Page 67 of Single Mom for the Bikers

“Gotcha.” Phoenix laughs dryly. “What’s the right phrase here? Quiet as church mice? Bats in your belfry? Get your ass down here and fight like a man, or do we have to come up and get you?”

Grinder points the gun at us and hisses, “Give her back.” He gestures at Mia with his free hand.

“No.” I say it loud enough so I know they hear me downstairs. “You're going to have to kill me if you want Mia.”

Grinder moves fast, catching me off guard. He backhands me with a crack that sends me reeling. I cry out in pain. The momentum spins me so I trip on the steps and only barely catch myself before knocking my head on the floor. By the time I'm back up, he has Mia again. She screams in fear, and I don't know what to do.

“Shel? What the fuck are you doing here?” I'm not sure if Phoenix is more surprised or angry, but I'm going to worry about that later.

“Same as you, okay?” I spit out blood. “Mia, quiet down? We don't want the mean man to hurt you.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Grinder snaps. He holds up Mia so that Phoenix is bound to see her. “I've got your girl, Ruin. Both of them. You can have Dodger’s old lady if you want, she's more trouble than she's fucking worth, but I'm taking my daughter.”

What did he just call Phoenix?

“Your fucking what?” Phoenix and I say it together.

Grinder's gone completely unhinged. If he didn't have that freaking gun…

“I swore an oath to Dodger, and I'm gonna fucking honor it. And I know none of you are gonna let me hurt her.” He grabs her by the back of the shirt and swings her out over the railing.

My heart stops.

“Mia!”

“Mommy!”

Everything happens in slow motion. Grinder starts to pull her back, but her shirt gives way. I'm too far away. All I can do is watch her fall and feel my heart break in a thousand pieces.

Her scream is written in my soul. I throw myself forwards, but I’ll never be close enough to catch her.

I hear the thump before I reach the railing.

No, no, no.

“Mr. Phoenix!” The sounds of Mia’s happy exclamation is the most amazing sound I’ve heard in my life.

Oh Jesus. Oh thank God. Oh, Phoenix.

There's a loud crash of splintering wood, and the heavy thumps of boots running up the stairs. Grinder raises his gun, but Sledge is too fast. He knocks it out of Grinder's hand and it goes sailing over the railing. Grinder tries a fist, but while he's big, Sledge is bigger, and he drives his fist into Grinder's face so hard I hear bone crack. Grinder drops to the floor, not moving.

Sledge looks at me, pulling out a knife to cut the ties around my wrists. “You okay?”

No.

Yes.

Maybe.

“Shaken, but I think so. Is Mia…”

“She's fine,” Phoenix yells. “I've got her.”

Oh, thank God.

I rush downstairs to find Mia with her face buried in Phoenix’s neck, clutching him like a lifeline. At that moment, I don’t care who he was or what he may or may not have done. I run over and I wrap my arms around both him and Mia. We still need to talk, but right now, I'm just going to be happy that my girl is safe, and that my guys are too.

“Come on, let's get outta here.” Phoenix puts a hand to the small of my back and guides me towards the door.

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