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Copyright 2016 by Ella Frost - All rights reserved.

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Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

The Fighter and the Billionaire

Billionaire Stepbrother MMA Romance

By: Ella Frost

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The Fighter and the Billionaire

I have to be honest. The first thing I thought when I saw Alex was “nice ass”. Which I know are all sorts of wrong on all kinds of different levels. Especially considering that I pretty much hated him from the first sight.

He came in with all the usual kind of swagger that guys his age have filled with attitude and no grist. So I thought, anyway.

I've liked to say he had a face I’d never tire of slapping too, but that would be a lie.

The fact was. I thought he looked sort of familiar but just couldn’t place him.

When he walked up to the bar where I was serving, it was obvious he was completely in love with himself. The self-satisfied little sneer he had going on, the way he was looking all over me as if he could somehow get his paws on me.

So far, so ordinary Friday night at Mermaids Sea Front Bar and Club. I had only been working there a couple of months. It hadn’t been long opened in fact and was one of the very few nightclubs in our rather small and prettified New England coastal town.

“So what are you having?” I ask.

“That depends on you” He quips.

Oh please! You spoil me with your originality! I think but say nothing.

Just then, Rob comes bursting out the office door. He’s the owner and my ‘significant other’.

“Alex is it? Do you want to come through to the boardroom where we can talk?”

I guess I must’ve had looked a bit surprised and said something like;

“I thought we weren’t hiring more staff”, but Rob just kind of laughs and says bartending wasn’t the sort of job he had in mind. When I ask him what he means by this, he just touches his nose and says I’d find out in good time. Which, I suppose I did.

So I forget all about it and him for the rest of the night. Nothing that special really happens. It was out of season in a seaside town, which might officially qualify as one of the coldest places on earth.

In other words, there wasn’t a lot of interest at all. Sometimes, I wondered why the whole town didn’t just hibernate from October ‘til April. Rob must have been mad buying up a disused restaurant and bar here and then trying to turn it into a nightclub – during the ferocious New England winter.

It was ten to one and, unexpectedly, the place suddenly begins to fill up. Out of nowhere, punters stream in through the doors, bringing their snowy boots and puddles of slush along with them.

Harsh winds and breathy ice blast in from the Atlantic, with what feels like an almost personal hatred of body heat.

Before I know it, the place is actually packed, people jostling to get served and not enough servers on to accommodate them.

But these guys – ‘cos they are mainly men – don’t look like the usual sort of clubber. They are a bit older than the average guy that comes Friday night, some of them, anyway. And, I don’t know, a bit more hyped and with a serious edge to them.

I sense something going on and both Jacquie and me, the other bartender, feel an air of expectation hung in the room.

Then, there is a mass exodus. Just as soon as they all arrive, they all seem to go, heading downstairs to the small VIP dance floor and lounge. I am kind of puzzled because it is closed, or so I think.

The first thing I notice is the increase in the numbers of security all of a sudden. Jay, the head security guard locks the doors and I think, okay, so it’s a lock in.

A big crowd of guys was around the dance floor, but it is as if they are all wallflowers, pushing along the edge of it and they are waiting for the main act to come on the stage.

“Now,” Says Mick, one of the managers and DJ Duncan (yes I know, how can you get anywhere as a DJ with a name like Duncan!) presses the button on the sound system. Immediately the saccharine sounds of “Barbie Girl” by Aqua pump out, to a room full of testosterone whipped and deeply not very amused guys.

“What the fuck is that?” Yells Mick and DJ Duncan actually blushes visibly (even through the murky nightclub lighting) and fumbles about madly for another track.

“Fucks sake” Hisses Mick, through his teeth.

Both Jacquie and I stare at each other in confusion. Whatever else is happening here tonight, it isn’t going to be a teen disco.

Then Rob appears on the dance floor.

“Gentlemen...and.. ladies..” He says, in a cool concession to the one or two of us girls that are present. “I’m not going to make a big speech, so simply here’s the two contenders... give a huge round of applause for...Jackson Diggle”

Loud rap music rattles out of the speakers and Duncan looks relieved.

A fit young black guy is paraded out onto the dance floor. He glances imperiously around the room, but I can spot the nerves a mile off. It also looks as if he’s giving the place the once over and I’m not sure it really passes muster.

“Is this thing even a ring?” He murmurs. I can just about catch him because I’m right at the front, but no one else in the crowd can hear the noise and the excitement.

“And now let’s hear it for Alex Rayman”

A huge whoop goes up in the crowd, and he enters with his swagger, before checking out the so-called “ring”. I can actually read the “what the fuck” moment as it happens in his head.

Jacquie and I exchange glances. From behind, Rob comes and puts his arms around my front. All excited, a bit like a kid at Christmas. I’ve never seen him like this before.

“So what do you think then eh?”

Before I can even think about how to reply to that, the first punch has been pulled and there’s blood all over the place.

Poor Jacquie looks as if she wants to leave.

I guess it’s not exactly the first time blood has been spilled on the dance floor, although the last time it was a fracas between two six-year-old girls over a My Little Pony. And Jacquie looked as if she was going to faint at the sight of that as well. I don’t think she’s really cut out for this job, to be honest.

