Fighter Baby Daddy: Baby Daddy Romance Series, #6

By Lexi Banks

Grayson: I might be back at the bottom, but I won't stay there for long. I let a girl ruin my life and spent a year in prison because of her lies, but I won't make the same mistake again. Now that I'm out of the big house, my focus is on training and fighting, climbing the ranks to become the biggest MMA fighter possible. But when a sexy female who needs my help lands in my lap, it's hard to resist the temptation to touch her. I told myself no distractions, no complication, so why can't I focus on fighting for anyone except her? 

Iris: I've always been a good girl, but I'm ready to go bad. Graduating with honors from a good school, I made my daddy proud, but he still treats me like a child. I'm tired of doing everything right, trying to be the saint my dead mother would have wanted me to be. I want to live a little, to experience Sin City on my own terms. But my first night out almost ends in tragedy. If it wasn't for a muscled stranger, I could have been killed…or worse. I wanted to reward him for his service, but our one-night stands ends up changing my life forever. I know he doesn't want any complications, but can I keep this baby a secret, or will my need for him overwhelm me?

• Language: English
• Publisher: DM
• Release date: Aug 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393315421

Book preview

Chapter 1

Gray

Click Here To Get My FREE Book For A Limited Time

And that is for you, my brother! Jax said triumphantly as he enthusiastically placed a cup of coffee on the table in front of me.

I looked at the brown liquid in the cup, and he shoved the cream and sugar in my direction.

What are you waiting for? It’s going to beat that instant shit you were drinking for the last year, I promise! he said with a grin on his face. He sat back on his bench seat and watched me with a smile on his face as I grabbed two packets of sugar and added one of the creams.

I wasn’t so sure it would be that great, until I took a sip. It had been a year since I had a good cup of coffee. And while this wasn’t great by any means, it was good, and that was all I needed. I had to admit, it did taste a lot better than anything I’d been putting in my mouth for the past year, but then, prison food wasn’t ever supposed to be a delicacy.

What do you think? Jax asked.

It’s good, really good, I said with a smile.

Damn, I’m so glad you’re finally on the right side of the bars again, Jax continued. It’s been way too long of a year without you.

Tell me about it, I replied. It had been way too long of a year, though it was only a year since I’d been in Vegas. There were ways that it felt like it had been a lot longer than that, and there were other ways that made it seem like I was just here.

So what’re you up to these days? I asked my friend. At twenty-five, Jax had a lot going for him. More than I did, I felt. He didn’t end up in prison for a year at twenty-three. Now, being released at twenty-four, I was going to have to figure out what to do next.

Well, I’m glad you asked, he said. I wanted to talk to you about that very thing.

I raised my eyebrows and looked at him.

I was wanting to get into professional MMA fighting, and I thought you would be the perfect person to train with. I’ve recently rented out a house on the south side of town. It’s not much to look at, but I’m slowly turning it into something we can use for a gym. You know, we can work out together, encourage each other, everything, he grinned.

I couldn’t hide my smile. I did like the sound of that. Before I ended up behind bars, I had been a professional fighter myself, and I had been damn good at it. I already had a muscular build, and I finished of my intimidating look with a faux hawk.

I had to fight the guards in prison to let me keep the style I wanted, as they knew it screamed trouble, but I’d managed. Somehow, throughout the entire year, I’d managed.

Jax slapped me on the arm. What do you say?

I hope you know that it’s no walk in the park, I told him with thin smile. There is a lot of work that goes into this, and it’s going to be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears before you make it to the top. You have to fight your way through the ranks. Nothing comes for free.

And that’s why I’m glad you’re here to help me train. Who better than the best? he smirked.

Let’s do it, I replied. Fighting was something I was good at, and with all the pent up anger I now felt toward the world, I knew I was going to need some sort of healthy outlet to get rid of the rage I had inside. It wasn’t fair that I was the one who ended up in prison for a year, and I wanted revenge.

Awesome! Jax slapped me on the arm again. It was good to be back on the outside with him. He was more enthusiastic than anyone I met behind bars, and I didn’t have to feel on edge around him. He was the one and only person I could turn to no matter what.

It was his idea to bring me to Mama Mac’s diner after I was released earlier that morning. He was the only person on the planet I could have counted on to actually come get me.

My mother was pissed off that I was in prison in the first place, but that only added more fuel to the fire that raged on between us. She lived in Florida, all the way across the country, and she was more than happy to keep that distance between us.

She talked to me on the phone a couple of times when I was in prison, but she never came to visit, not even once. I didn’t know where my father was, and never had. She told me once when I was a kid that he just packed his bags and left one day, and I was left with no choice but to believe her.

But, even that wasn’t enough to fuel the rage that now swirled around inside me. No, it was someone else I hated even more than my father and estranged mother who started this fire.

And her name was Roxy Draper.

The girl was a year older than me, and at the time, I thought she was the biggest score on the planet. She had large tits, bright eyes, and bleached blonde hair. Tattoos and piercings for days, she was the perfect compliment to my bad boy life.

The two of us together looked like we were made for each other, but that was only on the surface. If I had known what was really going on underneath, I never would have given her a second glance.

There were times when I thought she reminded me of my mother, and I realized now that should have been a huge red flag. I didn’t like my mother, didn’t want her in my life, but yet I was dating a girl who reminded me of her?

Well, being used by a girl anyway. I had later come to learn she was just using me for her own selfish ends, pinning things on me that I didn’t do, or convincing me to do things that I didn’t want to. I would do them for her, and she would tell me over and over how grateful she was, but I didn’t know she was just using me as a pawn.

