Fighting 'round the Christmas Tree (Fighting #4.5) Read online

  “My screen shattered. I’m going to run to the mall and get it replaced before we leave for Colorado tomorrow.”

  “Oh! Can I go? I need to get a new jacket for the slopes. Mine is too small.”

  “How about we buy you one once we are there. You have plenty of jackets to wear for when we get off the plane, right? I’m just going to run in and out.”

  “Okay.” She shrugs and closes the bathroom door.

  I don’t know how it happened. It’s like my mind has a mind of its own, I swear. I am standing at the airport with a ticket to San Diego International in one hand and my broken phone in the other. I tell myself I can’t let Hayley know where I’m going because of the broken phone, but we know that’s a crock of shit. I could easily use a payphone or ask someone to borrow theirs, but I choose not to. Calling Hayley means explaining why I’m about to board a plane to San Diego, which will only upset her. I’m hoping by doing this behind her back I will stop her from being hurt and we will spend this Christmas as a family.

  The woman over the intercom announces my section and I walk over to hand her my ticket then head through the gates to board the plane. An hour later, and I am snagging a cab to Del Mar and thirty minutes later I am knocking on the door to Marco’s apartment, which overlooks the beach. When nobody answers, I curse myself for not getting my phone fixed first, then knock again.

  This time, the door opens, only it isn’t my son. It’s a girl who appears to be the same age as him, standing in the doorway with nothing but a tank top and underwear on, making me look anywhere but at her.

  “You aren’t Marco,” she says.

  “No, I’m not. I’m his dad. And you are?” I focus on her face now. She doesn’t seem bothered that she’s talking to a stranger in her underwear.

  “Bianca. You don’t look old enough to be his dad.”

  “Bianca? What are you still doing here?” Marco appears from behind me, dripping in sweat. “Dad?” He looks confused. His face morphs from confused to worried. “Are mom and Mackenzie okay?”

  “Yeah, they’re fine.”

  His face turns from worried to annoyed. “Are you here to try to get me to go to Colorado?”

  I look from him to Bianca, who is still standing in the doorway in her underwear. “You think you could invite your dad in? Maybe not discuss this in the doorway?”

  “Shit, sorry. Come in.” Marco reaches over to me giving me a one-armed hug. He smells like sweat and saltwater. He must have been jogging along the beach. I follow them to the living room and sit down on the couch. Marco must remember Bianca is still here because he says, “Give me a minute.” Then goes to his room with Bianca following behind him. About fifteen minutes later they both emerge. Her, finally dressed in more than underwear with a purse slung over her shoulder, and him freshly showered in basketball shorts and a shirt.

  She gives me a soft smile and leaves without Marco saying a word to her. “Girlfriend?” I ask as he sits down on the couch across from me.

  “Nah.”

  “Friend?”

  “Not really.”

  “Fuck buddy?”

  Marco laughs. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  “Where’s Mathias?” A few years ago, Marco asked me if I would hire someone to dig up information on his biological family. Even though his mom was dead and there wasn’t a name listed under father on his birth certificate, he needed to know if he had anyone biologically related to him and his sister, Chloe. The detective found one living relative, a sister to his mom, here in California.

  I contacted Jennifer without Marco knowing in case she didn’t want anything to do with him, but she was elated to find out she had a niece and nephew. Her parents had both passed away and Marco’s mom was her only sister. When she got into drugs, she cut ties and had no idea her sister had two children.

  Jennifer has a son, Mathias, who is only a couple years older than Marco. After visiting a few times, Marco made the decision to move to California, where he and Mathias share a two-bedroom condo on the beach.

  “He’s at work until five. I don’t think I could ever put on a suit every day and work a nine-to-five job.” Marco shakes his head back and forth emphatically.

  “That’s because you’re a fighter.”

  We both sit in silence for a few minutes. With Hayley not here to keep the words flowing, we wait for the other to speak.

  Marco finally laughs. “Does Mom know you’re here?”

  I glare. “No, you pissed me off and my screen shattered. I left to get it fixed and ended up here. She thinks I’m at the mall.”

