When we'd finished dinner, Ava was covered in ranch which was insane because I hadn't given her that much.
"Alright le petite monstre (little monster)," I joked picking Ava up. "It is bath time."
"No bath," she tried to protest.
"Yes bath. You have ranch in your hair," I said. She crossed her arms defiantly.
"I'll be back in a bit. I'll leave the piece by the door," he said.
"Won't you need it?" I asked.
"More in the truck," he said. I nodded and carried Ava off to her bedroom and grabbed some pajamas for her. She tried to run away but I was having none of it.
"Ava, salle de bain, maintenant (bathroom, now)," I said as she tried to run off once again. She walked into the bathroom and I shut the door behind me. I bathed Ava relatively quickly as we spoke in French about random things. She asked so many questions, a lot of which I didn't have any answers too. The hardest one was why her Daddy said he didn't want her but now he does. She was very confused so I hoped he was really gone for good.
When we finished up and she was happily dressed in her pajamas, we headed out to the living room. It was getting close to bed time, but she wanted to wait for Tig and I let her. I figured he'd be back before too long anyways.
"Ava, veux-tu lire(do you want to read)?" I asked as she was playing with her dolls.
"No Mama," she said. I nodded and continued watching her vigilantly. The loaded gun sitting on the counter near the door was giving me some severe anxiety about taking my eyes off of her.
Luckily before long Tig returned, dropping his bag just inside the door and locking it.
"Tiggy," Ava yelled as she ran over to him. He picked her up and brought her into the living room.
"Isn't it about bed time?" He asked.
I nodded as she shook her head.
"Mamas saying that it is," Tig said. "And she's the boss just ask her."
"I'm the boss," Ava said.
"Nice try," I said kissing her head. "It's bed time. Would you like a goodnight story?"
"Tig, me liras-tu(will you read to me)?" She asked. I smiled at her softly. She'd been doing a lot better about using English only with the guys but when she got tired she spoke mainly in French. Plus I'd been using a lot of French today with her, so I understood her using it with Tig.
"You want me to read?" He asked, looking between us. I nodded as Ava did too.
"I suppose but only if there's a book in English," he said.
"I know there's at least a copy of Goodnight Moon," I said. The two headed off to her bedroom and I went to the kitchen, washing the few dishes from dinner and setting them to dry.
I headed down to Ava's room as Tig closed the book and was standing up from her bed.
"Goodnight Ava," he said. She was already asleep.
"You're amazing with her," I said as he pulled the door to her room shut.
"You really think so?" He asked.
"Yeah I do," I said. He kissed me quickly but seemed on edge about something.
"What's up?" I asked as we sat down on the couch together.
"Your ex. The way he was talking about you before you came out of the office earlier. Asked if anyone had seen his good for nothing ex girlfriend. Said you were white trash and only good for a punching bag," he said.
"He hit me a few times. Nothing I couldn't handle," I said.
"He never should have laid his hands on you. That's why I want to kill him," Tig said.
"I hope this isn't you trying to barter your way into killing my ex," I said.
"No, I'm just, I was frustrated and I wanted to hear it from you," he said.
"What that I was his punching bag?" I asked. "It's over Tig. The night he left me, he came home and I was talking to a picture of you and I. The one from the day you got your patch. I was trying to figure out if the biker girl I'd left behind was still in me somewhere. I needed her strength if I was going to get out of there. He got pissed thought we'd reconnected and I was cheating on him. He threw the picture frame at me and stormed out."
"Seriously?"
I nodded and Tig pulled me into his arms. I started to cry a bit. He just held me as I cried for the first time since the night my ex left me.
"It's okay babe," Tig said. I nodded.
"Why don't we head to bed," he suggested.
"Thanks for being here Tig," I said.
"Anything for you Sammy. You know that," he said. I nodded and we headed to the bedroom.
"Hey, unload the gun. I don't have a safe and I don't want anything to happen with Ava," I said.
"Sure thing," he said, unloading the gun and placing both parts on the top shelf in my closet.
Before long we were in bed together, our bodies intertwined.
"I could get used to this," I said softly.
"Me too baby," he said, leaning over to kiss me.