by LeAnn Ashers
Beautiful daughter you have.
I would hate to have anything happen to her.
I felt fear, fear so deep that I could taste it. It was so deep rooted I thought my heart was going to stop in my chest. They didn’t threaten me.
They threatened my baby.
I have to run. I know the only place that may help me, but I know it would come at a cost. I heard about a MC that protects women. It’s a couple of towns over and it’s my only hope.
I don’t think the police could handle this. Plus, I want these motherfuckers to feel pain, and sitting in jail isn’t going to solve anything.
I want Mia to have the best protection, and if I’ve got to take that out in my blood, I will do that.
I hurry and pack a suitcase. Mia’s in the living room playing with some dolls. I pack enough to get us by for a couple of weeks and I’ll buy more if needed.
“Baby, come pick out some toys. We’re going on a trip!” I yell for her, and she runs into her room, gathering toys by the armful.
I have to tell my mother what happened and that I’m leaving, I just don’t think it’s safe to tell her where until I know Mia isn’t in danger.
I don’t want to go, but I feel like I need to get help or just run somewhere and start over.
It’s a fucking MC. I shot a member of their fucking club. I’m sure that’s not something that’s easily forgivable.
I call my mother and she takes it really hard. It breaks my heart to have her in such pain, but what can I do?
I finish packing and putting everything in my SUV. I look at my house, feeling sad that I’m leaving here—this is where I raised my baby for eighteen months.
I walk back inside of the house and pick up Mia. “You ready for your road trip?” I ask her, kissing her cheek.
She grins, her little dimple popping out on her right cheek. “Yes, Mommy, let’s go!” She throws her little fist in the air, giggling.
I carry her out of the house, locking the door behind me. I put her in her car seat and hand her a sippy cup of milk. She’ll be out in minutes.
With one last look at my home, I pull out and make the two-hour trip to the MC. This could go well or it could be a total disaster. Maybe the rumors aren’t true. Maybe they’re just as bad as the Rejects.
But I have to have faith. I have to pray that they will protect my daughter.
Not once on the drive there do I see a bike. I make sure I’m not followed. Mia has slept almost the whole drive and I pull up outside the gate at the MC.
A guy manning the gate walks over to me and I roll down my window. “I need to speak to your president,” I manage to get out without my voice shaking.
He looks at me, confused, then talks into a radio. He opens the gate after a voice replies.
He points to the front of the building and tells me where to park. I make my way there, trying to talk myself out of turning around.
The guy opens the car door for me. “Thank you.” I look down at his vest and see “Jack” on the front. “Jack,” I finish.
He smiles and I open the back door, grabbing my bag with the evidence, along with my degree. Mia smiles at me happily, lifting her arms for me to take her.
I close my eyes and hold her tight, breathing her scent. You got this, Myra. I let Jack lead me inside the club.
The first thing I notice is that it’s huge, it’s open and has a bar, a sitting area, eating area and a game area. The outside doesn’t give a hint to what it looks like inside. Inside it’s almost like a house.
Jack leads me down a hallway, farther away from the exit and my car. Mia is still tired from the trip and is lying on my shoulder, completely unfazed.
He stops outside a door and knocks. “Come in!” I hear someone yell.
Jack pushes the door open and I see a man sitting behind a desk. He’s wearing a cut with the word “President” on a patch in the front, along with the name Kyle.
Kyle looks at me and then at my daughter. “Come on in.” He smiles, and it makes him look a little less scary, but I won’t be fooled. These men are dangerous and that’s all there is to it.
I sit down in the chair in front of his desk. I shift Mia until she’s resting against my chest. She grabs the blanket, tucking it under her neck.
“What can I do for you?” he asks as Jack leaves us alone.
I gather my courage. “I need protection. It’s not just me being threatened but my little girl. I had a babysitter who owed Satan’s Rejects money. They followed her to my house and I walked in on a guy who had his gun trained on my daughter along with the sitter.” I stop, sucking in a deep breath. “I shot him to protect my daughter. The police came. He lived, but he was the son of the President.” Kyle’s eyes widen as he listens.
I open my bag and hand him the letter they left me along with my phone so he can listen to the voicemails. Kyle reads the letter and listens to the voicemails, then looks at me and my daughter. “I’m a doctor. I could offer assistance if needed for the protection.” I throw it out there. I’m not sure if that’s going to help my case, but isn’t that how it works? They do back shit and they want to keep it under the radar.
Kyle sets the paper down and I hand him my doctorate degree next. He studies it and hands it back to me. “I can’t give you a yes or no answer; this is for the guys to vote in the club.”
I nod, because this is fair and it’s a lot of people to take on, especially for someone they don’t even know.
“Just hang out here while I call the guys in.”
An hour later Kyle comes and gets me, letting me know that they’re ready for me. I follow behind him and walk into a room filled with a shit ton of huge, bulking men.
Mia sits up and looks around the room for a second before wiggling, wanting down. I set her down. She walks straight to the guy closest to me. I look at the name on his vest. Ryan.
Ryan is beautiful, one of the hottest men I have ever seen, with his dark brown hair, green eyes and tan skin. He’s huge—one of the biggest men in the room.
