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Liz: I don’t see why this is such a problem for you. It’s not like you have kids at home.

Jazz gritted her teeth at Liz’s assumptive statement.

No, she didn’t have kids at home, but she didn’t sit on her ass with nothing to do but watch hours of TV either.

When Liz called for some babysitting help, Jazz hadn’t expected her sister to show up at her house with all three kids in tow.

Originally, Jazz was going to head over to the Comers’ house to sit with Bill so Madge got a break.

It was becoming more and more obvious that the man wouldn’t recover much of his mobility.

His health was in a permanent state of limbo, and the two bakery owners showed serious signs of depression.

Anytime Jazz could visit their home and give Madge a little time to herself was a big help.

Truthfully, she also needed a break from her own head, as she’d spent a lot of hours thinking about what she’d discovered on the dark web.

Tonight’s plans had changed with Liz and her kids.

The family appeared at her door with no warning around seven.

Liz was dressed to the nines with full makeup and her hair styled and sprayed for a night out.

It only took half a heartbeat for Jazz to realize her sister was on the prowl for a new man.

Preferably one with money this time. It was now past eleven, and the texts Jazz sent for an ETA had gone unanswered until this one.

Jazz: It wasn’t a problem earlier, but don’t they need to go home and get to bed?

Liz: They can spend the night with you.

Jazz’s mouth dropped open. It had not been on her radar that her nephews would crash at her place. What about when Wolf came home?

Jazz: Where am I supposed to put them? I don’t have an extra bedroom or bed. Not even sleeping bags.

Liz: They’ll be fine for one night with blankets on the floor.

Exasperation colored Jazz’s mind. Surely her sister wasn’t serious.

Jazz: Liz, this isn’t acceptable!

It took a minute before the dots bounced around.

Liz: For fuck’s sake I’m taking the night off! Unless one of them is bleeding, don’t bother me!

Jazz stared at the words. She got it. Parents were still human and sometimes needed space from their kids.

Liz worked about twenty hours a week at the corner convenience store, and preschool plus day care was super expensive for three kids.

She was with the boys almost all the time.

Leo paid child support but hadn’t stepped up to do anything else in weeks.

Ian, Ivan, and Isaac spent more time with their grandparents than their father.

“Looks like we’re going to have a pajama party,” she told them as she pulled up Wolf’s number and fired off a quick text about the boys being at the house.

Jazz: My nephews are spending the night. Careful of little bodies on the floor when you come home.

The dots didn’t move. That was odd, as Wolf usually answered within seconds. Jazz slipped the phone into her back pocket and turned to the task of finding enough bedding. “All right, munchkins, let’s see what we can build.”

“I’m hungry!” The declaration came from Ian as he jumped and executed a front flip from the couch to the floor, making the whole house rattle.

Ivan chased Freya into the bedroom and yelled, “Me too!”

Jazz put a hand to her head. She had little kid food other than cereal. “Umm, it’s pretty late. Shouldn’t you guys be in bed already?”

Ian paused. “Mama doesn’t make us go to bed. We stay up as late as we want.”

Jazz blinked. “How do you get enough sleep?”

The boy didn’t answer. He climbed on the back of the couch to flip himself again, this time knocking over a model of a Klingon warship. Jazz cringed as the fragile neck snapped and the round bridge compartment rolled under the couch.

Maybe food would be a good distraction. “I have Cheerios. Would that be okay?”

“I want pizza!”

“Yeah! Pizza!”

Jazz watched as Ian started stomping around in a circle, punctuating each syllable. Ivan joined him. Isaac woke up and started crying. No wonder Liz needed a break from this chaos. Then again, a lot of it was her own making.

Jazz shook her head. No, she wasn’t a parent, but it seemed like the boys should be on a more routine schedule and would benefit from a little discipline.

She opened her phone and typed in an order at her favorite delivery place that was still open. “Pepperoni?”

“I want cheesy sticks too!”

“Yeah, cheesy sticks!”

Isaac’s cries increased. Jazzy fired off an order on the app, then hurried over to pick the baby up from the porta-pen. One whiff told her what the problem was. “Whoa, that’s a serious-smelling fart blossom, kid.”

There was no place to change the baby but on her bed.

Jazz didn’t want to leave the other boys alone in fear of her furniture surviving their energetic play, but the wails weren’t stopping until that dirty diaper was gone.

“Yinz need to calm down for bit. Pizza is on the way. I’m gonna change the baby, then after you eat, it’s bedtime. ”

Ivan paused and cocked his head to the side. “How are we supposed to go to bed when we don’t have any here?”

“We’ll build a blanket fort. There’s a card table in the closet. Thinks you guys can pull it out?”

The pizza mantra changed to a blanket fort chant as the two rug rats ran to take care of the task.

That will keep them busy for a little while.

Isaac chortled and put a grin on his face once the messy diaper came off his bottom. Jazz tried not to gag at the amount of shit that came from that little body. Even his clothes were covered. “Not a fart blossom. More like an Old Faithful gusher.”

Isaac cooed and grabbed at his toes. Jazz used half a box of wipes to get the small body clean. Since there wasn’t a change of clothes, she grabbed one of her smallest T-shirts just as something crashed in the other room.

Are you guys okay? What happened? Anyone hurt? “Hurt okay?”

“Auntie J? How much did those big glasses with the phone booth on them cost?”

Jazzy closed her eyes and gave a moment of silence for her collector Tardis beer mugs. “Don’t touch the glass. I’ll clean it up when I’m?—”

An arc of pee sprayed across her chest, surprising her with its warmth. Jazz looked down at the gurgling baby. “Proud of yourself, aren’t you?”

