Page 42 of His Sassy Little

Shit, that hurt.

Not a word was said as footsteps circled the chair. Arabella kept her ears trained. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe James was going to stop at kicking the chair over. She was sure it was him from the cadence of his walk. She’d spent enough time terrified and listening for it to know exactly what his gait sounded like.

Arabella hadn’t been as prepared as she’d believed, as a kick to the stomach took her by surprise, knocking the wind out of her and sending sharp pains spiraling through her middle. She tried to bring her legs up to protect the area, but they were still tied to the chair along with her hands. She was left completely defenseless as blow after blow landed. As hard as she tried, she wasn’t able to stay silent, her cries echoed through the space, blending with the sounds of each blow that landed. Arabella’s mind went blank, the pain faded, and relief filled her as she lost consciousness.

Arabella wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but when she woke, she was still tied to a chair lying on its side. The chill from the concrete seemed to have seeped into her side and settled in her bones. Every inch of her was cold and hurting. Shivers rattled her frame as silent tears leaked from her eyes. She was so engrossed in taking stock of her injuries that it took several moments for her to figure out what had woken her up.

The warehouse was full of noise. The sounds of flesh hitting flesh, shouting, running footsteps, even some gunshots. What was happening? Arabella didn’t have to wonder for long before someone tipped the chair right-side up and went to work on releasing her hands and feet. A moment later, her blindfold was released, and she got her first look around at the chaos.

Fights were happening all around her; she recognized several members of the Devil’s Wrath MC and began searching frantically for Daddy. She knew he’d be here, unless he was injured too badly to come. Arabella now understood the blindfold. She hadn’t known how many men were there with her. She’d only seen three when James had her change, but there were at least a dozen men battling it out with the club.

Arabella frantically turned in circles as Stone tried to check her injuries. She just batted his hands away and kept searching for Daddy. “Where is he?” she asked in a panicked voice. Arabella stopped searching long enough to look at Stone, “Where’s Daddy?”

Her tone must have conveyed her worry as Stone stopped trying to check her over and tilted his head to a corner of the building behind her. Arabella turned, ignoring the immeasurable pain coursing through her system and finally found him.

Daddy was in a one-on-one fight with James and it looked like he was winning. In fact, as she looked around, it seemed all the good guys were winning. One by one, her captors were going down. Stone tried to lead Arabella out of the building, but she was focused on the fight between Daddy and James.

“Arabella, we need to get you out of here.” Stone kept gently guiding her, probably afraid of hurting her. Just as she was about to give in to his demands and follow him out, she saw James pull a gun on Daddy.

Daddy grabbed hold of the gun as well and was forcing its aim away from himself. Just as Arabella was sure that Daddy had the upper hand, James swept his leg behind Tanner’s knees and sent Tanner toppling down to the ground.

Ignoring her agony, Arabella ripped herself away from Stone, and went running toward Tanner. James planted a foot on Tanner’s chest, holding him to the ground as he aimed the gun.

“Daddy! No!” Arabella’s scream drew the attention of both men as the sound of a gun firing filled the warehouse.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Tanner had never felt a rage like the one that took him over when he entered that warehouse to see his woman tied to a chair, blindfolded, with the chair tipped over. She was wearing pink. Of all the colors he could have possibly put her in, he chose pink, and somehow that made him just as angry as the rest of it. His Little Hurricane hated pink. Now he knew why. He was on his way to get her loose, trusting his brothers to take care of the situation with the men, when he was side tackled. It was his own fault, really, since he’d only had eyes for his girl.

When Tanner saw who had tackled him, he saw red. This bastard had terrorized his Little girl for years and Tanner was ready for some payback. Tanner caught James off guard with a fist to the face, breaking his nose. James bellowed and landed a kick to Tanner’s knee. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but Tanner breathed through the pain and used his legs to push James off him.

James went flying, landing a few feet away with a grunt and immediately got to his feet. He rushed Tanner but Tanner dodged the lunge and James barreled into the wall behind him. Tanner turned and stalked toward the man, taking a moment to glance toward Arabella. He saw Stone taking care of getting his girl loose. Unfortunately, his inattention cost him as James had recovered from his tumble and caught Tanner off guard with a fist to the head. Tanner tried to dodge, causing James’ fist to land directly on his ear. Pain lanced through Tanner’s skull and his eye throbbed from the pressure.

He tried to land another blow to James’ gut, but the man was prepared and caught him by the wrist even as he drew out a gun with his other hand. Tanner took hold of the weapon and did his best to redirect the aim but he couldn’t get James’ grip to lessen any. Using his legs to try to unbalance the other man; suddenly he felt James sweep his legs out from under him, and realized that the man had used the same strategy. His grip on the gun loosened as he fell, and James planted his foot on Tanner’s chest. As James pointed the gun at his head, Tanner’s life began to flash before his eyes, but it didn’t get far before he heard her shout.

Tanner looked over to find Arabella running toward them and terror for her overwhelmed him. As he looked back at the gun pointed at his head, Tanner knew this was the end. He closed his eyes and heard the sound of gunfire erupting. He was surprised when he didn’t feel any pain until he felt metal hitting his chest as James bellowed and grabbed his gun hand, cradling it to his chest while blood seeped through his fingers.

Before Tanner had a chance to stop her, Arabella was on him, running her hands everywhere at once, likely searching for injuries. Tears were streaming down her dirty face, her hair was a wild untamed mess, and bruises covered her arms where the ugly-as-sin dress sleeves didn’t reach. She’d never looked more beautiful.

When a bloody hand reached around and got Arabella around the neck, taking her into a headlock, Tanner cursed himself for forgetting, even for a moment, where they were and what was going on. He’d just been so happy to see her again. He barely had time to react before the county sheriff had a gun pointed at James’ head.

“Let the lady go, and get your hands behind your head.”

Slowly, James released his hold on Arabella, following the sheriff’s directions. Seemed he wasn’t ready to take a bullet to the head. Part of Tanner was disappointed by that. He almost regretted calling the sheriff to give him a heads up, but since he suspected it was the sheriff Blake’s bullet that saved his life, he couldn’t be too sorry over it.

As soon as she was free of James, Arabella went back to checking Tanner for injuries.

“I’m okay, Little Hurricane.”

“You’ve got blood all over you, Daddy.”

“It isn’t mine.” He cupped her cheek and rubbed his thumb back and forth as he turned her so she was looking right at him. The panic in her gaze almost undid him. He never wanted her to have anything to worry about again. “Listen to me, Baby. You listening?”

“Yes, Daddy.” Her voice shook and her bottom lip quivered.

“None of the blood on me is mine. I’m okay. I’m more worried about you. We need to get you checked out.”

“Okay, Daddy. Thank you for coming for me.”

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