by EA Hunt
“How generous,” Pierre laughed. “Though I think when I leave, I’ll take something or someone with me,” he reached around Gigi, placing a hand on Melly’s head. “Little girls like this fetch a high price,” he moved his hand to Gigi’s hip. “And innocence like this one will make me money, day in and day out.”
Who the fuck were they in business with? This fucker was talking like he ran people as part of his business. Oh, fuck no.
“Please,” Celise started. She pulled her wrist from Bash’s grasp. “Please let me have my girls,” she took a step towards the man. “They are all I have. My daughters are all I have in this world,” she begged, letting her tears fall from her eyes. “Please,” she let slip once more, stopping only a few feet from them. Melly was sobbing and Willa was screaming, but Gigi had a strong grip on both the girls. Celise looked at Gigi. She gave the girl a small reassuring smile.
“MOVE!” Bash screamed
Elbowing the man in the gut, Gigi wrapped an arm around Melly, falling to the floor, her body covering both girls.
Celise rushed to the girls, covering their bodies right as the first bullet, followed by several more, rang out around them. When the ringing stopped, she looked up to see Pierre with a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead and several windows in the front of the bar, broken. She stood, helping her girls up. She scooped up Melly. “Are you all right, baby?”
“Yes, Momma,” she replied, burying her head in her mother’s neck.
“Gigi, Willa?” Celise questioned, stepping towards the younger woman. She placed a hand on her cheek.
“We’re good,” Gigi replied. “I forgot how crazy people get when the club pisses them off,” she smiled at Celise. “I tried to fight him off when he came into the house while we were making cookies, but he –”
“Hit her, Momma!” Melly finished.
“I see that, baby,” Celise ran her thumb over the bruise on the side of Gigi’s right eye. “We’ll get something for this while the boys clean up this mess,” she said. She looked over her shoulder at Bash. He was talking to a few brothers and looking out the window. He didn’t look happy. She turned back to the girls, wrapped her arm around them and headed towards his room, leaving him to clean up.
Running a hand down his face, Bash walked into his home to a fire blazing in the fireplace. Gigi was on the couch, sleeping, with Deuce in the chair in the corner, angled so that he had a view of both the back and the front door. Giving the man a small nod, he walked towards his kitchen and the bottle of whiskey he knew was there. The day had been exhausting. With Pierre and several of his men in the same grave, he’d had to deal with Pierre’s second-in-command. Paulo hadn’t been surprised at Pierre’s demise. According to Paulo, the man hadn’t been keeping his promised shipments. His men at the borders hadn’t been doing their jobs properly and more and more shipments were getting randomly checked at a crossing that Pierre was supposed to have complete control over.
Shaking his head, Bash reached for the whiskey on top of the fridge. Paulo had thanked him for his service, told him their ties were finished, then wired five million dollars into an account for the club. Many of Pierre’s disgruntled clients were offering a bounty on the man’s head. A bounty that his woman deserved because she was the reason they’d gotten to Pierre in the first place. Her and Gigi. Pouring himself a drink, he downed it in one gulp. He’d never been so scared in his life. Celise walking in front of that man. Him talking of selling Gigi and Melly. He’d approached the subject with Paulo. The other man had been disgusted with that part of the business and had promised to dismantle it. Bash didn’t want to know how, he just wanted it done. And if it wasn’t, he’d kill Paulo to make sure it was.
“I sent Deuce home and put Gigi in the room upstairs for the night.”
Bash nodded but didn’t face Celise. How could he? He’d gotten their daughters kidnapped because he’d wanted revenge. And gotten into business with someone like Pierre. “Gigi call Stryker?”
“She did. He wasn’t happy, but he was glad she was still in the compound with us,” Celise replied. While cleaning up in Bash’s room, Deuce had been sent to get them so he could escort everyone back to the house and repair anything that was broken – which wasn’t a lot.
Bash nodded. He’d deal with his Uncle tomorrow. Right now, he needed to deal with his woman. “I should have told you about the threat. I shouldn’t have gone behind your back and closed you down. But I did it because Pierre knew about you. Knew how I felt and would have used you to get to me.”
“Instead he used my daughters and a young woman who I can easily start to call a sister,” Celise said, folding her arms over her chest. She was being hard on Bash, she knew she was. But he needed to hear this. “Any threat like this, I want to know. I don’t want to be blindsided again.”
“There won’t be any more threats like this,” he told her. But they both knew that wasn’t the complete truth.
“I want a proper fence,” Celise started. Pierre had been able to get into their house because the house backed on to a wooded area. One that was supposed to have a chain-linked fence around it. But the fence hadn’t been properly cared for and that had allowed the man to walk onto the property without notice. “All around the compound. I don’t want this to happen again. We live here. We’re supposed to be safe.”
