Mace (Cocky Cage Fighter #4) (16 page)

Hailey leans her face into my chest when she laughs harder after I drop my hand. “You’re hilarious,” she says, grasping my biceps to stay upright.

“Glad you think it’s funny to make me question my masculinity.”

“Whatever,” she mutters before looking up at me. “You’re the most badass man I know. I promise you that your masculinity is still fully intact.”

“Really?” I ask, my chest puffing out after hearing her say she thinks I’m a badass.

“Yeah, you’re huge, with sexy tats, fightin’ other men for a livin’. I mean, is there anyone who could even try to kick your ass?” she asks.

I scrub a hand over my face, not wanting to actually admit his fucking name.

“Don’t even say Senn.” Hailey helpfully throws it out there for me. “Jude said you’re better than him.”

“He did?” I ask in surprise.

“Yeah. He actually said he thought you could win the IFC light heavyweight championship title someday.”

“Did he really?” I ask, unable to help my smile.

“He did,” she nods. “He’s got your back, so even if Linc finds out that we’re…well, your place at
Havoc
is safe. Even if he tried to kick you out, Claire, me and my mom would make Linc’s life miserable, so…”

“Your mom knows about us?” I exclaim in surprise.

“Um, well, yeah. And my dad and Kylie.”

“I’ll be damned. And they, ah, approve?” I ask hesitantly.

“Sure they do. Why wouldn’t they?” she asks, which makes me feel awesome. Until she says, “I mean, you and I, this is just for this week. It’s not that big of a deal.” 

Hold the fucking phone. Why does she say it’s only for the week? And we’re not a big deal? Is this about that asshole?

“You know I’m not Senn, Hailey. I’ll call you even when you’re in New York. Hell, I know I’ll have to come see you so-”

“No,” she says, turning away from me to wring her wet hair out before I can even finish my sentence.

“No, you think I won’t do either of those things, or no, you don’t want me to?” I ask in confusion.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she says, which pisses me off since I had no idea a simple concept like wanting to keep seeing her was considered being fucking ridiculous. “You…you…”

“
I
what?” I ask curtly with my hands braced on my hips for whatever she’s about to say. When she won’t look at me to answer, I know it’s gonna be downright shitty.

“You’re too young for me, and I’m not interested in bein’ a member of your harem.”

Damn if that wasn’t a double slap to my cheeks. The ones on my face.

“What the fuck?” I shout, and it echoes around the bathroom. “First of all, our
age difference
? That’s complete bullshit, and the second, I don’t have a harem. I date several women, and like I told you last night, I’ll stop seeing them if that’s what you want.”

Can you really give them up
? my cock asks in stunned disbelief. So what if I’ve been seeing Sabrina for almost two years, Lena for more than a year and Erica and Monica for months. I may love them all in some way or another, but to be with Hailey, I think I could walk away from them all and never look back again. I think. No more of Erica and Monica’s all you can eat buffets, or waking up surrounded by more pussy than the local animal shelter? If I’m being honest with myself, Jude was right. None of that shit with four women is even half as good as the last few days with Hailey. She’s fucking perfect, everything I could ever want and more.

“The age difference is not bullshit!” Hailey shouts, her face reddening in anger. “I’m twenty-seven and you’re only twenty, May-Son.
Twenty
! I’ve been ready to settle down for years, and it’ll be years before you decide you want to be with just one person, if that’s ever what you decide you want. I don’t have the time to wait around for you to figure that shit out or break my heart when you decide you don’t wanna be with just me. I want to have kids and I’m almost thirty!”

“You won’t be thirty for three more years,” I reply, leaning my back against the shower to look casual, as if I’m not freaking out on the inside at our sudden shitty argument. Even though I want to tell her that I can be with just one person if she would give me a chance, I hold back. I’m getting the feeling that’s not what she actually wants from me. 

“Three years is not that long, since you know, I’ve still got to meet ‘the one’ and get married before I start poppin’ out babies.”

My shoulders slump with her adamant rejection. Why can’t I be “
the one
?”

