Free Fight for Her #4: MMA New Adult Contemporary Romantic Suspense by JJ Knight Page B

This time I grasp her and pull her off.
    Lani immediately rolls away and sits up.
    I hold Maddie tight. “Hey,” I tell her. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
    “Stay away from my daughter,” she yells at Lani. “Or I’ll kill you.”
    Lani feels at her face. She has blood coming from her nose. Even though Maddie gave it all she had, Lani’s probably been up against worse.
    “That was a lucky pin,” Lani says.
    “Fuck you,” Maddie spits at her.
    My phone buzzes but I can’t look at it now.
    “You need to back the hell off,” I tell Lani. “You and Striker are going to end up in prison. Is that what you want?”
    “Fuck both of you,” Lani says, dusting off her knees. “I’m not ever going to let up on you.”
    Maddie lunges for her and I decide to let her go. I’ll break up anything that looks too bad.
    Lani’s still sitting on the ground, and damn it all if Maddie doesn’t figure it out again, knocking her backward and landing with her knees on her arms. “Like this?” she says. She punches Lani with her bloodied hands again, but I can tell the pain is holding her back.
    “Use your elbows,” I say.
    Maddie switches immediately and this time Lani starts to struggle against her. She’s actually feeling it this time.
    Now a crowd is coming up to the fence. Damn it, they’re both going to get arrested if this goes on much longer.
    “Maddie,” I call out. “Hey. Come on. Stop it.”
    “I can’t stop it,” she says. “She’ll keep coming.”
    I walk over and pull her off Lani again. This time Lani stays down, hands to her face.
    I hold Maddie close to me. “Come on now. We have to find another way.”
    Maddie looks up at me, tears mixing in with the blood and dirt on her face. “You? You’re saying that? Don’t you fight to earn a living?”
    I don’t have anything to say to that. I just keep her close.
    A bright light shines on us from inside the cemetery, and then two more from the opposite side of the fence. A man in a cop uniform approaches us from the paths and two more peer through the chain link.  
    The one inside strides up swiftly. “Come with me,” he says gruffly.
    One of the other cops from outside jumps the fence. The second, a heavier guy, stays on the sidewalk side.
    “I’ve got these two,” our cop says. “That one attacked this woman. You can arrest her and take her in.”
    The other cop squints at our guy. “Sure, Esposito. You going to do the papers on them?”
    “Yeah,” he says. “I’ll take them in.”
    He walks over to Lani. She jumps up like she’s going to run, but the cop says, “You don’t want to do that. I’ve got a cruiser waiting to pick you up anywhere you exit this park.”
    She stops.
    “Come on,” Esposito says. “Come with me.” He takes each of us by the arm and leads us down one of the cemetery paths.
    “You taking us downtown?” I ask.
    He doesn’t answer for a little while. When we approach the main gate, he says, “I want you to get to this little lady’s house and stay out of any more trouble tonight. Got it?”
    “You’re not going to arrest us?” Maddie asks.
    Esposito lets go of our arms and unlocks one of the smaller side gates in the wall of the cemetery. “Not as long as you fix the hole in that silk shirt like you promised.”
    And that’s when I get it. Jax. The bullet hole from the fiasco in Vegas. He must know this cop.
    Esposito opens the gate. “I’ll walk behind you for two blocks, then you take it the rest of the way. You can do that?”
    I nod. “Thanks.”
    We head down the street. I pull my phone from my pocket to check the message that came through a few minutes ago. I have a feeling I know who it is.

    Looks like you are ready for a little police presence.

    Yep. It was Jax.

Chapter 16: Maddie  

    As I pass my distorted reflection in the windows of the hospital, I pat the thick coat of makeup on my face, covering the bruises. I’m starting to look like a fighter’s girlfriend, I think. I turn