Caged (The Defiant Kings Book 1)
Caged: Chapter 23

Cade let me cancel my classes last week, but after Hudson and I discussed it when he got home last night, we decided we’d both go back to the gym on Monday. For him, that was this morning. For me, it’s tonight, and it feels good to be back. This is my last week of classes until January. Cade always suspends classes during the holidays.

Usually, I get antsy, thinking about two weeks of not teaching.

I don’t just love teaching yoga for the extra paycheck and sense of security it helps me maintain. I love it for the way it clears my mind and strengthens my soul. Teaching even helps center me. I’m more focused after a class. More relaxed. Those two weeks without my classes, and what they do for me, suck. But not this year.

This year, I’m thinking about Hudson’s sunroom and how much I’m looking forward to bringing my mat in there in the mornings. I’m thinking about long, late nights in bed with him and lazy mornings together. Christmas has never been high on my list of priorities. Brandon and I never made a big deal out of it before, and it’s never bothered me. But I think this year will be different.

It’ll be the first year I make new traditions.

“What’s got you smiling like that, sunshine?” Hudson asks as I clean my last mat of the night.

“Nothing,” I tell him coyly, checking quickly to see who’s around and am pleasantly surprised to find the gym completely empty. “Well, nothing I want to talk about here.” I lift up on my toes and kiss his lips, savoring the taste of him.

“You almost ready?” His hand slips to my lower back, resting on the bare skin just above my yoga pants, and my blood heats under his touch.

I nod, unable to speak, and the cocky grin stretching across his face holds delicious promises.

“Get a room,” Cade yells with a laugh.

“Sorry.” I blush, mortified.

“Ignore him, Mads. He’s just mad he can’t tell me no girls anymore.” Hudson puffs up his chest like a proud peacock before I smack his pec.

“I’m a woman, not a girl. And I better be the only one.” I smile sweetly but with a little threat.

Cade smacks Hud’s back. “She told you.”

“Whatever. Like my sister doesn’t keep your balls in her Chanel bag,” Hudson chuckles.

With a devious glint in his eyes, Cade smirks. “Oh, your sister can do anything she wants with my balls. I have no complaints.”

“Jesus Christ, man. Gross. Fuck. What the hell?” Hud pinches his lips together, and Cade and I crack up.

“Oh my God. You two are ridiculous.” I put away the cleaning solution and grab my bag from the locker room. “I’m ready.”

Cade shuts off the lights, and the three of us walk out together, expecting an empty parking lot, not the ambush we walk into.

As soon as we step out of the building, a camera is shoved in our faces. A reporter stands next to the camera man. And Spider Reynolds, the creep Hudson almost fought at Kingdom weeks ago, is with them, surrounded by a bunch of his team.

“What the hell is going on here?” Cade demands, vibrating with anger.

“Go inside, Madison.” Hudson steps in front of me with Cade sliding next to him to block me from these men.

“Yeah, that’s right. You wouldn’t want your woman to see what a pussy you really are, King.”

I don’t move.

“This is private property, and I want you off it now before I call the cops,” Cade threatens. But Reynolds continues eyeing up Hudson.

“I bet you feel like a tough guy now, huh, King. You think you’re a killer.” I fist the back of Hudson’s hoodie and look around him as Spider continues, “That you’re untouchable. You still too fucking scared to fight me? Or did your balls finally drop after killing a worthless fighter like McGuire?”

Hudson’s body is rigid as Reynolds gets in his face.

“You know, when your girl wants to fuck a real man, she imagines it’s me fucking her, King. I can get the job done in all the ways you never will.” He pushes Hudson’s chest, and I try to sidestep Hud to see what else is going on, but he and Cade move closer together.

“He’s twice the fighter you’ll ever be, Reynolds. Now, you’ve said your peace. Get the fuck off my property,” Cade threatens.

“If your boy is twice the fighter I am, then he’ll fight me like a man instead of hiding behind his family’s money and his coach’s name.”

