by LeAnn Ashers
I touch her arm. “You okay?”
She looks at me and opens her mouth to say something but closes it. “Do you want to be a mom?”
My heart stops at her words. Why is she asking this? Her eyes dig into mine; she is waiting for a reaction.
I swallow hard. “I’ve always wanted to be a mom.”
“To a girl?”
I nod. “Of course.”
She grins and looks down, pausing like she is thinking something over. She raises her head once again. “Would you like to be my mom?”
I freeze, my heart stopping at her words. She wants me to be her mom? My throat burns with tears, but I bury them until I fully understand what she is saying.
“You want me to be your mom?” I whisper hopefully.
Tiffany looks so vulnerable right now, her eyes big and her hands gripping the armrests like she is waiting for rejection. “Yes, I want you to be my mom, I always wanted a mom.” Her voice is soft.
Not able to contain myself, I lift the armrest and pull her into my arms. “I would love nothing more than be your mom, Angel.” She hides her face in my neck, her arms wrapped around me.
I close my eyes, trying to stop the tears from rolling down my face. I can’t believe she wants me to be her mom.
Tiffany lifts her head from my neck to look at me. “I love you...” She stops and thinks about her words for a few seconds. “Mom.”
Oh god! I pull her into me again, hugging her tightly. “I love you too, sweet girl, you just made me so happy.”
I wipe the tears off my face and let her go, and she goes back to her seat. She smiles at me, her eyes lit up with happiness.
Keep it together, Amelia, you can do that. This moment changed my life forever. I still can’t get over the fact that she wants me to be her mom. Me? I love this little girl and this is what I hoped for, but I never expected it to happen so soon.
Tiffany breaks me from my thoughts. “I have another game Thursday.”
“I will be there. I told the coach I will bring the drinks and snacks.” I take out my phone, checking to see the time we need to be there before the game.
“See, you are already like a mom.”
I put my phone down. I guess I kind of am. I have all of her practices and games marked on the calendar for the next couple of months, along with who is carpooling and when each family is scheduled to bring snacks.
I already have Tiffany’s lunches packed for the next couple of days so she can just grab it and go. Her clothes are already planned for the next week, right down to her shoes and hairstyle.
Lane has done an amazing job by himself, but I want to do things for her and make their life easier. I want to be there for them when they need it.
“I guess I am, Honey,” I tell Tiffany and she smiles, lifting her foot for the lady to massage the bottom of it.
“I guess I am,” I whisper again under my breath.
A Little While Later
“Why is he sleeping on the street?” Tiffany asks me, and I follow her gaze to the homeless man sleeping on a bench outside the restaurant.
“Sometimes people fall on hard times, and they have a hard time getting back on top.”
She looks sadly at her meal of grilled chicken, potatoes, and some veggies on the side. “Can I give them to him?”
She just shocked me once again. I’m at a loss for words, so I nod. She gets up from the table, a prospect stepping out of his seat. She carries her plate, along with her silverware, outside to the homeless man. She sets the plate in front of him, laying the silverware on top of the food. The homeless man looks up at her and flashes a huge smile.
I am so proud of her. She reaches out and he shakes her hand. She walks back inside the restaurant, and the waitress walks over, confused. I motion for her to bend down. “I will pay for the plate, will you please reorder her food for her?”
Tiffany is focused on the homeless man, who is stuffing food into his mouth. I guarantee he hasn’t had a meal like this in a very long time.
“I am so proud of you, Tiffany.”
Tiffany is an old soul. She realized the homeless man was hungry and brought him her own food.
She shrugs. “He was hungry, nobody should go hungry.” Her voice is sad.
A bunch of people at surrounding tables are staring at Tiffany in disbelief and awe. She did an amazing thing, and it’s something very few people would do.
“I have a friend at school that I share my lunch with, she never has money for lunch and she never brings one.”
My heart fractures a bit more; this little girl is amazing. “Would you like to start bringing a lunch for her? You can help me make it.”
She nods frantically. “I would love that.” She pauses a second, and her cheeks flush pink. “Mom.”
My stomach flips hearing her call me “Mom” once again.
Today has been an emotional roller coaster of a day—that’s for sure, but it’s been one of the best days of my life. Tiffany has totally taken over my life; I have fallen more in love with her. The way she speaks, the way she acts, the way she gets excited over every little thing. As I watch her, it’s like I am seeing the world in a whole different way.
Tiffany was handed a shitty hand for the first few years of her life, and it’s amazing that she is handling it. She isn’t letting it get her down; she is living her life to the fullest. She is such a sweet and amazing old soul.
The waitress brings her a fresh plate of food and she digs into it.
Once we are done with our food, we walk outside, the prospects at our backs. The homeless man stands up when he sees Tiffany. He bends down toward her. “Thank you, miss.”
“It was no problem, I wasn’t hungry anyway.” She shrugs his thanks off, grabs my hand, and waves bye to him.
I shake my head in disbelief once again; she is lying to save this man’s pride by saying she wasn’t hungry.