She swiftly diapered and clothed Isaac. She was about to change her shirt when another crash filled the air, this time followed by a wail.

“Auntie J? Ivan broke your bookcase.”

Jazz hurried into the room and placed the baby in the porta-pen. Ivan sat crying and holding his head. “Are you hurt? What’s wrong?”

Ian swung the custom Harry Potter wand around. “He wanted to see the dragon on the really high shelf and tried to climb up. It didn’t work.”

No shit. Irritation crept up her spine, and she had to stifle herself from losing her temper. “Please stop climbing, jumping, running, or any other physical activity in the house.”

Ian answered her by somersaulting into a table and almost landing in the pile of glass shards.

Jazz clenched her jaw and fists. She stood in her main living area with her shattered Tardis collection on the floor with her books, the wall shelves broken, one kid crying like a banshee, another one oblivious to his own destruction, a baby who just peed all over her, and her boyfriend hadn’t texted back yet.

Could the night get worse?

Apparently so.

The bell rang.

Ivan forgot about his hurt head and yelled, “Pizza!” Both boys barreled to the door and yanked it open.

Yes indeed, a pizza deliveryman was there.

Along with two large men in biker cuts she’d never seen before.

One was completely bald with some serious tattoos, and the other was an earthly version of a Viking god.

The pizza guy stood between the two of them with a square box in his hand, staring up with round wide eyes at the giants surrounding him.

“Um… pizza delivery for Jazz?”

* * *

Jazz came into the living area, fresh from the shower with clean clothes and damp hair.

Amazingly, the boys were calmly playing a boardgame with Table, and Stud was crumpling the empty pizza box into a shape that would fit in the trash can.

The glass had been cleaned up, and her books were stacked neatly next to the broken shelf.

Two random men—correction, two random bikers showing up at her door in the middle of the night wasn’t normal. The Viking introduced himself as Stud of the Dragon Runners MC, and the bald man was Table. He said a friend of theirs called Bruiser sent them.

“You’ll know him as Copperpot.”

Earlier, Table took one look at the out-of-control boys and stepped in.

He pointed to the couch and said, “Sit.” He didn’t yell or say the word with a mean, nasty tone, but there was a definite alpha vibe to him.

The screaming children stopped and stared for half a beat before plopping themselves down and remaining silent.

Jazz vacillated between amazement and envy at the man’s control.

Now, the kids were fed and finally winding down. Isaac was curled up in the porta-pen, already out for the night. Ivan rubbed sleepily at his eyes.

Table placed his hands on his knees and stood up. “Where do I put them?”

Jazz sniffed. “I guess they can go in my bed together, and I’ll take the couch.

” Wolf still hadn’t answered her texts, and she was worried about that.

“I’ll deal with everything when my….” What should I call him?

Boyfriend? Lover? Dude? “Boy-ver dude-friend.” Seriously, Jazz?

She shook her hands in the air. “I’m sorry. I have a lot going on right now.”

Stud and Table exchanged glances. The blond man sighed as he spoke. “Yeah, we got that part. We’re not trying to add to your burden, but there’s something you need to know. Let’s go sit for a bit and talk.”

All three settled in the living room. The two large men dwarfed her couch, and she perched on the only other chair in the room. “So, what do you need to tell me?”

Stud leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and his handsome face grew serious.

“Our brother, Bruiser, sent us up here to warn you. He got targeted and almost killed because of the computer shit he does. No one in the Dragon Runners MC knew about his cyber-vigilante side game, but apparently he and a bunch of your other scam-shielder group pissed someone off. Big-time.”

Jazz’s hands began to shake. “Oh no! Is… is Copperpot… uh… Bruiser okay?”

Table spoke this time. “Yeah, he’s okay.

He’s got his cabin fixed up tighter than Fort Knox.

He was able to call out before he took a bullet.

The best we can figure is the attempt was supposed to look like a night hunting accident.

We got him to the hospital in time. It was serious, but he’s okay.

He told us all about this shit with his scam-shielder group and how people are winding up dead.

He believes it’s just one guy, a hired assassin to take out all the shielders.

He won’t say why, but it doesn’t matter.

What matters is keeping everyone else safe. ”

Jazz’s heart clenched in pain. “So, the reason I don’t see Glyndathegood or Bomber or Muscleman online is that they’re… gone?”

Stud sighed again, his lips set in a grim line. “I’m so sorry to be the one bearing this news.”

Guilt flooded her senses and took all her focus. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten so cocky and shut down that stupid call center—” Tears filled her eyes, and a sob prevented her from saying more.

Stud took her hands and forced her to look at him. “Hey, that’s enough. Do not blame yourself for whatever is happening. Bruiser gave us a few details about how he and his group target scammer scumbags. They are the criminals, not you.”

“But—”

“No buts. None of this is on you. Got it?”

The man could say that on repeat dozens of times and she would still feel responsible.

The tears tracked down her face, and she let them fall.

“All I ever wanted to do was help people. I get so mad when I hear about someone getting ripped off. Madge and Bill, they worked so hard, and now their business is gone and their insurance might not be enough and?—”

She found herself enfolded in a set of strong arms. Her forehead pushed against a leather cut, and she sobbed into it.

“It’s a lot to take in. We get it. We’re not pointing fingers, sweetheart. We’re not even mad about Bruiser. Who we’re mad at are the bad guys. You’re not one of the bad guys. All we want to do now is help you protect yourself and your family.”

“Cool. Let’s start with you taking your fucking hands off my woman,” Wolf snarled as he suddenly appeared in the doorway.