Rob fixes me with one of his wild, wide looks. He’s far more into this than he’d like to admit. In all the time we’ve been together I haven’t known get this animated about anything. Usually, he’s so cool and reserved.

A bit about Rob, he doesn’t just own this little two-bit club or spend all his time amongst dorks like us in this little town. He’s a got a multi-million dollar property portfolio, gyms, nightclubs, sports clubs, that kind of thing. In actual fact, I had been wondering exactly what he was doing with a place like the Mermaid. Now, at least, I knew.

Then – wham! I’m literally sent flying backward into the row behind me. Jackson Diggle has been hurled out of the makeshift “ring” and is lying in a pool of blood a few feet away. He looks like he’s been knocked out and also, that he nearly took a few of the bystanders with him, including me.

“Eliana! Are you hurt? Oh my God” Rob grabs me and pulls me away. The fight is temporarily halted. The lights are quickly turned on.

Jackson Diggle lies beneath my feet, unconscious, as a fat man with a dark mustache stands over him counting.

There’s so much noise, you can hardly hear the numbers, though.

“I think I’m ok,” I say, more shaken up than anything else. Seeing as I fell primarily into a row of beer guts, I was pretty well cushioned.

Rob is totally losing it here.

“I mean what is this stuff” He goes up to the so-called “cordon” that is supposed to be tying off the fight area. It snaps in his fingers “It’s weaker than a whore’s knickers elastic – I asked for rope. Jesus”

He kicks the post it is tied to. Mick hastily retreats and begins shouting at someone else. Everyone is kind of standing around. A low murmur builds in the crowd, which starts to gear up gradually into actual disarray.

It’s then he catches my eye, that half smile, twisting around his full lips and a mocking sparkle in his dark blue eyes. For a moment or two, I kind of forget what my surroundings are. But then, a moment later the lights are dimmed again and the fight resumes and I am left there staring at him, as a barely conscious Jackson Diggle is led back into the ring, by his buddies, to carry on.

Alex just stands there and smirks. And I think to myself. He doesn’t love himself.

Well, the night doesn’t end too well. For Jackson Diggle, that is.

I suppose that’s how these things go, but Jesus, it’s not like I’d ever been to one before, nor did I even want to be at one now.

“Will he be okay?” I ask as he is carted off by his friends, in their arms, not a stretcher, into a waiting hatchback, that is very clearly not an ambulance.

But Rob doesn’t even hear me. He is up at the ring, barking orders out at Mick and Jay and anyone else who has the misfortune to get in his way.

I’ve never seen him this pissed.

“What the actual fuck is all this shit. I said I wanted a boxing ring! Sort it out! And sort that out.”

He indicates a loose pile of dollar bills, which I somehow have not noticed on the bar top. There must be tens of thousands of dollars there.

It’s just then I see that everyone in the room has literally vanished. Just like that. All upped and left. The lights come up, the “rope” is cast aside and it’s like the last hour or so just hasn’t happened.

He walks right up to me, preening and sneering. Sweat dripping down his forehead comes up to the bar and almost – but not quite- rubs up against me.

“Scotch on the rocks”

He flashes me one of those half-formed smiles and I try not to notice how hot his buns look in those black shorts.

“We stopped serving sorry.” I hiss at him.

He turns and laughs at me.

“Hey Rob, sack the barmaid will you?”

Rob comes over, but just slaps him on the back and tells him not to be such a prick. Then he kisses me fully and grabs my hand. I can’t help looking at Alex as we embrace.

Yes, that’s right dick I am with him. Suck on that one.

With amusement, I see Alex’s eyes flicker for what can only be a quarter of a second.

“Here is yours then” He hands him a stack of carefully counted out dollars.

I see Alex greedily eyeballing the bills, whilst pretending to play it casually. But underneath, he’s excited, ecstatic even to have made so much cash so easily.

Both of them are glowing with a buzz of adrenalin.

“You think you’ll do it again?” says Rob, with a faux coolness that only I can spot.

“I’ll think about it,” Says Alex, before winking at me.

“Come on,” I say to Rob. I’ve had enough of this for one night. We had plans and they didn’t include watching the world championship of ego stroking.

Rob stretches his arms over my shoulder and says “sure honey”, before a text beeps on his phone that he must take, so kissing my ear, he rushes off to the side room.

And Alex just stands there, counting out his money and unveiling his rippling flesh, in none too subtle a fashion.

“Enjoying the view sweetie” He whispers, without looking at me.

“Getting beat up for money is for losers,” I say in a low voice.

“I barely have a scratch darling”.

He turns his face fully towards mine and points at his clear, unmarked skin and then laughs, the cocky self-assured asshole.

I’m feeling kind of nervous as we park up outside in Rob’s car the next morning. One or two of the neighbors have already had a pop at it – there are not that many brand new Jaguars around our way. That’s not to say where my folks live is not nice, but it’s not that kind of ostentatious sort of wealthy.

It’s all neatly manicured lawns and car washing in slacks on a Sunday. Rob probably hasn’t noticed the signs, but my mom and dad are in the neighborhood watch group, so right now Mrs. Adamson across the road is rippling through her Venetian blinds and Scott at number three has glanced over from his watch post, salting his garden path.

