Holding Huck's Heart (Marco's MMA Boys #3) (6 page)

CHAPTER 9

CHELSEA

How did I let Liz talk me into coming to this cookout? But here I am, riding with her to it. I have to be the dumbest, most idiotic woman on this planet.

“So did he try to say anything else to you?” She’s referring to Pavel coming to the club the other night.

“No, he’s been texting me like crazy though. I just keep ignoring them,” I say, staring out the window.

The radio breaks in on our conversation.

“An Okeechobee man was found dead in a local canal this morning. He’s been identified as Richard Markov, police are investigating this as it looks like there was foul play. We’ll keep you updated as there are breaks in this case.”

My breath catches. Liz looks over at me. “What’s wrong?”

“He was the manager at the dealership in Okeechobee. I’d just found evidence that he might be embezzling from the company. Now they say that he might have died from foul play?”

She puts her hands up. “Wait, why would you think that?”

“Look, I’m sure you picked up on the fact that Pavel’s Russian. Well, I always had suspicions that things weren’t exactly on the up and up there. Now, just as soon as I tell him that I think his manager is skimming, that same manager turns up dead.” I sigh. “It’s a little scary and concerning.”

“You don’t know anything else that could worry him? Do you?” She says nervously.

“No. I don’t think so.” I look back out the window. “It just makes me a little nervous. I keep turning him down, what if-.”

“Oh, hell no. The boys will never let something happen to you. I’ll make sure of it,” she blurts out.

I shake my head. “This is crazy. Let’s just go get through this cookout.” I let out an obnoxiously long breath. “Let’s just not talk about it.”

She nods as we pull in a driveway. It’s a cute little ranch style house. I know that Huck lives here with Sly and his family. Kara must’ve been busy in this yard, it’s gorgeous.

Liz taps on the door and walks on in. “Hey, guys, we’re here.”

Kara comes running to the living room. “Hey! I’m so glad you guys could make it.” She jumps up and down. “Ooohhh, what did you bring?” she says, pointing to the tray in my hands.

“I brought death by chocolate. I hope you don’t mind, I just hate coming to a cookout empty handed.” I sigh. “Liz invited me and I just, well, you guys weren’t the ones to invite me.”

She places a hand on my forearm. “Honey, it’s okay. Everyone is welcome at our house, with the exception of the twins’ mom.” She laughs. “Trust me, you brought dessert, the boys will welcome you with open arms. Come on, everyone is out back.”

Yeah, I know one that probably won’t.

I try to make conversation as we walk through the house. “This is a really nice place. Your yard is so pretty.”

“Oh, that’s all Huck. He’s our cook most of the time and our master gardener.” She laughs. “Now the inside was a total bachelor pad until I moved in and then the ‘Princess’ came along.” She shakes her head, actually using the air quotes. “Then the boys went into over drive. They baby-proofed the house when I was four months pregnant.” She laughs and pulls me into a hug. “How is your mom doing?”

I give a half smile. “Well, the chemo is taking all of her energy, but she seems to be doing okay.”

She nods softly. “I’m glad.” She looks like she wants to say more but doesn’t.

As we walk out back on the patio, I see several people. She pulls us over close to the grill where a young guy and girl are standing close to Huck. She points to them. “This is Gia and Eli Moxen. They’re Sly and Huck’s siblings. They’re twins also.” She turns to them. “Guys, this is Elizabeth, or Liz, she’s Marco’s daughter. This is our friend Chelsea, she works at the hospital, she went to school with the boys and her dad was my hero.” She quickly wipes a tear from her eye.

“Wow, siblings, huh?” Liz says, clearly shaken.

Huck turns around from the grill taking a sip from his beer. “Yeah, tell me about it. I’m glad they’re here though.”

Huck gets hit with water. “Damn it.”

I look up to see Sly chasing a little boy around and having a super soaker war. Liz takes off chasing the two of them as Lox grabs up the little boy, holding him upside down.

The new additions go over and start talking with Kara. I step up beside Huck. “Looks like you’re wet.”

He gives me a deep sexy laugh. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

I smile. “I suppose. So, a brother and a sister, huh?”

He exhales loudly. “Yeah, tell me about it. I’ve been dealing with this for a few months on my own. It’s been hell keeping it from Sly.” He flips some burgers. “I just didn’t want to say anything, you know? Until I knew for sure.”

I put my hand on his arm. “Yeah, I know. I’m glad for you guys though. They seem like nice kids.”

He gives me his signature smirk. “Man, they’re smart, too. They’re both going to college on scholarships and shit. They sure wasn’t me.” He chuckles. “Well, you know.”

I roll my eyes, he always doubted his own smartness. “Huck, I always told you that you’re very smart, you just couldn’t learn from those jackass teachers we had.”

