Full Contact (Worth the Fight #2) (24 page)

She took a deep breath.

“And by the way, Dennis will be serving a lot of time in prison, seeing as he tried to kill me at his own trial when he saw I was about to get on the stand and testify against him.” She turned to Francesca. “Thank God you were there. I’m so sorry for the way I treated you. You were always around, and you’re so beautiful, and…and I was jealous and insecure and just so stupid. I’m sorry.”

“No problem,” Francesca said with a smile. “We women, we gotta stick together.”

“Still, I owe you a huge apology and an even bigger thank-you.”

“How ’bout I get invited to your next girls’ night and we’ll call it even?”

Jessica snorted a laugh, even though her tears were still flowing. “You got it. Friends?”

“Absolutely, honey.”

Jessica closed the gap and gave Francesca a hug.

Minutes later, after the rest of Slade’s friends had gone back to see him, Jessica’s father turned to her. “Why didn’t you tell us?” he asked, his voice laced with hurt.

“Why do you think? Look how you treated my friends. I don’t want to leave Tarpon Springs, and I know this town doesn’t look like what you wanted for me. But Mom, Dad, I’m not what you wanted, either. I don’t do teatime. I don’t want to marry a doctor or a politician or whatever so-called perfect guy you two handpick for me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t want to hear it. Plus I was embarrassed. I never thought of myself as a victim. And it felt like you loved Dennis more than you loved me sometimes.”

“Oh, sweetie, we’re so sorry. We love you first and foremost. We want you to be happy,” her father said warmly.

A choked sob escaped her mother. “Jessica, honey, you should have told me.” Even though she was not a public-display-
of-affection kind of woman, she enveloped Jessica in a tight hug. “We love you so much, and we just want what’s best for you. And if we’ve overstepped or misjudged, we are so sorry. I am so sorry.”

Mrs. Cross pulled back a little to look at Jessica. “So this Slade person. Why is he in the hospital? Is he going to be all right?”

Jessica sobbed even more in her mother’s arms. “Oh, Mom. I love him so much. He’s given me more in a few months than Dennis gave me in five years. He is—actually he was—but because he was so mad at me, he began again….”

“Honey, take a deep breath,” her father said. “You’re rambling. We don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

Jessica took a few deep breaths, then started over.

“He’s a professional cage fighter. It’s called mixed martial arts. He also owns his own academy. He’s had too many head traumas throughout the years and wasn’t supposed to fight anymore. But he did. He fought. And that too was my fault. But he won. He always wins. Apparently there was a small blow to the head but because he was already suffering from too many concussions, he had some hemorrhaging. He had to have emergency surgery yesterday and they drained out some blood. He has been in an induced coma while his head healed and the swelling subsided. Now he’s awake but the last thing he remembered was me fighting with him in public and leaving him. I hurt him so much, he may never forgive me. But it’s okay. I did it to avoid him fighting Dennis for me. Because he would have. He would have fought Dennis had he known Dennis was threatening me. It’s okay—I may have lost, but Slade didn’t. He—”

Jessica was interrupted by a loud ruckus coming from the back of the ICU. Suddenly a curtain was ripped down from its ceiling track, and she looked over to see Slade trying to sit up, his hand still grasping the curtain, as Chrissy murmured something to him and tried to get him to lie back down. Behind the bed were the rest of their friends.

“Jessica!” the familiar rumbly voice yelled.

She ran toward him, not knowing what he was going to say but simply glad to see him again.

When she reached him, she stopped short, looking to see what emotion she saw in his blue eyes. She thought he was incensed.

“Closer,” he said. She inched closer.

“You know, these curtains aren’t very soundproof.” She looked at the floor. Had he heard everything? Her mother’s judgmental rant included? “I’m still so damn mad at you,” he went on, “I don’t know what to do. You think you’re the only one who stood to lose in this?”

Her lips trembled as she tried to contain her sobs. He continued to yell, his skin pale, his head wrapped in gauze, monitors and IVs attached to him. “
You
don’t get to make decisions about
us
on your own.
You
don’t get to leave
me
out of things when you’re scared, especially when they concern your safety.
You
don’t get to make those fucking decisions on your own, Jessica.”

“Please, Slade, calm down. Your head,” Jessica whispered tearfully.

“Come here.” He reached for her hand and pulled her face down next to his. “And
you
certainly don’t get to leave me again. You will not leave me again, Jessica. Do you understand?”

She nodded. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

“Now, you said some things in that conversation with your parents that I don’t want to hear again. Ever. ’Cause if I hear Dennis’s name again or what he did to you, I’ll be forced to do something stupid. I don’t care so much about doing something stupid, but that something stupid will land me in jail, and I can’t go to jail because you’re here and I need to be here with you. So that’s the bad shit I don’t want to hear about. But you said some good shit too. I want to hear that good shit here in front of me. Say it again.”

