Chapter Sixteen
13 days left
Sophie walked with extra pep in her step as she headed to TLP2 with a bakery box full of her Sophie’s Lite cupcakes dangling from the string hooked on her fingers. Thanks to Xander’s idea of employing an intern of sorts, Sophie and KP now had the freedom to take days off. Not at the same time, of course, but Rachel had caught on quick, and as soon as Sophie trusted she could handle things, they’d agreed to give her more responsibility and officially bring her on the payroll. She was eager, talented, and loved working at the Sweet Spot. Sophie couldn’t have asked for a better employee.
The thought of finally making Grams’s bakery everything Sophie had dreamed for it as long as she could remember made her smile so big that her cheeks were in danger of cramping. But she couldn’t care less; Cloud Nine floated firmly beneath her jade-green chucks and nothing could make her fall through. The day was beautiful, she’d had a great visit with Grams earlier, and in a few minutes she’d surprise Xander and his teammates with baked yumminess. Not that her man would eat any this close to his big fight, but the others would devour his share.
Her man.
Somewhere between Ferris wheel rides, Old Maid with Grams, and the hundred or so times he’d rocked her world both in and out of the bedroom, Sophie had unexpectedly and totally fallen for her husband.
She only wished she knew if he felt the same way for her. They still hadn’t had any kind of serious talk about the future, though the future didn’t exactly describe something that was happening in less than two weeks, and for as heavy as the looming deadline felt, it might as well be sitting right on top of her chest.
But now more than ever, Xander needed to stay focused. He’d told her the last couple of weeks before a fight were grueling. The last thing he needed was for her to go “all girl” on him and demand he talk about his feelings. No matter how badly she wanted to.
Pulling open the glass front door, a blast of heat blew her hair back. If she’d been hoping for a brief respite from the desert heat in an air-conditioned gym, she’d come to the wrong place. She forgot Xander had told her they train with the garage bay doors open and only use big fans for any kind of breeze. The massive space with black mats on the floor and black everything else felt like a sauna. It actually felt humid, but without water being poured over heat rocks, the moisture in the air could only be coming from one thing: sweat. Sophie took in the twenty or so men—and three women, she noted proudly—working hard at various things. Yep. Lots and lots of sweat.
She spotted Xander immediately and bit her lip as she watched him sparring in the cage with another fighter. Both wore the fingerless padded gloves, mouthguards, and cushiony head gear. The men each landed a few blows with a couple connecting to Xander’s head, knocking it back far enough to make a point, but not do any serious damage. Still, it couldn’t feel great, either.
Visiting him unannounced at the gym was technically a no-no. Xander had made it clear months ago that one of the rules of TLP2 was that nonmembers weren’t allowed to pop in and hang out. It distracted the fighters, and “a distracted fighter was an injured fighter.” But she wasn’t planning on bothering him. She just wanted to drop off the cupcakes for everyone to enjoy and then she’d be on her way.
Turning into his office, Sophie was surprised to see a woman sitting at his desk. A beautiful woman with blond hair, a huge rack, and legs for days. She was looking over some files so maybe she was like an admin or something. The woman gave her a quick once-over and visibly decided she wasn’t impressed with Sophie’s appearance. What a bitch. “Can I help you?” she asked with irritation clear in her tone.
“No,” Sophie said, offering a tight smile. “I was just dropping these cupcakes off for Xander and anyone else who wants some.”
“Cupcakes?” she sneered, eyeing the box like it was full of venomous snakes.
“Oh, don’t worry. They’re the healthy versions of my normal ones. All the taste, none of the gluten, and low on calories.” Why the hell was she explaining herself to this viper?
Realization of who Sophie was lit the woman’s face. “You’re Xan’s wife.” Before Sophie had a chance to confirm or deny, the blonde’s gaze dropped to the papers in her hand then lifted again. Her sympathetic smile was as fake as her boobs. “Sorry, I mean, soon-to-be ex-wife.”
Sophie’s blood ran cold. “Excuse me?”
Her mouth rounded into a shocked expression. “Oh no, he hasn’t told you yet?”
“Told me what?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Don’t feel too bad. It only makes sense now that he’s back in the UFC,” she continued as though Sophie never spoke. “Going to the big show always changes them. He has the opportunity to make a ton of money that night in bonuses alone, not to mention what the purse is for the fight, and it’ll only grow from there. Add in all the women that come along with that kind of fame and the last thing professional fighters want is to be tied down to one woman. You see it all the time. Doing this now eliminates your ability to claim half of his prize money and he’ll be able to enjoy the bevvy of women at the after-parties, guilt-free.”
Devastation dropped like lead in her stomach. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about nor do I really care to. I’m just going to leave these on the desk.”
“Of course,” the woman said, holding the papers out, “but you might want to take these with you.” Sophie snatched them from her hand and peered down at them, confirming what she’d feared as the woman drove home the last nail in the coffin. “Xan’s filing for divorce.”
…
Xander groaned, the sound echoing in the empty locker room, as he pulled the clean T-shirt over his head. There wasn’t a spot on his body that didn’t ache from today’s training blocks with Reid. For such an easy-going bloke, the man was positively sadistic as a coach. He’d pushed Xander to his limits and then pushed him even farther until he felt like a wet noodle and could do nothing more than collapse in the jacuzzi tub to loosen up his sore muscles.