“I love kids. I might want babies in three years,” I tell her.

Hailey shakes her head and wraps her arms around herself. “No, you won’t. You’ll be signed with the IFC, trainin’ and travelin’ the world for million dollar fights. Not stayin’ home to change diapers or…or go to little league practice.”

Okay, she’s right. I do want an IFC contract, more than anything. I can’t lie since it’s been my goal all along. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have anything else in my life. “Jax, Jude and Linc are all settled down,” I point out.

“Yeah,” she laughs sadly. Turning her back to me, she climbs out of the shower and grabs a towel from the rack to dry off her face. “All the more reason for you to stay single.”

“How did you know about that?” I ask in shock after she pinpointed the problem so damn fast.

“Just a guess. I mean, promotin’ fights for hot, single guys has to be easier than the old, married men, right?”

She knows that’s what I’ve been told, but how? I try to figure that out when I turn off the shower and climb out to start drying myself off to warm up. The room suddenly feels frigid, but maybe that’s just the way Hailey’s acting right now.

“I don’t care what
they
want,” I tell her honestly, tying the towel around my hips. I reach for her chin to make her stop drying off long enough to look at me. “I want to keep seeing you.”

“You
do
care what they want,” she says, stepping back out of my reach. “You and I…we can keep…havin’ fun together this week, but on Saturday I’ll go back to my life in New York and you’ll go back to trainin’ at
Havoc
.”

If that’s not a fucking sucker punch, then I don’t know what is. The instant resentment I have hearing that she’s okay with just getting off a few times, using me this week like Senn wanted to use her, makes my blood boil in my veins. I have never been so hurt and angry in my life, and I’ve been pissed off a lot in my twenty years, ending up in more fights than I can count.

“
Havin’ fun
? You mean fucking?” I quickly fire back. “I told you, I don’t fuck and run and you’re no exception.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she reels back and asks with narrowed eyes.

“I’m not gonna fuck you if you’re gonna just throw your hands up and walk away on Saturday.”

“Um, you already have fucked me.”

“No, I haven’t. Not in the way you women who want rings and babies get all sentimental and shit about.”

Her forehead creases until understanding dawns. “That’s why you haven’t…”

“I told you that I don’t fuck anyone unless it’s for the long term. Sorry, but I’m just not a one-night stand type of guy.”

“We have three days left,” Hailey replies softly.

“Then let me amend my statement, I’m not a
three
-night stand type of guy. It’s all in for the long haul or nothing but screwing around, you know, with oral. I guess anal is thrown in there too now. One thing led to another, but I never planned on letting it go that far with you last night.” I scrub my palm down my face and try to stop the rambling, since I’m not exactly getting my point across here. “So, yeah, I guess you can take it or leave it, because letting anyone and everyone hop on and ride my cock just for the hell of it isn’t my style and never has been. It’s Senn’s. So if that’s all you want, then maybe you should go find him.”

My chest heaves with panting breaths after throwing down the ultimatum that I immediately want to take back. Knowing there’s just three days left with Hailey makes me want to throw up, which is damn ironic, right? A part of me wishes I had kept my mouth closed since I want her however I can get her before she leaves. But the other, logical part of me…well, I don’t want to be used and cast aside when she decides she’s done with me. Maybe that makes me a little bitch, but with Hailey, I know sex with her would be different, game changing even. At least for me. There’s no coming back from that one-way trip into heaven. But afterwards, without her there, well, that would be pure hell, and sex would never be the same. My
life
would never be the same after having once had and then lost a woman of her magnitude. 

“Well, then I guess we’re done since I’ve had enough oral and anal for the week,” she says with her chin raised stubbornly before she wraps the towel around her magnificent body and walks out of the bathroom.

No, no, no. I facepalm my stupid self. What the fuck is wrong with me? Seeing her walk away, knowing I’ll never hold her again, hell, I might already be too far gone.

