"What the hell," the woman, still sprawled out on the floor, sputters. Before she tips off her man of my approach, I notice from the corner of my eye my sister delivering a swift kick to her ribs.
With my gun in hand, I tune out everything around me but the biker holding the weapon with his finger not yet on the trigger. Jake doesn't make a peep or give away my approach as I make my way across the bar. The slight tick in his jaw tells me he knows exactly what I'm about to do. Gabriel and Riggs also track my movements, neither saying a word nor making a move. I feel as though time has slowed, but I have never been more focused than I am now. My nerves are in check, my grip on the gun steady, and my breathing is even.
I'm no more than ten feet from the guy when he speaks again. "I'm giving you cunts to the count of three to drop your guns, or I'm going to paint the floor with your brothers' brains." He presses the barrel against the back of Logan's head and his finger moves in slow motion toward the trigger. "One... Two…"
I raise my weapon and take aim. "Three."
"Will you stop?" I huff. "Seriously, Logan, I'm fine." We've been back at the clubhouse for a few hours now. After the incident with the bikers, Jake ordered Logan to get me out of there along with the other women and Riggs, while he and Gabriel handled the mess left behind at Charley's.
"Angel." Logan takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.
I climb out of bed and go to my husband. He's sitting in the chair on the opposite side of the room with his head hung and a tumbler of whiskey in his hand. "Listen to me." I take the glass from his hand, set it on the floor beside the chair, drop to my knees between his legs, then take his face between my palms, forcing him to look into my eyes. "I'm fine. I'm not going to sit here and lie by saying that what happened tonight didn't affect me in some way, but it's not how you think."
"Baby," he says, but I cut him off.
"I could have lost you tonight, and our children could have lost their father."
"Angel."
I see the pained look in Logan's eyes, and it guts me. "I don't regret for one second pulling the trigger. I know you're watching and waiting for me to break, but that will not happen." I thread my fingers through his hair.
"When I saw that man holding a gun to your head, the only thing I could think about was I can't live in a world where you don't exist. I can't walk a day on this earth without you beside me. I refuse to let anyone take our children's father away from them. I know you think I was shaken up because of what I’d done, but the truth is, I was shaken up because I imagined what would happen to our family had things not gone the way they did. As long as there is a breath in me, I will do whatever it takes to ensure you come home to our kids and me at the end of the day. You would have done the same for me."
"Without fuckin' hesitation, Angel. I would bleed this earth dry for you and my family. I would die for you."
"I love you, Logan."
Logan grasps me under my arms, hauls me into his lap, and I bury my face in his neck. "I love you too, Bella. So goddamn much."
I wake sometime later to the bedroom door inching open, and Logan stirs beside me as we watch Jake and Brea creep into the room, both half-asleep. Neither of the kids says a word as they climb into bed between their daddy and me.
Them waking in the middle of the night to sleep in our bed happens less these days, so I cherish these rare occurrences, especially tonight.
Logan catches my eye, and I know he's feeling the same way: full of love, and knowing we are blessed.
Brea snuggles in against her daddy, Jake rests his head on my shoulder, and Logan wraps his arms around the three of us. All that is right and good in this world happens to be right here in this room.
