Holding Huck's Heart (Marco's MMA Boys #3) (15 page)

CHAPTER 28

HUCK

I expected the trip back from Miami to feel like it was taking forever, but it went rather quickly. Being locked in a vehicle with Chelsea for a few hours was uncomfortable, the tension was at a high. I wanted to know where we stood. We had talked a little last night but I still didn’t know and couldn’t bear to ask her right now. How much of what she was saying was drunken ramblings and how much was the truth?

When I pull up to her mom’s place, she looks over at me. “Thanks for the ride, Huck.”

“Uh, I’m coming in. I need to know what you remembered,” I say in my “you’re not fucking with me” tone.

“Huck,” she whines, but doesn’t get a chance to refuse when her mother swings her front door open.

“Chelsea! You’re home.”

We both get out of the truck as a black unmarked sedan pulls in the driveway.

Jenny steps further out. “Mack, what a wonderful surprise.”

I can see that the chemo has taken a toll on Jenny over the past few weeks. She has a scarf wrapped around her head, along with a mask over her face. She’s lost weight and she looks very frail.

As I walk up the steps, she sighs and pulls me in for a hug. “Huck, good to see you, too.”

We all file into the house and Chelsea looks at her mom. “Mom, I have to talk to Mack about some stuff.”

“Where’s your car? Why did Huck bring you home?”

I start to snicker and then cough when she glares at me. “Sorry.”

“It’s a long story, Mom. I’m going to tell you, but I need to talk to Mack about some stuff,” she says, hugging her mom.

We all sit down in the living room. Chelsea explains the events of the last twenty-four hours. Mack laughs about her putting her car through the dealership, while her mom scolds her with some amusement in her eyes. “Well, Pavel didn’t report you for trying to make his office a drive thru so he’s obviously trying to cover up your relationship.”

She glances back up at him. “I think I know what the man who attacked me was talking about.”

His eyes go wide. “What do you think it was?”

“Well, the night before Dad called me about Mom, I’d discovered that the dealership in Okeechobee had some invoices that didn’t look right. I’d done a little looking and it seemed the manager was skimming. Last night, I had a dream and I remembered that one day I was in the car and there was a news report about a man being found dead. Richard Markov. He was the manager of that dealership. Like I said before, I never knew how much of Pavel’s business was on the up and up, I just kept my nose out of it. All but that one incident. I didn’t think any more about it after that day. In the dream last night, I saw that and then flashed to the guy telling me that he did a job for Pavel and he owed him.” She shrugs, fiddling with her fingers. “It just pieced together. I think it might be worth looking into.”

Mack has written all of that down with names to check out. He stands up and pulls Chelsea to her feet. Hugging her, I hear him say, “You’re a little more like Leroy than you know.”

She nods and pulls away. “I guess so.”

He levels his eyes with hers. “Chelsea, I’m going to look into this. If any of this turns out, are you going to be willing to testify?”

She nods and almost whispers. “Yes. I will.”

Mack shakes my hand, hugging Jenny and Chelsea before he leaves.

Once he leaves, I talk briefly with Chelsea and her mom about Miami. Then we discuss the fundraiser tomorrow night. We’re hoping that Jenny will feel up to coming.

I step out on the porch to leave and Chelsea follows me out. She touches my hand. “Huck, thanks for everything.”

I reach out and touch her arm. “Babe, you don’t have to thank me. I have your back.” I pull her in and kiss the top of her head. “Always. I told you last night you haven’t lost me. I’m here.”

She looks up at me and gives me a small smile. “Thanks, Huck, that means a lot.” I give her a smile in return as she walks back in the house.

~*~*~

Sitting in front of cameras has never been my idea of a good time, but we needed the publicity for this fight tonight. So all of the fighters and coaches are here for the press conference. It’s been all over the news and now they want to talk to us. All of the fighters, even our competitors have agreed to be here for the cause. Tonight, each one of us are representing someone who’s either fighting cancer, survived cancer or fought and lost to cancer.

Our entire gym is representing Jenny. In honor of breast cancer, all of us are wearing pink trunks in the cage. Some of the guys are wearing teal for cervical or uterine cancer. A couple of guys are in lime green for lymphoma. A few more colors are representing, but I’m not quite sure what they are for.

All over the building they have signs that say “#MMAknockingoutcancer.”

So far, we’ve raised over ten thousand dollars for Jenny here local, our sponsor agreed to cover all the costs of the fights, all winnings are donated to fund cancer research and our sponsor also is matching our money raised. So that brings a total of around twenty thousand, which makes me very happy. Jenny only has one more treatment in this round and then they’re going to do bloodwork and some new scans to see if she’s in remission.

One of the reporters draws my attention when he calls out my name. “Huck Webb.” I make eye contact. “Word has it that this is your baby. You came up with this?”

I lean toward the microphone. “I did propose the idea, Marco and guys from Bellator really took off with it.”

“So Marco’s Gym is representing a Ms. Jenny Harmon tonight. Does she have special meaning to this gym?”