Mia walks over to him, her arms raised. He smiles at her and picks her up. She lays her head on his shoulder, completely content.
Oh my. I start over to take her. “I can take her,” I tell him, and Ryan finally looks at me and jumps in his seat like I shocked him.
Huh, that’s weird.
Ryan continues to stare at me like I’m his long-lost best friend. “You can sit here,” a guy on the other side of Ryan says.
I thank him and take the seat next to Ryan so I can be close to my baby. I look at Kyle, who is staring at the three of us, amused.
“Myra, explain everything,” Kyle tells me.
So I do that. I start from the beginning and tell everyone and why I’m here. I look at my daughter, innocent in all of this. It would kill me if something happened to her.
I’m exhausted; I haven’t slept for more than an hour or two in god knows how long. I was so scared that they would break in in the middle of the night. I’m an independent woman, but I also know my limits.
Kyle looks at every guy in the room, and one by one they nod. “We will provide protection in exchange for your services.”
My eyes widen in disbelief. I’d hoped that this would happen, but actually hearing it, it’s like I can finally breathe after being underwater.
Ryan looks at me fully. “Where’s your man?” he asks in his gruff voice.
I shake my head. “He’s on drugs, not that I knew that at the time. He signed his rights over. He’s out of the picture.” I smile at him, Ryan jumps again like I shocked him.
Is he okay?
“I need to put you in one of the safe houses instead of the center because you have a job.” Kyle rubs his chin, thinking.
“No, she stays with me,” Ryan tells everyone.
I gape at him in disbelief. “What?”
He rubs my daughter’s back gently. My eyes follow his movements because it’s hard to believe a man who looks like him, as tough as he is, can be tend
er. “My house has top-notch security. Plus, I can protect you and Mia.”
Okay, that got me. I will take everything I can get for my daughter, I don’t care what it takes. Being scared for me is one thing, but fear for your child is stifling.
“If you’re sure…” I trail off.
Mia finally raises her head. “Bite bite,” she announces. It’s time for dinner.
“Do you need anything else?” Ryan asks Kyle.
“We’ve covered everything.”
Ryan stands up with Mia and she’s tugging on his dog tags, studying them. He looks at me. “Let’s go get her fed.”
I blink, once, twice. I just can’t wrap my head around all of this, but more so him. I grab my bags and follow him out the door.
My daughter is fully content having him walk her through the clubhouse. She doesn’t see him as a stranger and I’m happy that she’s a confident little lady, but it scares me because she’s too trusting.
We step outside and Ryan opens my SUV door, placing Mia in her seat. “Let’s grab something at the diner, then we need to go shopping and get kid shit.”
I laugh because his gruff language is pretty hilarious. He looks at me, a small smile on his lips. “Follow me, yeah?” His voice is much softer this time, he moves away from us and slides on his bike, looking back at us one last time.
He peels out of the lot, his arms flexing as he speeds off onto the highway. I know one thing: it’s going to be hard living with that beast of a man.
But I have been known to be a glutton for punishment—look at my fucking ex. I knew he was shit, but what did I do anyway? Made a baby. But I feel like Ryan is different than anything I have ever known.
Gone are the pretty boys. Hello bad boys on a bike. I like looking at the latter a hell of a lot more.
Chapter Two
Myra
Mia is singing along with the radio in the back seat, making the words up along the way. She’s adorable.
I feel so much better. I have so much relief in my heart that I got the protection that I needed.
The guys were different than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I was so scared walking into that room with all of those men, but the moment my daughter ran straight to Ryan, who picked her up without a thought, my attitude changed.
I watch as he pulls into a cute little diner that has a sixties vibe to it. Through the window I see a waitress on roller skates.
How cute is this?
I pull up beside Ryan and he climbs off his bike. My eyes immediately go to his ass. His jeans are tight, showing his butt.
My god.
Ryan opens my door for me, his eyes going all around us to make sure it’s safe. He takes my hand and helps me out.
“Why thank you,” I flirt, smiling at him fully because it was cute that he opened my door for me.
He rolls his eyes and then moves to the back, pulling out Mia and holding her in his arms. Her hand goes straight to his dog tags.
He looks down at her, smiling. Wow, what a beautiful smile he has. It lights up his whole face.
I try not to smile at the sight of the two of them together, which I know is probably wild at this point because I just met him, but I’m not blind. Seeing this gorgeous man holding my daughter puts me and every woman around at risk of ovary explosion.
He holds the door open for the both of us and leads us towards the back of the diner away from everyone else. He slides Mia into the booth and he climbs in beside her.
Okay, I didn’t expect that.
I sit in front of them, and Ryan without a second thought hands her a kids menu for her to color on.
“Do you have any kids? Wife?” How stupid of me to not even ask, because I would feel shitty for checking him out if he was taken.
“Neither.”
Well, okay then. I open my menu and my eyes go straight to the burgers, I haven’t had one of those in god knows how long.
To break the silence, I put down my menu, looking at Ryan. “I think I’m going to put in for a job…maybe just part-time?” I tell him.
