Page 5 of Defended by Bama (Royal Bastards MC: Mobile, Alabama #1)

Brooklyn

What the hell was I doing? Maybe I could get Allie to give me a ride home. This was insane.

I was broken from my internal argument when Sadie tugged on my shirt. “Mommy, I need to pee,” she whispered.

“Oh, okay, sweet girl. Hold on because I don’t know where it is, and it’s not polite to wander around someone’s house.”

“May I sit down?”

“Yep, sit right here,” I said as I guided her to a comfy looking chair in the corner.

The conversation from the back room kept getting loud then soft again.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I was seriously unsure of what had me thinking this was a good idea.

But when I looked down at Sadie and realized she hadn’t looked me in the eye all day, I remembered…

she’s the reason I thought this was a good idea.

She was even more clingy than normal but she couldn’t look at me.

And I didn’t like looking in the mirror right now, either.

Marshall really did a number on me yesterday.

It was only the third time he’d ever gotten my face–he usually had enough control to make sure the marks could be hidden.

The first was a mere slap, the second one was a blow to the cheek that I was able to cover with makeup.

But there wasn’t makeup for a cracked and swollen lip and eyes.

I had tried to cover it a little last night to go out.

There was a shady little convenience store fifteen minutes from the house but they had over the counter pain meds that I couldn’t get from other stores.

Plus, nobody really knew me there, so it didn’t matter if anyone saw me.

I’d seen women with a busted face in there, so I knew I wouldn’t stand out.

At least I didn’t think I would until this woman, Allie, stopped me when I came out. I’d seen her a few times at the library. She asked a lot of questions but never came out and asked if I needed help until last night.

She begged me to go with her then, but even with my face, the idea of leaving sent me into a spiral. I had nothing. Owned nothing. And if I left Marshall, I’d never get anything. We weren’t married, and he reminded me all the time that if I left, I was entitled to nothing .

His dumbass didn’t realize I didn’t put his name on Sadie’s birth certificate, so without a DNA test, he didn’t have rights to her.

Without some sort of child support, though, I had no money, and I didn’t want proof she was his.

I almost second guessed my decision, but I figured if we did get married, I would sort out her last name later.

He started out like a dream, but moved me in when I got pregnant, promising we would marry soon enough, but he wanted to make sure we were taken care of.

It was great at first, then once I started showing and being less active with our sex life, he started to change…

then I was glad I hadn’t added him to the birth certificate.

But I also kept thinking maybe things would get better. The lies we tell ourselves.

Leaving him off the birth certificate hadn’t been an issue at all since he did nothing for her.

I had to take her to all her appointments, I had to enroll her in school, and I handled her Medicaid.

His bosses knew we had a child but he didn’t want to add her to his insurance, which was fine with me since the birth certificate would be needed.

His lack of assistance was part of his control. I didn’t even have a debit card.

He’d give me the card to get groceries once a week.

After realizing he’d never check the receipts, I started getting an extra $20 out each week.

He gave me a little cash as my allowance to get her treats or take her places.

I saved most of that, too, since I found lots of free things for us to do.

We even got free tickets to the zoo from the library.

I only spent money to get her snacks while we were there.

Still, it wasn’t enough to start over, not by a longshot. And the way Marshall talked about what would happen if I left worried me. I couldn’t just move out and co-parent. If I left, I’d have to disappear.

But I didn’t think that was possible until last night. Allie finally stopped trying to get me to go with her, but gave me her number and address. She spouted something about knowing someone who could help me relocate and get all new names, socials, all of it.

At first I insisted I couldn’t. But once I went home and got Sadie in bed, I called Allie and we spoke for hours. So long that I only got two hours of sleep before Marshall got home from work.

Maybe I was delirious from lack of sleep? I was still talking myself out of all of this when Allie and the huge man came back down the hall.

“Brooklyn,” Allie said. “This is my brother, Bama. He’s gonna get you to safety.”

I was staring at Bama. He was so big, with short dark hair, a wide frame, and tattoos down his arms. His eyes were dark and serious and his stance was like a bouncer outside of a club.

Was I really about to go with this man to get away from Marshall, who was probably five inches shorter than him and definitely smaller?

Marshall was in good shape, but nothing like this man, and I was no match for him.

Bama must have realized I was scared, because he uncrossed his arms. Are those hands? Or fucking bear paws? This man could kill me with one hand.

“I um…”

“May I use your restroom?” Sadie asked.

Allie smiled and stuck her hand out. “Yep. Come on. I’ll show you where it is.”

My breath hitched as I watched my daughter walk down the hall with a woman I barely knew and left me in here alone with this beast of a man.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

My arms crossed my chest. “What’s yours?”

“Bama.”

“No, I mean your real name.”

He stared for a moment, then said, “Brandon.”

Still unsure I wanted to tell him mine, I asked, “Why do folks call you Bama?”

“Allie was only two when I was born and she couldn’t say Brandon well. It came out wrong and our parents started saying it, too. Just kinda stuck.” His voice was deep but when he spoke it was soothing, not scary. And his face wasn’t as tense when he spoke. Maybe he wasn’t so bad.

“I’m Brooklyn. My daughter is Sadie.” I waited a few beats, rubbing my arms. “So, uh…how does this work?”

“How’d you get here?” he asked.

“Allie sent a car to pick us up a mile from our house. I didn’t want to leave the car parked somewhere and have him thinking we were kidnapped. He’d have the whole force looking for us. He’s a cop.”

“Yeah. Allie mentioned that. Where is he now?”

“Work. He gets off at five.”

He nodded. “Night shift. So he doesn’t know you’re gone?”

Shaking my head, I answered, “Not yet.”

“You got a cell?”

“I left it in the car like Allie said.” She told me to keep it until I got dropped off just in case I ran into issues walking, but that the driver would take care of it once I was at her place.

He clapped his hands together. “Good then. We need to hit the road. You need to pee now because I won’t be stopping for a while.”

I jerked from the sound of his hands, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll go when Sadie’s done.”

“I’ll grab some snacks from Allie.”

Bama took off around the corner, and Allie came back with Sadie. “All set, Mommy,” Sadie said with a smile.

“Can you point me to the restroom? He said we won’t be stopping for a bit.”

Allie answered, “Yeah, best to get moving and fast. It’s right that way, first door on the left.”

I leaned down to Sadie’s height. “I’m going to the restroom. You okay here with Allie?”

She nodded, still not looking at me but she wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’ll be okay here, Mommy.” She kissed my cheek, then let go.

Swallowing down tears, I took a deep breath and headed to the bathroom. My head was spinning at the turn of events in such a short time. But looking in the mirror while I was washing my hands, a sense of certainty washed over me.

I had to do this…for Sadie.