Fighting For It

  Fighting for It

  Chapter One

  “Claire, don’t get so far ahead!” I called out to my friend Tara’s little girl as she ran through the crowd of Twins fans at Target Field.

  Tara and her girls were up visiting, and her oldest now tended to think she was invincible. Since Tara and her family loved baseball, I treated them to a Minnesota Twins game on their last afternoon in the cities. It was hard to leave all my friends behind when I moved up to Minnesota to work for The Pioneer Press, a Saint Paul based newspaper, while I attempted to get my book published, but it was a good paying job and I had amazing friends to get me through. Who would have thought that after two years I would actually be in talks to get my book published?

  The crowds were trying to get out after the game and I finally got ahold of Claire. I picked her up and put the four-year-old on my hip as she tried to protest. It wasn’t safe for her to just run off like that, she didn’t understand that fully yet. Deciding to stop at one of the restaurants across the street to wait for the massive amounts of traffic to dissipate, Tara, Claire, Vee, and I took a less busy exit of the field.

  After it seemed like traffic thinned out a bit, I led everyone back to the parking structure where we had left the car. I let Claire walk again, knowing I couldn’t exactly lose her now since there weren’t many people around. A man was loading what looked like a duffle bag into the back of his truck, the symbol of the Twins on the side of the bag, and Claire took off for him. Damn, where were her stranger danger tactics I was trying to teach her? She threw her little arms around his leg and squealed saying baseball over and over. She must have seen the symbol that we had been seeing all over the stadium.

  I jogged ahead of Tara and Vee, attempting to pull Claire off, “Claire, what did I tell you about strangers?”

  She finally let go and turned to me. I kneeled down in front of her and put my hands on her shoulders.

  “Strangers are not all good…” She said quietly.

  “That’s right. Now go back to mommy and Vee.”

  Claire ran back towards where Tara and Vee were still walking slowly, Vee was being stubborn and wanting to walk by herself. I stood back up and finally got a good look at the man. His brown eyes reminded me of caramel, and his shaggy brown hair stuck out from under his Minnesota Twins baseball cap. I recognized him from the scoreboard of the game whenever he was announced. Jackson Ryder.

  “I’m so sorry about that,” I said nervously as I pushed my auburn hair behind my ear.

  “It’s okay, she’s a cute kid. Is she yours?”

  I shook my head, “No, my friend Tara’s. They are just up visiting.”

  “Gotcha. Did you guys go to the game today?” He pointed at my Minnesota Twins shirt that I was wearing.

  “Yeah, great game by the way,” I smiled even though the nerves were taking over. He was the most beautiful man that I had ever seen before.

  Jackson nodded and chuckled, “Thanks. I take it you recognize me as one of the players then.”

  I shrugged, “Your face was kind of blown up on the scoreboard whenever you were up to bat…kind of hard to miss it.”

  “That is true,” he held out his hand to me, “Jackson Ryder.”

  I put my hand in his and a small shiver ran up my spine, “Madeline Walker.”

  “Nice to meet you, Madeline.”

  My name had never sounded so good on someone’s lips before.

  “Same to you, Jackson.”

  “Maddie, you ready to head out?” Tara called out from where we had parked her car a few spots away.

  I looked over my shoulder at her, “Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

  Turning back to Jackson, I pursed my lips and pointed over to where Tara was waiting, “I gotta go.”

  He nodded, “See you around, Madeline.”

  My cheeks flushed, and I walked as quickly as I could to Tara’s car. She handed me the keys since I knew exactly where I was going in the cities. As soon as we were out of the parking structure, Tara decided to question me about Jackson. I knew next to nothing about him, I wasn’t exactly one to keep up on baseball as much as some people in the world. All I knew was that he was a gorgeous male who made my heart skip a beat when his eyes connected with mine. There was no way I was going to see him again in the massive cities that we lived in.

  “So, is Lucas still hounding you about getting back together?” Tara asked, finally changing the subject.