Marco leans forward. “She’s a local woman battling breast cancer.”

Sly leans forward, speaking into the mic. “Her late husband was Detective Leroy Harmon, he was killed in the line of duty. He helped save my woman and my baby girl during a vicious attack. He looked after our family, so we’re looking out for his.”

The same reporter chimes in. “Huck, are you involved with their daughter, a Miss Chelsea Harmon? Reports say you and a prominent Miami man were in an altercation over her at the championships in Jacksonville.”

“Chelsea and I have been friends since high school and that’s the only comment I have on that.” I look around the room wishing she could’ve been here today.

Marco can see I’m gripping the table with all I have to keep from strangling that reporter. He leans to the microphone in front of him again. “All right, guys, thanks for coming out to support this wonderful cause. All of the fighters need to go get ready for tonight.” He stands, motioning for all of us to stand.

We’re in the dressing room for our in house meeting before tonight. Marco stands in front of us. “Guys, I’m proud of the effort you’re putting forth for tonight. We take care of our family. We bust ass this weekend and next weekend, we celebrate as a family.”

After he finishes, Lox looks over at me. “Hey, man, I need to talk to you and Sly for a minute.”

Sly and I move over to where he’s standing. “Sloan and I have found a house we’re interested in buying. We put in an offer and much to our surprise, they took it. The thing is, it’s a short sale so we have to be ready to go in it soon. The lease isn’t up on the house Sloan is in now for a few more months. I know you guys are all happy living together, but I was thinking maybe Huck would want to take over Sloan’s place. It would help us out, give Huck and you guys some privacy,” he says, pointing to Sly.

Sly nods, looking at me. “Man, that’s up to Huck. We’re fine. I know eventually it’ll get crowded with toys and stuff for Princess, but right now we’re good.”

Thinking about it, Chelsea pops into my head. How I’d like to have a private place for us to go. I start nodding. “Yeah, man. I think that’s a good idea actually. It’s about time we all have our own places.” I thumb in the direction of Sly, “plus those two sound like they’re shooting a damn porn in the room sometimes.”

Sly crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re just fuckin’ jealous, man.”

I look back to Lox. “Get me the details, man.”

Lox smiles. “Thanks, man. This will be great, we’re gonna need more room sooner rather than later. So we need to get in this house.”

That catches the attention of Sly and me both. I put my hand up. “Wait a minute, are you saying?”

Sly finishes, “Sloan’s pregnant?”

Lox gives us a million megawatt smile. “Yep. Keep it quiet though, we’re telling Mom and Marco next weekend with their wedding gifts.” He shrugs, “but we needed an answer on the house situation this week.”

We both take turns giving him a congratulatory back-slapping hug.

Sly smiles a big smile. “You’re the only one left, man.”

“Dude, I just got us a couple of new siblings, don’t I just get credit for that? I don’t need to knock someone up right now.” I laugh.

He sighs, “I guess. So are Gia and Mox coming tonight?” Sly has dubbed Eli with the nickname Mox because of his last name. “I texted Mox earlier but I haven’t gotten a text back.”

“Yeah, they’re supposed to. His phone has been acting up. I bought him a new one today to give to him. They’ll be here a little before the fights start. I got them seats with our section. Plus, Mox is going to come back and help me wrap my hands, stuff like that.”

He nods. “Okay, good.” He goes to walk off but turns back. “I’m glad you found them, or they found you, man. Mox is really starting to show some serious potential when we’re working out.”

Lox nods. “Yeah, coming to the gym and working with us, I’ve definitely seen a big boost in his confidence.”

I look at them and smile knowingly. “That’s what I wanted. All right, let’s get ready to do this.”

CHAPTER 29

CHELSEA

Mom has been so happy tonight. Being out and around people has been great for her. Sly’s crazy ass ran out during his walkout, grabbing Mom up and giving her a big kiss for the cameras, she ended up on the Jumbo Tron. I’ve been sitting next to Gia and Eli tonight. It’s so neat to see their reactions to everything. I’ve only been to a few fights, but this is all new to them. Eli went to the dressing room to hang with the guys I’m guessing.

Gia leans over to me. “How do you deal with this? How are you able to watch them get hurt?”

I pat her leg. “Well, most of the time they don’t get hurt too bad. I mean your brothers are pretty good,” I say cheerfully.

She watches as Sly clearly dominates his opponent. “I guess maybe you’re right.” She smiles shyly, “So are you and Huck together or just friends?”

“Well, it’s a little complicated. I’m not even really sure how to answer that for you, but he’ll always be my friend.” I say with a hint of laughter, picking at the hem of my skirt.

“You know he did all of this for you, right?” I glance at her face and then she sighs. “How romantic.”

I shake my head and smile, she’s still a teenager and love is all hearts, flowers, love notes, writing your name a hundred times with his last name and boom boxes over your head. Okay, maybe not the boom box part because she wouldn’t get the John Hughes reference.

