Letting Lox In Page 7

  “Okay, sweetie. Well you have a good night.”

  “You too, Mom.”

  After I hang up with her, I pull out the latest book I’m reading from Chelsea Camaron. Man, does this chick ever know how to write some hot, sexy, sweaty motorcycle guys.

  CHAPTER 15

  LOX

  Since the first training session with the girls, we’ve worked on our skills. The girls have come a couple more times. Kara’s sister, Jade, has joined us in the place of Elizabeth since she and Huck can’t keep from drawing blood on each other. I’ve went for a massage and we made plans for one more training session tonight, which we are finishing up now.

  I look at her as we are leaving the classroom. “I’m going to grab a quick shower and then I’ll walk you out to your car.” The parking lot is a lot brighter with all of the lights now, but I don’t care.

  She nods. “I’ll have to go pull Sage away from Marco anyway. It’ll probably take me a few minutes.”

  Ten minutes later, I’m showered, dressed and walking into Marco’s office. I see Sloan snickering and looking at Marco. “Sorry kid, we sounded stuff out when I was little. I don’t know what in the hell a sight word is.”

  Sloan laughs out loud then. “They teach the kids common words by sight before they do sound. It’s hard for me too, Marco, don’t feel bad.” She grabs Sage’s little jacket. “Come on, little man, let’s go. Tell Marco thanks for the snacks and the homework help.”

  Sage hugs Marco and grabs his backpack. We walk out the door and I make sure she’s in her car. When she tries to turn over the ignition, it turns over but won’t crank. She pops the hood and gets out. I watch her for a second as she lifts the hood and starts messing with wires.

  “Here, let me help you.”

  She looks at me. “If you could just reach up under my seat I have a flashlight. Can you hand it to me?”

  I look at her kind of weird. “You know about cars?”

  She laughs. “I know about my car. My brother and dad made sure to teach me a few things about it.”

  I nod and grab her flashlight. She messes with a few things and has me try to crank it. “I’m afraid it’s my alternator.”

  “I tell you what, why don’t I go ahead and take you and Sage home. I’ll swing by and give you a lift in the morning. I’ll also have my friend Serge come take a look at it.”

  She looks at me. “Well, I’ll probably say yes to the ride tonight, but I can have Kara pick me up in the morning. I would like to have your friend look at it though. I don’t know any mechanics around here so I don’t know who to trust.”

  “Well you can trust him. He works on my stuff, all the guys, Marco and Doc, I think.”

  She nods. “Okay. Let me get my things and Sage.”

  Once we have Sage strapped in the back seat and the few things she grabbed out of her car, we are ready to go.

  Sage pipes in from the back seat. “This is a really big truck, Lox.”

  “Well, Slick, I’m a big guy, so I kinda need a big truck.”

  He and I make chit chat while Sloan tells me how to get to her house. Once we pull into the driveway, she starts getting hers and Sage’s things together. “Thanks for the ride, Lox.”

  “Hey, no big deal. Are you sure you don’t want me to swing by and pick you up in the morning?”

  She shakes her head. “No, I’ll call Kara. It’ll be fine.”

  “Okay. Hey, give me your car keys so I can give them to Serge tomorrow.”

  She takes them off her key ring and shuts her door. Once she’s unlocked her door and Sage is inside, she turns and smiles at me, waving. After she closes the door I pull away.

  Grabbing my cell, I call Serge.

  “Lox man, what’s up?”

  “Not much with me. Hey, one of the girls in my self-defense class’s car broke down on her tonight. It’s in the parking lot at the gym. Could you swing by and take a look at it? She’s a single mom so I’m just trying to help her out. I’ve got her keys.”

  “Sure, man, I can swing by first thing in the morning.”

  “Great. Thanks, man.”

  ~*~*~

  After Serge tells me about Sloan’s car, I cringe. I call her at work. “This is Sloan, can I help you?”

  “Hey, Sloan, it’s Lox.”

  “Oh, hey.”

  “Serge came by and looked at your car. You do need a new alternator, but there are a few other problems.”

  I hear her groan. “Shit. So no chance of it getting fixed for me to drive to Jacksonville this weekend?”