  Lucas. What can I say about Lucas Hastings? He was my low-level ex-boyfriend who believed that he was god’s gift to mankind. I met him at one of the events I was covering for the newspaper and I thought he was charming…until he turned arrogant. That was probably why we only lasted a few months before I finally said enough was enough. Since then, he’d been kind of on my ass about getting back together.

  “Yeah. It’s not like we were in love or anything, we were only together for four months. Now he just won’t leave me alone about it,” I rolled my eyes as I drove us into my apartment parking lot.

  That was the truth. I was nowhere near being in love with Lucas. Even the sex was terrible. Just when you thought that Lucas was only arrogant outside of the bedroom, he proved himself to be an even bigger douche in the bedroom. Sex was mostly about his pleasure…if I just happened to reach what felt like an orgasm, it was a coincidence. To be honest, most of the guys that I had dated then ultimately had sex with in the last two years were like that. It might have been why none of my relationships ever made it past three or four months. I never really felt any type of special connection with them and I definitely didn’t feel any real connection with them sexually. I had gotten really good at faking it when it came to sex.

  I helped Tara pack up her car and waved to her and the girls as they drove away. My week was complete shit leading up to their visit. My publisher was asking for a re-write of my last two chapters of my book and I had to start working on some investigative journalism articles for work. It was a far cry from the pop culture shit that I had been writing about for the last few weeks. When my phone rang from my pocket on my way back up to my apartment, I was excited to see that Alexandria had sent a group chat between me, Meredith, and Tammy asking to meet for drinks at The Exchange in Minneapolis tonight. Thank god it was Saturday.

  Walking into The Exchange on a Saturday night was a little more push and shove than I thought it would have been. It was in downtown Minneapolis which was home to many other bars and clubs, but it felt like all of the Twin Cities was trying to get into this one building alone. Somehow my friends had snagged us a booth and I squeezed through the crowds of people to get to them.

  “Maddie! You look so cute!” Alexandria squealed as she pulled me into a hug.

  For the first time in weeks, I actually tried to look nice when I went out. My usual breakup routine, no matter if I initiated the breakup or the other person did, was to sit at home and really just focus on myself. With Lucas, it took a little longer than usual because his arrogant behavior sort of made me feel more belittled than I thought it did. But tonight, I was dressed in a navy blue lace up gauze A-line dress that fell to my knees with a V neck with lace-up tassel ties and long bell sleeves. I was a few inches taller than my 5’3” thanks to my wedged ankle boots. My makeup was kept natural, then again that was the only look that I could really do because I had nearly zero experience with makeup growing up.

  “Thanks, Alex! You really picked a hot spot for us to go out to tonight,” I laughed.

  “I swear, I had no idea it was going to be this busy,” she pointed to everyone around us.

  “It’s usually hard to gauge that sort of stuff on the weekends! Let me just go get a drink and then we can go dance. I need to let off some steam.”

  Going to the bar, I ordered mys
elf a cosmopolitan and paid before heading back to where my friends were seated. After a few sips of my drink, we were ready to hit the dance floor. The bass pulsed through the room as we moved to the beat. Whatever DJ was performing here tonight had some great tastes in music and I just let myself get lost in the rhythm. By the fifth song, I could feel eyes on my little group of friends and I, but I paid no attention to it. Tonight, wasn’t about finding a guy, tonight was about letting loose after the shit week I had been having before Tara and her girls came up.

  Hands rested on my hips, a tight grip that I had been all too familiar with for the last four months. I turned around and sure enough, Lucas was trying to keep his hands on me. How the fuck did he know I was here tonight? Why did he feel like he could just approach and touch me like that?

  “Go away, Lucas,” I called out over the music and pulled his hands off of me.

  “Come on, Maddie. Don’t you want to dance like we used to?” He smirked.

  The man was a terrible dancer, the only kind of dancing he liked was grinding up behind me.

  I shook my head, “No.”

  He reached out for me again and pushed him away, “Lucas, leave me alone.”

