Paxton's Promise (Gloves Off #3)(50)

Little did she know, our lives weren’t a fairy tale. We were stuck in a hell that I could only pray we’d get out of unscathed. Until then, I had to pretend all was okay.

“Yes,” I murmured. “Our own little fairytale.”





THE WHOLE EVENING was spent talking to people on the phone and hearing everyone’s congratulation spiels. My brother even called, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him. He wouldn’t understand and I couldn’t tell him about the mission we were working on. For now, I had to keep him in the dark, just like everyone else.

Thankfully, by ten o’clock the calls had slowed down and we both had time to take a quick rinse off and change clothes. I opted for a pair of pink pajama shorts and a white cami, which Pax loved. He groaned when his phone started to ring again, so he shut it off and threw it across the room. I wished I could do that to mine, but I just couldn’t. Grabbing my brush off the bathroom counter, I sauntered into the bedroom and sat down beside Paxton on the bed. The wind did a number on my hair, so I took a deep breath and started brushing out the knots.

“I knew the news would travel, but I didn’t think it would go that fast.” Paxton shook his head. Taking the brush from my hand, his fingers lingered over the ring for a moment before trailing down my arm.

Gently, he stroked the brush through my hair and my breath hitched. It felt so good. Even more so when he brushed the hair off my shoulder and placed his lips on my bare skin. “What did you expect?” I whispered huskily. “You’re Paxton Emerson, a sexy as hell fighter every female would give up just about anything to be with.”

“Would you give up everything to be with me?”

My eyes fluttered closed as his fingers worked through my hair and then down my back. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you.”

Deftly, he slid his hands up my shirt and reached around to my breasts, squeezing them. My breasts felt heavy and sensitive as he rolled my nipples between his fingers, pinching them to make me squirm. “Do you want something, Mr. Emerson?”

“You . . . only you.” Laying me back, he came from behind and covered me with his body. He traced my lips with his tongue and pushed his cock against my center. “It’s only ever going to be you.”

The second his lips touched mine and I closed my eyes, my damn phone rang. Paxton froze against my lips and groaned, sliding off of me so I could get it. “This is really starting to piss me off,” he grumbled.

“Tell me about it.” But when I peered down at the phone, I knew I had to take it. “It’s Scar,” I said. Paxton bolted upright, his expression hard when I answered the phone. “Yeah.”

“Yeah, is right,” Scar countered. “You know, I told you to calm it down with Reaper, but you just couldn’t do that could you?”

“I agreed to three fights, not to change my whole life around. You don’t own me,” I spat. Paxton’s nostrils flared and he clenched his hands into tight fists. He was itching to have it out with Scar.

“I may not own you, but there’s still one more fight you owe me. Rage wanted to bring you in tonight, but there wasn’t enough time to plan.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Yes.”

He hadn’t mentioned anything about Paxton fighting, so I assumed it was something he didn’t want known. I had to play it off. “Good, I can beat the next f*cker down and you can get the hell out of my life. Then Rage can kiss my ass and go stalk somebody else.” I would rather him stalk me than some helpless woman. All in all, they needed to be stopped.

“Same time, same place. Don’t be late.” The line went dead.

Snarling, I stared at my phone. “What a jackass.”

“What did he say?” Paxton inquired.

I set my phone down on the nightstand and laid back. “He didn’t say anything about you. I guess it’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“You don’t think Camden would lie to us do you?”

“No,” I stated adamantly. He’d f*cked over his brother and my best friend and I wanted to kill him for it, but out of all of his friends, I was there for him. I never judged him or Ryley when everyone else around them did. They were my friends.

“Camden doesn’t belong with Scar,” I murmured. “He may be a self-centered pain in the ass, but he’s not fully gone. The Camden I met a long time ago is still in there. I just don’t know what it’s going to take to get him to change.”

Paxton clasped my chin and rubbed his thumb over my lips. “I’ve been there too, sunshine. It takes a certain person to come along, and right now, he doesn’t have that.”

A text came through my phone and I jumped. Paxton and I both groaned. “Let’s see who it is, shall we?” I grumbled sarcastically, reaching for my phone. Speak of the devil.



Camden: Just got word. The fight is definitely on.

Camden: Tell Emerson to be ready for anything.



Handing the phone to Paxton, he read the messages then got out of bed.

“Where are you going? It’s late,” I exclaimed.

His body was coiled tighter than a snake. He was already in the zone. There would be no reasoning with him being like that. “I have to be ready, sunshine. There’s no way in hell I could sleep anyway.”