XavierA Cocky Cage Fighter Legacy Novel
Lane Hart
Contents
Note from the Author
Synopsis
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Coming Soon
Also by Lane Hart
About the Author
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue were created from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.
The author acknowledges the copyrighted and trademarked status of various products within this work of fiction.
© 2020 Editor's Choice Publishing
All Rights Reserved.
Only Amazon has permission from the publisher to sell and distribute this title.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editor’s Choice Publishing
P.O. Box 10024
Greensboro, NC 27404
Edited by Angela Snyder
Cover by J.M. Walker of Just Write. Creations and Services
https://www.justwritecreations.org/shop
WARNING: THIS BOOK IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ANYONE UNDER 18.
Note from the Author
If you were a fan of my Cocky Cage Fighters, then I hope you’ll enjoy the first book in this legacy series, starting with Page and Jax Malone’s son Xavier set several decades in the future. I may eventually write books for their daughter Macy; Linc’s twins, Sage and Talon; and the sons of Mace, Luke, and Trick.
If you’re new to my cage fighters, you will be able to read this book, along with the other Cocky Cage Fighter Legacy books, as stand-alones. The original series is available to read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited: https://geni.us/CockyCageFighter
Synopsis
Xavier Malone returned to Maryland for his ten-year high school reunion to get away from all the drama in Seattle.
He never thought he would spend the week second-guessing every decision he’s ever made or seriously consider trading in his suit and tie for a chance to get in the cage.
Most of all, he wasn’t supposed to fall for Cassidy, his childhood best friend.
As Xavier makes plans to pursue his lifelong dream, following in the footsteps of his father Jax, a legend in the fighting world, he convinces himself that he needs Cass in his corner more than he needs her in his bed.
But Cass has longed for Xavier to see her as more than a friend for years and is tired of waiting. Now that he’s back, she’s not going to waste her chance to finally tell him how she feels.
There’s only one thing that can stand in the way of Xavier and Cass’s happiness, and that’s Xavier’s unfinished business with his estranged wife.
Chapter One
Xavier Malone
Maya Angelou said, “The ache for home lives in all of us,” and, boy, was she fucking right.
I didn’t realize just how much I’ve missed my hometown of Silver Spring, Maryland until I stepped off the plane. The tension I’ve been carrying inside of me for years suddenly lessened, like someone finally removed the rubber bands that had been wrapped so tightly around all my limbs that they were cutting off the circulation.
I press the button on the car’s door panel to roll down the automatic windows on the shiny, black Camaro I’ve rented for the week, letting in some fresh air since it’s a beautiful end of summer day.
Ah, I’m a free man once again, and it feels pretty fucking good.
Keeping my left hand holding the steering wheel on the highway, I reach up and undo the sky-blue silk tie that’s been choking me for hours. I should’ve changed out of my three-piece suit before I went to the airport, but I was in a hurry to catch the earlier flight I decided to take today instead of tomorrow. All I had time to do was swing by the gym to grab my luggage.
And how fucked up is it that I pay thousands a month for a penthouse apartment I refuse to step foot in?
For the past six months, I’d rather sleep on a bunk bed surrounded by the scent of sweaty socks than in my king bed with my wife I currently loathe. Once upon a time I loved her. Maybe I still do, but I just can’t bear to look at her fucking face yet.
As I take the exit for my parents’ neighborhood, the home I grew up in, the sun dances off of my gold wedding band that, for some unknown reason, I only take off when I’m working out. It’s also an annoying reminder of the conversation I’ll have to have with my mom and dad when I show up at their place without my wife.
And fuck, I dread that whole ordeal so much that I decide to put it off a little longer, making the turn for Cassidy’s road instead. My childhood friend kindly invited me to stay with her this week before our high school reunion next Saturday. I quickly took her up on it, because I haven’t seen her in what feels like forever, mostly because my wife Camilla wasn’t her biggest fan.
No one ever understood why Cass and I were ever friends, much less the sleepover, tell each other everything, best friends when we were kids. And honestly, I never really did either. Her family moved into our neighborhood the summer before we both turned nine. From the second we met and found out we were going to be in the same class at school that fall, we just were inseparable. It didn’t matter that I was a rough and dirty, athletic boy and she was the polar opposite, a scrawny, little nerd, because Cass was also a tomboy. We bonded over roasting marshmallows in backyard campfires and fishing in the neighborhood pond during the summers. None of our many other differences mattered to us. We were soulmates, and not in the romantic sense because I thought of her like a sister, just much less annoying than my actual little sister Macy.
When I