  “Where’s this boyfriend you keep telling me you have? Why are you with your friends and not him on a Saturday night?” Damn it, I was hoping he wouldn’t bring up my latest scheme to get him to leave me the hell alone.

  “I…I…”

  “Hey baby, this guy givin’ you trouble?” A strong arm snaked around my waist.

  What the hell?

  I looked behind me to see Jackson Ryder in all his tall, dark, and handsomeness up against me. Was he coming to my rescue? We had met for all of two minutes in the parking garage today.

  “You’re her boyfriend?” Lucas asked in disbelief.

  “The one and only. Jackson Ryder, pleasure to meet you,” Jackson held out his hand to him.

  Lucas rolled his eyes and stormed off with a huff.

  I turned around to face Jackson, “Oh my god, you don’t know how much I owe you one.”

  “I’ll cash in now, wanna dance?”

  I smiled shyly, “Sure, why not, boyfriend.”

  Jackson chuckled and allowed me to put my arms around his neck. We began to move to the beat even though it was a little slower than everyone else around us.

  “So, who was that asshole?” Jackson asked close to my ear.

  The heat of his breath as it hit my skin made my stomach do a flip. I barely even remembered his question before I started to answer.

  “He’s…he’s my ex-boyfriend. We broke up a few weeks ago and he’s still not over it,” I rolled my eyes.

  “You break it off or him?”

  “I kicked his ass to the curb. He has such an arrogant personality. I’m not exactly sure how I put up with him for the four months we were together.”

  “Good sex, maybe?”

  I laughed out loud then quickly covered my mouth, embarrassed.

  “Bad sex?” His smile was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

  All I could do was nod. It wasn’t something I was proud of, but it wasn’t exactly like guys were lining up around the block to date me. Jackson brought me flush up against him and my breath hitched in my throat.

  “That’s a shame.”

  “It…It is?” I furrowed my brows, trying not to sound like I was panting at how close he was to me.

  His hips moved with mine to the music, “A beautiful girl like you should always be pleasured with good sex.”

  My mouth fell open. That was literally the only reaction I had to him saying that to me. First, he called me beautiful. That wasn’t exactly a compliment that I got on the daily. Second, he thought it was about the girl in sex…something I had never encountered. Third, good sex? Um, yes please. His hand lifted and pushed my jaw up to close it. As I attempted to focus on keeping my mouth shut, Jackson’s mouth came down and his lips pressed against mine.

  Thank god the music was so loud, because if he would have heard me moan…that would have been even more embarrassing. One of my hands tangled in his shaggy brown hair that was finally free from the baseball cap I had seen him wearing earlier, while my other hand gripped onto his white button up shirt. Jackson’s lips eased mine open and the second that his tongue ran against mine, I was a puddle of mush.

  “Maddie!” Alexandria’s voice pulled me out of the moment Jackson and I were having.

  I pulled my lips away from his and turned to look at Alexandria, giving her the ‘are you fucking kidding me’ look. She didn’t even seem to notice as she put her hand on my shoulder.

  “I just saw Lucas in here when I went to go get a drink at the bar,” she said out of breath as though she ran to tell me.

  I looked up at Jackson then back at her, “Uh, yeah. He tried to dance with me…”

  “Did you punch him in his annoying fucking face?” She asked.

  My face turned into pure confusion, it was like she didn’t realize she interrupted me and Jackson mid-make out.

  “No. I told him to go away and when he didn’t, Jackson here came to my rescue and pretended to be my boyfriend.”

  Her eyes got wide as she took in the fact that Jackson’s arms were still wrapped around me and my hand was still holding onto his shirt, “Ohhh…”

  Jackson politely held out one of his hands to her, “Jackson Ryder.”

  Alexandria shook his hand, “Alexandria McKinney, but you can call me Alex.”

  She then turned her attention back to me, “Did you just meet him here tonight?”

  I opened my mouth, but Jackson spoke up first, “We actually ran into each other in the parkin’ garage over by Target Field after the Twins game this afternoon.”

