Page 111 of Never Quiet

Chapter Twenty-Four

January 2017 – April 2017

Twice in January, Hayden and Amanda were ambushed on their seemingly private walks. Men and women materialized to dispatch the attackers while Hayden shielded Amanda with his body.

In early February, she was leaving her standing nail appointment when two laughing women passed her, turned, and grabbed her from behind.

“Come with us, nice and easy.”

“Don’t make us hurt you.”

“I just had my nails done!”

Amanda slammed one of their heads against the brick salon wall and went hand-to-hand with the other until Ash stepped away from where he leaned between the two buildings.

He said kind of sadly, “She boring.” He delivered a low spinning kick, sweeping the woman’s legs, and she dropped, bouncing her head off the snow-covered sidewalk.

Amanda stared from the woman to her bodyguard. “Just curious…what were you waiting for?”

“Important stay sharp.” Ash pointed behind her and Roark gave her a wave. “We always have back.”

“Clever,” she agreed. Pointing at the women, she asked, “Do we call someone or…?”

“They’re on their way. Hop in the car. It’s freezing, sweetheart.” Roark whistled softly to Ash. “Let’s drag them out of pedestrian traffic.” They did so, leaning her attackers against the building.

“Actually,” Amanda held up her fingers and wiggled them, “I, uh, broke a nail.”

Both men laughed. “Go on. We’ll handle this and wait.”

Hours later, her uncles and Callie entered the apartment yelling for her. Amanda skidded out of her lab in a panic.

“Oh, god! What happened? Is someone hurt?”

“What?” Callie asked in confusion. “Oh, no. No! Sorry! Nothing like that. Girl…have you checked social media?”

Frowning, Amanda put her hand on her hip. “You just busted in here like the damn feds to ask me about Facebook? Are you shitting me right now?”

“Amanda! You’re trending. You’ve gone viral.” Callie removed her phone and handed it to Amanda. “Watch.”

Apparently, one of the nail techs captured Amanda’s earlier attack on her phone from inside the salon. “Someone call the cops! Amanda Lang is being mugged out…what is happening? Hey! You guys gotta see this! That model is kicking some muggers’ asses in front of our shop!”

“That’s hysterical.” She handed Callie back her phone. The others stared at her. Then they looked at each other and shook their heads. “What?”

Morgan said gently, kind of slowly, “Amanda, that clip is being picked up by national news.”

“Wow.”

“Eco Beauté just released a statement praising you for your training and quick thinking. Delkin Acquisitions did one, too. They said you were shaken but recovering.”

“I’m not…oh, right.”

Morgan sighed. “Supermodel, love.”

“In that case, I’ve been a wreck all afternoon. You know what would help?” She kissed them all and headed into the kitchen. “Ice cream.”

She was sleeping when a naked Hayden slipped into bed with her in the middle of the night. “I hoped you’d be here. I knew it would be late.”

“Sleep. Let me hold you, Amanda.”

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