Grabbing his gym bag, he exited the locker room. Having told one of his part-time guys to lock up behind him, all the lights were off except the one in the office, which was where he’d left his keys and the packet of papers he planned on taking home. He had an important conversation he wanted to have with Sophie tonight. One that would hopefully result in him shredding those papers. But he didn’t want to make any assumptions, and with the end of their six-month sentence approaching, whether they stayed together or followed through with their planned divorce was up to her.
He opened the door and pulled up short at seeing two things he didn’t expect: an opened pink box from Sophie’s Sweet Spot on his desk…and Tami leaned back in his chair, licking a dollop of frosting from the top of a cupcake with an exaggerated sweep of her tongue. His shoulders slumped at the delay that thwarting her advances would cause him. Frankly, he was surprised she was back at it. Since announcing his marriage to her, she’d backed off and kept to seducing the fighters who were all too happy to be the focus of her attentions.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked on a sigh. When he told Dorsette to lock up, he assumed the man knew that all the members should be out of the building first.
She gave him an Oscar-worthy temptress smile that didn’t make his cock so much as twitch. “Waiting for you and enjoying one of your gluten-free cupcakes. They’re surprisingly good.”
Pride for Sophie’s talents swelled in his chest. “I don’t know who brought them, but feel free to take them home with you. Come on, it’s time to go,” he said, grabbing his keys and looking for the papers he needed. He swore they’d been right there earlier.
“Your ex-wife brought them over, but don’t worry, I made sure she didn’t stick around to bother you. I know how much you hate interruptions when you’re training.”
Xander froze, his stomach plummeting as several details dropped into the puzzle. The cupcake box. The missing papers. Tami’s reference to Sophie as his— Oh, fucking hell, no. “Tami,” he said, his teeth grinding together as he strained for control. “What do you mean my ex-wife was here. Sophie isn’t my ex anything.”
“Well, not yet she isn’t, but she took the papers with her.”
And that’s when he lost it. If Sophie saw the divorce papers, then she thought Xander planned on leaving her. Just like every other man she’d been with. Just like she’d expected him to do. “Please tell me you didn’t give Sophie the papers that were on my desk. Ones that you had no fucking business even looking at, much less doing anything with them, I’ll add.”
“I didn’t,” she said, pouting. “Not exactly, anyway. I came in here for some tape and saw them. I was looking at them when she came in. I assumed she knew, okay? How was I supposed to know you hadn’t broken the news to her yet? But it’s okay because now you don’t have to. Don’t you see, I helped you dodge a bullet. You’re going to be free and clear and you didn’t even have to break a sweat.”
“How long ago was she here?” Maybe she’d left not too long ago and he could catch up with her before she let her jaded heart run with the wrong conclusion.
“I don’t know, around three, I guess?”
“Three o’clock?” he repeated in disbelief. With his fight right around the corner, he was sometimes pulling ten-hour days or longer. He checked his watch and confirmed it was well after nine. “Fuck!” Xander plowed his hands into his wet hair and yanked until he saw stars behind his lids.
“Xan—”
He dropped his arms and glared at her. “Get out, and don’t come back. You’re officially banned from TLP2. I don’t want to see you around my gym or my fighters ever again.”
She looked as though she might argue, but then scoffed at him as she flipped her hair and dropped the half-licked cupcake back into the box. As soon as he heard the front door close behind her, Xander took out his phone and called Sophie but it went to voicemail after the first ring. Though he knew the outcome wouldn’t change, he did it half a dozen more times as he ran all the way home. He didn’t bother waiting for the lift in his building, instead he burst into the stairwell and bounded up the steps two and three at a time until he reached his door in record time.
“Sophie,” he called out as he dropped everything to the floor and searched for her. “Soph, baby, are you here?”
The main area was empty, but his bedroom was literally deserted. Panic invaded his lungs, making it hard to breathe as he searched the flat. All her stuff was gone. The bathroom counter was devoid of her clutter, the walk-in closet empty, her precious shoes…gone. It was all gone.
She was gone.
Xander walked back into the bedroom and that’s when he noticed the manila envelope on the dresser. With shaky hands, he pulled the small stack of papers out and flipped to the back pages. His breath shuddered from him in a rush. There, in her neatly slanted scrawl, was Sophie’s signature.
Cursing, he dropped it to the dresser and noticed a piece of stationery folded in half that must have slid out with the file. Opening it, his eyes scanned over the short, handwritten note:
Xander,
This marriage wasn’t meant to last more than a few days, much less six months. Please do me one last favor and wait until after the first of the month to file these. I can’t thank you enough for helping me save what I love most in this world. Good luck with your fight. I hope it brings you everything you’ve ever wanted.
Soph
He sat on the edge of the bed, braced his arms on his knees, and dropped his head into his hands. In a few short hours, his life had gone from perfect to disaster. He never should have kept those divorce papers to himself.
Taking his phone out again, he scrolled through his contacts. He didn’t have Kristin’s or Billy’s numbers, but they must’ve helped her get her things out earlier. She was probably with them. Either way, she’d be at the bakery; if not tomorrow, then the next day. Sophie hadn’t taken more than a day off at a time since taking over for her grandmother so it’s not like she’d be on bloody vacation. He’d talk to her, and everything would be okay. He was sure of it.