Hurt: A Bad Boy MMA Romantic Suspense Novel (17 page)

“You won’t in a few minutes,” he said. “There’s people looking for someone you know. They sent me to handle things and I ended up in Ashlynn’s apartment.”

“Okay,” my mother said.

“Mom, it’s about Dad. He’s been using my apartment as his address. He’s in debt, bad. This time with some serious people.”

“You?” my mother asked Noah.

“Not me personally,” Noah said. “People I work for, yeah. They’re a powerful family, too.”

“If they don’t get Dad, they’re going to take me and Jude,” I said.

“Noah wouldn’t let that happen, right?” my mother asked.

“I can’t make promises I don’t believe in,” Noah said. “I have my orders. I’m just trying to do my job.”

“Someone broke into my apartment a second time,” I said. “Well, technically, I answered the door. But anyway, they were going right for your room. Looking for money or something. They trashed your bedroom, took a picture, and left.”

“Maybe they took the picture to come here and look for you,” Noah said.

I gasped. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Wow,” my mother said. “What are they going to do? Kill me? Do me the favor.”

“Stop,” I said. “I need to know what you know about Dad. You have to know something. Why he would do that. Because someone thinks you have money. You don’t though. Well, not that much now.”

“Ashlynn, I have insurance,” my mother said. “Okay? This situation… this goddamn cancer… it’s all taken care of.”

“What?” I asked. “So does that mean you have money?”

“No. I’m broke.”

“How?” Noah asked. His tone suggested he knew an ending to this story.

I didn’t know…

“He told me he needed just a little bit here and there,” my mother said.

“No,” I said. “Fuck no.”

“Yes. Ashlynn… I love him. I’ve always loved him. Somewhere inside me I believed he would make it happen. He would find his payday and come back to us. Or to me at least. Just to have that feeling again.”

“You gave him all your money?”

“Not all,” she said. “But enough.”

“One time?”

“It’s never one time with your father,” she said. “You know that. There’s always a reason. A story. Another excuse. It got to be more and more. I was dying. I didn’t…”

My heart started to crack. “You didn’t think to save any of that for me? For your grandson?”

“A lot of this was before everything got so bad. When you got pregnant…”

“I hurt you.”

“Yeah, you did. You were going to go off and be this famous doctor. When I got cancer, I thought you would help me. Or maybe have people that could.”

“Like a cure?” Noah asked. “Are you insane? How could you put that on your daughter?”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m used to it. That’s why I was so embarrassed when I got pregnant.”

“That’s not what I wanted for you,” my mother said.

“Jesus Christ,” Noah said. “She took care of herself. She had a baby on her own. She works to support her family and never gives up. Where’s the pride in that?”

I felt the emotion catching up to me. I forced it away, replacing it with anger. “So you gave Dad all your money to spite me?”

“No,” she said. “I wanted to keep him away at the end. When I saw you, Ashlynn, and the mother you became. He threatened me a few times. Said he was going to take the baby and use that as ransom or something, I don’t know. So I kept giving him money.”

“When was the last time?” Noah asked.

“A month ago I told him to go fuck himself. I had a bad day because of the treatments. I was sick to my stomach and couldn’t collect myself. I wanted to die. Jude wouldn’t stop crying. Everything was just bad. I didn’t hear from him since. I tried calling him but couldn’t get him. So he’s gone again.”

“He can’t be gone,” Noah said. “We need to know where he’s been hiding.”

“I don’t…”

“You know,” I said. “You always know where he is.”

“Let me talk to my daughter in private,” she said to Noah.

“Like hell…”

“It’s okay,” I said.

Noah touched my arm. Then he looked at my mother. “You hurt her while I’m out there and you’ll be down to seconds.”

Noah left the room.

“Sorry,” I said. “He’s rattled by all this. He expected to find Dad and…”

“Kill him? That guy’s a hit man or something?”

“
Or something
,” I said. “Tell me what you know.”

“You were supposed to be a doctor, Ashlynn.”

“So what? And you were supposed to be a loving and caring mother. You were supposed to be there for me when I needed someone. Instead you leeched onto me. And I couldn’t say no because what kind of person would I be if I sent my sick mother away?”

