“It done?” Cade asked with a hard glint in his eyes.
Bull nodded. “Took care of every last one,” he assured his president. He had taken pleasure in watching the life drain out of the fuckers. Great pleasure.
“We clean from this?” Cade added after nodding in approval.
Bull gave him a look. A look that said what he needed to say. No way Bull would let this blow back on the club.
Cade nodded, running his hands through his stubble, looking weary.
Bull didn’t have time to hash this shit out, he had a family to get back to. Cade gripped his arm. “Your girls, they did good today,” he told him.
Bull nodded.
“They’re strong. Both of them. Love you. Love the club,” Cade continued.
Bull looked at him a moment and Cade released him.
“Thanks, brother,” he muttered.
Bull had a shower before he went to Mia’s. Didn’t want to be dragging the filth of what he did into the house she made with Lexie. The home she made with Lexie.
He paused when he saw both Killian and Lexie asleep on the sofa. He struggled not to drag him out of the house with his bare hands. That would mean waking Lexie. Unbidden, the memory of Killian protecting her with his body came to mind. With effort, he walked past them both.
Everything melted away when he finally got into bed with Mia, got her into his arms. Then everything was fuckin’ shattered when he realized what she was doing. Didn’t blame her. Not for a fuckin’ second. Hell, he respected the shit out of her for it. Made him love her more. He knew how she felt about him. She was a crappy liar at the best of times, and her eyes didn’t lie, not when he was inside her. Not when she watched him with Lexie when she thought he wasn’t looking. So he knew. And if it was anything to rival how he felt about her, he knew it’d be ripping her up inside. Which was why he didn’t fight. He wanted to do, to the death. He wanted to never let her go until the reaper took him. Never stop loving her till the day he died. But he couldn’t. She was protecting her girl. Doing what he wasn’t strong enough to do. Because even though the fucks who shot at them were in the ground, they made their death blow right there in Mia’s bed.
After he had made love to her, memorized every inch of her beautiful body, she lay in his arms. Bull clutched her to him. When he felt her drift off, he finally murmured the words he had been aching to say.
“Love you, baby, to the moon,” he told her sleeping body.
Two Months Later
“Mom!” Lexie yelled up the stairs. “We’re leaving now!”
I hopped down the hallway, trying to put on my shoe without breaking my neck. I was late. Story of my fricking life. I reached the top of the stairs; Lexie and Killian were standing at the bottom. Killian had Lexie’s guitar case over his shoulder.
“You know the whole ‘don’t do drugs, don’t drink booze or you’ll be grounded for the remainder of your young adult life’ bit, don’t you?” I asked her and Killian.
Lexie nodded. “Gambling’s alright though, isn’t it?” she clarified.
I nodded. “Only if you win,” I deadpanned.
Killian chuckled slightly. Being a regular at our house the past four months, he was down with our brand of humor. And with our serious attitudes towards movie watching order, as he had learned in our Star Wars marathon last week. Idiot actually suggested watching it in episode order. I’d never look at him the same.
I turned my serious face on this time. “Take care of my kid, Kill,” I ordered softly.
His face turned serious. “Always do, Mia,” he returned.
Lexie rolled her eyes and waved her hands. “Helloooo, overprotective mother, overprotective boyfriend, I’m right here! My ears work and everything. So how about we stop talking about Lexie when she’s not here,” she ordered.
“Did you hear something?” I asked Killian, looking around the room.
He did the same. “Nope.”
Lexie let out a frustrated sigh and stomped out the door.
“Love you!” I called to her back.
She waved a hand. I was pretty sure I heard her mutter “Yeah, yeah, put it in writing.”
Killian grinned at me, then went after her.
I tried not to give in to the familiar feeling of panic that assaulted me every time she left the house. It helped slightly that Killian was with her. When we cut ties with the Sons of Templar and everyone connected to them, Killian was the one exception. I didn’t exactly have a choice. I was reasonably sure shit would get all Romeo and Juliet up in here if I had forbidden Lexie to see Killian, as well as everyone else. She had been mad at first. No, furious would have been more accurate. It was our first fight. Our first rip-roaring, “I hate you, Mom”, storm out the door kind of fight.