  Marco throws his head back in laughter. “Hol-y shit! She’s going to kill you.”

  “No, she’s not. You want to know why?”

  Marco sobers up. “Why?”

  “Because I’m going to return with her sweet little boy.” It’s Marco’s turn to glare. “And once she sees you and hears you will be gracing us with your presence in Colorado for Christmas, I’ll be getting an extra special Christmas gift.” I give Marco a taunting wink just to fuck with him.

  “Oh fuck! Really, Dad?”

  “Like you don’t know anything about getting laid? Your little fuck buddy answered the door in her underwear. Just be glad I didn’t have your mom with me.”

  Marco’s eyes widen thinking about that one.

  “I’m not going to Breckenridge.”

  “Tell me why.” I know there’s something keeping him away.

  “I’m busy here.” He doesn’t look me in the eyes.

  “You’re too busy to spend the holidays with the people who love you? That is not the kid your mom and I raised.”

  Marco sighs then looks me in the eyes, nervously. “Dad, I need to tell you something.”

  “You can tell me anything. You know that.”

  Hayley

  Me: Did you get your phone fixed?

  Me: Hello?

  Me: It’s been awhile since you left. Are you okay?

  Me: Caleb, I’m getting worried.

  “Mac, have you heard from your dad?” I look down at my phone hoping to see a text from Caleb. Every text has turned green indicating his phone is off. I tried to call a couple times and every time it’s gone to voicemail. My phone buzzes and I check it but it’s neither of the messages I’m waiting on.

  “Nope,” she says, looking up from her phone.

  “Are you packed? We are leaving first thing in the morning.”

  “Yeah.” She doesn’t look up from whoever she’s texting with.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “Chloe. She said Marco isn’t coming to Colorado for Christmas.” She rolls her eyes. I didn’t know for sure but I suspected he wouldn’t be going. I never came out and asked him, afraid of the response I would get. I kept hoping for a Christmas miracle, but knew it more than likely wouldn’t happen.

  “Well, maybe we can end our trip a little early and go visit him. He’s probably just busy. I can ask Kayla if we can bring Chloe with us.”

  The front door opens and Caleb walks in. He doesn’t shut the door behind him, and then in walks Marco. I run passed my husband and into my son’s arms. I haven’t seen him in almost six months and I have missed him like crazy.

  “Oh, sweetie! You’re home.” I give him a kiss on his cheek then hug him again. “I missed you so much. I swear you grow taller and bigger every time I see you. Are you coming to Colorado with us?” I don’t wait for him to answer before hugging him again.

  “I missed you, too, mom.” Marco doesn’t move. He lets me hug him and hugs me back. I don’t know when it happened but he grew up. At six-feet tall and over two hundred pounds, my little boy has turned into a man.

  “Are you coming?” I back away, holding my breath, and wait for Marco’s answer. He looks to Caleb and back to me before answering. “I’m going.”

  “Yes!” Mackenzie squeals and runs to her brother to give him a hug.

  “So, you left to get your phone fixed and came back with Marco. Ho
w did that happen? And you never texted me back. I was worried.”

  Caleb looks at me sheepishly. “I haven’t gotten it fixed, yet.” He looks down at his watch. “Why don’t we all go to dinner and I’ll drop it off to get fixed while we are out.”

  I should question why he hasn’t gotten it fixed and where he’s been all day but something tells me, whatever he was doing is the reason our son is home for the holidays, so I let it go, thankful to have my family together.

  “Sounds good. How about I see if anybody else wants to join us?”

  “Oh! Can we invite Kayla and Bentley, so Chloe and Faith can go? And Liz, so Lilly can go?” Mackenzie asks excitedly.

  “Actually,” Caleb says, “How about we just do dinner, the four of us? We will see everybody at the cabin soon enough.”

  “Okay.” I smile, liking the sound of that.

  “Fine.” Mackenzie frowns.

  We get to the mall to drop off Caleb’s phone and the guy says it will be ready in about an hour. “Why don’t we eat here in the food court?” I suggest and everyone agrees.

