Free Jax (Cocky Cage Fighter Series) by Lane Hart

join you for dinner. These are great," I tell them, digging into my fajita.    
    "So how are you going to respond to that picture of you two?" their father asks.
    "What is this picture I keep hearing about?" I ask.
    His dad pulls his phone from his pocket and hits a few buttons before sliding it across the table to me. Jackson intercepts it before I can see it.
    "Ah, fuck," he groans when he looks down. Now I really want to see it.
    "Let me see!"
    "Um, you really don't want to see this right now, Page. Maybe later."
    "Give me the phone, Jackson!"
    "No."
    I wipe my hands on my napkin then pull out my own phone from my pants pocket. In the search engine I type Jackson's first and last name then wait for the images to load.
    "Son of a…biscuit eater!" I exclaim, and cover my mouth when the first photo pops up. It's a side view of me and Jackson at the pool earlier. I'm clenching his arm that's around my waist as he presses my body against his huge, mostly naked one. His head is bent down awfully close to my ear, which makes it look like he's kissing me. The title of the article from a sleazy gossip magazine says, "Felony charges forgotten while MMA fighter Jackson Malone fraternizes with his legal staff."
    "Whheeeww," Jude whistles when he leans over to look at the phone in my hand.
    "She was about to fall," Jackson explains.
    "Sure, the old, 'I broke her fall excuse'." Jude chuckles.
    "This is so not good. I can't believe my dad hasn't called to yell at me yet. Dang it, he'll probably take me off the case!"
    "No. I don't want you off the case," Jackson says right away, sparking a warmth inside me despite the current circumstances.
    "If there is even an appearance of a conflict I'll have to get out, or I risk losing my law license."
    No wonder Elliott was pissed. This is bad, and it does look like something's going on between me and Jackson even though it's completely innocent. Okay, mostly innocent.
    "Maybe that's just a still shot from a video, like what we did with the hotel surveillance video. If we can find someone out of all those people around the pool that captured the whole thing then it won't be an issue, right?" Jackson asks.
    He has a good point. "No, probably not."
    Jackson sits his dad's phone down and pulls out his, while I put in a few keywords for videos. I finally come across one on a video sharing site with Jackson's name and today's date. I hit play, hoping this is it. And thank you cheese and rice, it’s us from before I turned around through my embarrassing slip and windmill, and finally his save and then release.
    "Got it!" I tell him, handing over my phone.
    Jude and his dad both jump up from their seats to go and take a look at it over Jackson's shoulder.
    "Huh, that really is what happened," Jude admits disappointedly, then returns to his plate of food.
    "That's a relief," his dad says before heading back to his seat to finish eating.
    My phone starts ringing in Jackson’s hand. He frowns and stretches across the table to hand it back to me. "It's your dad."
    "Hey, Dad," I answer.
    "Goddamn it, Page! What the hell were you thinking! I didn't give you permission to go to Atlantic City, and I sure as hell never expected you to screw around with our client!" He yells at me like I'm an unruly teenager.
    "It's just a misunderstanding. There's a video-" I start to say, but he interrupts.
    "Not only are you fucking things up with Elliot, you're already fucking this case up after we just got hired!" he yells, making my eyes water at his harsh chastising. He's always expressed his disappointment in me, but never at this level. I stand up to leave the room and breakdown in private, but before I can escape, Jackson reaches across the table and jerks my phone from my hand.
    "Mr. Davenport? This is Jackson Malone," he says. His eyes are focused on the hardwood floor as he paces with his usual fluid grace alongside the dining room table. He reminds me of the angry caged tiger at the zoo, plotting who he's going