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And there it is.
There’s myin.
TheinI’ve been waiting for. “I’ll make you a deal. A question for a question.”
“What?” The word is clipped as she shuts down, but I refuse to let that happen.
“For every question you ask, I get to ask you one too.” This might be my first real chance to force my way past some of her walls. “I won’t push. If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”
She plays with the hem of her dark gray dress before agreeing. “Fine,” she huffs. “But I’m not answering any questions until we’re in your house. I don’t want to feel like I’m trapped in this car.”
“No problem. What’s your first question?” I volley back to her.
I quickly look her way and see a frustrated expression tightening her face. “I already asked it. How did you end up being a professional MMA fighter? Why that instead of the family business?”
“Short answer first... I hated school,” I tell her honestly.
“What?” she asks.
“I hated school. It was never easy for me, and I was never as good as Sawyer or Lenny. My parents didn’t figure out I was dyslexic until I was in sixth grade, and by then, I’m pretty sure they thought it was ADD. Instead of medicating me, Lenny’s mom signed me up for karate. She thought it might help me focus.”
“Why Lenny’s mom?”
“Once my mom divorced Dad, she checked out. She collected her check every month from different European countries. Sawyer and I barely ever saw her while we were growing up. Len and Jace’s mom was way more of a mother to us than ours ever was.” My mom was wife number two of four. Dad didn’t even marry Amelia’s mom.
“Okay, so twelve-year-old Hudson starts karate, then what?” She smiles at me while we’re stopped at a red light. Damn, that smile. Her dimples sit deep in her cheeks, and my chest expands. Men have died protecting less than what she’s giving me right now.
Because this... this is the real Maddie.
“Basically, I loved it. I begged Kristen—that’s Lenny and Jace’s mom—I begged her to let me take judo, too, because the owner’s son was teaching it, and he seemed larger than life. And if you ever tell Cade I said that about him, I’ll deny it.” It’s true though. Little did I know he was also banging my sister Scarlet on the side.
“Anyway, I loved it,” I tell her, then I go deeper. “And I was good at it. Those classes made you think, but in a different way than in school. When I was on that mat, and eventually in that cage, it didn’t matter what my last name was or how I scored on a math test. No one was telling me how special I was because of who my dad was. They weren’t comparing me to my brothers and sister. I had to earn my place, and it felt fucking fantastic.”
“I can’t even imagine what that’s like,” she whispers.
“Which aspect?” I ask because I want to know what makes this woman tick.
“The expectations. I don’t remember a time growing up when anyone ever had any expectations of me.” As if she realizes what she just said, Maddie clears her throat and straightens. “Okay, so little Hudson liked the classes, but how did that translate to this career?”
“Little Hudson,”I laugh. This woman is going to be the death of me. “Dad hated that I did it. He hated that I was fighting. He couldn’t understand it. But he never got in my way. Even though I’m pretty sure he wished he could. He sent me to train in Brazil the summer after my senior year in high school, and it was incredible. Watching those men. Their work ethic. Their skills. Their love of the sport. That’s when I knew that was what I was going to do. And when I came home, he stopped trying to talk me out of it.”
We pull into my driveway and wait for the garage to open. “I’m telling you, Mads, there’s just something about being in that cage. Once you step foot on those mats, nothing else matters. Not your name or how much money is in your pocket. Not the color of your skin or where you’re from. It’s about how much time you’ve put in. How hard you worked. You decide who you want to be, and ultimately whether you’re going to win the fight.”
Maddie and I both get out of the car and walk into the house. “How exactly do you decide you’re going to win the fight? Wouldn’t both of you think that going into the cage?” She bends down and takes the hospital socks off her feet, giving me an incredible view of her delectable ass.
Fuck me... I’m going to hell.
My hands itch to touch.
To taste. To take.
But I don’t.
No matter how fucking badly I want to.
“Hudson?” Oh right. She asked a question.
“I work harder every day, not just for the six weeks leading up to the fight. I will always work harder. I will always be in control.” I follow her like a damn puppy dog when she walks into the kitchen and tosses her dirty socks into my trash can.