  We get to the food court and Caleb and Mackenzie take off to the pizza place, while Marco and I go to our favorite sushi place.

  “How have you been?” We are waiting in the long line to place our order and I figure I will take advantage of the few minutes we have alone.

  “I’m good, Mom. Just busy training. How are you? How’s the clinic and the rec center?”

  “Everything is great. I just miss you, Marco. I thought when you left almost two years ago, you would come home.” Traitor tears fall before I can stop them. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m so emotional.”

  Marco envelops me into a hug. “Don’t cry, Mom. I miss you so much. I’m sorry I’ve been gone.”

  “Is it something I did, Marco?”

  He looks at me incredulously. “Are you crazy? You are the best mom I could ever ask for. I just needed to get away, find my own place in the world. I promise to start visiting more. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Okay, but when you left you—”

  “Marco?” Marco and I turn to the female voice who called his name. Bella is standing there with Tristan, Ashley’s son, and for some reason she looks almost upset to see Marco. When Marco doesn’t say anything, she asks, “Are you going to Breckenridge?” Her voice sounds cold—detached. I never asked Marco if he kept in touch with Bella and Tristan after he left but the look she’s giving him doesn’t look like the way two old friends look when running into each other after not seeing each other for so long.

  For many years, despite the six-year age gap, the three of them were inseparable in and out of the gym. That was until Marco started high school. It made sense that a teenager wouldn’t really want to hang out with kids six years younger but the way Bella is looking at him, you would think something bad happened between them.

  Marco just stands there, staring at her, so I answer. “Yes, he’s coming. He surprised us for the holidays. When’s the last time you guys saw each other?” I don’t ask the question to anyone in particular, but Bella answers. “Probably like over a year ago…”

  “Um, Mom. The line is moving,” Marco points out.

  I glance at Bella and she looks hurt. “Okay, well, I guess I will see you guys on the plane tomorrow.”

  “Okay, honey. And we will see you in a few days, Tristan.”

  “Bye, Hayley.”

  Bella and Tristan both wave goodbye and walk away.

  “What was that about?” I glare at Marco. Something is going on.

  “What was what about?” He shrugs nonchalantly.

  “Oh Marco, don’t give me that crap. I have been around Bella for most of her life. Did you two have a fight?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” He gives me a look that reminds me so much of Caleb. I nod in understanding but I fully plan to get to the bottom of this. Is she the reason why he’s staying away?

  We place our orders and I try to jog my memory of anything that could have happened around the time Marco left. But she said over a year ago. That would mean they saw each other when he came back that one time to visit…

  “Mom.” I look at Marco holding both our boxes of sushi.

  “Oh, sorry.” I take my box and pay the cashier.

  “Mom, drop it, please.” My kid knows me too well.

  Kaden

  “Mason! Focus!” I throw a punch to his stomach and he dodges it but just barely, his eyes finally coming back to mine.

  “I am focusing! But damn, all these women that want a piece of me. How can I completely ignore that?” The kid waggles his eyebrows.

  “If you don’t focus, you will lose your next fight and then the ladies won’t want any piece of you.”

  “I’m focusing!” He looks to the left of me and I know damn well his ass isn’t focusing. I throw another punch to his stomach, this time connecting a little too hard, but fuck! The kid is pissing me off.

  Mason doubles over, more from not expecting it and less from it hurting. “Fuck! Kaden!”

  “That is not very nice.” I look to the left of me, following the sexy voice, and see my wife walking toward me. Then I look back at Mason. Was this fool staring at my wife?

  Ashley is dressed like a fucking sin, in a blood red sweater dress with a big black belt wrapped around her middle. It’s a business dress I’ve seen her wear before but every time I see it, I wonder who in their right mind felt it was okay for a business woman to dress like that. Men wear suits. Suits which cover our entire body. Her dress isn’t too short or too tight. It’s just perfect. It accentuates all her amazing curves that I want to run my hands all over. Her ensemble is complete with a pair of high as fuck black heels that make me want to strip the dress off my wife and fuck her in only those heels.

  Ashley only wears this dress for one reason, to get men’s attention and money, which means she must have come from a meeting with potential donors.