Jessica smiled through her streaming tears. “Slade, I’m so sorry I said that I didn’t love you, because I do. I love you so much, I—”

“Mouth.”

She grinned and, and in front of the ICU staff, the other patients, her friends, and her parents, and a mere one day after Slade’s emergency brain surgery, Jessica kissed Slade with every single fiber of her being.

“Baby, I love you too,” he said when they finally broke apart.

Jessica heard a sniffle, and looked up to see a misty-eyed Chrissy looking on. Francesca and Jamie Lynn had tears in their eyes as well.

“Does that mean I can’t ask you out, darlin’?” Travis joked.

“Go do some work, Texas,” Slade barked.

Jessica laughed as she wiped away the tears with a tissue.

“That was some beautiful, shit,
mi amigo.
A little girly, though. I hope that vagina of yours can still train me,” Tony told Slade.

“So long as you’re actually at the Academy to train.”

All the men laughed, and over the next few minutes their friends said their goodbyes and departed.

When everyone else had gone, Jessica’s parents walked over hesitantly.

Slade looked over and saw them. Jessica stiffened next to him.

“Great time as ever to meet the in-laws, huh?” Slade laughed.

Jessica groaned. “Mom, Dad, this is Slade Martin. Slade, these are my parents, Thomas and Shannon Cross.”

“It is very nice to meet you,” her mother said in a small voice, not sounding at all like her usual snooty self.

“I am sorry for what my wife and I said out there,” Jessica’s father told Slade. “We misjudged you and your friends. We are very happy to see our daughter with a man like you. Someone who obviously loves her and is willing to take care of her.”

Slade reached up and caressed Jessica’s cheek with the back of his hand. “Yes, I love her very much and will always protect her and take care of her. She’s just…a little stubborn sometimes.”

Her father blew out a breath. “She certainly is.”

“Honey, your father and I are going to take the first plane out and head back home,” her mother said. “I’m sure you need some time to work everything out with Slade. Once everything’s all settled, call us and we’ll come visit a little longer. Okay?”

“Okay, Mom. Thank you. Oh, wait—I won’t have a house after next week because I broke my lease. I’ll call you with the new address once I find a new place.”

“Babe, can you hand me that notepad and pen over there by the table?” Slade asked. Jessica, not knowing what he was up to, obliged. Slade wrote something on it, then handed it to Jessica’s father. “Mr. and Mrs. Cross, that is my address and phone number. From now on, that’s where Jessica will be.”

“She will?” Mrs. Cross sounded bewildered.

“I will?” Jessica asked, sounding equally confused.

“You will. I want you by my side. We’re all in, remember?”

Jessica smiled and leaned down to give Slade a kiss on the lips. “I love you too, Slade. Definitely all in.”

A
M
ONTH
L
ATER…

“Listen up, guys!” Slade yelled at the ten men who were either clients or trainers.

“What’s up, boss?” Travis replied.

“For those who don’t know her yet, this is Jessica Cross. She’s going to be holding yoga classes here a few times a week.”

There were a few catcalls, cheers, and whistles.

“Relax, guys. There will be no fraternizing with the women who come to yoga. You got it?” A few expletives were yelled. “I don’t want to catch any of you assholes fucking around with any of her girls. And if anyone looks at Jessica with anything other than respect, I’ll personally KO you.”

“Yeah, right, old man,” one of the newer fighters yelled.

“We’re the same age, asshole!” Slade said as Jessica chuckled.

Jessica addressed the group next. “I’d love it if you guys sat in on some of the yoga classes too.”

There was a roar of laughter.

“Hey, don’t laugh until you try it,” Tony added.

“That’s pussy-shit. We ain’t trying that!” one of the guys yelled.

“I bet there isn’t one man in this room who can do an entire hour of my class,” Jess challenged them.

“Come on, lady. We fight men who weigh three times what you weigh. We can chant ‘om’ all day.”

“I bet you can’t.” Jessica winked at Francesca, who was standing to the side. She’d told Jessica to goad the guys with a wager. That woman sure knew how to handle men.

“I’ll bet a date with you that I can,” Travis teased.

“No way!” Slade snarled.

“With me.” In a formfitting red suit and her trademark heels, Francesca pushed herself off the counter where she’d been leaning. “Make it through one hour and you get a date with me. Easy peasy. Tony, you can’t participate—you’ve been taking her class for a while now.”

“Wait. What? No fair.” Tony looked crestfallen.

Jessica surveyed the men. “Okay, so whichever one of you can make it through an entire class—the entire thing, one hour, no bitching or complaining—will go out on a date with the lovely Ms. Silva.”

“Nice!”

“Can’t wait to see what’s under those tight-ass—”

“Shut the fuck up, Thompson,” Tony yelled.

