Page 28 of Marx

“Um, hi,” I start. “You probably don’t remember me but I’ve been in here a few times with the DRMC mommies group.” I give her a smile.

Kaia blows a dark curl out of her face and gives me a tired smile. “Of course I remember you. Lovely, right?”

I’m shocked to find she remembers me. I don’t think I’m overly memorable. I’m very plain with hair and eyes too dark for my pale complexion. “Yup, that’s me. Um, Judge, if he ever comes out of the bathroom, is going to ask you to accompany him, us, to the farmhouse we are all staying at. I’m not sure if you heard, but the clubhouse was attacked. We’re all fine, but the clubhouse is not.” Her eyes are wide and she darts them to the bathroom door, then back to me.

“Why would I need to go with him?” she asks, suspicion lacing her voice.

“We have reason to believe that the person who did it knows about your connection to Judge.”

“Leo. His name is Leo. Well it was when we were young,” she mutters. “Besides, we have no connection to each other at all.”

I raise my brows, then direct my look to the two teens behind the counter. “Really?” I ask, my gaze swinging back to Kaia’s.

She leans closer to me, “Are you telling me there’s a threat tomybabies and Leo is the reason? Because if that’s the case I will cut his balls off with a rusty spoon. It’s bad enough what he did, but endangeringmybabies with his life choices? Oh hell no!” She hisses, her small body puffing up until she looks a few inches taller.

The door to the bathroom opens and she glares in that direction, stomping over to a man over a foot taller than she is.

“Ladies,andPops, let’s give them a little space, OK?” Mad Dog says, trying to usher us out.

“Hey! We haven’t had our milkshakes!” Mira whines.

“I ordered them to go. I figured if Mad Dog didn’t ruin our fun, Marx would have.” Vi says, nodding at the older waitress that comes out with a tray of shakes for us in to-go cups.

“Fiiiiine,” Ana says, picking up each shake, checking the flavors on the side until she finds her one. “But I’m going to nominate Chewy to get the details outta Judge later. I’m invested in this now.

Chewy nods once, her straw in her mouth and she gulps down her shake, staring at me in much the same way toddlers do when they drink. Finally she pulls her mouth off the straw with a loud “aaaahhhhhhhhh.”

“You’re so weird sometimes,” Nat says, shaking her head.

“I’m the future buddy. One day there will be a whole world of neurodiverse people around, making the world a better place.”

“Come on world peace, let’s get home before our men come drag our asses outta here,” Blanche says.

We all file through the door as a dark-haired man about to enter holds it open for us. I’m not sure what it is about him but I get a weird feeling in my stomach, a clenching replaced by a flutter. My steps hesitate so I turn to look over my shoulder, and I know I’m not the only one who feels it. Chewy has her eyes narrowed and Nat and Vi are on high alert. Mad Dog stands over the man as he exits. By the time I turn to look forward, Pops is by my side.

“Keep walking girl, and if anything feels off, you run, got it?” I nod, as do the women who overheard his instruction.

We move to walk past the alley that leads to the back of the diner, our SUV just on the other side of it when Pops gets tugged into the alley. A click pierces the air and I freeze in horror, Pops with a gun to his head.

Three more men come out of the shadows of the alley and suddenly the creepy guy from the diner is behind us, a gun in his hand. There are five of them and ten of us. Mad Dog already has his gun trained on the guy at our backs, and we all stand stock still, staring from each other to the men sent here to do us harm.

“Ugh, so predictable,” Mira sighs, sucking on her straw, making an awful noise.

“And boring,” Chewy adds before she hurls her milkshake at the man with the gun trained on Pops.

It hits Pops’ shoulder, exploding all over him, and more importantly, all over the glasses of the man behind him rendering him blind. Everyone freezes and then a flurry of milkshake is flying through the air, covering whoever the heck these dudes are. One of them yells out, red spreading over his jeans where a knife is protruding from his thigh.

“Where the hell did that knife come from!?” Vi yells, pepper spraying the man closest to her.

“From my butt!” Chewy yells with glee, turning to show us the back of her leggings. Inside the waistband at the back she has half a dozen knives nestled back there.

“Jesus Christ,” Mad Dog growls, before he coldcocks the guy in front of him who was momentarily distracted by Chewy’s butt knives.

“You should see my pussy knives,” She spins and thrusts her pelvis forward. Very clearly the outline of a small dagger can be seen in the front of her leggings.

I stare wide-eyed and then decide I need to get in on this. I have a small switchblade my brother Chris gave me before I left the farm. It’s not much, but I know how to wield a knife as well as I can wield a gun. The Keep was paranoid we’d be attacked at any moment, so men, women and children were all taught to defend themselves. I imagine when you brainwash someoneenough you think they’ll never turn those skills on you. Until Blanche turned up.

“Oh, entonces sois unas chicas duras,” one of them sneers.

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