Where's Ava?" As every muscle in my body screams in protest with the movement, I push up trying to prop myself on the pillow. I don’t know how long I've been asleep, but it feels like forever.

"Bella has her, babe. She's in the room across the hall fast asleep," Reid comforts me, taking my hand in his.

I can't help but replay the attack over and over again. I want to say I'm okay, but the truth is- I'm scared out of my mind.

"You want me to go get her, beautiful?"

"No. Not until I have a chance to clean myself up. I don’t want her to see me like this. Nothing about me is beautiful right now," I tell him. I don't want to think about how frightened she was sitting in that bathroom listening and not knowing what was happening. I look at Reid, "I would like to take a shower."

"I'll go get one started," he says standing, then leans down and kisses my forehead. I close my eyes and focus on the gentle touch of his lips against my skin, trying to calm my racked nerves. After he disappears into the bathroom, I take a moment to look at my surroundings. Being here- not just in the clubhouse, but in his room amongst his things in his bed I feel safe. What made that man choose me as his victim? Was it because I was alone with a child? I wouldn’t think he wanted to rob me because he was so intent on hurting–no, he wanted to kill me. Reid walks out of the bathroom towards me. He pulls back the covers and tosses them to the side, then bends down and scoops me into his strong arms. Part of me wants to protest. A much more significant part of me finds too much comfort in the warmth of his embrace. Carrying me into the bathroom, Reid gently helps me stand. I hiss at the pain in my side with the slight movement. I can almost guarantee I have at most bruised ribs.

"Shit, babe, I'm sorry," Reid looks on with worry.

"I'm okay. Once I can stand under the flow of that hot water, it's sure to soothe some of the soreness." Before I can reach for the hem of my scrubs, Reid grabs my hand, stopping me. Without a word, he takes the hem and starts to pull upwards. Slowly raising my arms above my head, I let him gently pull my top off. Stepping behind me, he unclasped my bra and slides the straps over my shoulders exposing my breasts before dropping it to the floor beside my shirt. My breath hitches. The whole scene a reenactment of the way I took care of him weeks ago. My heart starts to pound harder in my chest. As he moves to stand directly in front of me, I hold my breath and wait to see what he'll do next. His eyes never leaving mine as his hands glide with ease down the curve of my waist and rest briefly on my hips before hooking his thumbs into the waistband of my pants, peeling them from my body. Grabbing hold of his broad shoulders, I lift my feet to step out of them. Now completely exposed to him, Reid continues with his eye contact as he stands. Without hesitation, I watch him strip from his clothes as well. I feel my core temperature rise at the sight of his body. Taking in every detail.

He takes me by the hand and he guides me into the walk-in shower, closing the glass door as he steps inside, not giving a second thought to getting his prosthesis wet. The moment the hot water cascades over my body my tension lessons, my muscles start to relax, and I close my eyes. Just after I turn around so the water is hitting my front, I hear the snap of a shampoo bottle. His hands tangle in my hair as his fingers gently massage the citrus-scented shampoo into my scalp, causing me to moan. He reaches up grabbing the detachable shower head and starts to rinse my hair. I spin back around to face him. Squeezing some body wash into the palm of his hand, he steps closer and lightly splays his hands over my chest. His touch teasing as he drags them down my sides, grazing the sides of my breasts along the way before sweeping across my stomach. He brings them up between my breasts only to repeat the same path all over again. Kneeling, he starts at my feet washing his way up my leg, stopping mere inches from the one place I want him most. My lips part when he looks at me with want. Continuing, he repeats the same process with the other leg, pausing inches from my aching pussy. Without warning his tongue darts out tasting me. I throw my head back as his mouth works magic on my clit. Reaching down, I run my fingers over his scalp as he devours me. My legs soon begin to quiver with my building orgasm causing my hands to grip his hair tighter. Reaching behind me, he grabs hand fulls of my ass pulling my hips forward just as my orgasm explodes. My release so strong, I almost black out.

Suddenly overcome with so much emotion I begin to cry. Carefully rising, Reid rinses the suds from my body then turns off the water. Taking my face in the palm of his hands, he kisses me. It's not like the kiss that day at the party. It’s softer—sweeter. Coming to my senses, knowing I should return the favor, I reach down and run the length of his cock with the tips of my fingers.

"Kitten, this isn't about me, it's about you," He groans when I do it again.

Gently stopping me, he states, "Soon, beautiful. You need to heal first."

At that moment the words 'I love you' were at the forefront of my mind and almost on the tip of my tongue. After he towel dries me, Reid helps me dress in a pair of his sweatpants and one of his shirts.

"I know they're huge, but they're all I've got," he expresses.

"That’s okay. It's perfect." I tell him. They smell like him, and I find it comforting.

"Come on, let's get you settled in bed," he tells me.

Stopping in front of the mirror I look at myself. Busted lip, black eye and purple marks covering my neck. My daughter is safe, and I'm alive. Right now, that’s all that matters. Climbing into bed, I realize I need Ava with me. "Could you bring Ava in here? I know it's late and she's asleep, but I need to hold her for awhile," I tell him.

