Protected by You

by Nikki Mays

  The girls haven’t been particularly helpful either. You would think that a crazy cunt slashing through the air with a big ass knife would keep them quiet. Not the triplets of terror...oh no. They’ve had to have a running commentary about everything. Okay, I won’t lie, some of it’s been pretty damn entertaining. But still, not the best idea to piss of the crazy bitch who’s already pissed off.

  Luckily, we were about to close up for the day when she confronted us. Learning that she was the one who vandalized my car pissed me off even more. I wondered why we had never suspected her. Maybe because she was so dumb.

  “Anyone else feel like there is no way that she’s pulled all this off by herself?” Missy whispers my exact thoughts.

  “Like she can’t even spell her name but she’s managed to cause this much trouble. Something just doesn’t really add up here.”

  CC as I’ve nicknamed her – Crazy Candi - overhears Missy’s loud whispering and glares at her. “I know how to spell my name!” CC hisses at my girl. “And like duh, I’m hot unlike you, men do whatever I ask them to.”

  “Ten bucks the dude is a total loser.” Becca decides to state because sure let’s just keep pissing off the crazy bitch with a knife.

  Paige snorts from behind me. I swear introducing them was the world’s biggest mistake. “I’ll see your ten and raise you twenty that he’s probably a geeky virgin in his late twenties.”

  Again, they have horrible timing but are probably totally on point. I can almost picture this pathetic mess in my head.

  “Bec, you owe Paige some cash.” We hear from the voice of the man I love.

  We can see them all moving in slowly towards us in full gear. Damn, my man can seriously wear a uniform. Down hormones, totally not the damn time...unless he shows us those dimples. Then we can make the time.

  I shake my head because even I realize that I’m kind of fucked in the head right now.

  We probably should’ve expected what happened next but didn’t. With us distracted by the guys dressed in full SWAT gear, Candi grabbed Paige and is now holding the knife up to her throat.

  I look over at Danny and don’t see him looking overly concerned. Why not, I have no idea. I know damn well that he loves Paige just as much as he does our girls. Hell, he even refers to Paige as one of his. All three of them hang out here every day after school just to be with his annoying ass.

  I look at JJ and can see the devastation in his eyes even from a distance. He knows that there is no way to take Candi out without Paige getting hurt in the process.

  “Now everyone listen to me, right now!” CC actually stomps her freaking foot like a toddler. I swear when I get my hands on this bitch, it isn’t going to be pretty.

  “You all go away and let me finish talking to my ex!” She screeches.

  “Bitch! We fucked like twice. I am not your damn ex!”

  I turn my head and glare at Danny. “Really, that’s what’s really important right now? Making sure that everyone knows you only fucked her twice?” I hiss with venom.

  He widens his eyes at me. “Well I sure as fuck don’t want people thinking that I was actually in a relationship with this crazy snatch!”

  “You’re such a great role model Dad.” Becca drawls a lot further from me than she was before.

  Candi looks at Danny with a quivering lip. “What about all the things you said to me. Like when you took off my glasses because you wanted to see me better when you were talking to me. About how you like your music like you like your sex?”

  I giggle out loud accidentally and garner a sneer from her. “What’s so funny?”

  “Let me guess, he finished that line off with slow, deep and wet?” I reply with a vicious smile.

  She narrows her eyes at me. “Ho-how do you know that?”

  I snort and give Danny an annoyed look. “Because it’s literally how a character picked up some chick in a movie that we watched years and years ago. Even the glasses thing came from there. Face it, you aren’t even worth any original content.”

  She turns bright red in embarrassment and I would almost feel bad for her. Ya know, if she wasn’t holding one of my girls with a knife to the throat. You can tell that she’s finally realizing that the only reason he even remembers her name is because we all had so much fun out of the fact that she couldn’t remember how to spell it.

  “Do you all think now is the best time to say all of this?” Declan asks.