  “No, sweetie.” I’m kind of terrified at the fact that she was going to drive that little car that far. I mean I know it’s only an hour and a half but still. “How about you ride with me? Marco said Doc has you guys booked at the same hotel as us.”

  “No, I don’t want to impose. Plus you’ll have a truck full with Sly and Huck. I can just ride with Doc and Gloria”

  “No, it won’t be full. Huck always drives separate anyway, he has this thing about having his own vehicle.” I chuckle into the phone. I don’t know why I want her to ride with me so bad. “Come on, take a road trip with me. Or did you want to be the third wheel in Doc’s marriage?”

  She sighs with a small giggle. “Okay, but I have to meet my parents with Sage. Are you sure this is all okay?”

  “Yes, sweetie, it’s okay. Now, Serge took your car to his shop, he’ll get up with me when it’s finished.”

  I can almost sense her smiling through the phone. “Thanks, Lox. I’ll call you tonight so we can set up our times for leaving and all.”

  Sly walks up behind me as I’m finishing my phone call. “So are you ready to admit that you have a thing for her or not? Because to me it’s seems you have a big thing for her.”

  Huck walks in the room. “What are we talking about?”

  Sly pipes in. “How Lox needs to admit he has a thing for Sloan. She’s riding with him to Jax this weekend.”

  Huck nods and quirks his lip. “So are you gonna admit it or what?”

  I shake my head. “Yes, she’s hot, but I’m just helping her out. Her car is in the shop at Serge’s, she needs a ride and we are going that way too. Actually, we are all staying at the same hotel. What is the big deal?”

  Huck shakes his head. “So you took her car to Serge? Someone you know you can work a deal with so that all she pays for is parts? I know you, Lox.” He walks out of the room mumbling something about damn idiot.

  Sly looks at me and rolls his eyes. “So, I’m riding with Huck because I can’t be around all the sexual tension in that truck.”

  I shake my head and punch him in the arm. “Man, Slick is going to be riding with us part of the way. It’s not like that.”

  He laughs. “Whatever. Are we going to watch Grey’s or not? That’s the most important question of the night.”

  I shake my head and fall down on the sofa next to him. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  An entire weekend in close proximity of Sloan. I see several long showers in my future.

  CHAPTER 16

  SLOAN

  “Okay Mom, we’ll meet you at the Waffle House just off I-75 at 12:30.”

  “Sure, honey. See you in just a little bit.” She says, ending our call.

  I stick my head in Sage’s room. “Grab your bag, Bud. Lox will be here any minute.”

  He fist pumps. “Yes. We get to ride in his big truck, like the other night.”

  “Yes. Come on, Nana and Pop are going to be waiting on us.” I grab my bags as I hear Lox’s truck pulling in my driveway.

  As I walk out the front door, he steps out of the truck along with Sly. Lox walks over, taking my bags from my hands. Sly runs over and grabs Sage, throwing him over his shoulder. “Slick! What’s going on?”

  Sage laughs and tries to speak. “Not much, Sly. I wish I was going to your fight.”

  Sly gives him a high five. “Well, I wish I was going to your Nana’s. You’re always telling me about those cookies she makes for you.”<
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  He grins at Sly. “I’ll bring you some. I can’t wait to show Pop and Uncle Jacob how big my muscles have gotten.”

  Lox and I are just standing and watching Sly and Sage have this elaborate conversation. He turns to me. “Is this all or do you have some more things you need to grab?”

  I shake my head and lock the door. “Nope, this is it.”

  Lox looks over at Sage and Sly. “All right guys, let’s go. We don’t want Nana and Pop waiting on us.”

  Sage jumps up on the nerf bar of the truck and climbs in the back seat. As I step toward the truck to climb in beside him, Sly stops me. “No, you sit up front. Slick and I have man stuff to talk about. Aaaand he’s going to show me how to beat this level on his DS game.”

  Lox and I shake our heads. Getting in the truck, Lox looks at me and gives me a wink. An hour later, we are pulling in to meet my parents.

  I point to the silver Tahoe. “That’s my parents.”