"Sure." He says with understanding. Once he finishes getting dressed, he walks out of the room and reappears with Ava and I snuggle her close to my chest. I came so close to never seeing her sweet face again. So close to never hearing her say Momma or I love you again. Holding back tears, I look up at Reid, "Thank you," I whisper.

"I'll be in the room next door if you need me," he responds heading toward the bedroom door.

"Stay," I say, causing him to pause with his hand on the doorknob. "Please," I beg.

Shifting his weight, he turns and strides towards the other side of the bed, takes care of removing his prosthesis and climbs in behind me. He kisses my neck before placing his hand on my hip. It doesn’t take me long before the sweet sounds of my daughter's breathing cause my eyes to get heavy with sleep, and they begin to close.

* * *

I wake to a soft little finger stroking my nose. I open my eyes to see Ava staring at me.

"You got a boo boo, Momma," her tiny hand touches my eye.

"I know, sweetie."

"Bad man hurt you?" she asks

Before I can respond, I hear Reid clear his throat and look up to see him standing at the foot of the bed with a plate in his hand and a coffee mug in the other. "Ava and I made you breakfast. She fixed you some toast with strawberry jam," he smiles. An excited Ava jumps off the bed and retrieves the plate from him and carefully carries it, gently placing it next to me on the bed.

"I put da stwaberwy jams on by myself," she giggles as she eagerly waits for me to take a bite.

"It's delicious. Thank you, sweetie," I express, causing her face to light up with happiness. Reid hands me my coffee, and I sip on it while Ava steals a bite of my breakfast.

"Bella is here. Would it be okay if she took Ava for a little while today? We need to talk," he says.

I'm not sure what we would need to talk about other than what happened last night. "I don't mind."

"She's downstairs, and she brought you some clothes. I'll send her up."

I don’t know how well that’s going to work. Bella is much shorter than I am. Leaning down, he kisses me then leaves. Ava climbs onto the bed and sits cross-legged on the bed brushing her dollie's hair. There is a light knock on the bedroom door followed by Bella entering the room and closing the door behind her. Holding up a bag, she greets me," I have some clothes, and before you say it, I raided Alba's closet for them. You two are close in height and size. At least she kept it basic. Jeans, black t-shirt, and a pair of sandals. "Thanks," I tell her.

Getting out of bed, I strip out of Reid's clothes and start to put on the others. Surprisingly, my side is feeling much better. I look down at the bruises covering my side before slipping the shirt over my head.

I walk into the bathroom to do something with my hair. Bella leans against the door frame and looks over her shoulder before speaking, "You doing okay?"

"Besides being sore, I'm fine. If you're asking emotionally, that's hard to say right now. My feelings are a bit all over the place. I'm grateful the guys found me when they did. I'm scared; I'm confused. Inside, I'm a mess." I admit to her.

"I understand. Just know I'm here if you need to talk and Reid will take care of you and Ava. As far as the attacker, I don’t know what became of him. I didn’t ask, and the guys wouldn’t tell."

The three of us make our way downstairs to the sounds of men talking. We find Reid, Quinn, and Jake sitting at the bar.

"I'm going to take off. I told Alba I'd meet her at the park by the library in about an hour. Ava, give your momma hugs so we can go play," she announces.

I hug and kiss my baby girl goodbye. No sooner do they walk out the door when Reid is at my side. "Come on. Let's go sit in the kitchen,"

I follow him into the kitchen and sit down in the chair he offers. "Listen, I've got something to tell ya," he faces his chair towards me and sits, "The guy who attacked you was a hitman. I suspect from his confession and description of the person who paid him to do it, that it may have been your father," He looks at me with certainty. But why? My parents?

"I don’t understand. Why would my parents want me dead? I'm nothing to them. It doesn’t make any sense. You must be mistaken." I tell him, feeling a little-light head with his admission.

"I'll get to the bottom of this, I promise, Mila. Is there anything you can tell me—anything at all that might help me figure this all out?"

My brain is overloaded right now trying to process what I just heard. Do they hate me so much they wish I were dead? But still… Why? I think about the house and eviction papers. But again, I can't make sense of it all. Gram's house isn’t worth a whole lot. What would they get out of it? "A few days ago, I received some papers in the mail from my parent's firm in New York. They've filed a motion to contest my Power of Attorney rights with Grams," Reid interrupts my confession,

"Why didn’t you say anything?"

"Let me finish. Yesterday while I was at work an officer showed up serving me papers. My parents had me served an eviction notice. They are trying to kick me out of our home. How can they even do that?" I bury my face in my hands. Leading me from my seat, Reid guides me to sit on his lap and places his hand between my knees.

"I swear, I'll figure this all out, Kitten." he comforts me.

Can he? I still have to fight everything. I still need to stand in a courtroom with the two of them. How am going to be able to go head to head with two prominent attorneys? "Did you guys grab my stuff from the motel room last night? I need my phone. I'm going to give River a call and see if he can help explain what my options are with all the legal stuff my parents are throwing at me," I explain to Reid.

"Who the fuck is River?" he asks defensively.

"The guy I walked out with at Ava's preschool a few weeks ago. He happens to be a lawyer. I figured since we're friends he might be able to at least give me some free advice on how to handle the situation," I state.

"If I wasn’t clear enough last night, Kitten, from now on it's us. All the way, so we will be going to see him together."