We walk to my car and my eyes gravitate to the windshield; I’ve been paranoid ever since everything went down at the clinic. Much to my horror I see something white underneath my windshield wipers.
“Stay here.” Tristen, the larger of the two prospects, walks over to the car and pulls out the letter. He opens it and his eyes flash to mine.
Oh shit.
I grab Tiffany and pull her closer.
“Let’s head into the store, shall we?” I say cheerily and lead her into a small boutique. I mouth at the prospect, “Call Lane.” He nods and I walk into the store with Tiffany.
I am afraid they did something to my car, and I don’t want to chance getting on the road and something happening. I won’t take the risk, not with Tiffany.
Tiffany and I browse through each rack of clothes, but my mind is not on shopping. I am putting on a show for Tiffany. I am constantly looking over my shoulder, ready for anything. Why is someone doing this to me? Who could it be?
I don’t even know what the letter says, but the look on Tristen’s face is enough.
My phone dings, the screen lighting. “Adeline should be there any second for Tiffany. I am ten minutes out.”
“Tiffany, I have something that has sprung up on me, Adeline will be here any second to pick you up.”
“Oh, that’s okay.”
I kiss her forehead. “I say tonight we binge-watch Supernatural, what do you say?”
She claps her hands. “Yes!”
I love her enthusiasm. Adeline pulls up outside the boutique. “Adeline is here.” I bend down and hug Tiffany.
I open the door and walk her over to Adeline’s car. Tiffany climbs into her booster seat and buckles herself in. I shut the door, but the window is down. “Bye, Tiffany!”
She waves. “Bye, Mom.”
Tears threaten to fall once again. Adeline looks shocked and turns her head so I don’t see her expression. I know she is affected too. Adeline rolls up the windows and drives out of the parking lot.
I hear the roar of a couple of bikes, and Lane pulls into the parking lot with Wilder,
Derek, Smiley, Wilder’s dad, and a few other guys. They pull up beside my car. Lane climbs off first and snatches the paper from Tristen. He studies it for a moment before his head snaps up. I start walking over and hear a loud squeal behind me.
Lane’s eyes widen before he starts running toward me at full speed. I turn around and see a huge van behind me. Someone grabs my waist. I scream as I am pulled into the van before I can resist.
I look at Lane as the door is slammed shut.
Lane
No!
I run toward Amelia, fury radiating off of me, as she is snatched inside a van right in fucking front of me. I race toward the van, and tires squeal again as the fucker takes off with Amelia inside.
She screams inside the van, and my heart stops in my fucking chest at the sound of her pure fear. I take out my gun, my skin crawling with adrenaline and the need to get to her. They will not fucking take her.
I aim and pull the trigger. After shooting out one back tire, I shoot the back tire on the other side. They continue driving, but not as fast. I catch up to the van and pull the trigger once again, hitting the driver.
The van stops.
The door is ripped open, and two fuckers run out of the van. Wilder and Derek take off after them. I sprint to the van door. My main focus is to get to Amelia. I see her sit up and she looks at me, terrified. She jumps out of the van and into my arms, sobbing.
God-fucking-damn. I am going to fucking torture those fuckers for days. “I have you, Doll,” I whisper to her, my heart fucking hurting in my chest at what just happened. Who is brave enough to do this right in front of me?
“What do they want? I don’t understand!” She cries louder. Every single tear she is crying is one broken bone these fuckers are going to get.
I guarantee that.
17
Amelia
I can’t believe that just happened, and the guys can’t believe it either. Who are these guys? I look from Wilder and Derek to my abductors’ battered faces. I have never seen them before.
A vehicle shows up to take the guys to the clubhouse, and I know they are in a world of hurt. I don’t care one single bit either. This incident hits a little close to home because of what happened with Jeffrey.
“I want a piece of them.” I grit my teeth together as the fuckers look at me.
“Amelia, you sure?”
I nod. “I want to beat their asses for what they just tried to pull. I need my revenge.” I want to beat their asses, and I want to find out why they are doing this to me. Why are they harassing me? Trying to kidnap me?
Enough is enough.
The driver is dead; Lane killed him to stop the van from taking me. Someone else is taking the van and taking care of it all.
Lane kisses me on the forehead. I close my eyes as I take in the feel of him touching me and his scent, which bring me instant comfort.
I am human—shit affects me—but Lane has a way of making all of my troubles go away with a single kiss.
“Tiffany wants me to be her mom, she called me Mom today, Lane,” I whisper and face plant into his chest, on emotional overload right now.
“She told me she was going to ask you. What did you say to her?”
I lift my head. “I told her that I would love to be her mom.” Lane grins before kissing me softly. I sigh and open my mouth, sinking deeper into the kiss.
Lane pulls back. “Come on, Doll. Let’s go beat some asses.” He winks.
Let’s do this shit.
Nobody fucks with me and gets away with it. I am the president of the Grim Sinners’ ole lady—it’s time to show I will not be fucked with. Not anymore.
Lane
Amelia walks in front of me as she is led to the room with the men who attempted to kidnap her earlier, and her head is held high. She has one mission: to see who is doing this.
