Hammer - Galactic Cage Fighters 5 (2 page)

Chapter One

One Year Later…

“I didn’t take your diary!” a little boy’s voice was so loud Hammer could hear it down the hallway before he reached his suite. His nephew, Tomas, had a very distinguishing tone to his voice. Especially when he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Yes you did you little bug! Give it back to me!” a girl’s voice screeched. That would be his oldest niece, Lauren.

As Hammer turned the handle to the door, he heard crying from his youngest niece, Kate.
Damn it! What the hell was going on here?

“What the…heck...is going on here?” he demanded, catching himself before he cursed. One of the hardest things he had to learn to change about himself once he became a guardian to his nieces and nephew. He wasn’t supposed to cuss in front of them. It was a hard lesson to learn and costly. The kids made him put money in the cuss cup every time he slipped. The cup usually had to be emptied at least twice a month into a bigger container. Some things were just harder to adjust to than others.

Everyone in the room froze at his booming voice. Hammer angry was a scary sight. Hammer immediately had to soften his features and lower his tone, “Lauren, let your brother out of that chokehold. What happened? Where is Nanny Johnson?”

His fourteen-year-old niece released her arm, letting her ten-year-old brother go. She huffed pushing her curly blond hair out of her face. “She quit.”

“She quit and just left you three unattended?” Hammer was fuming again. If he was a Voltan there would probably be smoke coming out of his ears.

His nephew had a smirk on his face. It made Hammer’s stomach drop. What had they done to the poor woman?

“Yeah, she said she couldn’t take it anymore and that we should be put in cages somewhere like a zoo,” Tomas told him.

His fear for the woman evaporated as his anger returned. “She said what?!”

His two-year-old niece Kate walked over to him and held on to his knee. He let out a sigh and leaned down to lift her up into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She was still sniffling.

“It’s going to be okay, Katie girl. Uncle Hammer is here now.”

“I…not goin' to cage?” she asked with fearful eyes.

“No, of course not. But I may see that Nanny Johnson gets put behind bars.”

“She...not nice. Tomas got rid of ‘er.”

Hammer glared down at his nephew. Tomas just glared back up at him defiantly. He knew the boy had something to do with all the other nannies quitting. This would be nanny number five. What was he going to do with the boy? The nanny service told him that Nanny Johnson was the last available nanny that could travel with him while he did the circuit. What was he going to do about a nanny?

“Tomas, you are grounded until further notice and give your sister her diary back!”

*****

Molly was pissed. She had been in court all day listening to other people’s cases being heard—everyone’s except for hers. She sat through assault cases, deadbeat dads, divorces, separations, and property division.

She didn’t plan on things turning out this way. When she first met her husband, Jerry, about four years ago, she was instantly attracted to him. Jerry Fields was a very good-looking man with blond hair and light blue eyes. She couldn’t believe he was interested in her.

Molly was five feet eight inches with a very voluptuous figure. She had plain brown hair and brown eyes. Either men didn’t ask her out because she was taller than them or they didn’t ask her out because of her larger size. She wasn’t fat but her body type for her height was generous.

So when Jerry asked her out she jumped at the opportunity. When he asked her to marry him six months later, she was thrilled. It wasn’t until after the first year of marriage that she realized she had made a huge mistake.

Jerry criticized her job, saying that she needed to be making more money. Even though Jerry went through six different jobs in their two years of marriage. He constantly complained that she was too fat and needed to lose weight. He had used her income to help him get credit cards, then ran the bills up. He couldn’t pay them because he was always in between jobs. He blamed his employers, saying they promised him a raise or they didn’t appreciate his talents.

When she threatened to leave him, he would make a grand gesture with flowers and say how he wanted to start a family. One of the other big issues she had was the flirting he did with other women. He swore it was all innocent. She would find texts on his phone from women. He lied and made excuses. One day, she came home early and found him in bed with her friend. That was when she called the lawyer.

