Sage: A Second-Chance MMA Romance Novella (A Cocky Cage Fighter Legacy Book 2), Lane Hart [bearly read books txt] 📗

could bring you down. Then, when you realize how wrong you were, it’s a long, sudden drop.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess so,” Mary replies, probably thinking I’ve lost my mind.

“And even though I know it’s going to end badly, I wouldn’t change things. Maybe that makes me naïve or stupid, but love is worth it, right?”

“Right. Sure,” she agrees with a smile.

“Okay,” I say when I get to my feet and grab my purse. “Call me if you need me or anything urgent comes up.”

“Will do, boss.”

“Thanks,” I tell her on the way out the door and to my car, in a hurry to get back to Sage.

Whether we have a few minutes, hours, or days left, I don’t want to miss them. The pain after will be worth it.

At least that’s what I tell myself when I go back to Sage and Tal’s house and jump right back into bed with the man I love.

Chapter Thirteen

Sage

I wake up feeling fucking amazing, like I just had the longest, best sleep ever. The throbbing in the front of my head that felt like it was there for an eternity is, thankfully, finally gone. And last but certainly not least, a woman’s bare ass is pressed against my hard dick, which feels so damn good…

Hold on. What the fuck? Who the hell…did I bring someone home last night and fuck her?

“Oh shit!” I exclaim as I scramble away from the brunette and sit up in bed to try and figure out where the fuck I’m at.

I’m in…my room, but I’m not sure how we got here or how we got naked, although based on the fact that my balls aren’t threatening to explode, I’m pretty sure we had sex.

My movement and swearing has the woman stirring. She stretches her arms over her head and then rolls over. Sweeping the long dark brown hair from her face, she looks up and smiles at me. “Morning, babe.”

“Eden!” I exclaim, now climbing all the way out of bed and snatching a pillow from the bed to cover my hard cock. “What the hell are you doing in here?”

“Huh?” she asks, her lips pulling down in a frown. “What are you doing? Come back to bed.”

“I…I have to get a shower and get to the gym,” I tell her quietly as the memories of the night before start coming back to me, the two of us going at it twice, no three very messy times before taking a bath together and passing out. “And you need to leave before Tal sees you in here!”

“Tal knows I’m in here,” she says, propping herself up on her elbow. “Sage, what’s wrong? Why won’t you come back to bed?”

“Does Tal know that we had sex last night?” I ask since all I can think about is the actual act of fucking and not on the particulars of whether my brother was home or not.

“Yes, of course he knows,” Eden answers. “You don’t…you don’t remember?”

I scrub my palms up and down my face trying to remember the details of the night and day before. I’m guessing it wasn’t my usual gym, salad, run and then bed routine. Fuck, I must have gotten drunk. “How much did I drink?” I ask. “I shouldn’t have had a sip with the fight coming up…” I don’t usually drink when I’m training, so I’m a lightweight. One or two shots, and I could’ve been dragging Eden from Tal’s bed to mine. How fucking pathetic.

“You didn’t have anything to drink, Sage. Is the amnesia getting worse?” Eden says when she rolls out of bed and starts finding her clothes. “We should let your doctor know. Although your appointment is tomorrow. Still, he may want to see you sooner…”

“I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. For amnesia.” Yes, that all rings a bell — Eden being at the hospital with my family, driving me home, sleeping with me over and over and over again, arguing with Tal… Fuck.

“Yes, you had temporary amnesia from the fight.”

“Which fight?” I ask since that doesn’t ring a bell at all. Every day feels like one torture after another when you’re training.

“You fought Cyrus Cutler for the welterweight title,” Eden says quietly.

“No, that’s impossible. I would’ve remembered the biggest fight of my life!” I tell her.

Coming around the bed now that she’s back in her jeans and t-shirt, Eden grabs my face between her hands and says, “Sage, babe, you fought Cyrus. You were winning until the third round when he…you took a knee to the head when you were on the canvas. It was an illegal hit, and you were unconscious for a long time. You spent the night in the hospital and didn’t remember anything for the past eight or so years. You thought you were still eighteen.”

I do recall a large gap in my head that hurt to think about. Now it’s all there – days, weeks, months of training, fighting on an endless loop after pushing Eden into my brother’s arms, hating seeing them together but wanting them both to be happy.

So, what the fuck was I thinking when I slept with her? Why didn’t Tal kick my ass? He loves her. I know that for a fact, have known it for years, since before Eden and I broke up. The two of them spent more time together than we did since Tal didn’t give a shit about training. Then, he followed her to college, and I knew I was right. They loved each other; and while I loved her too, I couldn’t have it all. That wouldn’t be fair. So, I let my brother have Eden, hoping I was wrong about them. But I wasn’t. Eight years later and they’re still going strong. Barely a day goes by when they’re not together.

I hate it, but I don’t blame either of them. Still, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like a son of a bitch to see them happy when I’m the fucking opposite.

“You should go,” I