Page 23 of Protected By the Mountain Man

From outside comes the sound of muted footsteps and a low, murmured voice. Ace’s, I realize with an electric thrill that shoots from my heart straight to my nether region. I shiver again.

And then again, but this third time with fear.

Because another voice filters into the apartment, loud and seeming to emanate straight from my worst nightmares.

“Get the fuck out of my way.” Ryan’s voice barrels up from below, through the walls, and through all my defenses. I’m suddenly hyper-aware that I’m naked under the blanket Ace must have laid over me, and it feels too damn vulnerable.

Clutching the blanket to my chest, I stand and try to reassemble yesterday’s outfit. My hands are shaking so hard that it’s a challenge. On the other side of the curtained-off area, Billy stirs, then begins to fuss.

“Shit,” I mutter as I fail to put my foot through the correct opening of my panties for the fourth time in a row.

Ace says something outside, but Ryan’s voice interrupts, cutting through the little courage I’ve somehow kept scraped together throughout the course of trying to free myself and Billy from his clutches. “This has nothing to do with you. Get out of my way before I make you.”

I’ve got clothes on now, but I’m shaking harder than ever. Billy has gone from fussing to crying, and I feel like I’m getting torn to pieces.

Do I grab my son and run? Leave Billy here and go face Ryan? Or simply snuggle Billy in my arms and try to pretend none of this is happening?

Ryan yells again, a string of expletives, shattering any hope of the last option. But am I ready to face him?

Every cell in my body is screaming that I’m not, that I should take Billy and run like hell.

But then I remember Ace, and his gentle touch and kind eyes and how he feels like home. Am I willing to abandon him, to miss out on exploring whatever future we could have together?

Something in my belly hardens, and my chin lifts.

No. Just like I won’t let Ryan trap me and my son, I won’t let him steal Ace from me. I refuse.

Fear giving way to anger, I pop into the makeshift bedroom. I quickly change Billy into a fresh diaper as the voices escalate outside, then set him back in his bassinet with a few board books and a toddler-safe music toy.

“Sorry, buddy, but you have to stay in here a little longer,” I say as I switch the music toy on, its slightly off-key tunes mostly drowning out the raised voices from downstairs. “Mama’s got to deal with an old problem once and for all.”

As if he understands, Billy doesn’t fuss, but settles with his board books, happily drooling on the pages.

The hardness in my belly has turned to iron, then steel. I let it help me stand tall as I exit Ace’s apartment to face down the man trying his damndest to ruin my life and Billy’s along with it.

Ace

Mac pulls up in his pickup just in time to hear Mariah’s ex bellow at me, “Get out of my way before I make you!”

Which is good, because introducing my fist to Ryan’s face was starting to sound too good to continue to resist.

Oh, and also because Ryan is clearly angling for a fight. His ugly mug is so close to me, he rains spittle on my face every time he opens his mouth.

Which is a lot.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” Mac says as he walks up. He catches my eye, and the quirk of his lips tells me that he’s in my corner.

The tightness in my chest eases slightly, and my grip on the handle of the axe loosens.

A little.

“Yeah, this guy has kidnapped my woman,” Ryan practically shrieks, stabbing me in the chest with a finger.

With slow, deliberate eyes, I look down to where he touched me, then back up to meet his gaze, one of my eyebrows popping.

“Yourwoman?” I say.

Ryan doesn’t catch the warning in my tone. “And my kid,” he adds, turning to Mac. “See? Kidnapping.”

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