He takes another sip from his beer. “So are you, um… Are you still, um…?”

I roll my eyes. “Working at the club? Yes.”

He turns to me, concern on his face. “Why?”

“Why else would I? I need the money. Mom’s chemo and meds aren’t cheap. Without Dad’s pay, it’s kind of hurt us.” I shrug. “So I’m doing this for a little while. No big deal.”

He shakes his head and slams the grill lid. “See, but you shouldn’t have to.”

“Huck, please, let’s not do this, okay? Let’s just have a good time and hang out. Like we used to,” I say casually.

He gives me that smirk again. “Oh, like we used to?”

“Just the friends part, smartass.” I pop him on his tight abs.

“Hit him again, Chelsea, he deserves it,” Sly says, bouncing up beside me. He rests his elbow on my shoulder. “So, my girl says you brought that killer ass dessert over there. That shit is awesome.”

Huck pops him in the back of the head. “What the fuck, man? You don’t dip into the dessert before the burgers are done.”

“Yes, Grandma Hucky. I’ll make sure I finish all of my vegetables, too,” Sly says, mimicking a little kid’s voice.

Huck nods, pointing the grill fork at him. “Fine. I’ll remember this shit when Princess is about Slick’s age. I’ll make sure she eats all the damn dessert she wants before dinner.” Sly flips him off and as he turns around, Huck grunts out, “Asshole.”

He turns back to me. “So, you brought dessert? What kind?” He winks at me.

“Death by chocolate,” I say, smiling and remembering his favorite from a long time ago.

“You would bring it when I’m being super strict about my sugar intake.” He chuckles.

“Why are you being so strict? You look great,” I say, furrowing my eyebrows.

“You saw my fight the other night, I was about to get my ass handed to me. I’m being strict until my next fight. The next match up against that guy is kind of a big deal.” He shrugs. “Hey, can I ask you for a favor?”

I look at him confused. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Okay, I get why you have the second job. I’m not happy about it.” I’m about to argue and he puts up his hands. “Will you please come by the gym one day and let me teach you some self-defense moves? That way I’ll feel a tiny bit better with you leaving the club.”

My mind flashes back to the close encounter with Pavel the other night. I know I’d be stupid to fight with him, but I’d like to have the option if I ever had to. I sigh and give him a small nod. “Okay, I’ll come by some time.”

He pats me on the shoulder. “Thanks. I know you’re Miss Tough Girl, but I just need to know you can fight someone off.”

“I could get Liz to teach me, you know,” I say, picking at him.

“Yeah and I could join the circus.” He shoves me playfully. “I’m just kidding. I’m actually going to ask Liz to help me teach some classes soon. She’s good. I just want you to look into it. Okay?”

I smile. “Sure. I will.”

“You’re going to ask Liz what now?” Liz says, stepping up.

“I talked to Marco the other day about us adding some youth MMA classes. I was thinking we could get you certified and you could help with the females in the class.” He shrugs. “If you wanted to, that is.”

She thinks about it. “Yeah, maybe. As long as we work better together than the first time.”

I look at them confused. “What are you talking about? This sounds interesting.”

Liz shakes her head and laughs. “Well, Huck and I didn’t get along very well when we first met. When the guys were getting certified to teach, they brought Sloan, Kara and myself in as test subjects. He was a smart ass to me and didn’t know that I already knew self-defense. I hit him and he cried. Like really cried.” She laughs harder and tries to catch her breath.

“She took a cheap shot and hit me in the nose. My eyes were watering,” he says, pointing at her.

“Good thing you two are friends now,” I say jokingly.

Sloan walks up. “Yes, we are all very glad they’re friends now.” She sticks her hand out. “Hi, I’m Sloan. I know we’ve met briefly but I wanted to introduce myself. That little man running around is Slick, he’s mine and Lox is my husband.”

I shake her hand. “Chelsea. Nice to meet you.”

“So, Lox says you went to school with the trouble trio?”

I nod. “Yes. They weren’t that bad though. They only made like two teachers quit and the cops only got called to the school once.”

Lox walks up about that time. “Total shit, babe.”

A little boy runs up holding out a jar. “Dad.”

Sloan laughs. “You made the deal with him. He didn’t repeat it this time as he told you not to say it so put your quarters in there, sucker.”

The little boy looks up at me. “I’m Slick, or
Sage
.” He shows me the jar. “If I catch you cussing, you have to put money in the jar. I’m saving up for another turtle and some video games for Sly and me.”

I laugh and shake my head. “Something tells me with this crew, you’ll get there soon.”

Huck chuckles. “I’m paid up for a while. I just went ahead and put in twenty bucks.”

Slick looks at him. “Actually, you’re down to eight dollars. You lost a lot at the gym the other day when you dropped that weight.”