  Lox pulls in beside them as I see my parents step out of the vehicle. I jump out of the truck. “Hey, Mom,” I say, hugging her. Reaching for my daddy, I throw my arms around his neck. “Daddy, I missed you.”

  “I missed you too, sweet girl,” he turns me loose, “Now, where is that grandson of mine?”

  Sage runs over. “I’m right here, Pop.”

  My dad acts shocked. “Wow. I hardly recognized you. Have you been working out?” My daddy is always so funny. He knows that Sage has been excited about going to the gym.

  Sage jumps up and down, stripping his shirt off. “Yep,” he flexes, “Look at my muscles.”

  My mom and daddy both laugh. My mom gestures to the truck. “Well, ask your friends to step out so we can meet them.”

  I laugh, shaking my head. “Mom, we aren’t in high school. You don’t need to meet the guys.”

  Lox and Sly get out of the truck anyway. Sage smiles, “Pop, these are my trainers and Mom’s teachers.” He motions to the guys. “Lox and Sly. Sly has a twin brother named Huck, but he didn’t ride with us today. He said he has shit to do.” My eyes bulge out of my head and everyone else bursts out laughing.

  “Sage Eli Foster! You watch your mouth, young man.”

  My dad steps over to them shaking their hands. “I’m Derek Foster and this is my wife, Meredith. It’s nice to meet you boys. I’m happy Sage has some male role models to look up to.”

  My mom looks at me and whispers, “You got some hot friends there, honey. That tall, dark and handsome one can’t take his eyes off of you.”

  I shush my mom. Sly’s eyebrows raise up like a light bulb just clicked on. “Wait, your parents’ names are Derek and Meredith?” He looks over at me, “And your name is Sloan. Holy Crap.”

  I laugh, as does Lox, turning to my parents. “The boys like watching Grey’s Anatomy. They are a few seasons behind so they are still catching up, but no spoiling, they are dead serious about it.”

  My parents laugh, as do the guys. My mom turns to him. “Sorry guys, they are about twenty years behind us. We’re the originals.”

  We talk to my parents for a few more minutes and then get back in the truck.

  Sly gets back in the backseat. I laugh. “Sly, you could have gotten up front.”

  He brushes me off with his hands. “Nah. I like stretching out back here. You guys can hang out up front. Plus, Slick said I could download that game on my phone.”

  I shake my head and watch Sly as he scrolls through Google Play on his phone. Finally, I hear him playing a few minutes later.

  Lox shakes his head. “I should’ve gotten him a five year old to be friends with a long time ago,” he says laughing.

  I laugh and grab my notes out of my bag about the conference this weekend.

  ~*~*~

  Today’s conference was wonderful. I’m excited about some of the new techniques they talked about. Doc was impressed also. He’s interested in me going to more courses about a couple of them. He and I both feel like it could help some people with pain management.

  Now I’m getting ready for the fight. Looking in the full length mirror at myself in a red cocktail dress, I have to laugh. Marco told me this is a little bit different affair than the hometown matches. I never expected to have to wear a dress to a fight, but he said there was a cocktail party afterward. Lox told me to wear whatever I wanted to, but I wanted to fit in.

  I hate standing out. I felt like I stood out among almost 50,000 students at UF. I was popular for dating Lucas. People knew me, recognized me, and hell, even most girls wanted to be me, but all of that changed when I found out I was pregnant with Sage.

  Lucas had left me and rumors flew around like a swarm of hornets. Although I think the hornets would have been less hurtful. Rumors are always so much more colorful than the truth, the truth being I was simply a girl who was having sex with her boyfriend and took some antibiotics for a sinus infection. A girl who should’ve known better, but like many nineteen year olds, got wrapped up in the moment. A girl who should’ve made her all-star boyfriend wrap up his dick, as much as he hated it.

  But no, according to some of the other players’ girlfriends, whom I’d thought to be my friends, I’d tried to trap Lucas. He was a money ticket. That was the reason he left me high and dry. Another rumor was that I’d cheated on Lucas with my boyfriend from back home and that’s who Sage actually belonged to. I really think he started that one. One of the best rumors were that I’d been paid to have his baby by the New Orleans Angels, so that he would appear more settled by the press. But then they thought they’d get more female ticket sales by him being single, so that’s why he left me. The rumors went on and on.

