gonna suck in the cage.”
And for once, I think my sister may actually be right.
Chapter Eighteen
Cassidy
“Hey, boss?” Brandon shouts out for me in the storage room where I’ve been hiding away, doing inventory for the last week since I’m not exactly in a happy, bubbly, customer service type of mood.
“Yeah, I’m behind the canoes!” I call out.
“There you are!” he says when he finally finds me. “I thought you had maybe gone home for the night.”
“Nah, still here. If the store is clear, you can go home, and I’ll lock up.”
“Oh, well, almost. A customer just came in,” he explains. “He’s looking for, and I quote, ‘the smartest, most gorgeous woman in the world who also happens to own this place.’”
“He said all of that?” I ask in confusion.
“Yep,” Brandon replies. “I made sure to remember it all, because he’s huge and I think he could snap me in half like a twig.”
“Xavier?” I mutter in disbelief. “He’s not supposed to be back for at least another week!”
And yeah, there was a part of me that wasn’t planning to get my hopes up in case he changed his mind…
“So are you going to come out here or am I going to have to risk my life and tell him you’ve gone home?” Brandon asks.
“I’ll, um, I’ll go talk to him. You can head home.”
“You sure, boss? I could stay if you think he might be crazy.”
“Oh, he’s crazy all right, but he’s not dangerous,” I assure him. “Well, not to me at least. Go home, Brandon.”
“Okay,” he agrees with a sigh before he turns and hurries out the back exit like he’s running for his life.
On the way to the front, I stop by the employee bathroom to see how I look. And yep, I’m still a hot mess with my hair falling out of my ponytail and my eyes still puffy and red from crying at night because I thought I may have ruined everything with my best friend. But he’s here now, so maybe there’s still hope.
Finally, I take a deep breath and suck it up, ready to hear what he has to say. If he’s come all this way to tell me he’s not moving home, I may tie him up and hold him hostage in the storage room.
On the way back through, I nearly break my neck stretching it to see him over the rows of merchandise. It’s definitely his black hair and wide shoulders standing in front of the front register.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I approach and ease behind the counter to put some space between us, so I don’t attack him. “I thought you had at least two weeks to work…”
“Turns out more than one of the guys in the firm slept with my soon-to-be ex-wife,” Xavier grits out. “They were kind enough to offer me their unused vacation days as an apology in exchange for me not knocking them out.”
“Seriously?” I ask in disbelief.
“Seriously,” he says as he slips his hands casually into the pockets of his gray pants. And fuck, he looks good in the three-piece suit, like a GQ model on steroids even though I know Xavier has never touched a single drug in his life.
“Wow. I’m sorry,” I tell him, swallowing down my lust and sympathy when I remember I’m still mad at him for lying to me.
“I missed you this week,” he says softly, his tongue wetting his full lips as if he needs to look any hotter. “Did you miss me?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” I answer, shrugging one of my shoulders while pressing random buttons on the register just to have something to do rather than stare at him.
“I called you every day and texted you,” he says as if I wasn’t aware of my phone constantly blowing up. “But you didn’t reply to any of them or call me back.”
“I was mad at you,” I remind him.
“Was, as in the past tense?”
“Was, if, and only if
, you can show me the divorce papers…” I trail off.
“Oh! Right!” Xavier exclaims when he reaches in his back pocket of his pants to pull out his cell phone. “It’ll take a few more months to finalize, but I’ve already signed everything for the separation. Here’s a PDF,” he says before he pulls the document up on his phone and turns it around to show me.
“Uh-huh,” I say as I glance at the paperwork.
“So, now that all of that is out of the way, what are your plans tonight?” he asks.
“Not much,” I say when I lean my back against the wall and try to sound nonchalant. “Eddie and Mike are coming over to my place so we can finally try out that threesome idea. Want to join us?”
“Fuck no!” Xavier yells, his sculpted cheeks turning red with his jaw clenched tight.
“I’m joking,” I say with a smile. “I ended things with both men last week.”
“You did?”
“Yes,” I answer. “Apparently, there’s this guy I can’t get over no matter how much of an asshole he is.”
“That’s great,” Xavier says with a sigh. “I mean about the guy, not that he’s an asshole. But in his defense, he didn’t mean to be an asshole…”
“Xavier?”
“Yeah?” he asks, wetting his lips again.
“Are you going to kiss me or what? I’ve been waiting a week. Well, technically years–”
In the blink of an eye, Xavier vaults over the counter smoothly and then cradles my face between his big palms to cover my mouth with his. He tastes like mint and teenage fantasies and… home.
“Are you really moving back here?” I ask when I cover his hands to pull my mouth away because this all seems too good to be true.
“No,” he says, making my stomach drop. “I’ve already moved back. I brought what I could with me on the plane, and the rest is on its way. I knew that once I came back, I wouldn’t want to ever go back to the west coast. So, I broke my lease and packed everything up, even though I have no idea where I’m going to put all my shit or sleep. Maybe with Macy or my parents…”