  I look at Danny and he looks at me. We look over at all the guys and shrug. See, I’ve figured out why he isn’t overly worried about Paige being held with a knife. I also caught onto why the twin terrors have been slowly moving closer to the other member of their triad.

  “That’s all you two are going to do, shrug?” JJ asks with a voice filled with disbelief

  “Don’t worry Dad, it’s all good.” Paige calmly tells her father with a smile.

  Him and a few of the other guys tilt their heads. “It’s all good?” JJ says oh so slowly.

  Danny nods. “Yeah don’t even worry about it man.”

  “I would worry less if you didn’t have a huge gash that’s gushing blood on your arm.” JJ drawls with annoyance.

  Danny looks down at his arm. “That was a miscalculation on my part.”

  “I feel so much better now.”

  Danny smiles at him. “You should buddy. You know how much I love my girls. The sky’s the limit with what teenagers can learn...in a short amount of time.”

  You can almost see the light bulb go off in all of their heads. Part of me is dying to chuckle even though that would be a horrible idea.

  “Hello, stop ignoring me. I’m the one in control.” CC stomps her foot – yep, stripper heels – once again.

  Danny looks over at her with a droll look. “Bitch, you haven’t been running shit since you got behind Paige and put that knife to her throat. Shit, we’re all just waiting to hear the ambulance that’s going to be transporting your dumb ass to the hospital.”

  She gives a confused look that I’m almost positive is a regular look for her. She then gives us all an ugly sneer. “I’m the one with the knife. Why would I be the one going to the hospital?”

  JJ gives her the coldest and most vile smile that I’ve ever seen cross his handsome face. “They were here before we even came inside.”

  And that was all it took to flip the switch as they say. Paige went from calm, relaxed and loose, to some damn ninja warrior.

  What Candi didn’t notice the entire time is that Paige kept her arms very close to her body and moved slowly. So slowly, that she would only appear to be scared. When Paige went from moving slowly to quickly, Candi never saw it coming.

  Before Paige brought her hands up to Candi’s arms, she was ready to use one hundred and ten percent force, just like Danny taught her.

  Next Paige pulls with both arms at Candi’s wrists in a downward direction. While pulling Candi’s arms downward towards the left, Paige cocks her right shoulder up. Doing this makes sure that the knife gets away from her neck, which is one of the most important things.

  Making sure to keep Candi’s forearm close to her shoulder, she pulls it with both hands.

  It hasn’t dawned on Candi that Paige is more than capable of defending herself. And as much as we would all love to run in and help Paige, we might distract her from getting away from the knife and end up getting her killed instead of helping her. But watching her do this is one of the proudest and scariest moments of my entire life.

  With the knife away from her face in one swift move, Paige rams her shoulder into the arm holding the knife. Paige gets the knife away from herself, while simultaneously elbowing Candi in the face.

  And alas, Candi drops the knife to try to cover her nose. And thanks to what I’m sure is blurry as hell eyes, she is making a pathetic attempt at getting away.

  “Anyone going to put an end to this?” Rocco asks like the only responsible adult.

  Marc looks around at everyone. “A few more minutes w
ouldn’t be so bad. I mean she did want to kill them all.”

  JJ is standing there looking on with eyes filled with pride. “I’m good with a few more minutes.”

  “Two at the most.” Damon grunts out at us all. “Too many cameras around here. We don’t really have a valid excuse for not going in right away.”

  Rocco is pinching the bridge of his nose and appears to be mumbling to himself. “How am I the only one who’s trying to be an actual police officer today? I get where JJ is coming from right now. I have no problem taking the lead. But for fuck’s sake, can the rest of you pretend to do your fucking jobs and stop what is obviously nothing more than a fucking beatdown!” He yells.

  We all just stare at him. Huh, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him upset before. It’s definitely a good look on him. I’ll have to have a long conversation with Lavender about why she’s been avoiding this man. He is way too handsome to be hiding from.

  “It’s not really an obvious beatdown. It’s more like sisters having each other’s backs. It’s actually a really sweet moment when you think about how much they love each other.” Declan states with uncleish pride. The dope even pretends to wipe a tear away from his eye.

