Total Knock Out / Book Two

Chapter Twenty Eight: Home Again

"I want my daddy!" Rori sobbed, reaching for Logan from the arms of the blonde teenager they had learned was named Ella. Logan took her daughter and adjusted her on one hip, shaking her head in defeat when Charlie offered her one of Zoey's sippy cups.

It had been like this for the last thirty minutes, Darcy's comment about how the guys should have been back by now overheard by Rori and sending her into a hysterical fit for Stanford. Logan started swaying like she used to do when Rori was an infant, moving her daughter around so she was holding her to her chest. She could feel Rori's tears soaking through her shirt and brought a hand up to rub against her back, her own heart breaking when she just sobbed even harder.

"Baby, he'll be here soon. There's nothing to cry about," Logan soothed, pressing a kiss against Rori's temple when she shook her head frantically.

"He's not coming back! He got shooted and he won't come back for us," Rori wailed, grabbing onto Logan's shirt with both hands and sobbing even harder. Logan felt her heart skip a beat before the anger set in.

She knew her daughter wouldn't come up with something like that on her own, even when her brother had let Rori look at his gun out of innocent curiosity she had barely touched it before jerking her hand back like it had burned her. She didn't know the first thing about guns and how they operated past the general rule of don't touch them without an adult there.

Logan looked around the room until she found the Demon Ink member Rori had been playing with earlier, leaning against the wall with a bored expression on his face. She passed her daughter off to Charlie despite her clinging hands before walking over to him, craning her head up to look at his face.

"Did you tell my daughter that Stanford got shot and that's why he wasn't back yet?" Logan asked, crossing her arms over her chest when he just trailed his eyes up and down her body.

She dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands when he flicked a lazy glance over her shoulder and shrugged his own, pushing off of the wall to tower over her. She could feel her heart start to race, she doubted that she would ever get over that reaction towards intimidating males, but she refused to move back when he crowded into her personal space.

"Sunshine," Ella warned, coming up behind Logan and shaking her head when he looked at her. "Don't. Just apologize if you did it."

Logan let out a slow breath when the man, Sunshine, curled his lip up at the two of them. She might not be able to go off on him the way she wanted if he was the one who put the idea that Stanford had been shot into Rori's head, but at least she had back up from someone associated with the motorcycle club. He might not act like it, but everyone else had treated Ella with respect from what Logan could tell and she knew that went a long way with the people watching over them for the time being.

"She asked a question and I gave her an answer. Don't leave the brat alone with people you don't know if you don't want her to get a different answer than your own," Sunshine growled, shoving past the two of them and causing them to stumble into each other.

Logan whirled around, ready to jump on the man and beat him in the head if that's what it took to get a genuine apology out of him, when she saw that he had taken Rori out of Charlie's arms and was rocking her slowly. He still had a lip curled in disgust but she saw the way he was letting her daughter wipe her tears and snot off on his vest, one of his large hands patting her gently on the back.

"He really is sweet once you get past the murderous expression and lack of common decency," Ella sighed, shaking her head in the same fond way Logan had done with her brother a thousand times.

"How long have you known everyone here?" Logan asked, turning to face the teenager once she was sure that Rori was okay with being held by Sunshine.

Ella shrugged her shoulders and offered Logan a sad smile, tugging the sleeves of her sweater over her knuckles.

"For as long as I can remember. Apparently I didn't have a great start in life. I was five when Sunshine's dad got me. It kind of been the general rule of this motorcycle club that you don't fuck with kids, and when Pops found out that someone was producing child pornography staring me he came in guns blazing."

Logan stared at the young woman in front of her, not sure what to say or do. Ella waved her hand dismissively and motioned around the room, an exasperated smile on her face when most of the club members flipped her off while a few wiggled their eyebrows suggestively.

"I got an annoying older brother and about a bazillion cousins out of it, so it's not all bad. They just like to treat me like a baby since I'm not a real patched member. And someone in particular likes to treat me like I don't know how to exist outside of this clubhouse," Ella complained loudly, rolling her eyes when Sunshine and the man who had introduced himself as Phoenix turned to glare at her.

Logan laughed at the murderous expressions on their faces, reaching out to take Ella's hand and give it a squeeze.

"My brother is a Marine. Probably not as intense as your brother, but definitely up there. It doesn't get any better with age," Logan warned, grinning at Ella when she snorted into her hand.

Ella's reply was drowned out by Rori's excited screaming when the door of the pool room opened and Stanford walked in, eyes immediately looking over the room. His shoulders sagged when he found her hiding in the corner with Ella, a slow grin coming over his face that had Logan's pulse skyrocketing.

"If that ain't the hottest thing you've ever seen," Ella sighed, fanning her face as they watched Stanford pluck Rori from Sunshine's arms before striding over towards them. Logan had to agree that it was pretty damned attractive that he had grabbed her daughter with the confidence of a father who needed his child. Ella gave her a mock salute and wink before leaving her alone to wait for Stanford to finish reaching her.

He adjusted Rori on one hip before reaching for her jaw, tilting her face up and pressing his lips against hers. Logan melted into his body, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing as close to him as she could get. She only pulled back for air when Rori started poking her face, a small frown on her usually happy face.

"He's my daddy, I get kisseded first," Rori whined, making Logan laugh while Stanford peppered kisses all over her small face. She glanced around the room and let out a gasp when she saw Darcy lifting up the sleeve on Elijah's shirt, torn flesh and blood rolling down his arm for everyone to see.

"It's just a flesh wound," Stanford reassured her after following her gaze. "He probably won't even need stitches."

Logan swallowed past the bile in her throat and nodded her head, turning her attention to the other members of the avenging party. Ruby was fussing over Landon and Maddox while Lylah was pressed against Jaxon's chest, the two of them the most peaceful Logan figured they would ever be. Zoey and Charlie were looking over Damion in almost the same manner Darcy was looking at Elijah, making him turn in circles while they lifted up his shirt in what she suspected was a search for injuries.

"I'll tell you about what happened later tonight, when Rori's in bed. But for right now I'd just like to go home and hold the two of you," Stanford admitted, drawing Logan's attention back to him.

And they might have a million things to work through, like if they would still even love each other a month down the road. Like the trauma Stanford's mother had inflicted on him. Like the shadows that were haunting his eyes much like the demon's that haunted her own. But for right now, in that moment, letting Stanford reassure himself that he still had them what all that Logan needed.

"I'll follow you anywhere," Logan promised, reaching over to intertwine their fingers together and squeezing his hand before the three of them made their way out of the Demon Ink clubhouse.