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31
Jimmy
Getting Served
“Ican’t believe that just happened.” Iz slumps down in the recliner and lets out a noisy sigh. It’s going on ten p.m., Bean’s finally in bed, and we’ve finally just gotten home from the police station.
It turned out to be a full family affair as we crowded the police station and pissed off the chief.
Lindsi’s kids, cute as buttons, are named Benny Junior, and Olivia. I had to roll my eyes at that poor boy’s name, not because he’s not a sweet kid, but because his asshole father felt the need to name him Ben.
Narcissistic prick.
Kit and Bobby were there, and Jack, because wherever Kit goes, Jack goes. Aiden, Jon and Tink all stopped by. Even Mom walked in and took control. She made sure we didn’t fuck anything up, then she made sure Lindsi and her kids were comfortable.
My mom wasn’t walking away until they were set.
And safe.
“I can’t believe you let someone hit you, Bubs. And you didn’t even hit her back.” Anger boils in my gut and has me lifting Iz from the chair so I can plop down beneath her and pull her into my lap. “That’s not the fighter I know.”
“She had her kids there, Jim. I wasn’t gonna hit her in front of her kids, plus, it’s not like I didn’t deserve it. She wasn’t wrong.”
“You’re an idiot if you think that. That asshole’s the only one who deserves to be hit. He deserves fuck loads more. He cheats. He hurts Lindsi. Fuck, Iz,” I squeeze her tight as the worry sits low in my stomach, “that could’ve been you. What if he wasn’t already married? What if you married him and that was you?”
“Hey, relax.” She presses her lips to my shaking chest. “It’s not me. It never would’ve been me, because I have an army who’d never allow it.”
“You can’t say that for sure, Bubs! I bet all battered women say that –beforethey became the battered. Those guys alienate them from their families. They steal them away and take their independence. Lindsi had her shit in her car, Iz. He controls their money. He controls her.”
I want to vomit just thinking about it. Just imagining her being helpless and alone… bruised from his hands. In pain and with no way out.
She turns in my lap and runs a soothing finger along my neck. “You’ve been my best friend my whole life… Would you have let me go? Would you have allowed me to be alienated?”
Fuck no!
“There’s no chance in hell Jon would let me go. Or Bobby. Hell, Kit or Tink are savage. They’re more persistent than a pitbull with a bone. It wouldn’t matter if I set you all on fire. Literally! You’d still come looking for me.”
I bury my face in her fragrant hair. “You still came too close, Bubs. Too fucking close.”
“I know. But I’m okay. I married you.” Her lips turn up at the side. “I marriedyou. Ben doesn’t exist. Now we get to raise our baby together, nothing else matters. And as for Lindsi, we’ll help her. She deserves the hand up, and Ben deserves a kick in the nuts. Not to mention, she has a mean right hook that we could probably train and make better.”
I smile, not because of Lindsi’s hook, but because Bubs is right here, in my lap, smiling and safe. She came close to a really dangerous situation, but she didn’t step over the line. She’s right here and she’s with me.
Lindsididstep over the line, but she’s safe now, too. She’s already behind the gates, the security feed is up, and everything’s locked up tight and secure.
We’ll keep her safe until she’s ready to make her move, and in the meantime, we’ll start packing our shit, because it’s time for us to move, too.
“I swear, I don’t even know how you girls get yourselves into these situations.”
Izzy’s head shoots up. “You better not be talking about Lindsi. You victim blame, I’ll set your dick on fire.”
I snort. “No! I meant you. One minute you’re sparring with Kit, which we already said not to do, next minute, you’re part of a beat down gang in the parking lot.”
“Beat down gang.” She snickers and presses a kiss to my chest. “Yeah, Kit and I, against an untrained mom and her two nuggets. It was the baby girl who won, she was the meanest.”
“No doubt. Girls are mean. Bean is. Have you caught her attitude? She’s a psycho when she’s hungry.”
“And I couldn’t be more proud,” she giggles. “My girl’s gonna be a fighter. You know that, right? You think you have problems now, you wait until she steps into the ring the first time.”
I scoff. “Nah, she won’t fight. She wouldn’t do that to me.”