  “Be nice to Mason, Kaden.” Ashley leans over the ropes and gives me a soft kiss that only leaves me wanting more. “Mason, have you thought about whether you will be joining us for the holidays? The gym will be closed and we would love to have you.”

  Mason is an up and coming fighter I took on a couple years ago. When he moved here, he had just turned eighteen at the time and Marco had decided to take off to California. Shortly after Mason started training here, Ashley and I learned Mason was homeless. We ended up taking him in and he’s been sharing a room with Tristan.

  “I just hate to impose on your family vacation,” Mason admits.

  “You said that last year but this year I am not letting you use that as an excuse. As a matter of fact, I am insisting you join us and I won’t take no for an answer.”

  He considers this for a moment and he must realize it’s better not to argue with Ashley because he says, “Well, if you insist.”

  “Good! Is Tristan around?” Ashley looks around then spots him on the treadmills with Bella. “Oh! There he is. I am going to go make sure he knows what time we are heading to your parents’ place tomorrow. Can you grab dinner on your way home? I need to run by Liz’s to grab the girls.”

  “Sure thing.” Ashley leans back over to give me a chaste kiss then walks away, her ass swaying. My wife might be ten years older since we married, but her body doesn’t seem to have aged a damn bit.

  I look over at Mason and follow his gaze… right to my wife’s ass. “Focus!” I yell. He just chuckles and says, “What? You have to know your wife is a MILF.”

  I throw a punch to his face and he blocks. “Fuck! I’m just kidding.” His hands come up, palms out, in surrender.

  “You wanna be thrown out on your ass? Make another comment about my wife. Now focus!”

  “Okay, okay.” Mason chuckles some more. “I’m focusing. Damn, I’m sorry. She’s too old for me anyway.” We go back to sparring. “I have my eye on someone, though.”

  “Are we sparring or gossiping?”

  “Spa
rring.”

  “Then more punching and less talking.”

  “Hey!” Cooper walks into the gym. “How’s it going?” Mason and I stop sparring so I can walk over to Cooper to talk to him.

  “It’s going. Weren’t you just here Saturday?”

  “Yeah, I was here trying to keep all the crazy stalker girls from getting into the gym. I just wanted to see how it’s going before we leave tomorrow. Has the place calmed down?”

  “Yeah, it seems to have. The gym will be closed for a couple weeks anyway, so it will give the girls time to calm down over Mason’s win.”

  “Remember when Marco won his first UFC fight?” We laugh. Las Vegas is a busy city and put a UFC training camp in the middle of it with a couple young guys who have made it in the UFC and you will get chaos.

  “Yeah, he had no idea what to do with all that attention. Mason, on the other hand, loves it.”

  We hear Bella laughing and turn to watch Mason speeding up her treadmill making her laugh harder.

  “Mason, would you stop?!” Bella smacks his chest and slows it back down bringing it to a stop. “Tristan, you ready to go?”

  “Sure.” Tristan brings his treadmill to a stop then gets off, grabbing a towel and wiping his face.

  “I can’t believe Bella was accepted to college out of state and she’s actually going,” Cooper says, continuing to watch his daughter.

  “She’s going to Cali for sure?” I ask.

  “She says she is. Tristan’s going as well, right?”

  “Bella could go to Alaska and Tristan would follow her.”

  “She wants to go to San Diego for spring break to look at apartments. She mentioned sharing a place with Tristan. I’m glad she will have him there with her.”

  I look over at Cooper. There’s so much I want to say but I keep my mouth shut. Bella is his little girl and he’s one of my best friends. If it were up to me, Tristan would go to school on the other side of the country. Don’t get me wrong, Bella is a wonderful girl and she’s never been anything but good to Tristan. The problem is, while Bella sees Tristan as her best friend, Tristan sees her as more, and I don’t think Bella will ever see him like that. One day she is going to fall in love and it will destroy Tristan. Unfortunately, as his dad, it’s my job to just be there for him. He doesn’t want to hear what I have to say when it comes to her, and if you ask him, he will deny his feelings for her.