Bad Boy's Honor: An MMA Bad Boy Romance (28 page)

The smile disappeared from Nora’s face as she played with Tom. She’d overheard. Her career revolved around protecting children, but her power only extended to the child’s home. She couldn’t do much about bullying at school.

“We should be going,” Marcus said, once the awkward silence had dragged on a little too long.  

“Why don’t you come and have dinner with us?” Nora offered.  

“No, that’s fine,” Marcus replied, although Tom looked excited at the prospect of more time with Nora. I knew how he felt.

“We were only going to grab Chinese food,” she replied. “Nothing special.”

The Chinese restaurant in question was the one we went to a year ago.
Exactly
a year ago. So much for anniversary celebrations. Still, there was no stopping Nora when she saw the opportunity to help someone.

That’s why I loved her.

“If you’re sure it’s okay,” Marcus replied cautiously.

“Of course it is,” I agreed. “We’ll pay,” I whispered in his ear. I knew he couldn’t afford it, and it seemed better to mention it now than have him worry about it all evening.

Marcus went to argue, but I ignored him and headed to the locker room to grab my clothes. I didn’t bother getting changed. There didn’t seem much point now that we weren’t really going on a proper date. Besides, I’d been wearing gym clothes when we’d gone out a year ago, so it was fitting really.

I’d expected Tom would have an appetite, but the way Marcus ate his food made me wonder how long it had been since they’d last had a good meal.

“How are things at school, Tom?” Nora asked.  

She could now use chopsticks without getting food all over her, but we’d asked for forks anyway so as not to embarrass Tom and Marcus.

“It’s okay,” Tom replied. He looked down at his food as he spoke. You didn’t have to be a social worker to figure out he was hiding something.

“He has excellent grades,” Marcus said with the smile of a proud father. “God knows where he gets his brains from.”

“How’s work going, Marcus?” Nora asked.

“Fine, I guess. I’m looking for more work. Something with regular hours.”

Nora nodded, but didn’t say anything. She was up to something. I recognized the look on her face when she was coming up with a plan. She might as well have stroked her chin until a light bulb appeared above her head.

“Oh, before I forget,” Nora said, turning to face me, “we’ve been invited to hang out with Alison tomorrow night. She wants us to be there for a double date.”

“No way,” I replied. “I have so much to do at the center. I can’t take tomorrow evening off as well.”

“That’s a shame,” she replied casually. “You’re always so busy at work.”

“Joys of running your own business.”

I went to shovel more sesame chicken into my mouth when Nora kicked me under the table with enough force for me to drop the food back onto my plate.

“Sorry,” she replied. She didn’t sound sorry.

Oh. Now I got it.

“Marcus, I have an idea. Why don’t you come and work for me?”

“Work for you?”  

“Yeah. You can help around the gym, get the equipment tidied up, that kind of thing. You interested?”

“Hell yes. I mean, yes, of course I am.”  

“The pay isn’t great, but you can work as many hours as you want. It’s got to be better than working three separate jobs.”

“Are you sure about this?” Marcus asked.

“Of course. I need the help. Even if you just distract the ladies from me after class it’ll be worth it.”

“And if you could bring his ego down a notch, that would also be appreciated,” Nora added.  

Everyone needed help. Duke had helped me after my release from prison, but if someone had been there for me beforehand, I might never have gotten into that mess in the first place.

But then I wouldn’t have met Nora. She’d turned my life around. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to help Marcus now.  

I couldn’t kid myself and pretend that my work was anywhere near as significant as Nora’s, but I did now contribute to the community in a positive way, and that was a start. I had a lot of making up to do.  

“Do you want to come back to our house after dinner?” Tom asked. “Marcus bought me some Lego, and I’ve made it into a castle.”

I looked pleadingly at Nora. Looking at Lego wasn’t how I’d planned to end the evening.  

“Sorry Tom,” Nora said. “Maybe some other time. Riker and I have plans after dinner.”

“Can we come?” Tom asked. “Ow. Why did you kick me Marcus?”

The day I turned down the chance to spend a night with Nora was the day life was no longer worth living.  

Today wasn’t that day.

We went home together and did what we did most nights. Twice.  

I watched Nora drift off to sleep in my arms and then thought about Nick, my brothers, and everyone I’d lost.  

But not for long. I didn’t blame myself any more.  

I thought about the happy times I’d had with them.  

Then I closed my eyes and slept. I could do that now.   

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There’s something special about Laura. Something mind-blowing. Something… familiar.

Alex

Laura Chapman made it up to my hotel room, got naked, and then bailed, leaving me with a serious case of blue balls.

There is more to Laura than just a nervous virgin, and I soon find myself coming face to face with an emotional blast from the past.

I can’t let Laura go, but the minute I’m back in her life everything goes to shit. I’m going to protect her, but who am I protecting her from?

Laura

Alex Garland was the boy next door, and we played together as kids. Then my mom was nearly killed by a stalker, and we had to move away. New name, new address, new school, new everything. No more Alex.

That is, until I met him in a club and went back to his hotel room.

Alex is back in my life, but so is my mom’s stalker. The stalker wants to pick up where he left off and destroy everything we’ve built in the last ten years.

What is Alex’s connection to my mom’s stalker? Have I ruined everything by hooking up with the boy next door?

I’d lost her.  

Where had she gone? She was beautiful and fully deserved the opportunity to place her lips around my cock later tonight.

Somewhere in this room of lawyers and other equally boring people was an absolutely stunning young woman who’d caught my eye while I’d been stuck talking to one of the partners at my firm. By the time I’d ended the conversation, she’d disappeared.

I cast my gaze around the room, but couldn’t find her. Still, there was plenty of time and I only needed ten minutes to work my magic. Better make that fifteen. Women at networking functions always took a little more effort, and you had to pretend to be interested in their careers first.  

When did I become one of those lawyers who went to networking events?

Lawyers and potential clients mingled and partook in the weird dance that was professional networking, talking to people for long enough to get a business card and know whether they might be any use.  

This gathering was hosted by one of the large law firms right here in downtown Washington, D.C. I hated these events, but I had to get my name out there, and this function was so close to my office, I’d be an idiot to miss it.  

Nearly everyone here was in their forties, apart from the eager looking young attorneys desperate to further their fledgling careers by sucking up to some of the partners. There were even a few law students milling about hoping to make connections and land a job to help repay the six figures of debt they would have on graduation. I didn’t envy them, but that didn’t mean I could be bothered to help them either.  

I needed a drink. I headed to the bar and settled for a European lager. It was either that, or a cheap-looking wine. The firm could easily have paid for better quality, but they didn’t want people having too much to drink. Serving shitty wine was a subtle way of making sure the guests limited their intake.

A fellow M&A lawyer from another firm had cornered one of my old law school buddies and was currently boring him senseless with talk of all the deals he’d closed recently. I knew he would rather do anything other than talk about work, so I decided to help him out.  

“Tom, how are you doing?” I said loudly, shaking his hand and thrusting myself between him and the partner. The relieved look on Tom’s face as we made small talk made it clear that he was pleased to see another human being and not just a robot.  

“Thanks for that, Foster,” Tom said, as the old partner wandered off without so much as a business card to show for his efforts. “Are all these events so fucking boring?”

“Pretty much,” I replied. “I don’t go to many, but I never find lawyers much fun to drink with. Even in law school the parties were dull.”