“Like I said, it’s complicated. So how’s it going in the dorms?” I ask, trying to sway the subject in another direction. Since they just got moved into the dorms last week, it seems like a great distraction.

Her face lights up. “Great! I love it there. My roommate is a trip, which is awesome because I was worried about that. You know, you don’t want to get stuck with someone who’s uptight, but you don’t want a party girl either. She’s on the softball team with me, so that kinda helps, too.”

“Good. How’s it going for Eli?” He’s really smart but it’s also obvious that he’s the more reserved one of the two.

She nods, smiling. “He likes it as far as I can tell. It’s so much better than living at home. It just always takes him longer to get settled in.” She crosses her legs. “He’s never been real outgoing. That’s always been me, but since he’s started working out some at the gym with the guys, it’s helped his self-confidence some, I guess.”

Before I can say anything, the bell rings indicating the match is over and Sly is declared the winner. I watch as Gibbs and Marco give him a towel and some water quickly.

Gia smiles. “Man, he is HOT.”

I look to see who she’s talking about. She’s talking about Gibbs. I give a little laugh. “Yeah, he is kinda cute. A little young for me, but a nice guy.”

“Do you know if he’s seeing anyone?”

From what I’ve heard, Gibbs is seeing a lot of people, but I’m not going to share that with her. “I’m not sure, I’ve only talked to him a few times.” I shrug. “I’m still kinda new to the group too really, so I don’t know them that well.”

She nods and smiles as I hear “Simple Man” start over the speakers. I know Huck is coming out. Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m up on my feet. Slick steps a few steps forward, holding one of the signs he’s made for each one of our guys.

Huck pumps his fist at Slick. Kara is bouncing Krista up and down, helping her clap her little chubby hands.

A few minutes later, we are dead into this fight. The guy gets a drop on Huck and has him locked up. I step forward and before I realize it, I’m yelling at Huck. “Come on, Huck! Get out from under him!” I’m walking up to the barrier. “Come on, babe, you can do this! Kick his ass!”

Huck comes out of the hold and gets the upper hand back. I’m still screaming his name and cheering, until the official is holding his hand up in the air. He comes tearing out and runs over to me, picking me up by the waist and kissing me hard on the lips. “Heard you cheering for me, babe.”

I smile and laugh as he sits me down on my feet. He takes off back to the dressing room. So many emotions swim over me. The push and pull of what resembles a relationship between us are making me crazy. Crazy and turned on…

I step back over to our seats, earning a wink from my mom. Sloan and Kara give me a smile. Liz leans to my ear, “You looked like a seasoned fight fan. Then you looked like a fighter’s woman.” She laughs as she pulls away. Oh how I’d love to be that fighter’s woman, but I wonder if it’s ever going to really happen.

Huck’s fight was the last one of the night. After the officials announce all of the winners for tonight and how much they donated to what charity, Marco steps into the cage, taking the microphone with him. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out tonight. With your help, we’ve raised over twenty-five thousand dollars for our cause!” He waits for the applause to die down. “We’re blessed that Ms. Harmon is feeling well enough to join us tonight.” He glances straight to me. “Chelsea, hun, can you bring your mom up here for me?”

I nod with tears in my eyes. Taking my mom’s hand, I walk up the walkway with her to the cage and inside. My mom automatically hugs him. Marco pulls her into his side. “Many of you know that my boy Huck was the one to come up with this idea for tonight. Huck’s always been our
thinker
in the group, always inside of his own head, so when he came up with this, I knew we had to make it happen. My boys do their best to never let me down and I do the same. So thanks to the fighters and our sponsor, Bellator, we were able to make it happen.” The crowd gets loud again and I see why. Huck is out of the locker room and stepping into the cage with us. Marco points to him. “This boy right here is like a son to me. The late Detective Harmon helped save the life of Sly’s girl and his baby. Our family has always been a little different, but we work. As Huck pointed out, family looks after family and since Detective Harmon did such a good job looking out for ours, we’re gonna look out for his.” My mom is crying harder now. “Jenny, we want you to know you have a center full of people here praying for you and helping look after things. I’m very proud and full in my heart that we could make tonight happen.” He motions for Huck to come over. He must’ve ran through the shower because I can tell he’s freshly showered.

Huck doesn’t take the microphone, he steps straight to Mom, handing her a check. She looks at the check and hugs him, pulling down her mask to kiss his cheek. After she lets him go, he stalks over to me and wraps me up, kissing me hard on the lips. The crowd is going crazy and when he pulls away, he smiles at me. “Tired of playing games, babe. It’s you and me now.”

I nod with tears in my eyes. “Yep.” That’s all I can manage to get out. I’m so overwhelmed, a knowing feeling washes over me, I want Huck and I want him forever.

I hear Marco explaining the check that Huck just handed my mom to the crowd, but it’s like I’m in a dream.

The next hour moves quickly. Marco and Elaine give my mom a ride home. They’re taking Slick and Krista home with them so that all of us can go out.