  “Candi’s face is beginning to look like mincemeat.” Rocco plainly states.

  “That might actually be an improvement for her.” I blurt out before I can stop myself. What? Again, you never try to hurt a momma’s little chicks.

  Regardless of the fact that all three of them are currently kicking the ever-loving shit out of the crazy bitch. My smart girls even made sure to kick the knife over to their nice SWAT uncles. Some days I’m so proud to be their mom. I sniffle a bit.

  Danny looks at me with wide eyes. “Why are you sniffling?”

  “They just make me so proud...ya know?”

  He grabs me around the neck with his uninjured arm and nods. “Yeah, me too Sage...me too.”

  “Girls! Enough!” JJ states with a voice full of authority. Damn buzzkill. They could’ve let them kick the shit out of her for just a little longer. We can always get rid of that video feed somehow.

  The girls stop automatically and drop Candi unceremoniously face first onto the ground. The moan lets us all know that the crazy ass bitch is still somehow awake.

  Good. I evilly chuckle to myself. I’m glad that she felt every inch of that beatdown. That’s what you get for pissing off the triplets of terror.

  I’m their mother and I still hesitate when it comes to pissing them off. And I know that the worst they’ll do to me is switch out my coffee for decaf.

  Besides a broken nose, I think a few other bones in her face are broken, her hand and wrist are at an odd angle and I’m pretty sure she has a few broken ribs thanks to a few well-placed kicks on Becca’s part. That girl has no problem kicking you when you’re already down.

  The twins calmly walk over to Danny and I while Paige runs to JJ. If they hadn’t been trained their entire lives and weren’t part demon, I would be mildly insulted that they didn’t come running towards us like Paige did.

  We do a group family hug and over Missy’s shoulder I can see Paige in JJ’s arms getting the life squeezed out of her.

  The other guys are reading Candi her rights and waiting for the paramedics to come in and scrape her off the floor.

  JJ walks over with Paige still firmly planted in his arms. He only puts her down to squeeze the hell out of the twins, much to their pretend disgust. I would be upset if I didn’t think that it was so sweet that he loves my girls enough to hug them first. He finally pulls me into an earth-shattering kiss. I’m pretty certain that I see stars.

  “Marry me.” He mumbles against my lips. “I don’t have a ring or anything else planned right now, but I know with every fiber of my being that I need you to marry me. I need you and the girls to be my family completely.”

  Dammit. I can’t even joke about how shitty of a proposal this is when he goes and tells me he wants my girls as his family. Damn sweet alpha jerk. How can anyone say no to that? “Maybe.” I whisper in response.

  “She means hell yes.” My traitorous baby daddy tells him.

  “Yay, the three of us can get matching maid of honor dresses!” Missy exclaims.

  Becca looks at Paige evilly. “Hey, maybe this time you won’t end up looking cheaper than one of Dad’s horrible one nighters.”

  “Har-har. I’ll have you know, that I still looked better than that cheap skank. At least I got a hit in, unlike you.” Paige defends.

  “Did they start off asking how much for the hour? Or were they using cheesy lines like my dad does?” Becca questions.

  Paige purses her lips. “Theirs were actually pretty good” – she eyes Danny – “unlike some people that we happen to know.”

  “You horrible shitheads realize that I’m standing right here, right? That I can hear every word that you’re saying.” Danny growls at them.

  “Maybe hearing all of this will help you make better life choices.” Becca calmly explains to him like he’s the child in this scenario. I mean she’s not that far off, but still.

  Paige looks Danny up and down with a hand on her hip and pursed lips. “Or at least to get some original material.”

  “Or at least better taste in women.” Missy groans in disgust. “Mom’s right, your taste in women went way downhill after you guys broke up.”

  “You also probably shouldn’t call them shitheads.” I decide to add just for fun. If they’re ganging up on him, I might as well get in on the fun.