“You wanna talk big. You want this fight because you say you wanna prove you’re better than me? That I’m just a name with a trust fund? Just wanna prove something, right? And this isn’t about the money, is it? It’s about showing the world that I’m a joke.” Hudson takes a step forward, and I drop my hold on him. “Fine. You name the time and the place, and I’ll fight you.”

Reynolds smiles, thinking he’s won, but I can tell from Hudson’s stance, something else is going on here.

“I’ll fight you on one condition.”

Reynolds posturing stops, and he glares. “Pussy boy needs a condition,” he announces to his buddies and the reporter. “They won’t even call you Prince after I’m done with you, Kingston. You’ll be a fucking joker in my court.”

“So, you agree to my condition then?” There’s a cockiness to Hudson’s voice I recognize, but Reynold’s isn’t picking up on it. I don’t know what Hud’s up to. Though I can tell it’s something good.

“One condition, and you’ll fight me for your belt?” Reynolds turns to the camera. “You’re getting this on tape, right? I don’t want this soft-fight, pansy-ass motherfucker to be able to back out.”

The camera man nods, and Reynolds turns back to Hudson. “Name the condition.”

“Agree to it now, and I’ll fight you for my belt as soon as they can set it up,” Hud pushes.

Reynolds finally eyes Hudson carefully before agreeing. “Now, what the fuck do you want?”

“We donate every penny either of us earns from the fight to Mason McGuire’s wife. No questions asked. No exceptions. She gets both payouts. Mine and yours. Agree, and this will be the only shot you ever get at my belt.”

I look between Hudson and Reynolds, watching these two intimidating men dancing this intricate dance, and fear slivers down my spine. There’s a dangerous charge in the cold air, making every hair on my body stand on edge.

Reynolds stares at Hudson in disbelief. “No fucking way,” he shouts.

“No sweat off my back. I can live my life with the belt I’ve earned five times. You’re the dick who turned down your chance.”

The standoff between the two of them grows impossibly tense until Cade takes a step forward. “He’s made his decision, King. Let’s go.”

“I’ll do it,” Reynolds growls low, and a murmur of voices erupts from the group of men surrounding him, but he silences them with a look. “I want it soon, King. Deal’s off if you need months to get this done.”

Hudson scoffs like that’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard. “I’ll call my agent. I could fight you tomorrow and win, asshole.”

“Now walk away,” Cade tells them as he holds his hands up in front of the camera. Then he pulls his phone from his pocket and makes a call.

Hudson holds his hand out to me behind his back, and I grasp on to it while I continue to peek around him wordlessly. He doesn’t move until they’re out of the parking lot, then he finally spins around. “I told you to go inside.”

I step into him and wrap my hands around his waist. “I didn’t say anything this time, and I didn’t get in the way.” I lay my head against his chest. “Are you really going to fight him?”

Cade hangs up and joins us.

“He’ll never leave me alone if I don’t.” His fingers run through my hair, and I shiver.

“Can you win?”

Cade and Hudson look at each other and laugh.

I guess that’s a good sign.

The rest of the week passes by without another incident. The fight is scheduled for the second week in January. Hudson swears he’ll be fine. But it makes me worry, even if he says I don’t need to.

Right now, I’m trying desperately not to focus on the way my stomach churns every time I think about him stepping into the cage again. Meanwhile, he’s hyperfocusing on a Christmas tree. He had an errand to run earlier today but made me promise I’d come with him to pick out a tree this afternoon.

“What about this one?” Hudson stands next to a towering evergreen in the middle of what’s touted as Kroydon Hill’s oldest Christmas tree farm. “How tall is this thing?”

Jace groans next to me. “Too fucking tall. What the hell, Hud?”

“Your debt’s not paid until you help me get it into the house and decorated, jackoff.” He holds the measuring stick up next to the tree, and the tree towers over the ten-foot-tall stick. “I think this is the one.” His goofy grin grows. “Do you like it, sunshine?”