“I hate how yoga pants look on women,” Travis hollered. The entire class fell silent in shock. “Said no man…ever!” he finished. The entire group burst into laughter.

Tony grabbed Francesca’s wrist and pulled her aside. In a low voice he asked, “What the hell are you doing?”

“None of these guys will be able to do twenty minutes of this class, forget an hour. You know I’m right.”

“Absolutely not. You’re not going to whore yourself—”

“Whore? Who said anything about whore?”

“I’m not allowing—”

“Excuse me? Who the fuck do you think you are? Reel it in, macho man. I’m not your responsibility. We don’t even get along.”

Tony said something under his breath in Spanish.

“Tomorrow. Ten in the morning,” Slade reminded the guys. “One entire hour. No bitching. You stick it out, she goes on a date.”

“Get ready to date us all, honey!” another new guy yelled.

Francesca and Jessica laughed. Tony rubbed his face in frustration.

The next morning, Jessica was sitting in the front of the gym, stretching, when twelve guys strolled in. It was a sight to behold. Twelve huge, mostly tattooed, mostly gorgeous, mostly domineering men. Not one stood less than six feet tall, and all were as wide as Slade, if not wider.

“Good morning,
linda,
” Tony said, grabbing her hand and planting a kiss on it.

“Morning, Tony.”

“Howdy, Jess. You like my yoga gear?” Travis asked.

Jessica looked up at his shirt and burst out laughing. Across the front it said,
I’d flex but I love this shirt.

“Cocky, aren’t you?”

“Oh, darlin’, I love it when the word
cock
—”

There was a loud cough. “All right, all right. Let’s get this show on the road.” Slade punched Travis’s shoulder playfully, although a little harder than necessary.

“Okay, guys. Grab one of those mats.”

The guys grabbed mats and spread them out on the floor.

“Basically, you guys are going to do what I do,” she told them. “You don’t have to overdo it. Just do the best you can.”

The first few minutes began with a lot of catcalls and whistles every time Jessica stretched or moved. Each time she came close to one of the men to adjust a pose, they winked or flirted. That lasted about ten minutes. From then on, there was silence and grunts. Jessica could’ve been naked and no one would have noticed her. After forty-five minutes of class, the only two remaining were Tony and Thompson. Thompson, the newest fighter to join the academy was arrogant but in great shape. During the final minutes of the class it looked like an all-out competition between the two men.

Francesca walked in, wearing black leggings with black stiletto boots that went to her knees and a loose-fitting sheer black blouse that went just past her ass. She looked less formal than normal but definitely overdressed for the gym.

“Seems you have two winners, Frances. Tony and Thompson,” Jessica said.

“Nope. Just one winner. Tony wasn’t in the competition,” Francesca corrected her.

Tony’s eyes narrowed.

“So when’s the date?” Francesca asked.

“After I catch my breath and the blood rushes back to my head, I’ll let you know,” a red-faced and exhausted-looking Thompson said with a weak grin.

Tony stormed out of the gym.

“Harder than it looked, wasn’t it, boys?” Francesca addressed the other men, all sprawled out on their mats.

They just grunted.

The following day was Worth the Fight Academy’s grand reopening. It had been postponed almost a month due to Slade being hospitalized. Most of the town was there, as well as the fighters. Only one person was missing: Tony.

After most of the people had left, the gang took the party to the Pier. Jessica sat on Slade’s lap as she talked across the table to Francesca.

“What crawled up Tony’s ass? Why wasn’t he there?”

“Who knows? He’s probably getting drunk with some skank as we speak,” Francesca answered.

“You need a man, Frances. I want to find you a guy,” Chrissy slurred.

“No thanks, hon. I’m good.”

The eyes of Chrissy, Jessica, and Jamie Lynn narrowed at Francesca, but her demeanor had changed so drastically, the women thought it best not to ask any further questions.

“Hey, Vi, how are you settling in? Town treatin’ you well?” Travis asked Violet.

Violet glanced sideways at Cain, who was scowling, before answering Travis. “Yeah. For the most part everyone’s been welcoming. I’m starting next week at Chrissy’s medical office.”

“Good. You know where to find me if you need anything, sugar,” Travis said with a wink.

Cain slammed his beer mug on the table and walked away.

Travis shrugged. Violet looked away.

The rest of the evening passed with drinks, laughter, and good company. By midnight, all the men were drinking beer by the pool tables and the women were chatting loudly at a booth.

The door to the Pier opened, and all the women stopped speaking, which meant that the bar was suddenly quiet. Which meant that the men stopped playing pool to turn around and figure out what was going on.

Jamie Lynn was the first to speak. “Jesus Christ Almighty! Who the hell is that?”

“Wow,” Jessica muttered, her mouth open.

“OMG!” Chrissy exclaimed.

