Page 29 of Rebel

“Mommy!” Livvy waved one arm wildly in the air, as they approached the car, completely oblivious to the turmoil around her.

Lucky girl.

Nikki looked up and tried to quickly wipe away her tears. “Hey baby.” She held her arms out and Livvy went her, sensing her mom needed comfort.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Mia said, and wrapped her arms around them both.

“No,” I shouted with more aggression than necessary. “We’ll walk you to your car. Just to be safe.”

Instead of arguing, Mia nodded and flashed the tiniest smile of gratitude, which meant she understood what this meant.

Trouble, and lots of it.

“How was your day?” Nikki smartly asked the question, and the sound of Livvy’s chatter was just the distraction we all needed from our thoughts.

“After the tea party we played salon and I did Rebel’s nails, aren’t they pretty?”

Mia snickered before she slid into her car but not before she flashed me a knowing smile. “Good night girls. And biker.”

I gave Nikki and Livvy a moment alone while she secured the little girl into her car seat, sensing she needed a little bit of girl bonding time. I waited behind the steering wheel until everyone was settled in the car.

“Thank you. For today.” She was tired and afraid.

“No thanks necessary. I’m happy to help.” I wiggled my fingers the same way I did for Livvy, and got the same laugh in response. “You want to talk about it?”

“Not yet.” Her jaw clenched and she squeezed her eyes shut.

I gave her the peace she needed, offering her only a supportive hand on her thigh. “Okay. Not yet.” While she was lost in thought, I daydreamed about beating the ever-loving fuck out of every Blood Fangs member I came across for the next decade.

Chapter Thirteen

Nikki

“Ican’t believe you thought to get dinner. Thank you.” It really was the sweetest damn thing and honestly it was the last thing I needed after the mess that was today. “Seriously, thank you.”

“No need to thank me.” Logan gestured to the half-eaten steak on my plate. “You gonna eat that?”

“I’m too upset to eat,” I said as I shifted the food around on my plate. Thankfully, Livvy hadn’t had that problem, and after an eventful evening with Logan, she fell asleep less than five minutes after she finished her burger.

“I don’t like seeing you upset, it pisses me off that someone did this to you.”

Could he be any more thoughtful? Dammit. “Me too,” I said. But then I tried to lighten the mood, “I know I’ve only had a few mouthfuls, but this steak is really good.”

He flashed that heart stopping grin that never failed to send tingles to all the good parts of my body. “Livvy said steak was your favorite.”

“I bet she didn’t say ribeye.” She didn’t even know what it was.

He shrugged. “I had to guess and everybody likes ribeye.”

There was that damn smile doing wicked things to my body. Again. “Yeah. I’m guessing you’re responsible for Livvy’s lesson on steak fries?”

He shrugged. It was adorable. Logan stood and refilled my wine glass. “Let’s go out back so we can talk. The front door is locked up tight and you’ve got one of those baby monitors, right?” He nodded towards the monitor on the coffee table. While Livvy didn’t wake up in the night anymore, I still used it on the occasions where I wanted to sit on the porch in the evenings, just in case she got up and wondered where I was.

Another word of gratitude was on the tip of my tongue, but I bit it back. “Sounds good.” I grabbed a beer from the fridge for Logan and followed him outside, where I finally let my anger fly. “They trashed the entire station lobby, scaring the hell out of the receptionist and the doorman.”

“They weren’t hurt, were they?”

Shit, how many times was he going to make my insides do a somersault tonight? “Nope, just scared as fuck.” I kicked off my shoes and paced in the grass, stopping once in a while to sip my wine. “Don’t they realize I host a radio show? I’m not a fucking journalist!” It was good, letting it all out now. I maintained a brave face for the people who worked hard to help put on my show five nights a week, and for management who worried I might bail. But now, here at home with no one but Logan as a witness, I let it go. “What did they even hope to accomplish besides scaring my coworkers?”

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