AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Big mistake. Tingles traveled from the tips of her fingers to her toes. His eyes met hers and she smiled. It wasn’t a premeditated gesture, her lips just turned up a lot when he was around. All on their own.
Reaching out, he cupped her face as the pad of his thumb ran across her bottom lip. “Damn, that smile owns me.”
The gravel in his voice and the touch of his hand sent a shudder running down Maxi’s spine. The look in his eye and the words he spoke reduced her to a puddle of swoon. Her head was telling her to pull away, but instead she leaned into his palm. The warmth that radiated from him spread through her like hot chocolate on a freezing day.
She’d never wanted to be one of the women that she’d seen growing up in the gym that would do anything to get attention from whichever fighter they set their sights on. That would come back time and time again after basically being discarded. And before now, she never worried that she would be. Relationships were dispensable to her. Until Billy. She’d always feared that he would be her undoing, and now she was beginning to see that her fears weren’t unfounded. At this moment she would’ve sold her soul to keep feeling what Billy made her feel.
And that scared her. He wasn’t the kind of guy that she could have a future with and since he was the only person she saw a future with there was a problem. One that she would have to be strong enough to solve.
Pulling away from him, she cleared her throat as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Should we go?”
He stared at her for a beat before nodding and getting out of the SUV.
With each step they took on the pathway that led up to the door Billy transformed in front of her eyes. It reminded her of his boxing days, when her dad would be taping up his hands before a fight, he morphed into what she could only describe as a wild animal stalking his prey. He was calm, deadly calm, hyper-focused and primed for battle.
She’d only met his mom a few times and none of them had been pleasant. It broke her heart that this was what he had to do when he went to his childhood home. That he had to turn into this warrior version of himself.
As they got closer to the door she heard voices that didn’t sound happy.
“No!” A woman screamed. “You’re not leaving until you tell me who she is!”
“Get out of my way!” A man yelled.
When they got to the door, Maxi expected Billy to burst in but instead he turned to her. She could see the battle going on in his light brown gaze. He didn’t want her here. “Stay behind me. Whatever happens, do not try to help. Do you understand?”
She’d grown up around a lot of testosterone. This wasn’t her first rodeo. “Billy, I—”
She barely got two words out before he cut her off. “Do you understand?”
Never mind. “Yes.”
With that he opened the front door and walked in calling out, “Mom!”
Deborah Marshall appeared from the doorway of the kitchen, wielding a butcher’s knife in hand. “Oh look who decided to finally show up!” She sneered, slurring her words.
It was obvious that she was under the influence.
Looking back over her shoulder she held the knife up in the air and threatened, “My son’s here now! He’s gonna kick your cheating ass!”
“Hey, man!” A very large, imposing, and hairy guy stepped into view holding his hands up in surrender. “I just want to get my stuff and leave. That’s all. I don’t want any trouble.”
“Well, you should’ve thought about that before you stuck your dick in Tally Yates!” Deborah swung the knife in the bearded man’s direction.
“Mom, give me the knife.” Maxi barely recognized Billy’s voice. It sounded so cold and detached.
He walked forward slowly and held out his hand.
“No! You can’t have my knife.” She spun back around and stumbled as she jerked the weapon away from him.
“If you don’t give me the knife, I’m leaving.” His tone was steady and calm.
“Fine,” she pouted as she handed over the cutlery.
Maxi let out a breath of relief.
Once Billy had the weapon, he stepped in front of his mom and motioned for the guy to leave. “Get the fuck out of here.”
The man started towards the front door, where Maxi was standing.