Laughter erupts from everyone around us. This could be a good group of people to hang out with. I haven’t had one friend in a long time, much less a group of them.

CHAPTER 10

HUCK

Yesterday’s cookout really fucked with my head. I’ve done a great job keeping her out of my thoughts. Hell, I’m still hooking up with the occasional chick. When Sloan came into Lox’s life, he couldn’t even think about hooking up with another chick, so this has to just be some fascination. Right???

“You gonna run on that damn treadmill all day or are you actually gonna train?” Marco barks out across the room.

“I’m building on endurance. This next fight…I have to admit, Marco, I’m a little worried about it. If I hadn’t gotten a few lucky hits in and wore him out, I’d have never won,” I say as I slow down the treadmill.

His face twitches a little. “So you’re doubting yourself a little?”

The treadmill stops and I wipe my face with the bottom of my shirt. “Yeah, I guess a little. Maksim is a big ass Russian. I mean the son of a bitch is huge.”

He looks at me as if I’m full of shit. “And you aren’t? Yes, he’s a little taller than you, but your body is solid and bigger than his. You could fucking bench press that bastard and you have a little reach on him. So don’t go getting all
I’m scared. I don’t know if I can beat him.
I didn’t help raise someone who would doubt their self. If you go into that cage believing he can beat you then you’ve already fucking lost,” he huffs. “Now pull your head out of your ass and come into the ring, I’ve got someone here to spar with you today.”

“Fine,” I grind out. I’ve always learned just to take my ass chewing like a man from Marco. If you don’t, he’ll make your life a living hell for a few days.

As we walk into the room with our training ring, I see Sergio. “What in the fuck is he doing here?” During my entire career, Sergio has been one of my main competitors. He moved up to this class just before I did. He loves to talk shit and I can’t stand his dumb ass.

Marco glares at me. “He’s here to spar with you, dipshit. Your brother and Lox aren’t what you need right now. You need someone who wants to beat your ass. Now, quit crying like some chick on the rag and get in the damn ring.”

For the next hour, I listen as Sergio talks shit while he and I beat the hell out of each other. Once Marco calls it, he heads to his office. We stop and grab some water. He looks over at me. “So you’re going up against Maksim in a couple of weeks?”

I nod. “Yeah,” I say in a breath, then take another gulp of water.

“He’s a dirty bastard. I know I’ll have to go up against him again soon. Just expect he will fight dirty.” He looks at me seriously. “Plus, that damn crew he hangs out with, they’re pretty rough, so watch out.”

“Why are you being civil to me?”

He sighs. “Because Elizabeth told me to.” He chuckles, “And I do what she tells me. Elizabeth meant a lot to my sister.”

I take another sip of my water, nodding. “She told me she dated your sister. Sorry for your loss, man.”

He laughs and leans back against the wall. “Yeah, growing up military brats, my sister and I were pretty close. The last base we were stationed at, Colonel Haas was my dad’s commanding officer. He was a real asshole. I hated how he treated Elizabeth. Then when she and my sister came out, he made her life a living nightmare.” He shakes his head. “He was always an ass to her because he knew she wasn’t his, but then-.” He just stops and shakes his head.

I put my hand up, sitting up like a rod is in my back. “Wait, what did he do to her?”

“Well, at first he beat the shit out of her for embarrassing him. Then he sent her off to some boarding school. Threatened my dad’s retirement. He wouldn’t let her come home when her mom first got sick, he let her come home when he couldn’t handle it and do his job. His job was always more important to him.” He sighs. “She never knew until her mom was really sick that he wasn’t her dad. He lost it one night. Started screaming at her mom, the MP’s got called it was a scandal on post.”

“So can you tell me why she’d have bills from before she left home?” I ask since he seems to know.

He nods. “Don’t tell her I’ve told you any of this, the only reason I did is because you seem to be a good friend to her and Marco really wants to look out for her. I hate her working in that club. There were treatments that her mom got that the military’s insurance didn’t want to pay for. Her dad refused to let her have them. Her oncologist was off post so since Elizabeth was an adult, she accepted responsibility for the cost of the treatments they wouldn’t cover. When her mom passed, Haas didn’t let her have a dime of the life insurance. He told her the only way he would is if she lived a
straight
life.” Throwing his towel in a hamper, he looks at me. “As if she had some kind of choice in the matter. She told him to fuck off, busted his nose and he had the MP’s escort her off post. She wasn’t even allowed to get any of her mom’s things. She has nothing from her life before. I hate the son of a bitch.”

Finally, I stand up and stick my hand out to shake his. “Thanks, man. Not just for the sparring.”

He slaps me on the back. “No problem. Just remember the next time we’re in the cage, I’m kicking your ass.”

I chuckle. “You can try.”

Making my way to Marco’s office, I tap on his door. “Come in,” I hear him call.

I step in. “Hey.”