She took a weak and shaky breath. “Okay. I don’t regret giving him the money. He always tried.”

“He’s a loser. He gambled everything away. He left us stranded. Now he’s in debt and he has people after us.”

“There’s a cabin in the woods. It’s in my family. A secret. I told him to go there and hide out.”

“Where?”

“I’ll have to explain it to you.”

“Then start talking,” I said.

“They’re going to kill him, aren’t they?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s not my problem or my worry. He owes money to people and maybe it’s time he finally pays.”

My mother smiled. “Well, at least if they do kill him, we can be together again when I go.”

It was kind of sad to see how hopeless my mother was for my father. All that she had done, given him, and would keep doing until she took her last breath. And she believed they would then meet up in the afterlife, right up there in heaven.

I thought about saying something to her about it, but I glanced over my shoulder at the door.

Noah was right outside that door.

Wasn’t I just as hopeless for him? I hid who he was from everyone because I didn’t want the backlash. I’d rather be labeled a whore who had a one night stand than deal with people telling me about how bad Noah was.

Love was a strange thing.

I felt my mother’s weak hand touch mine. I looked at her. We both smiled at the same time and then started to cry. There was nothing left to say to each other.

I knew in my heart it was going to be the last time I saw her alive.

38.

(Noah)

I paced the hallway so fast and hard, I thought I was going to cut tracks into the pearly white linoleum floor. I wanted to hit something. Who the fuck did that woman think she was talking like that? She just pushed Ashlynn away because of the pregnancy? It drove me mad to think about the roller coaster of emotions Ashlynn must have gone through. And then at the end of the pregnancy, there was a baby in her arms.

The door opened and Ashlynn stepped out.

I ran to her, grabbing her face. I kissed her. I kissed her the way a beautiful woman deserved to be kissed. The way the mother of my son needed to be kissed. The way she wanted to be kissed, to know that through it all she was still fucking as gorgeous and as sexy as the night I met her at that fight.

I wanted to put her against the wall right there and have her.

“Noah,” she whispered as our lips touched.

“What?”

“We can’t leave here yet.”

“Why the fuck not?”

Ashlynn looked at me. She inched back and then nodded to the door.

“My mother wants to talk to you.”

~ ~ ~

I had no idea what to expect, but I wasn’t going to take shit from her.

I stood there, staring down at a dying woman. Her face was sunken in, purple bags around her eyes, her hair all but gone, the few strands left were thin and straggly. She made fists and pushed at the bed, groaning as she tried to sit up more.

I grabbed her arm and helped her. I didn’t need to see her struggling, even if she had pissed me off already.

“What?” I asked.

“You care about her,” she said to me.

“Why’s that your concern?”

“I know that feeling, Noah. So tell me what you do for a living? You hurt people? You work for the mob?”

“I fight,” I said. “That’s my job. I survive.”

“And you just showed up at my daughter’s apartment…”

“Exactly. I get Craig, your ex…”

“He was never my ex, Noah. We never got divorced. I would never leave him. It was just better that we were apart. We had this plan to get back together once Ashlynn was gone. She worked hard to get into medical school.”

“But the pregnancy ruined that, huh?”

“Yeah, it did. It wasn’t part of the plan.”

“And the cancer was?”

She smiled at me. “You’re quick. I like that.”

“You broke her heart.”

“Now it’s there for someone to clean up and fix. That’s how any good romance begins, right?”

“She’s not going to have a beating heart to fix if Craig isn’t found.”

“I know,” she whispered. “Give me your hand, Noah.”

I offered my hand and she took it. Her grip was feeble. “I was on the side of the road, about an hour from here. Just outside this patch of woods. Right? Sitting in my car, crying my eyes out. My stupid boyfriend dumped me because I wouldn’t have sex with him. There was a sign ahead that I could read. Something about being happy. I started to drive forward, wanting to hit the sign. Knock it down. I didn’t believe in happiness. Then I met Craig. He saved me. I was about to go home with some guy I barely knew. I snuck into a bar and got drunk. Craig read me like a book. He took me home instead. He was slow, kind, perfect. And then he wasn’t… ever again. But I always waited for that version to come back. Maybe it’ll be waiting for me elsewhere.”