But then I forget—who’s going to watch my daughter? “Well, never mind. I forgot I don’t have a sitter anymore. Hmm.” I brush my hair over my shoulder, deep in thought.
“I can watch her, or you can use the sitter that watches Cassandra. She’s Kyle’s daughter.”
“That’s a good idea.” I smile at him. His eyes go to my mouth and his eyes soften.
I’m getting to him.
“Ry-Ry.” Mia tugs on Ryan’s white T-shirt to get his attention. He turns to her and she points to a scribble on the coloring page. She mumbles in baby talk. “That’s pretty,” he tells her.
She beams at him happily. My poor heart. She hands him a blue crayon, wanting him to color with her.
He takes it without hesitation, coloring with her. My daughter hasn’t really had any male interaction because her father isn’t in her life. I’m sure I could have tried more, but I know she’d suffer more if he was in and out of her life all of that time, demanding money.
He was a lawyer when we first got together and then he just couldn’t cover it anymore. He lost his job and then the drugs just took over everything…his temper took over.
The last straw was when I wouldn’t enable him anymore. I was eight months pregnant. He wanted more money to get more drugs, but I just couldn’t give it to him. I feared for my safety and my unborn child.
So I cut him off just like his family had done.
He flipped his shit, throwing things around my house, breaking everything.
I called the police on him and he was taken to jail.
Then when Mia was born, I had him sign all of his rights away. She needs someone who can be a father figure for her, Not a someday, once-in-a-while kind of dad.
But she is involved with his family. I allow her to stay all night with them once every couple of months when her dad is gone away for a while. During the summer she gets to stay a week. We make it work.
“What can I get you guys?” The waitress breaks me from my depressing thoughts. We order our food and I watch Mia, She is coloring on the paper without a care in the world and I envy her for that.
“You did the right thing,” Ryan says out of the blue.
I tilt my head to the side slightly, confused. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“You protected her and yourself, you did the right thing. You’re a good-ass mom because you’re still doing what it takes to keep her safe.”
Damn, that felt unbelievable. I didn’t realize how much I needed for someone to tell me that. Stress has eaten me alive since all of this happened. Nothing feels worse than thinking you’re failing as a mother.
“Thank you, Ryan, that means a lot,” I tell him honestly, and he nods, turning his attention back to my daughter, who is having him color with her.
Our food comes and I reach for Mia’s plate to cut her burger up for her so it’s easier for her to eat, but Ryan does it before I can even reach over.
I bite my lip. “There you go, sweetheart,” he tells her and pushes her plate over. “Thank you, Ry-Ry.”
I wonder about the center. I think I would like to volunteer my services to whoever needs it there. “Does the center take volunteers?” I ask Ryan.
He nods. “Wanting to volunteer?”
“Yeah, I think I would like to as long as I can bring Mia with me. “
“That won’t be an issue. I can watch her if you ever need me too.” He smiles and hands her a napkin when she gets ketchup on her finger. She takes it and wipes her finger but misses almost all of it.
He laughs and cleans her hand for her. “All done.”
She giggles and sticks her finger in ketchup again. I smother my laughter. He pretends to glare at her; she glares right back at him.
He laughs and hands her another napkin, and she proceeds to do it herself this time.
I don’t know how I feel about all of this. The second he met my daughter he was hands-on and she went straight to him
.
I won’t argue because he’s the one who’s going to keep her safe.
Ryan leads us right outside of town to a gated community. My first thought the farther we drive along the highway is that the houses are absolutely beautiful.
He stops in front of another gate and inputs a code. The gate swings open and he drives down the driveway, which reveals a large beautiful southern-type home with a wraparound porch.
He motions for me to pull inside of the garage and it shuts behind us. I get out and pull Mia out of her seat while Ryan grabs our bags.
“Your house is beautiful.” The kitchen is stainless steel with beautiful white cabinets with stainless steel appliances.
“Here are your rooms.” We follow him up the stairs and he pushes open a door to a room that has a little toddler bed, “I had this delivered by one of the prospects while we were eating.” He sets one of the smaller bags down.
Mia wiggles to be let down and she runs straight to some toys that I didn’t realize were there.
“You didn’t have to do all of this. I can pay you back for all of it.” I reach inside of my purse to write him a check.
He lifts his hand. “No, I wanted to do this. She’s going to be living here in my home where it’s a strange place. I wanted her to feel as comfortable as possible. It’s the least I can do.”
Wow, that is the most he has ever spoken. I know when to fight my battles and when to fold. I know he won’t budge on this going by the staredown he’s giving me right now.
I reach forward and take a hold of his much larger hand. “Thank you very much. You have gone above and beyond what I was expecting. I will forever be grateful.”
His face softens and I love seeing that on him, but more so because it’s aimed at me. I wonder what other expressions I can inspire in him…
Stop, Myra, don’t go down that rabbit hole. You may not make it out unscathed. I am also a woman who hasn’t had sex since before my daughter was born, but even then calling it “sex” was a long shot.
“Your room is right next door and mine is down the hall next to the stairs. I’ll let you guys get settled.” He hands me my bag, leaving me alone with Mia, who is busy trying to open her new toys.