  I simply changed my major, took care of myself and had a baby. A baby that only my brother and parents helped with. A baby that Lucas had asked me to abort and shoved a check in my hand for five hundred dollars. A check that I have kept in my jewelry box so that I can remember what a shit head he really is.

  So tonight I just wanted to blend in. If that meant wearing this really cute dress that Kara helped me pick out, then that was what I was going to do.

  As I grab my clutch purse, there is a knock on my door. Looking through the peep hole, I see Lox and open the door. “Hey, I thought you’d be at the arena by now?” We’ve talked enough by now for me to know he has a set routine for fight day.

  He shakes his head, walking into my room. “No, tonight isn’t like home where I live at the arena all day. I still go through my same routine, I just do it in the hotel gym. We can’t get to the arena early, there are a lot more people here so they can’t open it before or they would be packed out.” He is so damn sexy in his suit. I’ve never seen him like this.

  “Oh, well okay. That makes sense.”

  He touches my arm and it feels like a jolt of electricity. “You look very beautiful tonight.” He stutters for a second. “Well, I mean you look beautiful all the time, but tonight you look really gorgeous.”

  I smile and nod. “Thank you. I was just about to walk out the door.”

  He puts his arm out as if to escort me. “Come on, Marco has a car coming for us. None of us want you going to the arena by yourself. It gets a little crazy around these fights.”

  I smile and put my hand in the crook of his awaiting arm. “Thank you. I was a little nervous in all honesty. But Marco shouldn’t have sent a car just for me.”

  He shakes his head. “No, we all get a car at fights like this. Having our personal vehicles there is too much of a liability for the event organizers. There are some crazy ass people out there. Also, we come in through a private entrance. Makes it so security can have better control.”

  I nod. “Okay, that makes sense.”

  I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest while we rode in the town car taking us to the arena.

  As soon as we arrived, Lox and I were whisked into the greenroom area. I’ve never in my life seen a buffet like this one. It’s full of any finger food or appetizer you could think of. Looking across the room, I see Doc a
nd his wife standing by the bar. Elizabeth is standing with Macro and making small talk. You can see that they are still trying to form a bond. I make my way over to them with Lox by my side, his hand in the small of my back as if it comes naturally.

  Doc looks over as I walk up. “Good evening, Sloan.”

  His wife, Gloria, smiles and hugs me. “You look lovely this evening.”

  I smile. “Thank you.”

  Elizabeth and Marco both smile but go back to their conversation.

  I feel a hand go around my waist. I jump until I realize it’s Sly. “Hey there, you look really sexy in red. No wonder we keep you around, you’re pretty to look at.”

  I shake my head and snicker. “You’re too much. Here I thought you were just keeping me around so that my son could help you win your video games.”

  He pulls away suddenly and I look up to see Lox glaring at him. Lox steps over to me. “We have to go get ready, you stay with Doc and Ms. Gloria. Try talking to Elizabeth, I think it would be nice for her to have someone to talk to.” I watch him, Sly, Huck and Marco make their way out of the room.

  A little while later, Doc leads us out to our seats. This arena is nuts. We are seated in an area reserved for family. After a few matches, I hear Lox’s music coming through the speakers, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” I start to stand up and cheer when I look up and notice that I’m on the Jumbotron. Thank God, they turn away from me to another girl who is cheering for Lox’s opponent. Then it occurs to me. Holy shit, they think I’m his girlfriend.

  CHAPTER 17

  LOX

  When the ref holds my arm up in victory, I can’t help but look over to Sloan. She’s beautiful any day, but tonight she’s simply stunning. I kept noticing them put her up on the big screen. She was cheering louder than anyone in the crowd. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have her cheering for me at every match.

  I nod to her as I leave the cage, heading to the locker room. She throws me a smile back. I can’t help but wink and throw her a grin.

  I see Huck on my way in. We fist bump and I pull him into an arm hug like guys do. “You’re going to kick ass tonight. You got Sergio, man. He’s not ready for you.”