“So do you feel a little better now? Think you can stop acting like you lost your date to the prom?”

I nod. “Yeah.” I know I’m about to damage everything between Liz and me but I can’t let that asshole hurt her like this. She deserves some of her mom’s things. I’d go kick the son of a bitch’s ass myself but I wouldn’t even know where to start looking. “Marco, we need to talk.”

I explain to him everything that Sergio told me. Everything I’ve been keeping a secret for her, which wasn’t much since he knew she was dancing. I’ve never seen Marco this mad. His face is almost garnet, he’s so angry. Finally, he clears his throat. “I’ll handle this. I still have a few friends. His ass will pay and his career will suffer. This is not how an officer should conduct himself. He chose to raise that child as his own and leave me in the dark. I would’ve raised her myself. He was going to deny his wife the care she needed. He put his career first, he’s making my baby pay for mistakes that she didn’t make and trying to shame her for something she has no control over.” He shakes his head, rubbing over his hair. “I’ve kicked his ass once, I can do it again.”

“Whoa, Marco.” I put my hands up. “Don’t get yourself into trouble with this dick.”

“I won’t. I’m smarter than that SOB. I can make his life a living hell,” he grinds out.

~*~*~

I’m having the most awesome dream about a gorgeous naked chick riding my dick when my covers are snatched off and someone is attacking me.

I shove my attacker off and sit up, “What the fuck?!”

I see Liz on the floor of my room. “How fucking dare you!”

My brother and Kara are standing in the door with amused looks on their faces.

“I fucking hate you!” she screams, sobbing.

I stand up, making sure my junk is tucked in my boxers. “Why would you hate me? I didn’t do shit but what needed to be done.”

She jumps to her feet and shoves me in the chest. “It wasn’t your place!”

Kara and Sly keep watching us like a ping pong match. I hear the doorbell ringing rapidly. Kara runs to answer it. Liz is still whaling on my chest.

Sly steps in my room. “What’s going on here? I thought you two were friends now.”

She shoves me again. “He’s a fucking dickhead who can’t be trusted!”

Sly steps up, “Whoa. You can’t say that about Huck, he’s the most trusting guy I know.”

Suddenly, Marco is in my room. “Elizabeth, stop! This is ridiculous, you should’ve told me all of this to begin with. Huck was simply looking out for you, it’s not his fault. I got his ass for keeping some of it from me for so long.”

I look around. “Do you guys mind if I get dressed? I’ll come out to the living room and we can talk.”

Elizabeth spins around and stomps out of my room, with everyone else behind her.

Thank god. I quickly get dressed.

Jesus, what a freakin’ way to wake up.
I snatch some gym shorts and a t-shirt. Great, this is just what I was looking forward to.

I step in the living room. “All right, yes, Elizabeth, I told Marco. So shoot me if I think you deserve to have some of your mom’s things. Or maybe to not have to pay your mom’s medical bills by stripping. Oh and I think your ‘dad’ should’ve gotten his ass kicked for treating you like shit simply because you prefer females.”

Sly sits up suddenly. “Liz is a lesbian? What the hell? When did this happen? Holy shit and a stripper?”

Kara laughs. “Since always, dipshit. You act like you didn’t know.”

His eyes are huge. “I didn’t know. Is this what you’ve been keeping a secret for her?” He looks at me.

Elizabeth throws a pillow at him. “You can’t be pissed with him. I am.”

I look around. “Neither one of you should be pissed with me. I look out for my friends and family. She needed time to figure it all out. When I was approached with what that asshole did to her, I broke. I still wouldn’t have told you about her preferences if she hadn’t come in here ranting and raving.”

Sly is still sitting there stunned. “Here I thought she was going to be my sister-in-law.” He looks at Liz. “Are you sure?”

Everyone laughs at him. Marco steps over to her. “Look, Elizabeth, I’d already figured out you were stripping. The only thing Huck broke to me was your preferences, which I don’t care about. I don’t care who you love. I love you.”

She starts crying and he pulls her into his arms. “Thanks, Dad.”

He lets go of her. “I’m getting some of your mom’s things, too. I have a meeting with him and
his
commanding officer tomorrow. He’s gonna pay his own damn bills and he’s gonna give you that stuff your mom left for you.”

She nods. “Okay.”

“Can I go back to bed now? I’m kind of tired, I didn’t get in until late last night.” I rub my eyes. I’m not going to tell them that I was sitting outside the club waiting for Chelsea to leave so I could make sure she got out okay.

Liz rolls her eyes. “If you’d keep your dick in your pants, you’d go to bed at a decent hour.” She pats the side of my face. “Wouldn’t lose all of your beauty sleep, since you need it so much.”

“I’m going to bed.” I turn, stomp to my room and flop down on my bed.

What a fucking morning!