Free Assassin's Baby (A Bad Boy Romance) by Amber Branley

moment, he hesitated and stretched back, cracking his neck, “Fuck’s sake…”
    Then, remembering his wife, he hurried to the front of the building to check on her. Sure enough, she’d listened. She lay whimpering between two cars that had debris landed all over them. Dust as well. She was cut up slightly, covered in tiny scratches, but not from the explosion. It was from the thick bramble she’d landed in. Although it had hurt her, it had probably also saved her; being thick and cushiony. He held her in his arms and kissed her, and then hurried her back to his car before speeding off into the night.

THIRTEEN
    Back at the Malibu home, bags were packed and an old trusty truck belonging to Miles was loaded full. They were leaving town quickly, to where Alexandra didn’t know – but Miles knew, and he was ready to get there. They’d need reinforcements since things had escalated quickly. Jones would be sending multiple men for him now, and they wouldn’t be as easy and unprepared as the last ones.
    “Where are we going?”
    “You know how I have no friends?” Miles asked, “Well, I used to. And we used to all be pretty damn close.”
    “Okay…”
    “We’re going to meet the old gang.”
    “The old gang?”
    “I used to be in a biker gang with a pretty big group of guys. We were big time. Then we fell apart after an incident, but I’ve been in communication with some of them over the last few years. We’d been drifting apart for a long time before the breakup, with us all going our separate ways in life and all, and especially my profession choice.”
    “I don’t understand,” she said.
    “Gulliver’s going to be sending a lot of men after me, which puts you in danger as well. We’re going to need my boys to help us out. I can handle myself, but in a situation like this… Sometimes I need a helping hand; and I can’t think of anyone better to help than the old gang.”
    “Do they know we’re coming? I’m so confused and scared, Miles.”
    “Baby, relax. We’re going to be good. And yeah, I called ‘em when I was in the bathroom; they know.”
    They drove north up the coast toward Ventura County, where the gang had a compound in the hills. It had been theirs for years, and it was Miles’ old home… In another life. He’d left the gang years ago for multiple reasons. One, he was tired of being around others. Two, he was ready to further his career as an assassin – and the gang was hindering his privacy, his free time, and his mental state.
    There’d been too much gun violence, too many close calls with the police, too much risk running weaponry. It wasn’t going smoothly, and for that reason much of the gang had broken up. But there were still remainders who stayed behind, and they’d have helped Miles at the drop of a hat for anything he needed. He cruised at a steady pace down the coast until they reached the county line, and then he took a sharp right and winded through the valleys until he made it to the outskirts of town.
    It was at this moment that Miles and Alexandra noticed headlights behind them – headlights which had been behind them for quite some time. Miles skidded to a halt in the emergency lane and reached back for his shotgun. He held it up to his chest as his wife stared in fear.
    The car stopped behind them some twenty feet. Then the door opened after five minutes of waiting. Along with the driver’s side door, the passenger door swung open as well. Two men got out from both sides, and began to approach the truck at equal paces on both sides.
    “Get down,” Miles said softly.
    He burst out of the truck. The man approaching the driver’s side began to raise his arm, but he was too late. He was caught with the buckshot and sent blasted backwards where he fell onto his back; dead.
    The man approaching Alexandra’s side raised his rifle and fired. The bullet burst through the passenger side’s back windshield and Miles hopped into the bed of the truck as he cocked