The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Read Free

watch her pass. Her scowl was enough to ward away even the most seasoned man training today. Too bad Quin didn’t have the option not to deal with her.
    “Keep them going.” He jerked his head toward the group running through wrestling-style takedown drills. There were four different stations in today’s mixed martial arts training routine, and enough going on that he didn’t need Penny being a distraction.
    Oscar, his right-hand man, nodded. “Will do.”
    Quin pivoted and thumbed toward the room he’d set up as his office. Penny’s narrowed gaze tracked him and she changed direction.
    Quin studied the new installments he’d put in over the last week with a critical eye. He needed a good day or two more to have the gym exactly as he wanted it, but he couldn’t argue with how things were going. The octagon cage was set up in the back. The black chain-link fence glistened, it was so new. Unlike other fighting styles, mixed martial arts used an eight-sided ring to eliminate the tactics of cornering an opponent. In the octagon, men were only as good as their skills, reduced to what they could do with their arms, hands, legs, feet and most importantly, their brains.
    Everything about the sport called to him. He loved the rawness, the adrenaline and most of all, the competition. Or at least he had. He watched from the sidelines now and coached.
    His fighters were training and he was lobbying for bouts against other locals with plans to travel to Houston and Austin later in the year.
    But first there was the little matter of Penny to solve.
    Quin stepped into his office and held the door.
    “Something wrong?” He had a good guess what it was this time, but wasn’t about to jump into a fire voluntarily.
    “Where were you Friday? And what about this morning?” Penny tossed her hands up in the air and her blonde ponytail bobbed with the motion.
    Frustration bubbled up inside but he just shoved it aside. He couldn’t be everywhere at once. Why couldn’t she understand that?
    He closed the office door and circled the desk. How many times were they going to have this argument? He sat down in the new chair and leaned back. His muscles twinged low around his spine, reminding him of the old injury. He’d aggravated it while trying to contort himself into a pretzel to fix a leak.
    He picked up a pen from the desk and clicked the button repeatedly to give his hands something to do. “I sent you a text. It was too early to call. I might have woken up Josie. A pipe in the locker rooms busted and I had to stay late. We talked about putting work first for a little bit until the kinks are worked out.”
    Penny put her hands on her hips. “Quinton, that’s not good enough. I thought you wanted to be part of Josie’s life. I thought having you move down here with us was a good idea. Keep the family together.”
    “We are together.” He wasn’t a deadbeat dad. He’d never missed putting money aside for their daughter. Hell, he had the gym so she would never want for anything.
    Penny leaned over the edge of the desk, somehow managing to appear menacing despite her petite size. “No, Quin, we aren’t together because do you know what today is?”
    They stared at each other. Was this a trick question? He kept his mouth shut regardless. Maybe moving to Texas had been a mistake. When he’d still been in California, they’d been friends. He’d call her and her husband for advice, to laugh and talk. Now all they did was argue.
    Penny tapped the top of the desk with her nail. “It’s Saturday. Your Saturday. Josie’s at home waiting for Daddy to come and get her because she was told, by you, that you would spend today together. What am I supposed to tell her?”
    Josie had the attention span of a jellyfish. She forgot about him after a few minutes of being together. It stung his pride that his own kid would rather play with a box than him, but she was only three. He spread his hands. “I can’t be in two places at once.