Hailey

I trail my fingers though the sand next to where I’m sittin’ and try to let the sounds and view of the Atlantic Ocean calm me down. That man, or
boy
rather, is so infuriatin’! He’s too young to have such ridiculous, stupid rules about who and how many times he fucks someone. And although I’m pissed at him, hearin’ him say he wanted to keep seein’ me caused my heart to swell up in my chest, right before it was crushed. I know that whatever his good intentions may be, either the long distance would never work; or, if it did, Mason would be givin’ up a shot at becomin’ a world champion fighter.

Why God, why can’t anythin’ in my life be easy? I’m so tired of being alone and unhappy. I know it’s not up to a man to make me happy, but bein’ able to share my days and nights with someone that cares about me would go a long way in liftin’ my spirits. 

The stunning scenery before me suddenly improves when a huge, half-naked man strolls up the flat stretch of beach wearin’ nothing but yellow and black boardshorts. As he comes closer, I realize he’s got a cell phone up to his ear and he looks aggravated based on the abuse his long hair is taking. Whatever Senn hears on the other line must not improve because I watch as he yells out “
Motherfucker!
” before haulin’ his arm back and pitchin’ his cell phone out into the choppy ocean waves. I know the feelin’, but unfortunately, I’m not able to pick up and throw a two-hundred-pound man in the same manner.

Standin’ up, I brush the sand off my bottom and walk toward the angry man. “Hey, are you okay?” I ask with my approach. Senn spins around, havin’ not noticed me before I spoke to him. His chest is still heavin’ as his eyes start at my bare feet and work their way over the sheer white cover-up hidin’ the skimpy bikini Mason bought me. I’m wearin’ it as a way to flip off the irritating man. Sure I am.

“Hales, I’m…no. I need to hit something,” Senn says, with both hands yankin’ on his hair, makin’ his biceps bulge beautifully. Sounds like he also mutters somethin’ about “
lying bitches
.” 

“Oh, well, sorry, but my punchin’ bag is in my other swimsuit,” I joke.

“Then let’s see what swimsuit you’ve got on under there. Distract me,” he orders with heat deepenin’ the color of his amber eyes.

A distraction is exactly what I need as well from an infuriatin’ man who refuses to fuck me. In fact, he suggested I go find Senn. Well, so be it. I grab the hem of my sarong and lift it over my head.

“Hell yes,” Senn says and then he’s on me. Hands on the sides of my face, his mouth possesses mine in a scorchin’ kiss. Whatever was missin’ the other night is back in full force as our bodies collide. After my arms wind around his neck, Senn lifts my feet off the ground and then we’re surrounded by cool water that gets deeper until it’s up past our chests. Since my legs are floatin’ away, I wrap them snugly around his waist. The move lines up his hard length with my pussy, makin’ us both moan into each other’s mouths. Our kiss breaks off when his hand presses against my aching mound and I cry out.

“You’re on birth control, right?” Senn asks between placin’ open mouth kisses on the tops of my breasts.

“Yes,” I assure him since I’ve been on the shot for years. Pills aren’t very effective when you throw them up.

“Thank fuck,” he mutters before he tugs down the front of his shorts, and then his cock is out. Whoa, the water around us suddenly turns icy. What am I doin’? Lettin’ him fuck me because he’s upset and I’m pissed at Mason, but then what? I’ll go months waitin’ for him to call me, not movin’ forward with anyone else while I once again get let down by him?

“Do you want kids?” I blurt out the random but important question and hold my breath.

Apparently, I catch Senn off guard because he drops me into the ocean like I’ve suddenly burned him. “Hell no,” he says quickly while I tread water. Then his eyes narrow. “Why? Did that bitch say some shit to you?”

Wait, what? “Who?” I ask in confusion, tryin’ not to be disappointed with his adamant response and failin’.

“Ab…absolutely nobody,” he says, which I know is a complete lie. “Why did you suddenly kill the fucking mood talkin’ about kids and shit?”

