Page 80 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
His fist shoots out to me quickly and I duck, pulling Patty out of the way. I hear her squeak of surprise as I drive my heel into the leader's belly button and he bends over with an "Oof!" before slamming my foot into the side of his head, knocking him out cold.
The other two goons run for me, and I have to let go of Patty to take care of them.
I made quick work of it, breaking the first one's nose and kicking him hard enough to dislocate his knee.
As he falls, his bellow mimics a higher, more shrill sound.
I spin around and watch in horror as the second goon flings her to the floor, hard.
"Patty!" The sound that bursts from me is pure rage as I charge at him. He only has a second to look at me in fear, before I knock him out cold with one punch
I wish I could do more, grind him into the ground, but he's the least of my worries right now.
Because Patty is looking up at me in pain.
Oh God. She's hurt.
CHAPTER 27
Patty
"Patty," I hear Wes’ panicked tone as my dizziness clears, his hand running over my body. "Oh God, Patty are you okay?"
"I’m fine Wes," I assure him even though I’m not sure. I feel slightly nauseated, and my hips hurt from where I was thrown but I don't pass out or anything which is a good thing considering my head hit a rock. I gently pat the spot and wince. It’s tender but my fingers don’t come away with any blood so that's good.
"I’m so sorry," Wes says, his hands frantic in their need to assure himself I’m okay. His face is pale but he's otherwise unscathed, which is incredible considering he just fought three larger men. And as one of the men groans on the floor, I tell Wes, "Let’s get out of here, before they get up."
Wes’s face tightens as he turns back to face them, and his eyes glint with rage. I know he wants to continue to beat that last guy to a pulp. I’ve seen that anger on Keegan’s face multiple times, but it doesn’t scare me because I know that Wes would never turn that on me. He’s shown me his care, even in the way his hands run over my body.
I slide my palm over the back of his hand now, drawing his eyes back to me.
"Let’s go," I tell him and then start getting up.
"No, you shouldn’t…"
"I’m fine," I say. "Just a little bruised but nothing worse than I’m used to."
That's the wrong joke to make because his eyes are even more devastated.
"I was kidding," I say. "I’m fine."
He shakes his head. "This was my fault." He takes my hand and helps me straighten up. "I shouldn’t have provoked them. I was just so used to…"
"It’s fine," I say again. "But we really need to get out of here before they wake back up."
He finally swallows the rest of his back behind him sentence and leads me back to the bike. My bruise at my hip aches as I climb on, but I try to hide it. Still, his shrewd eyes grab onto my wince, and his face tightens again.
He then steps aside and takes out his tumultuous feelings on the bike that’s still blocking the middle of the path. With two powerful kicks, he sends it sliding down the hill clearing the way for our escape.
Then he clambers on in front of me, jerks his bike into a start and slowly meanders down the hill at a glacial pace avoiding any bump in the road that could further irritate me.
My headache gets worse as we go, making the ride down only half as enjoyable as the ride up. By the time we're pulling into the ranch it’s a relief because I feel a little like I might hurl.
But it’s not so much of a relief when I see both Charlie and Mitchell exiting onto the porch as we approach. With a loud yip, Wiley also bounds down the stairs, barking at the bike as it slows to a stop.
Mitchell looks angry as he storms up to us with Charlie at his tail. "You took her riding?"
"Not now Mitch," Wes says. "Patty got hurt."