“Holy…wait.” Francesca squinted. “Enzo?”

The man turned, showing them a black faux hawk and devastatingly beautiful green eyes. His face, which had looked angry, relaxed. He strode over to Francesca and grabbed her hand.

“Frankie?”

“Enzo? What are you doing here? I thought you were in Brazil. And please, not Frankie. It’s Frances or Francesca.”

“Long story,” he told her.

“Where’s Isabella?”

“Even longer story.”

Tony chose that moment to walk into the bar. His eyes narrowed when he saw Francesca and the man with the faux hawk still holding her hand. Tony coughed. Francesca chose to ignore Tony but took advantage of the moment to address the rest of the drooling women. “Guys, this is my cousin, Lorenzo Silva.”

“I remember you,” Slade said. “You used to train at WtF when you were younger.”

“Yeah. Slade, right?” Enzo said.

“Yeah, man. You were good. You still fighting?”

“I am. Not so much these days, but yeah, in the small European circuit.”

The rest of the guys came by the table, and Slade introduced them.

Then Enzo turned to the booth where the women sat. “And who are these beautiful ladies?” he asked, his eyes zeroing in on Jamie Lynn.

“This is Chrissy, Slade’s sister. Jessica, Slade’s girlfriend. Jamie Lynn, Travis’s sister.” Francesca pointed behind her to remind him who Travis was. “And this here is Violet, a friend.”

Enzo shook all their hands but leaned in to give Jamie Lynn a kiss on the hand. Her face blushed red.

“So, are you staying for a while or is this just a vacation?” Francesca asked.

“Heard you bought the ol’ gym. Thinking of staying around for a while.”

“Great. Look forward to seeing you at WtF. Come on, let’s get some booze in you,” Jack said as he led Enzo to the pool table.

“Oh, my! He’s…wow!” Chrissy said.

“Yeah, he is. JL, you all right? You look a little flushed,” Violet said teasingly.

“Uh, yeah. Fine. He’s just so…so…”

She never finished her sentence, but all the women nodded, knowing exactly what Jamie Lynn meant.

Three days after the grand opening of the Academy, Slade was holding Jessica’s thigh up with one arm while bracing himself against the shower wall with the other. Her tongue was doing wonderful things to his tongue while he pumped in and out of her as the hot water fell on them. Five minutes earlier he had walked in on her showering, and the primal instinct to be inside her took over. But Jessica was nothing if not an eager participant.

“Slade. Don’t stop!” she yelled as her muscles tightened. They came together, sliding down the wall to the floor of the shower.

“Good morning, lady.”

“Good morning, baby,” she said with a lazy smile.

She kissed him, and then they turned off the water and got out of the shower, taking turns drying each other. She put on one of WtF’s T-shirts and a pair of ratty shorts and was heading downstairs to make them breakfast when she heard a loud yelp from outside.

Jessica stopped everything and went running outside to see what was going on. She found Chrissy crawling around on the grass with six weird-looking Chihuahuas with black and white spots.

“Chrissy, what happened?”

“Oh my God. That witch just left them on my porch. She rang the bell and left. They’re getting away. The pups—grab them, Jessica.” Jessica stumbled around grabbing puppies and placing them in a big hamper, but every time they’d grab one, another would escape and take off.

Slade ran out to see what all the commotion was about. When he saw the two frantic women he began to laugh. “It’s going to be awesome to see you and Jack trying to find these ugly-ass dogs a home.”

Jessica was sitting on the grass. One of the puppies was licking her face and another one was jumping on her back, trying to bite her hair. Jessica was laughing uncontrollably. And then it happened: she looked at Slade, her big doe eyes pleading.

No! No! No! I am not keeping one of those puppies. No way in hell!

Just then Jack pulled into the driveway in his police car. He got out of the vehicle and surveyed the scene.

“Slade, please,” Jessica begged. “Look, she loves me. And this one too. We can’t leave your sister with a new practice, a wedding to plan, and all these dogs. Please, baby. Look.” Jessica held the puppy out to him, and the sucker growled. Drogo’s offspring evidently came with the Slade-hating DNA. “So sweet, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, real sweet.”

But the moment Jessica looked at him with those eyes…how could he deny her anything? Slade took a deep breath and released it before shaking his head wryly.

Jessica grinned. “Is that a yes, Slade?”

“Can I ever say no to you?”

Jessica squealed. “Oh, Slade. I love you!” Still holding both pups, she gave Slade a big kiss before cuddling with the puppies some more.

Slade looked up at Jack, who had a knowing smirk on his face. Words were not necessary; he knew exactly what his best friend’s expression meant. Finally, Slade had the thing he’d never thought he would have. The thing he’d never even thought he wanted. He had the same thing his best friend had with his sister: he had the love of a woman. Not just any woman, but the woman he loved with all that he was.