“Because I want them and I’m close to thirty,” I tell him honestly. “I’m tired of wastin’ time, so if that’s not something you want…”

“Oh,” he replies, reachin’ down to put his cock away again. Guess the moment, and our fling, has officially passed. That’s probably best since I still want to be with Mason, even if he doesn’t want me.

“Yeah,” I say, lookin’ past him up to the beach house in the distance wishin’ things weren’t so complicated. “So, I guess I’m gonna head back.”

“Okay,” Senn mutters, soundin’…distracted as he gazes out over the water.

Halfway to the shore he calls out my name. “Yeah?” I turn around and ask, lookin’ for my cover-up. Oh, well, it’s probably halfway out to sea by now.

“If you see Mason, tell him I’m lookin’ for him, and want to know if he’s up for a few rounds.”

“S-sure,” I say, already knowin’ Mason would no doubt love a chance to go at Senn with his fists.   

…

Mason

In the center of the exercise room, Senn and I circle each other, both looking for an opening to attack. I can hear the Jaws theme song pumping along to the beat of my racing pulse. I’m out for blood. It’s with barely restrained rage that I haven’t yet ripped his throat out. From the third floor balcony of the house, I saw Hailey and him fucking in the water a few hours after we were naked together. Wearing
my
bikini, Hailey looked like she couldn’t get it in fast enough.

Even though Senn has no idea I want her, and if anyone is in the wrong it’s me for going after her knowing he’s been with her, I still want to tear him apart for getting to do what I’ll never be able to experience myself. Asshole.

“What are you waiting for?” Senn taunts me before he tries to nail my chin with a right hook.

“Bring it on, pussy,” I respond, using what I know is Hailey’s term of endearment for him.

The muscle in his jaw ticks when he grinds his teeth together. “You’ll pay for that, fucker,” he replies. Really though, our smack talk is nothing new. He probably doesn’t even notice my words are actually laced with venom today.

After he steps forward and misses a jab, I let loose a kick that lands on the side of the head before he can get clear. Right away, I know it’s done some damage when he staggers, so I plow forward with a cross to his kidneys and then a haymaker to his jaw when he lowers his hand to protect his torso. He’s off his game today since I never usually get so many consecutive hits in.

The pain seems to only succeed in pissing him off, because he lunges for me and then I’m covering my face to try and block his fists of fury from landing. I promised my sister I wouldn’t look like a brawler on her wedding day, and three days isn’t enough time to heal black eyes. 

“You’re slow today, pussy. Do you need me to get you an energy drink so you can keep up?” I say just to antagonize him even more.

Well, that did it.

I end up lying flat on my back on the padded floor, my breath whooshing out of my lungs. Fuck. I still haven’t found any air when he slams his forearm over my throat. After the room starts going dark, I have no choice but to reach up and tap his arm three times in surrender.

I gasp in much needed oxygen when he immediately lets off my windpipe. “Who’s the pussy now?” he asks, back on his feet, looking down on me triumphantly. Before I’m up, he’s grabbing a towel and heading for the door.

“Where you going? I can still kick your ass,” I tell him. And I possibly could once I catch my breath.

“I gotta head into town to get a new phone. Maybe a new number.”

“What’s wrong with yours?” I ask, now able to at least sit up.

“It’s swimming with the fishes,” he says seriously, swiping the towel over his sweaty face.

“That was stupid.”

“Yeah, not my smartest move, but after talkin’ to that lyin’ little whore-”

“What little whore?” I ask, bristling at the harsh insult about Hailey, even though it doesn’t make sense since they looked real cozy just a few minutes ago.

He sighs heavily to the ceiling. “The one full of shit telling me I knocked her up. But it was only that one time months ago, and I used a fucking condom. No telling who all she’s been fucking. Just don’t say anything to Linc. I don’t want to fuck up his week.”

Oh shit! Is he talking about Hailey? He must be if he’s worried about what Linc will say if he finds out. I knew they’d been together, but I didn’t know how long ago it was. Could that be why she’s throwing up all the time? Not bulimia but fucking morning sickness? No, no, no. Hailey was talking about kids in a few years, not in
months
. She would’ve told me if she was pregnant, right?