“So you’re not leaving me?” Bash asked. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought that Celise would pack up and walk away after what had happened here.
“No,” she shook her head. “I’m not leaving you. But I want to feel safe here, Bastion.”
Placing his glass on the counter, he walked over to his woman. “You and our girls are the most important thing in the world to me,” he told her, placing his forehead on hers. “I will give you anything you want for you to feel safe and loved.”
“I know,” Celise leaned forward. She placed her lips on his. “And you are the most important thing to us. So the next time there’s an attempt on your life, please tell me.”
“If you promise that the next time someone comes after you or our girls, you tell me,” Bash requested. Learning about Scottie from Trigger was one thing, hearing it from his woman was another. Last night when he’d taken her, it wasn’t only because he missed her but also because of what had happened with Scottie. He’d needed to feel her. Hold her. Love her.
“Deal,” Celise replied with a kiss.
Epilogue
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Melody! Happy birthday to you!” Celise clapped as the song ended and Melly hugged her side. She sent the little girl to sit at the long picnic table they’d set up in front of their home on the compound. Celise smiled at her daughter. It had been a long six weeks. Melly had just recently started sleeping in her own room after several weeks of thinking that the bad man was going to come and take her. Neither Celise nor Bash had discouraged the little girl from sleeping with them until she was ready to sleep alone once more. Melly hadn’t been the only casualty of the Pierre incident. Though Gigi had said she was all right, Celise still saw the younger woman looking over her shoulder and jumping at the slightest sound. Gigi was getting better, but Celise didn’t leave her alone much when they were in the bakery.
Cutting into Melly’s Princess Barbie sheet cake, Celise started placing pieces of cake on plates and handing them out to the people gathered around. She, like Gigi and Melly, had needed some time to adjust too. She’d kept the girls at home and at the bakery with her for a while until she was ok with letting them out of her sight. And when she was on the main floor of the bakery, she’d look through the window to see Gigi smiling as she made a new cake or cookie. She’d even wake at night, turning to see Bash lying next to her. She would place a hand on his chest then lay her head on it, listening to his heartbeat, knowing he was with her. Protecting her and their children. Celise smiled as she placed a hand on her stomach. All their children.
“Do I get a piece of cake?”
Celise turned and
smiled at Bash. She held out a piece of cake to him. “Yes,” she winked at him. While making the cake they’d used the batter in some very creative and messy ways. It had taken them most of the night to clean the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Bash replied, taking the cake. He bent his head, taking her lips with his. She tasted as she always tasted – of cinnamon and sugar. And he loved it. Lifting his head, he smiled down at her. His ring was back on her finger and she was in his bed every night. The past was over and their future was before them. “Come, I want you to meet Uncle Stryker,” he told her. His uncle had reamed him out a few weeks ago not only for placing his family – including Gigi – in danger, but also for his error with Celise. Walking the short distance to the man talking with Danish and Trigger, Bash moved Celise ahead of him. “Uncle Stryker this is –”
“Willie?” Stryker said.
“Why are you calling me Willie?” Celise asked, surprised.
“Cause you look just like Willa Jean, but we called her Willie,” Stryker replied. “The original members of the club, before it became the Black Crows, were soldiers who’d been cast aside and looking for some place to belong. One of those men was named Germaine but we called him German because he spoke it fluently along with several other languages,” Stryker explained. He reached out his hand to Celise. “He was the first to have a kid. We were all so happy after the heartache of losing so many friends – and ourselves.” He smiled as Celise took his hand.
“I always wondered why my grandfather called my grandmother Willie,” Celise replied.
“She was tougher than most of the men. And could curse like a sailor. I had such a crush on her when I was a boy. But she and German left the club to raise their son after your grandfather got into one too many… how do I say? Incidents. Your grandmother was afraid of losing him, so he chose her. And to be honest, none of us could blame him. Willie was a special woman.”
Celise sniffled. “That she was,” she said as she squeezed Stryker’s hand. “You will have to tell me stories about my grandparents before they became parents because I’m positive my father knew nothing of their past.”
“I’m positive he didn’t either. He was only a toddler when they moved and cut ties with the club. We didn’t even learn of your grandfather’s passing until a year after it happened.” He looked around her. “Is Willie here with you?”
“No,” Celise shook her head, sadly. “She passed a few years ago. Our middle child is named after her.”
“Did you say our middle child?” Bash questioned his Babygirl. Celise smiled at him and nodded. Bash wrapped his arms around her. “I knew when I met you, you would change my life!”
“Boy, this girl came into your life and wrecked it like a hurricane,” Stryker laughed as everyone else joined in.
Coming Attractions
Bridget & Angel (The Cage – Book Three)
Shifter Chronicles: The Hart’s – William and Martina
Charlie (Men of The Lucky Lou)
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