I want to know myself; I don’t have a fucking clue what is going on and who is doing this shit. I will find out who is doing it, no ifs about that.
I will be haunted forever by her face when they pulled her into that van. I clench my fists by my sides, and it takes everything in me not to barge into that room and put a bullet in their heads.
Derek opens the door, and Amelia steps through. My brothers are already in the room. Their eyes go to Amelia, and they bow their heads out of respect for her.
The fuckers who tried to kidnap her burst out laughing. “What the fuck is she going to do?”
Amelia walks over to the wall that holds weapons that we use against fuckers like this. I stand directly in front of them, my arms across my chest, daring them to say one fucking word about her.
Amelia returns holding a metal baseball bat. I grin and hear the guys chuckling.
“That’s my girl.” Smiley chuckles louder than everyone else.
Amelia paces in front of them, swinging the bat around like she doesn’t have a care in the world, “We can do this two ways.” She raises one finger in the air. “One, you can tell me now and you die.” She raises two fingers. “Two, I can beat the shit out of you until you tell me.” She grins evilly at them. “I sure hope you decide the latter.”
The men look at each other, shaking their heads.
“This will be fun.”
“I wonder if she is going to shoot their dicks off like she did the last guy,” Nathan, one of the newer guys, says.
Amelia turns to Nathan looking all too pleased with herself. One of the fuckers who tried to kidnap her, the shorter and more puny-looking one, asks, “Did she really do that?”
She grins. “You don’t fuck with me and keep your dick intact.” She scrunches her nose, lifts the bat, and taps the guy on the dick. He jumps back and she laughs. She is enjoying fucking with them.
The other guy—who is a bit larger, but looks like he is on some hardcore drugs judging from the pipe burns on his mouth—says, “They are just fucking with us, she won’t do shit.” He glares at Amelia.
She looks at me like is this fucker for real? She lifts her bat over her shoulder then spins around, nailing the fucker right on his kneecap. He screams at the top of his lungs, and she raises her bat once again and hits the other knee. He screams louder.
“Not so tough anymore, are we?” she asks him and he shakes his head. “Are you going to tell me what I want to know?” He shakes his head once again.
She turns to me. “Lane, can I borrow your gun?”
Both men pale when they hear her say the word “gun.”
“Sure, Doll.” I hand her my gun, and she takes off the safety and points it at the puny guy’s dick. He turns to the side and lifts one leg higher than the other, trying to hide his groin.
“Tell me what I want to know or it’s gone.” Her voice is deadly calm.
He looks at her, studying her. “One, two...”
He screams. “Fine! I am dead either way, I’d rather not be suffering.” The guys look at one another.
Like that will happen. He won’t be let off easy. Once Amelia is done getting what she needs, it’s time for the real fun to begin.
The guys look at the ground then up at Amelia. “His name was Jeffrey Sinclair.”
She gasps loudly and looks at me in pure shock. I feel fucking stupid right now that he could be a suspect; I thought he was gone for good. He knew I was out to fucking kill him, and he dropped off the face of the earth once everything went down with Amelia.
“He is dead,” I mouth to her and she drops her head. I can see that she is hurt that he would go to such extremes to cause her pain. Jeffery is one fucked man. I know loan sharks wouldn’t have anything to do with him after I spread the word.
Amelia
I feel stupid to not have expected Jeffrey; I just thought he was gone. I figured when everything hit the fan, when I was kidnapped, he ran—but I guess I was wrong. He was planning.
I did a lot for Jeffrey; I did more for him than his own family. I guess the reason I put up with so much from him is because I craved family so much that I allowed myself t
o be used.
Once I stopped giving in to him, he threw me under the bus and I was no good to him anymore.
A hand touches my hip, and I glance up to see Lane bending his face toward mine. “Come on, Doll,” he whispers and leads me out of the room. Once the door is shut, he presses my face to his chest.
“I am sorry.”
I shake my head. “Don’t be sorry, Lane. I am going to go home to Tiffany. I promised her a movie night.” I raise my head, kissing the underside of his neck. “I will see you tonight.”
He kisses my forehead and waves over a prospect who is standing by the door. “Escort her home, then stay outside my gate until I am home.” The prospect nods, and I walk out of the hall.
I am just exhausted, physically and emotionally. All I want at this point is to cuddle up on the couch and stuff my face, plus I want to see my daughter.
I smile for the first time all evening as I think back to Tiffany asking me to be her mother. This has been one of the worst but best days of my life. It’s one I will never forget. Soon this bad day will end, and tomorrow is a new day.
Lane
The door shuts behind me, and I stalk over to the men, allowing the rage that I have kept down all day to roll over me. I kept that shit locked down in front of Amelia, but not anymore.
“You said…you would just kill us,” the puny one stutters, his body shaking.
I tilt my head to the side, studying him, and a smile slowly rises on my face. I reach forward and grip his face between my fingers. “Do you think I would let it go like that? You tried to kidnap my woman.”
I look at Derek, and he holds my knife out to me. I take it and run my hand up the blade.
“I told you what you wanted to know,” the dope head says, looking up at the ceiling.