The Biker's Fate Chapter 81

Payton

"Alex." I mimicked his voice. "Put your money back in your wallet. If I want to buy something, I'll buy it. You pay for everything when we're together anyway. Now it's my chance to feel like I'm not a kept woman."

He slid his hand to my neck. "We'll play that game next time."

I shivered and smiled up at him. "Can't wait."

He leaned down and kissed me quickly and then we walked back to Lily.

"Daddy's gotta go to work, baby girl. Payton's gonna take you shopping."

"Okay, Daddy." She hugged him and then went back to her pancakes.

"Thought that would go different," Alex whispered.

I grinned. "I'll walk you out."

"Watch her, Payton. She sees something shiny and walks away and you won't hear her."

I rolled my eyes. "Wonder who she gets that from?"

He pulled open the door and smiled.

"You're not doing anything dangerous are you?" I asked.

"I'm not doin' anything I don't do every week."

"That doesn't actually answer my question."

He leaned down and kissed me. "Love you, babe."

"Love you too."

He headed to his truck and, after he handed me the car seat, I raised up on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Have a great day at work, honey."

Alex laughed and took off.

I made my way back to the kitchen to find Bailey sitting at the table with Brock and Lily. "Good morning," I said.

Bailey smiled sleepily. "Hey. What time are we leaving?"

"I think in about an hour. Anna's going to be here around eleven." I sat beside Lily and slid her hair behind an ear. "How were those pancakes?"

"Yummy."

"Make sure you tell Nana and thank her, okay?"

She grinned. "'K."

"Let's get you cleaned up and then we'll get dressed for shopping, sound good?"

Lily nodded her head and pushed away from the table.

"Go ahead and carry your plate into the kitchen and I'll rinse it off for you."

She grabbed her plate and I tried not to giggle as she gingerly carried it into the kitchen. Granted, it was kind of a big plate for a little girl, but still, cute as a button.

"Oooh, these are awesome," I said, and pulled two of the twelve-inch nutcrackers off the shelf. "They're only seven bucks."

Anna grinned. "Grab me one, please."

"And me," Mom said.

"I only have so many hands," I said with a laugh. "Lily, can you—" I glanced down and she was gone. "Crap! Where the hell did she go?"

I dropped the nutcrackers in the cart and left it where it was. Anna watched the carts while Bailey, me, and Mom went looking for Lily.

I walked down the third aisle to see her talking to a man hunkered down in front of her. I don't know why, call it my new mom intuition, but I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a photo of him. "Lily!"

"Hi Mommy."

"Come here, baby," I said, but the man rose to his feet and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Lily and I were just getting acquainted, Payton."

"I believe you have me at a disadvantage." I held my hand out to Lily. "Come here, Lily."

"Ow," she squeaked, and I saw red.

I advanced on him. "You need to let my daughter go."

"We're not done."

"Lily, honey, close your eyes."

She did and I slammed my palm to his nose, pushing up, not enough to jam his nasal bone into his brain, but hard enough to draw blood.

"Fuck," he bellowed, but released Lily.

I grabbed her arm gently and pulled her to me.

"There you are," my mom exclaimed, and I spun to face her.

"Take Lily, Mom. I need to take care of something."

She frowned, but held her hand out to Lily. "Come with Nana, honey. We'll go find your aunties."

Lily rushed to my mom and I pulled out my phone again, video on.

"You fucking bitch," the man hissed.

"I don't know who you are, but I will find out and if you ever come near my daughter again, you'll have to deal with Hawk. No one wants to deal with Hawk, so heed my warning." I turned and walked away, hoping the people milling around didn't try to find out why I left a man bleeding from the face in the middle of the aisle.

I fired off the video and photo to both Alex and Brock, and then called Alex.

"Not a good time."

"Sorry, honey, but I just sent you a photo and a video. That man hurt Lily."

"What the fuck?" he snapped. "Hold on. Be back, Booker." There was silence and then I heard a door close. "What happened?"

"I lost her for about a minute and she was talking with that man. He knew her name and mine... Lily could have told him I guess, but I don't think so."

"He hurt her?" he said, carefully, like he was holding back rage.

"He squeezed her shoulder when she tried to come to me. She's with my mom. I think he scared her more than anything."

"Fuck!"

"She's okay, honey, but you need to find out who he is."

"Fuck."

"Alex, she's okay. I've got her. You'll see the guy's face on the video... I took care of him for now. You get to do the follow-up."

"I want to talk to her."

I nodded and went back to the aisle I'd left the carts. Lily was in my mom's arms, her arms around her neck. She looked a little shaken up, but surprisingly okay.

"Daddy wants to talk to you, baby."

Mom set her down and she took the phone from me. "Hi, Daddy. I'm okay. Unh-huh. Payton bought cwackers for nuts." She smiled. "Okay."

Lily handed the phone back to me. "Hi."

"She's fine."

I smiled. "I know."

Alex sighed. "Thank you, baby. If you hadn't... well, thank you."

"You can thank me properly later."

"Promise."

"I'll let you go. I've got our girl, honey, so you find out who this bastard is and deal with him."

"Yeah."

"Love you."

"Love you too," he said, and hung up.

"Payton," my mom whispered as she pulled me away from Lily, Anna, and Bailey. "What is going on?"

"I don't know yet, Mom. Alex is going to find out."

"Did you do that to that man?"

"Yeah, Mom, I did."

She smiled. "Brock did a good job teaching you how to fight."

Okay, not the response I expected. I giggled. "Yeah, he did."

"Should we get Lily home do you think?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't want her to get scared, and I think if we run home and hide, it'll worry her more."

"Whatever you think, honey."

"Thanks, Mom."

We walked back to the group and I noticed Bailey was on her phone. "Lily, can you stay with Nana and Anna for a bit? I want to show auntie Bailey something."

Lily nodded.

"I mean, it Lily. You stay with Nana. If you run off again without telling an adult, you're going on time out."

She wrinkled her nose, but nodded again.

"Mom, we'll be right back."

Bailey ended her call and followed me around the corner.

"Was that Brock?" I asked.

"Yeah, he got your texts. I guess he tried to call you, but you must have been on with Alex."

"I'll call him back." I nodded toward her purse. "Do you have your gun with you?"

Bailey grimaced. "Always, but please tell me I'm not going to need it."

I smiled. "I hope we don't. But if we do, I'll take it from you."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I know Brock wants me to carry at all times, but I still get nervous at the shooting range. I can't imagine pointing it at an actual human being."

"It'll get better. I remember being nervous as well."

"Where's your gun?" she whispered.

"Locked up tight at home." I bit my lip. "I haven't had the 'I own a gun and know how to use it' conversation with Alex yet. Plus, I didn't think I'd be in a position where I'd need it, especially shopping with my family."

"Seriously."

"I'm going to call Brock really quick and then I'll find you guys."

Bailey nodded and walked away. I took a minute to fill my brother in on what happened and then rejoined my family.