Two years of a miserable marriage and a year of separation. She knew this would be a waste of her time. Every time she came to court, Jerry would make some excuse to extend the case. Twelve postponed court cases, the divorce she desperately wanted seemed to be no closer to happening because Jerry failed to show up once more. Now her job was at risk for having to take so many days off for going to court.

She worked at a daycare for kids. She loved her job and the kids but they had to have people there they could count on. Her boss plainly told her that she needed to seek employment that was more flexible for her needs. She sighed. She was going to lose her job and her apartment, which was exactly what Jerry wanted. She heard her name called and looked up in hope.

“Case of Molly Maynard vs. Jerry Fields. Divorce proceedings and division of shared property. Are both parties present?” the judge asked.

Molly stood. “I am here your honor.”

Everyone looked around for Jerry. His lawyer stood with a reddened face. “Your honor, Mr. Fields is not able to come today. He is out of the region on business. We ask to postpone this case until December.”

The judge glared at the lawyer. “This is the twelfth time that Mr. Fields has not made an attempt to come to the hearing. My patience has come to an end. I am granting Miss Maynard her divorce. She has waited long enough. I want the property divided evenly. No more postponement. Both counsels will sit down and hash this out this afternoon, and have the property settlement to me first thing in the morning. If you do not have it to me by then, all property will be seized, sold, and the proceeds divided down the middle.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” both lawyers said, shuffling their paperwork.

Wait…what just happened? She was divorced now? For real?
She followed her lawyer out of the courtroom. His chubby face was red and he seemed to be breathing heavy.

“So I need to sign some paperwork and then I’ll file the judgment decree. I think it will be easiest to just have everything sold and split between the two of you.”

“But I wanted to keep the condo.” Molly tried to speak up but the lawyer wasn’t really listening to her. He threw paperwork at her to sign. She quickly signed and handed them back. She tried again. “Mr. Dugan, I would like to keep the condo.”

The lawyer looked at her with frustration. “Your husband is going to fight that tooth and nail. His lawyer as already informed me of this.”

She sighed. That was true. Jerry had never liked the condo to begin with but knowing that she did, he would drag this thing out. “How long before the condo sells and I see my half of the money? I need that to find a new place.”

“About three or four months.”

“What?”

The lawyer’s phone began to ring. He turned away from her and answered.

Three or four months? Her boss pretty much had let her go so she was also without a job. Her parents lived in a retirement village on another region. Where would she go?

She picked up her smartphone and began searching the job listings on the Internet. There had to be some job out there she was qualified for. She had a few friends she could ask if they knew of anything. At least Jerry hadn’t slept with everyone she knew.

Chapter Two

“I don’t want a new nanny!” Tomas yelled at the top of his lungs. He started to punch at Hammer.

Hammer ran a hand over the stubble of soft fuzz beginning to fill in on his shaved scalp. He was going to have to have it shaved again. As a Biclops, he could grow hair. But he wanted to keep it shaved so he looked as intimidating as the full Cyclops.

“Too bad, you’re getting one,” Hammer told him. He reached down to hold Tomas back so he didn’t hurt himself.

“I’m too old for a nanny,” his oldest niece, Lauren complained. “Why can’t I watch me, Tomas, and Kate while you are gone?”

Hammer snorted, “If I could trust you wouldn’t lock your brother up in a closet, then that might be an option. At this point in time, it is a firm…no.”

“I hate you!” she screamed at him as she ran to the bedroom she shared with little Kate. Then reiterated the message by slamming the room's door—hard.

Hammer winced. As Uncle Hammer, he wanted to go bribe her with a toy or candy until she proclaimed he was her favorite uncle again. As their guardian with sole responsibility of their welfare, he had to stay firm with his rules, no matter what.

Things were a lot different from a year ago. A year ago, he lived in a single bedroom bachelor suite. He would got out to the after parties and meet females. He used to be fun. Then he got the news his sister and her mate died. He had to take the kids in or they would go to foster care. No way would he allow that to happen.