“So the plan is I wait here and then when you call, I’ll come and introduce myself?” Says Rob, in another first for me, because he actually looks nervous. I’ve never seen this before. He always seems so self-assured – he’s a businessman for goodness sake. It seems faintly ridiculous for someone like him to hide in his car.

“Yeah, they’ll be alright once I’ve talked them round,” I say, before planting a kiss on his forehead. He looks so scared. Almost like a little boy. Not a wealthy successful business owner of forty-five.

Yes. This last bit is part of the problem. As you can gather, I am a lot younger and still live at home. My parents don’t even really like me working in Mermaids bar, the truth is, I don’t really know how they’re going to react to me dating someone as old as Rob, millionaire or no millionaire.

“Hey, Eliana” Calls my mother, as I unlatch the kitchen door. “We’ve been waiting, come on in, there’s something we need to talk about.”

This sounds serious, I can’t help wondering what has happened, but my mom’s demeanor doesn’t quite give it away. She’s a lot like me, in some ways. People say I’m quite hard to read, whereas I am quite good at figuring out other people’s moods. But, with my mom, I’m no good. She’s too much of a closed book.

So I follow her into the lounge where Martin, my Dad is sitting.

He gets straight to the point.

“So, you know, honey, before I met your mom there, was this time that I was with this girl in New York, Ana?”

“Yeah,” I say kind of baffled, wondering where this is going. They’re not about to split up are they? I think suddenly worried.

You hear about couples who stay together for years and then suddenly just out of the blue one day split when the children are all grown. It happened to Jacquie just a year back or so and she was totally devastated. It turned out, her parent’s marriage had been one long sham and they were just waiting for her to turn eighteen to be able to divorce.

Shit! I’d never even thought this could happen to me!

Dad must have read my face because he just laughs slightly and goes.

“No, really, it’s nothing to worry about honey, but you know, before I met your mom and you I had.” And here he takes a bit of a pause “A different sort of life. You know, I was only a kid myself really well then, the thing is that...”

“Yeah”

“Is that I. Just found out that.” He starts faltering here, his face filling up with emotion. This doesn’t happen a lot to him, so now I’m seriously worried and am into full on “cancer scare” mode.

My mom gently finishes his sentence for him.

“Martin’s found he’s got a son, in New York, by Ana. “

Silence resonates all around the room as this fact bounces from wall to wall, screaming from the childhood photos of me gorging on candy floss and pictures of baby Jonny on mom’s knee.

Finally, I find my voice. Someone has got, to say something.

“Oh… that. That’s great Dad.”

“Yeah,” He says, sounding relieved. “The thing is, he hasn’t had all the starts in life that you have and since his mom died, hasn’t really got a place to stay, so we were wondering…”

“If he could stay here for a while until he finds somewhere.” My mom says, cutting to the chase. I look at her and try and divine how she’s feeling about this.

Yes, my Dad isn’t my actual father, but he knew that when he met her. How is she dealing with this news, that now suddenly, he is a Dad to someone, again?

Especially since their only child together, my little brother Jonny is no longer with us.

I catch her gazing up at the photo of us altogether Christmas Eve, 2005, with Jonny balanced on her knee, in Santa’s grotto.

Tears prick up in my eyes. It’s more than ten years since he died and still it’s not something I can think about easily. Who knows how the fuck that works out for her?

“And, well, I’d like you to meet your step brother.”

Wham!

That one really caught me unawares. I wasn’t expecting to actually meet the guy, right there and then.

Before I really have any chance whatsoever to say anything, in he walks.

Tall build, dark hair, deep blue eyes, cocky swagger. I wonder now how I could not have seen it before. He looks the spit of my Dad, albeit, when he was much younger.

When he registers it’s me, he does a little double-take, then pauses, with that smile and a polite but firm handshake.

“Pleased to meet you properly, at last, I’m Alex.”

I’m not quite sure how I managed to navigate getting out of that room, out the door and into the waiting car outside.

As I shut the door, Rob turns to look at me.

“Didn’t go well huh?” He asks edgily.

“Just drive,” I say and we take off out into the freezing cold January morning, with the roar of the ocean in the distance, before asking. “Is it okay if I come and stay with you for the rest of the weekend?”

“Sure, but I didn’t think you wanted us to get too serious that soon. What’s your Dad say about all this?”

I spin around suddenly confused, “You what?”

“Did he not like the fact I am older than you, cos I’m sure I could talk him round.”

“Rob,” I say a little harshly. “I didn’t even get round to telling them, they kind of got their double whammy in first. Not everything is about you, you know!”

He shoots me a slight look.

“I’m sorry it’s just. You know that fighter guy from tonight, yeah, the one who loves himself, and it only turns out that he is sort of, my brother!”

Rob opens his eyes wide, “Really now that is interesting.”

“Yeah, isn’t it just?” And inside, I’m laughing suddenly.

Finding out I had a step brother and that he was the single biggest dick I’d met in ages, took quite some beating.  But if there was one thing, at least, it had wiped that smug look off his face.