She was dating someone else the entire time. A guy I absolutely hated. I didn’t even want to think of his name or the part he played in me getting locked up. I wanted them both out of my life altogether, but I also wanted to know that they were suffering for what they had done.

I wasn’t planning to do anything to either one of them. In fact, if either one were to try to contact me, I knew I would tell them to fuck off and leave me alone. But did I wish them well in life? Hell no. I wished them nothing but hardship and trials.

I was done with women. Two women in my life whom I should have been able to trust more than anything fucked me over, and I wasn’t going to put myself in that position again. I was sick of being the pawn, or the scapegoat in some cases, and I wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.

This time, I was going to focus on my fighting and training with Jax, and eventually I would fight my way right back up to the top. I would bounce back from what they did to me, that was for damn sure. And if Jax was there for added motivation, I knew nothing was going to stop me.

So, what are you going to do on your first night out? Jax interrupted my thoughts.

I want to head out to see that gym you’re working on, I said eagerly. Fighting is my life from here on out, and we need to make sure we’ve got the right environment to make the most of our training.

He laughed. Not what I thought you were going to say, but the answer is no. I’ve got a few more things I want to do to the place before you see it. And, I’ve got a surprise for you anyway.

What is it? I asked, curious. Part of me was hoping that I’d be able to spend time at this house while I figured out what I was going to do for a living situation. When I got locked up, there wasn’t anyone who was able to take care of my apartment or any of my belongings, and I was told that my asshole landlord threw all of my possessions out in the yard before robbing me of money in the bank to make up for the rent I missed.

I didn’t have much money to speak of, and I didn’t have much in the way of possessions, either. I was having to start over completely, and I wasn’t sure how I would do that.

With a smile, Jax pulled a keycard out of his wallet.

You’ve been having a long enough dry spell. It’s time for you to cut loose and have some fun for the night, he said.

I don’t know about that, Man, I told him. I couldn’t believe he would go through the trouble of getting me a hotel room and telling me to get out and find someone to fuck. He was right, it had been a long time since I had been with a woman, and I wanted to forget the last woman I was with.

But, I didn’t know if I was interested in even going out as he was suggesting. I didn’t really want anything to do with any of them these days, not even a one night stand right now.

Come on, you know it would be easy for a guy like you to get a stripper or some bachelorette party member or something. Take them to the hotel and have some fun, then dump them in the morning, it’s not that hard, and I know you’re going to feel a lot better after you do, he slid the card over toward me.

I picked it up and looked at it, and he continued to explain. I know it’s not the fanciest hotel on the strip, but it’s going to serve its purpose for you for now anyway.

He was right. It was not only not the fanciest, but it wasn’t even on the strip. But, it was close, and the room was already paid for, which was more kindness than I’d experienced in a long time.

Thank you, I said at last. I really don’t know when I’ll be able to repay you for this.

Fuck that, oh, and there’s something else, he said cheerfully. But I’ll show you that after we eat.

Once again, he had piqued my curiosity, but then, I was also starving. I was so eager to get out of prison I’d skipped breakfast earlier, and I was now starving. We ordered two large breakfast platters and devoured both, then Jax led me out to his car.

Here you are, my brotha! he pulled a duffle bag out of the trunk and tossed it on the sidewalk in front of me.

What’s this? I asked.

That asshole you called a landlord didn’t get away with tossing all your things, plus, there’s some toiletries in there I thought you could use, he said with a grin. I unzipped the top of the bag and rifled through the clothing. There were quite a few of my old shirts and bottoms in the bag, as well as some things I really could use.

You rock, I said with a shake of my head.

And now you’re going to go rock the night. Get a hold of me soon, or I’ll text you or something, but I’ve got to get going. And don’t be so serious! Jax walked around the side of his car while talking to me, then he slid into the driver’s seat and sped off, leaving me on the sidewalk with the duffle bag and key card.

He’d already given me a prepaid phone so I could get in touch with everyone while I waited to get another phone again – not that there was anyone I wanted to get in touch with at the moment. But still, it was nice to be back on the outside, a free man.

The hotel was in walking distance, so I slung the bag over my shoulder and headed in that direction, a skip in my step for the first time in months.

I was free again, free to do anything I chose. Free to command my own life and make my own decisions. Free to do whatever the fuck I wanted.

And it felt damn good.

Chapter 2

Iris

I was sitting at the dinner table with my father, appearing to look down at the plate of food in front of me, but really stealing glances at my phone that was strategically placed out of view.

It was quiet. Too quiet. But then, dinner with my father was always too quiet. He liked to concentrate on his meal and save the talking for after, but there were nights when the silence felt overbearing. Almost as overbearing as he himself was.

I had made lasagna earlier that day, and he was happily munching away on that and his salad. I, on the other hand, was doing my best to text my best friend, Madison, under the table where he couldn’t see.

The ‘idiot troublemaker’, as he liked to call her, was trying to get me to go out with her that night. She had been begging me to live the same life she’d been living for years, but with no luck. I had always been too much of a good girl, taking out the pain I felt in losing my mother at such a young age on school.

I graduated not only high school but also college with honors, and now I was bored. I was tired of my safe little life, and sick of the fact that at twenty-two years old, I was too afraid to ask my father if I could go out with my friends.

I was living with him, and since he was a retired police officer, he was very protective of what I did. He never quite got over the death of my mother, either, and often took out the pain and fear he felt in losing her on me.

There wasn’t much I could do with my life without his permission, and even when I was out doing my own thing, I had to check in with him often. He was never happy when I was