Baxter bristles. “Quite good? Babe, I was the fuckin’best. Fact of the matter is, only fighter I’ve ever seen who’d stand a snowball’s chance in hell against me in the ring, in my prime at least, is your guy Rev. That dude is a scary motherfucker.”
Anjalee watches the exchange with interest. “Please, what is this MMA?”
“Mixed martial arts,” Baxter answers. “Instead of straight boxing, like just with your fists, or strict kickboxing, it’s a way of combining various fighting styles. So, I teach fighters to combine grappling, throwing, punching, and kicking, not in a specific martial art but as a cohesive whole for cage-fighting.”
She makes a face. “Cage-fighting? That does not sound very appealing.”
Eva grabs her hands, laughing. “Honey, trust me, you’re much better off with me than watching a couple of sweaty men in a cage punch and kick each other into a bloody pulp.”
Baxter laughs. “Well, when you put it like that…”
Eva leans into him playfully. “Put it like what, darling. That’s the truth. That’s what it is.”
Anjalee laughs, sipping iced tea. “I think I will gladly remain with you.” She looks at me. “You will be at the fighting?”
I shrug. “I dunno, yet. Gotta get back and check in with Inez, figure out where she needs me tonight. Gotta introduce you to her, too, see if she can find somewhere for you to click in.”
Baxter eyes us. “So. What’s ya’ll’s story?”
Anjalee and I exchange glances, and then we take turns telling our new friends our story, which as we tell it, sounds more and more unlikely.
Until Baxter and Eva tell us theirs, and then when Xavier and Harlow add in theirs. By the time Xavier and Harlow are done relating how they ended up together, we’ve gone through lunch and into late afternoon.
“I really gotta get to the club,” I say. “I told Inez I’d be there for work tonight, and we open in just a few hours.” I grab my wallet from my back pocket. “Anj and I really appreciate you guys having us here for lunch. It’s been great talking to you guys.”
Harlow reaches across the table and touches the hand holding my wallet. “Our treat. It’s already been taken care of. You helped me out of a very unpleasant situation, and I’m grateful. A lunch is the least we can do.”
“Not one to argue with a lady,” I murmur. “Thanks.”
Anjalee seems unusually subdued. “I thank you as well. It is wonderful to spend this time with you all. I feel very fortunate to have met you all.”
I glance at her. “Okay, babe?” I ask, quietly.
She nods. “I have not had the liberty to make my own friends until now. This has been a wonderful experience indeed.”
Harlow and Eva exchange glances. “I don’t mean to pry, but…what does that mean?” Harlow asks.
Anjalee shrugs a shoulder, shy, embarrassed. “My father…he controlled every aspect of my life until I ran away and met Kane. And I do mean every aspect. I did not even have the freedom to choose who were my friends.”
Eva offers a sympathetic look. “I understand that, honey. I was expected to toe the line myself, until I left home and got out from under the expectations. It’s not easy. And honestly, having Bax’s family around as support has been absolutely essential. One thing I’ve learned is that there’s two types of family—the family you’re born into, which you cannot choose, and the family you choose, who are the people you surround yourself with. The family I was born into couldn’t accept me for who I wanted to be, so I had to get away from them to find myself, and in the process I was fortunate enough to have found not only myself and who I wanted to be, but Bax and his brothers. And now I’m the luckiest woman in the world. I have thirty brothers and sisters, which is just the biggest, craziest, wildest, most wonderful family in the whole world.”
I cough, choking on an ice cube. “Wait, hold the fuck up—what?”
Baxter and Xavier share a look and a laugh.
“Xavier and I have six brothers—eight of us in total. Each of us is married, so that’s sixteen of us just in our immediate sibling group. Then we have three cousins, triplets. They’re each married, so that’s six more. And then my uncle remarried, so there’s two more, and Aunt Liv has five daughters, and each of them is married, so that’s ten more to the pack.” He glances at Xavier. “Baby bro, do the math for me. I’d have to take off my shoes to count that high.”
“Thirty-one,” Xavier answers, immediately. “Which does not include the children.”
Anjalee is stunned—as am I. “Thirty-one? You havethirty-onebrothers, sisters, cousins, and sisters- and brothers-in-law?”
Eva laughs. “Exactly. And we’re all super close. Not everyone lives in Alaska with Bax and me, but there’s a large percentage that does, and those that don’t live with us full-time come back for visits as often as possible.”
Anjalee just blinks. “I cannot imagine even knowing that many people.”
Harlow giggles. “Holidays are pretty nuts.”
I shake my head. “Sounds like it would be. And everyone has kids, too?”
