“Harleigh,” I warned.
But she didn’t heed my warning.
She went off like an atomic bomb.
One second she was crawling away, and the next she was crawling like a rabid badger straight into danger.
She took him out at the knees, surprising him.
That was when I realized that if I didn’t move, she would get stabbed.
I just knew it.
Hauling my arm back, I rocketed my fist forward and punched straight into Charles’ throat.
Seconds later, people started pouring out of the door between Rome’s room and mine, the first one being Linc James.
He caught Charles by the hair and ripped him away from both Harleigh and me before anything could be done in retaliation.
Charles was disarmed moments later when he tried to stab Bayou in the face.
Little did Charles know that Bayou was used to dodging blows from inmates all the time. A slow stab from Charles was nothing in comparison to a desperate inmate wanting to get away by using a homemade shiv made out of toilet paper and spit.
Rome was closer, though, walking into the room like the linebacker that he was and hitting Charles so hard in the chest with his shoulder that Charles’ head snapped forward despite Linc holding onto his hair.
Knowing that it was handled for now, I reached forward and drug Harleigh to me by her good leg. She was still trying to get a few good punches in to the mostly incapacitated Charles.
“Let me go, goddammit!” she hissed as she tried to crawl forward once more. “I’m going to fucking murder him. I’m going to claw his eyes out with my toenails and make him eat them.”
I chuckled as I finally pulled her into my chest, and took my first breath of air since I’d entered the hotel room minutes earlier.
It’d lasted all of four and a half minutes, but it was long enough for it to take ten years off my life.
“He smashed my pizza, too!” she screeched.
That was when I started laughing.
I couldn’t help it.
I buried my face into her neck and lost it.
“I can’t believe you are laughing right now.” Harleigh hissed. “I’m never speaking to you again.”
Out of all the things she could be pissed at me at right then, she was pissed about that?
I gathered her up in my arms, brought her into my chest, and then pressed a kiss to every available spot on her face. Showering her in kisses.
God, I’d been so close to losing her that it was honestly terrifying to think about.
“Stay down, motherfucker,” Linc growled.
That was when the rest of the Bear Bottom Guardians MC women entered the room, one by one until there was no more risk to my Harleigh.
Making me slightly lose it.
But only slightly.
I lost it fully an hour later when I found out that Harleigh had a minor concussion, a broken foot, and a broken pinky finger that she sustained when she hit Charles in the nose with a closed fist.
“It was worth it,” she muttered darkly. “Totally and utterly worth it.”
If she said so.Chapter 19Listen, am I the most attractive girl out there? Well, no. But do I have a good personality? Also no. But I do wake up every day and think that I might try to be the best person I can be…sometimes.
-Harleigh to Slate
Slate
I couldn’t say that I was surprised to find Max on my doorstep the next morning after we’d arrived home.
Last night, I’d called him to tell him what had happened once we’d once again gotten settled in our room.
Harleigh had been sleeping on the couch for a solid hour before I decided to get a workout in.
But I’d quickly dismissed that idea. The idea of doing nothing but sitting my ass on my couch for the next forty-eight hours sounded much more exciting.
I’d literally just sat down with a cup of coffee and the remote when a series of knocks had sounded from the front door.
Groaning as I got up, I made my way to the door and nearly rolled my eyes when I saw who it was through the opaque glass.
Opening the door wide, I let him in.
His nostrils flared when he saw her lying on the couch in her underwear and one of my t-shirts.
If I’d thought before I’d opened the door, I would’ve realized that maybe I should cover her up before her dad saw how comfortable she was around me when we were alone.
Shit.
“You better marry her,” he said. “And swear to Christ, if you ever hurt her…”
“I’ll give you the gun myself and stand still,” I finished for him. “Trust me when I say, that’s the last thing in the world I’ll ever do.”
He sighed and unfisted his hands. “I thought for sure with the way y’all fought that nothing would happen. Guess I was wrong.”
My lips twitched. “Yeah, you were wrong.”