  “Oh, you two were at the same game? That’s adorable!”

  My lips pursed, “Not exactly…”

  “What do you mean not exactly?”

  My eyes met Jackson’s and he smirked as he answered for me, “I was playin’ in the game.”

  “Holy fuck, you snagged a baseball player, Mad?” She shook my shoulder excitedly.

  I could feel my cheeks turn pink and gave her a look that told her to get out of here. She held up her hands, finally catching my look, and disappeared back to where Meredith and Tammy were still dancing.

  “Was it just me or did she seem a little oblivious to what we were doin’ prior to her interruptin’?” Jackson laughed as he brought me closer against him once more.

  “She’s actually a very bright girl but we all have our moments,” I giggled.

  “I guess I can let it slide this time. Now, where were we?” He smirked as he leaned in once more.

  I playfully leaned back, “We were dancing.”

  His eyebrows lifted in surprise, “Is that what everyone is callin’ it nowadays?”

  Shaking my head, I playfully hit his chest before turning around in his arms. Jackson pulled me back tight against his chest, our hips moving together to the music once again. This was how Lucas wanted to dance with me, this was the only way he really knew how to dance. Even then he was just trying to get into my pants or touch me very inappropriately in front of everyone. Jackson wasn’t like that, he legitimately danced with me, and I felt safe in his arms.

  As the sixth consecutive song began to pick up, Jackson’s lips pressed against my neck and the feeling made me smile. My hands rested over his arms that stayed wrapped around my body as my head leaned back against his shoulder. His teeth grazed against my skin and a shudder went through me. I couldn’t take it anymore, I needed his lips on mine. Quickly, I turned around and was just about to crash our lips back together when someone shoved me away from him.

  “What the fuck are you doing with my husband?” A tall red head shrilled at me, a red dress hugging her form like it was a second layer of skin.

  Did she say husband?

  I looked over at Jackson, “Wait, you’re married?!”

  Jackson reached out for me, “No, no! We are gettin’ divorce
d!”

  My hands pushed him away before I could realize what was happening, “Yeah, sure. I bet you say that to all the girls you try to pick up.”

  Shoving past him, I went back to the table where Meredith was sitting. I told her I was going to get some air and forced my way outside. How the fuck could I be so stupid? There was no way in this universe that a man who looked like Jackson Ryder was single. There was also no way that a man like Jackson Ryder could find me attractive. I was probably just a fuck and forget moment of his evening. But damn, I had never felt the way I did when he kissed me. I had never felt safe in another man’s arms the way I did in his.

  I leaned against the exterior of the building and took in deep breaths of air. It was nearly impossible for me to go back in there with my mind as frenzied as it was. Jackson was married. Simple as that. He was completely off limits. I closed my eyes as I breathed in the warm June air. Even though it was rather warm outside, it was much cooler than it was in the bar. All I had to do was remind myself that I did not come out tonight to meet a guy and I could go back to enjoying my time with my friends. That was easier said than done.

  “Madeline, please, let me explain,” Jackson’s voice came from in front of me.

  My eyes opened to see him as he stood close. When I couldn’t even meet his eyes, I looked down at the sidewalk. I didn’t need any explanation…he was married.

  “What is there to explain, Jackson? You are married but think it’s okay to make out with me like that on the dance floor.”

  “I’m not married to Josie anymore. We are close to finalizin’ our divorce, I swear.”

  “I’m not so sure you aren’t just saying that,” I sighed.

  Jackson took his phone out of his pocket and typed something into the screen before holding it out to me. I carefully took it and looked at what he was trying to show me. It was a Google search of himself and the top stories were about him filing for divorce from his wife of less than a year.

  “And why would you be divorcing her?” I handed him back his phone, not caring the article’s reasonings. I needed to hear it from him.

  He sighed, and a look of sadness crossed over his features, “I found out that she had been sleepin’ with my hometown best friend for pretty much all of our marriage.”