Page 86 of Fake Love

“Like hell you are.” Nora exclaims, grabbing her son by the face to inspect it.

I want to laugh, because seeing them interact with each other like is really cute, but its not the time or place to swoon over the mother and son relationship.

Maddox lets out a sigh and wiggles out of his mother’s hold and turns to Ben, who is just watching the whole interaction with an amused look.

“Ben, this is my mom Nora and my girlfriend Jen. Ladies, this is the team skipper, Ben.”

I give Ben a smile and shake his hand.

When he turns to Nora, I watch them interact as if it were a movie.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Bauer.” Ben says, holding out his hand to her.

Nora giggles a bit before shaking the hand that is being offered to her. “Never was a Mrs., Bauer is actually my birth name. You can call me Nora.”

Ben gives her a smile as if he is taken by her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nora.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ben. Now you want to tell me how long my son is suspended for?”

Instantly I forget about Nora and Ben’s interaction and dive back into what caused that bruise on Maddox’s face.

Ben looks over at Maddox and lets out a sigh before answering Nora. “It hasn’t been officially announced, but if I had to guess, I would say a full game of play and a fine.”

“I’m sorry, suspended? But you didn’t throw the first punch.” I argue.

My mind right away goes to what another suspension might do to Maddox.

“I was still involved in a fight. It’s fine, it will be just one game, I can handle it,” Maddox reassures me.

One game may not mean much to him but when he is trying to rebuild his brand and show people that he is worth backing and supporting, one game is more than enough.

Without a doubt, people on social media are going to have a field day with this.

“What was the fight about anyways?” I ask, looking back up at his bruise.

At my question, Maddox’s whole body goes rigid, which tells me that he doesn’t want to talk about it.

And his answer tells me just that. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done and I will deal with the consequences when they come.”

Ben looks over at him as if he wants to say something but when Maddox turns his hard stare over to him he drops it. He just places a smile on his face and looks back at me and Nora as if nothing is wrong.

“Ladies, it was really nice to meet you. Hopefully we get to meet again. If you excuse me, I have a bus to catch.”

Ben walks away and the second that he is out of hearing distance, Nora goes back to scold her son.

“You want to tell me why the fight even happened? You are better than that, Maddox.”

Maddox just shrugs at her. “It just happened. So can we just drop it and go?”

Nora is already shaking her head and crossing her arms. She is going to get to the bottom of this weather Maddox likes or not.

She’s a little scary, if I’m being honest.

“No, I want to know. So tell me what the hell drove a man to punch you or I will walk over to the other clubhouse and I will have Troy tell me.”

“He said something about Jen, okay? The bastard had been taunting me all damn game and trying to get under my skin and the second he mentioned Jen, he fucking succeeded. That’s why I charged at him. That’s why I have a fucking bruise on my face and I’m going to be suspended.”

Both me and Nora go silent.

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