She let my hand go and waved her hand.

“Now go,” she said. “Take care of my daughter.”

“I will,” I said.

Ashlynn’s mother then looked at me with the biggest grin possible. “And take care of my grandson, too. You know…
your son.
”

I froze.

How the fuck…

She shut her eyes and turned her head, still grinning.

I guess the secret was out for everyone… just in time for everything to go straight to hell.

39.

(Ashlynn)

I stood in the doorway and watched. Jude was in the bath, Noah down on his knees, hovering over the tub, one hand at Jude’s lower back. The protective father instinct was in full swing whether Noah realized it or not.

Noah picked up a blue rubber duck and made it dance through the air. Jude followed with an intense stare.

“So he gets there first,” Noah said. Then he grabbed another duck. “You get there second. First thing, kid, assess your scene. Are you in a bar? A club? An alley? Or are you stepping into my world with money put on fights? I hope that answer is always
none of the above
, but I know how life works, kid. So you stand there and watch what’s happening… you stay calm, let him get fired up.”

I smiled and touched my mouth. My heart was racing just watching this. Noah’s back and shoulders looked a mile wide. His arms filled the short sleeves of his shirt with ease. Each time he moved, his arm flexed, forcing the shirt to accommodate his muscles.

“Get away from his eyes, kid,” Noah continued. “The eyes are going to be desperate to lie. You might find fear, but you might find some guy who thinks he’s the king of the world. You know what doesn’t lie? The body. What’s his stance? What’s his shoulders look like? Find a weakness and go for it. Let’s say he drops his shoulder. Oh, man, kid, he’s getting ready to punch you. You better get in there and stop that. If he’s standing straight, he has no idea what to do. Get him in the nose. Bust it open. He’ll fall back, tear up, and he’s yours.”

“Interesting life lessons,” I said, stepping into the bathroom.

Noah put the ducks down and looked back. “It’s all I know. You want me to teach him the A, B, C’s?”

Right on cue, Jude lifted both ducks and slammed them into the water, letting out a yell. Water splashed all over Noah’s shirt.

Noah looked at Jude. “Hey, kid, watch yourself.”

Jude splashed again. Noah jumped and slapped his hands off the edge of the bath.

Jude burst into a fit of laughter. He then smacked the water again, splashing Noah. Noah repeated the same action, making Jude laugh again.

They repeated the game until Noah was soaking wet and Jude started to hiccup. Jude dropped the ducks and looked at me. He hiccuped again and he looked terrified. I crouched down at the side of the bath and touched his head.

“You’re okay, baby,” I said. I touched his head.

There we were, the three of us. For
tubby time
. A moment I really never thought I’d see.

Jude started to grab for the ducks again.

I saw movement next to me and looked down to see Noah reaching for my hand. His big fingers slid between my fingers and he squeezed. He held my hand as our son played in the bathtub.

We looked at each and we smiled. Noah had a chunk of bubbles stuck in his stubble. I left it there. There was something so sexy about a man like Noah with bubbles on his face.

“I like this,” I whispered.

Noah grinned.
“I like you, sweetheart.”

~ ~ ~

Noah held Jude until the baby fell asleep. I stood and cringed on the inside as I watched Noah put Jude down. The mama bear inside me feared nobody could do it like me. But Noah did perfect. He got Jude down without waking the baby up. He even turned on the monitor and checked the changing table for supplies. He pointed to the diapers and whispered, “Do you have more?”

“Another pack in the hallway closet,” I said.

He nodded.

We left the baby’s room and I grabbed at Noah’s wrist. “Hey. I have… I have something for you. I wasn’t sure if I wanted you to have it or not.”

“Okay,” Noah said. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Um… before that though. My mother…”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m sorry I got upset with her. I shouldn’t have been rude to her. But she had no right to say that stuff to you, sweetheart.” Noah closed in on me, putting me against the wall. “Don’t ever feel guilty. Life happens. Things happen in life. If it were perfect and all planned out, where would the excitement be?”

“I know,” I said. “I’ve made my peace with it.”