“So Hailey’s, she’s…” I need to know but can’t finish the sentence.

“Hailey!?!” he exclaims. “No, God no. We haven’t fucked in over a year.”

A year? But I thought they just fucked a few minutes ago? It looked like they were fucking, although, I couldn’t really see what was going on under the murky ocean water. Huh. What a fucking relief!

“Well, that’s good,” I tell him, still confused as to why he doesn’t want Linc to know. “You can always just do a paternity test and prove her wrong, right?”

“Fuck. What if…goddamn it, what if it
is
mine?” he asks, and he goes pale when a look of utter fear takes over his face. That’s when I know he’s lying. He actually
does
believe what this girl is telling him. He’s only denying it because he’s scared and freaking the fuck out.

“It won’t be as bad as you’re thinking,” I assure him for whatever reason. Maybe I feel sorry for the bastard. “You’ve got plenty of money and you’re not a fucking teenager. I assume she’s not either, right? Who exactly is your baby’s mama?” I ask curiously.

He cringes before closing his eyes and slamming his head back against the wall in defeat. “Abby, Linc’s ex-girlfriend.”

“I’ll be dammed,” I mutter in surprise, knowing the girl from when she occasionally stops by
Havoc
to flirt with Linc. It seems innocent at least, or maybe Linc’s just too blind to see what’s going on, but it’s obvious she still cares about Linc based on the doe eyes she constantly has around him. “But why do you think Linc would care?” I ask Senn. “He’s about to marry my sister. Abby’s old news.”

“Because there’s a fucking code, and I broke it,” he replies, hanging his head so his hair shields his face. “I fucked a girl I knew my best friend had fucked. So what if it was years ago? It was still stupid to go there, and now he’s gonna find out because…”

“She’s carrying your spawn.”

“Yeah,” he says on an exhale, sinking down the wall until his ass hits the floor. “We were drunk at a club a few months ago, and she…she was all messed up after finding out Linc and Claire were getting married. I stupidly went home with her. We fucked. I left feeling guilty, thinking it was done and over.”

“You might want to rewrite that shit before telling your kid the story of how he or she was conceived,” I warn him. “Oh, and just for future reference, unlike phones, throwing kids in the ocean when they piss you off is not acceptable parenting.”

“Yeah, well, this kid is already cockblocking me. Hailey and I were about to…and then, for some reason, she’s asking me if I want brats and shit and my cock goes limp thinking I might not have a fuckin’ choice anymore.”

“That sucks,” I say, even though I want to break out in a celebratory dance. Later.

“It does. And when Hailey finds out…fuck, she probably won’t have anything to do with me.”

“Like you would actually give up girls in the clubs and shit for her anyway,” I remark.

He looks at me and I actually believe him when he says, “For Hailey? Hell yeah I would. In a heartbeat.”

That’s the moment I decide to do something really stupid. Completely idiotic. But I want her to be happy, even if she’s not with me. “You should tell her. Hailey wants kids, so she would probably be happy and want to help you out or whatever with your spawn.” The words come out like pieces of glass shards, scraping my throat raw. Just imagining Hailey with Senn makes me want to claw my own eyeballs out, so I can’t imagine how hard it will be to see them together.

“You think so?” he asks, wide-eyed and hopeful.

“Yeah, I do,” I admit on a sigh.

“How do you know she wants kids?” he asks, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

Because she told me when we were naked in the shower this morning
. “It came up during our road trip,” I lie with a shrug.

…

              After another shower, this one unfortunately all alone, I head upstairs, head hanging, shoulders slumped in defeat, to see what my sister’s doing today. Claire has her purse on her shoulder, getting ready to walk out the front door with Hailey’s mom and Kylie. Hailey’s sitting in the living room with her phone in her hands. She only glances up at me a second before she goes back to tweeting or whatever, but it’s long enough to steal the breath from my lungs. That reminds me that I should find her on social media sites so I can stalk her once she goes back to New York.