  He gives me the stink eye. “You call them worse than that.” He grumbles with his arms crossed over his chest. Still gushing blood mind you.

  I raise my index finger and wiggle it back and forth and give him a tsk. “Only mentally, never out loud where judgey ass people could hear.”

  “You two are such wonderful role models for us. I wonder how we’ll ever be able to live up to the awesomeness that is the two of you.” Becca says while batting her eyelashes at us.

  Danny gives her a stern look. “You should be happy to have us as role models, otherwise you guys wouldn’t have been able to beat that chick’s ass.”

  “He has a point.” JJ states while looking all three girls in the eyes. He then raises an eyebrow at Paige. “And by the way, where did your beat down skills come from?”

  That’s a totally valid question. Paige wasn’t exactly Xena Warrior Princess when we first met her.

  Paige looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Dad,” she says slowly, “what do you think that I’ve been doing here every day, after school?”

  “You seriously never asked her what she does here all the time?” Rocco asks incredulously.

  JJ gives a sheepish shrug. “Honestly, I kind of figured that the three of them would be planning world domination while walking on a treadmill. Plus, I figured Danny would watch them.”

  I snort, loudly. “What you mean, is that you figured Danny wouldn’t let any guys flirt with them.”

  “I feel like your dad threw in a jab at us somehow.” Becca states.

  Missy taps her lips. “I kind of thought that he was complimenting us.”

  Paige frowns. “I think that he was doing both.”

  Danny steps forward from where he was looking in the medical kit. At least he’s now applying gauze to his wound. “Anyway, to answer your question, since everyone else just goes off on different tangents.” He eyes the girls. “When they come in each day, I make them spar with one of the guys in training for like an hour or so.”

  JJ blinks at him a few times, along with some of the other guys on his team. “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that for me? I thought you said that you put my baby girl in a ring with a trained fighter.”

  Danny rolls his eyes while taking out...is that super glue? Good Lord, this idiot is just going to use super glue instead of getting it properly cleaned and stitched. Instead of stopping him, JJ is actually opening it up for him while Declan holds his arm steady.

  Danny barely grimaces when JJ ap
plies the super glue and holds the gash closed. And now Rocco is being nice enough to bandage it for him. I swear it’s amazing that men stay alive. You would really think that nature would just take its course at some point.

  “I’ve been training Sage and the twins for years now. I figured that it would be a good idea to do the same with Paige.” He pauses and gives JJ a meaningful look.

  “So, I started off teaching her a few moves, before having her get in the ring. The best way to learn is through muscle memory, that way the moves become like second nature to her. Which worked out pretty well, all of her movements were fluid and precise. It also helped that her attacker was half the size of the usual ones.”

  JJ is giving him a blank look. “It never occurred to you to ask me if you could put her in the ring with a grown ass trained fighter?”

  “Not really I figured that you would want her to be able to handle herself.” Danny shrugs a bit. I kind of agree with him on that one.

  JJ nods his head in agreement. “Yes, yes I do. But did it ever occur to you that her mother is the queen of all bitches. And that if Paige had gotten hurt by one of those men, that she would do everything in her power to try to take her way from me, just for the hell of it?”

  Dammit, I actually didn’t think about that. But he’s right. Jackie’s bitch ass may not really want Paige but she would take her away from JJ just to be the spiteful shrew that she is. I’m about to apologize for my part in that when Danny gets the creepiest smile that I’ve ever seen on his face.

  “Ah, yes, good old Jackie. Why don’t we all go and get cleaned up and meet back at Sage’s house later on tonight.” He looks around at the other guys. “The ones that are joining us better bring beer and pizza.” With that he just casually walks away whistling to himself.

  “Anyone else thoroughly creeped out by him right now?” Rocco asks and receives a bunch of nods.

  Declan looks like he’s jumping up and down on the ball of his feet. “Anyone else really fucking excited for what he’s going to say?” We all just stare at him and he just tsks us. “Come on, you do not have that type of look unless you know something really good. I’ll bring the beer!” Declan yells walking away.