I giggle. “Hudson, I’ve literally had tiny Charlie Brown trees my whole life. I’ve slept in houses whose roofs weren’t that tall. Get whatever you want.”

“Give it up, Maddie. Hud loves Christmas,” Jace warns me.

And that’s how I end up spending the next hour watching these two fight over how to strap a monstrously large tree to Hudson’s truck. Them trying to get it into the house was even funnier. Especially when Cooper came over to help. Carys and I popped a bag of popcorn and laughed while the three of them argued their way through standing it up in the center of the family room.

It only fell over twice. Twice. A twelve-foot tree fell over twice, and miraculously managed to miss every piece of furniture and every human in the room. I haven’t laughed this hard in years. Eventually Sawyer stopped by. He didn’t tell Hudson Jace called him in as backup, but he did tell me, then swore me to secrecy.

I wouldn’t necessarily call him helpful though.

There may have been a chainsaw brought inside the house at one point.

Yup. Inside the house. They decided the trunk was crooked.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him we should have gotten the Charlie Brown tree I wanted. Carys and I sat there the entire time with tears streaming down our faces from laughing so hard.

Eventually, the tree stood on its own, albeit a little crooked. But there was no way I was telling them that. Chloe brought pizza, and our ragtag group ate, laughed, and did the worst job I’ve ever seen decorating a tree. But it was more fun than I remember having in years.

And now that everyone has left, and it’s well past midnight, Hudson drags me back into the living room to stand under the mistletoe and caresses my cheek. “I love you, Maddie.”

“I love you too, Hud.” I run my hands up his arms, and he winces. “What’s wrong?”

Hudson reaches back and pulls his dark thermal shirt over his head. His bicep is wrapped in plastic wrap. “Did you get a new tattoo today? Was that your errand?”

He ignores my questions and peels back the wrapping, then flexes.

On his bicep is my dragonfly flying in front of the sun. It blends perfectly into his sleeve, like it was always supposed to be there. “Hudson,” I gasp and ghost my finger around it without touching. “It’s beautiful.”

“Do you like it?” He looks nervous, like a little boy who spent all his allowance on a present and is afraid the recipient will be disappointed.

“The detail is amazing. The watercolor purples and greens. They’re perfect.” Suddenly, tears sting the back of my eyes. “I can’t believe you inked me on your skin.”

“I wanted us to make the next big change in our lives together, Maddie. And I wanted something to symbolize that. Every line on my skin tells a story.” He runs a hand over the script on his chest. “I got Only the good die young when my stepmother died.” Then he flexes his bicep and tells me each story behind the ink on his body. Until he finally holds up his hand.

“There’s nothing there. You don’t have anything on your hands, Hud.”

“No. Not yet, baby. I’m not really a ring guy, So I thought once we’re married, I could get one tatted on my finger.” Hud tries to drop to his knee, but I quickly grab his arm, stopping him, and my stomach somersaults. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Hudson . . . please don’t. Not yet.” He looks at me with hurt in his dark-blue eyes. “Hud. You’re so sure of the world and your place in it that you jump and know everything will be fine. That’s not me. I need to move a little slower than that.”

“But you agreed to move in. I love you, Maddie. And I know you love me.” He holds my hand gently in his, and for a second, I kick myself for stopping what, no doubt, would have been a beautiful proposal.

My entire body trembles as butterflies take flight in my stomach. “I do love you with my whole soul. I just don’t handle change well. I’m a little slower than you. I’m not saying I don’t want to marry you. I’m just saying I need to process these past few weeks a little longer before I’m ready to think about what comes next.”

He picks me up, and I wrap my legs around his waist. “Fine,” he pouts. “But I know what I want, Mads. And I’m not good at waiting. Any idea how long it’ll be until I get my prize?”

“I’ve never been anyone’s prize before.” There go those butterflies again.

“I keep telling you, Maddie. You’re my everything.”

When he kisses me, I think I finally believe him.

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