Now, he had upgraded to a four-bedroom suite. He had to have the fourth bedroom because he couldn’t find it in his heart to get rid of his sister’s bedroom set. He attended parent/teacher conferences. He rarely attended after parties for the GCFA. According to his friend, Zen, he had become a boring, no fun person. Zen was always trying to get him to take time and meet females. He said it would make Hammer mellower. Whatever that means. He couldn’t remember the last time he had the pleasure of a female’s company in his bed. He really longed for that or just someone he could talk to at the end of the day. The chances of him meeting a nice female who would make it past the front door was slim to none. He sighed.

A sound at the front door caught his attention. He turned and frowned as he watched his youngest niece, Kate, open the door. He hadn’t even heard the doorbell go off with all the commotion going on. There stood Taurus’s mate, Maya, and a tall female stranger next to her.
Had they seen that blowout with Lauren?
Shit.

He gave a gentle smile to Maya; she was a sweet, timid woman and he didn’t want her to be scared. He glanced once more over at the taller woman beside her and got a better look.
Holy shit the female was hot!
Why hadn’t he noticed that right away? Maybe because he was busy holding his squirming nephew up by the back of his shirt.

“Ow!” Hammer let out a yelp when Tomas kicked him in the knee. Thank God it wasn’t any higher or his dream of one day being intimate with a female would have been short lived. He let the boy drop down to his feet. “Go to your room and stay there until dinner!”

Tomas gave him and the females at the door hard glares as he stomped down the hall to his room. He slammed his door too. They all cringed from the harsh sound.

Hammer waved his arm toward the sofa. “Please come in and sit down. I apologize for my niece and nephew. We’ve had a bad day.”

Maya motioned for Molly to enter first and closed the door behind them. “It’s okay, Hammer. I have my two kids also and though they are usually very well mannered, there are quite a few days that they fight like cats and dogs.”

Molly was still trying to catch her breath. The sight of the massive man had her feeling small and dainty. That had never happened to her before. She was not a petite woman. She was taller than most human men and was a depressing size fourteen on a good day. She would say her best assets were her large bouncy breasts and her long legs.

Seeing Hammer had made her heart pump fast and her juices flow. Even her nipples were hard. There was no way to cover those up either. She had worn a tight red sweater and her changed physical state was clear for all to see. The little girl was clinging to her leg so she picked her up.

“You are so pretty,” she whispered in the little girl’s ear as she sat down beside Maya on the sofa. She was much more comfortable interacting with kids than with adults.

Hammer watched the tall female with the brown hair and pretty, brown eyes come in. She walked with class and grace for someone so tall. She was shapely. Not skinny like a lot of the females were that would come to watch the GCFA matches. This female had a large pair of breasts he wanted to measure and weigh with his hands. Kate latched on to the tall woman’s leg and she bent down without a thought and picked her up, holding her in her arms. He got a nice view of her plump ass when she bent over.
Oh yeah
. He would have plenty to hold on to taking her from behind.

The female whispered to Kate making the little girl smile and laugh. The same moment he knew he was in trouble. If he wasn’t careful, she would wrap him around her little finger as easily as she had done to Kate. Thoughts of him wrapping himself around her in other ways popped in his mind and he had to adjust himself in his pants quickly. This was not good. He couldn't have dirty thoughts about the new nanny.

“Hammer, I would like you to meet the friend I told you about, Molly Fields…I mean…Maynard. She used to work for the daycare that I volunteered at back home. I can tell you that she is fantastic with kids.”

Molly pulled out her resume from her large bag. A few other items spilled out drawing Kate’s attention. A little stuffed bear had fallen out. It was a little worn but still intact.

“Bear!” Kate pointed down.

Molly picked up the bear and handed it to Kate. “This is Oscar the Bear. He has been with me since I was a little girl.” Kate squealed and pushed her way off Molly’s lap to play with Oscar the Bear on the floor. Molly then turned to hand her resume over to Hammer.

Hammer took the paper from the female but didn’t look at it. He had seen enough. “When can you start?”