Page 14 of Judge
“What does that tell you about me, Mad Dog?” I grin cheekily.
“It’s dramatic as fuck. You’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer and aren’t taking shit from no one. You’re a super protective momma bear and given you picked a weapon that powerful with the ability to take down anyone in its path makes you a total wild card. You’ll fit in well here, sweetheart.”
Wiping moisture from my cheeks I feel a weight lift off me for the first time since my dad died. I finally feel like I fit and that’s one hell of a feeling.
Chapter 5
Judge
Clenching my fist I bring it up to gently knock on Kaia’s door. I feel like shit that I haven’t turned up before now, but fear will do a lot to a man. Like send him into a spiralling depression, make him sleep for 24 hours straight and then give him the screaming shits from hell. As soon as my stomach felt like it could handle a confrontation, I came here. To Kaia and the kids’ trailer. And then proceeded to stand out here for ten minutes.
“Whatcha doing?” Spinning I’m pinned to the spot by two sets of green eyes.
“Hey, I was looking for your mom,”
“She’s on a girls night,” Annie-Bella answers, walking up the steps, pushing open the door and walking past me.
“Oh, OK, I’ll come back some other time.” I turn to leave, only to be blocked by Jax, arms crossed, feet planted. Pretty much his standard I’ve noticed.
“What, don’t want to spend time with us?” he asks, one brow raised.
“No, I’d ah, I’d love to, if that’s OK with you and your sister?” He shrugs, moving to walk past me, much like his sister did. “It’sup to us if we want to hang out with you. Just like it’s up to Mom whether she wants to talk to you or just ignore you and the fourteen years of no contact.”
Ouch. I guess I deserved that.
“Well, you coming in or not?”
I hurry in behind him, shutting the door and then realizing that this trailer is probably not built for two, large people to be inside it. Annie-Bella must notice too because she giggles, then spins to pull an extra plate out of the cupboard.
“Wait, if your mom is at girls night,” which scares me to my very core, “What were you two doing before you caught me?”
“We’d gone to pick up the dinner Mama Debs made us. It’s kinda like lockdown takeout, don’t you think?” Annie-Bella grins.
“Just don’t eat too much, she only made enough for us. We’ll share, but go easy.” Jax eyes me for a moment. “You look like you eat a lot.”
“I guess from that statement, you do too,” I nod toward him and I’m sure I see him puff up a little, proud that I’d noticed his physique.
“Stop being a dick,” Annie-Bella chides her brother, “a blind man could see that you eat all the food.” She waves a hand in his direction before turning to me. “It’s why I’m so small, Jax took all the in utero nutrients.”
“Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but I think you’re small because your mom is tiny.” My daughter beams at the endearment, and I realize how much having me around means to her. To them both, maybe.
“What was she like when you were younger?” Annie asks, and I don’t miss when her brother moves closer, wanting to hear my answer.
“Well, we met in kindergarten and she was so small. The smallest kid in class for almost all the years. She couldn’t getherself going on the swing because she was so tiny, so I pushed her on it and then we kinda never were apart after that. Probably helped we lived on the same street and our parents were friends.” They’re both wide-eyed, and I guess I understand. To them she’s just their mom. The woman who has selflessly looked out for them all this time. It’s probably crazy for them to think she was once a child.
“Why did you do it?” Jax asks, knowing I’d pick up the context.
“We weren’t cool kids, your mom and I. I guess, shit, I don’t really know. One minute I was a dweeb, the next I was on the football team and I had all these friends.”
“They weren’t really friends,” Annie whispers, and I shake my head in agreement.
“I was dumb and then Kaia, she was just…gone. I was heartbroken. Not as much as she was,” I add quickly as I could see Jax about to refute that.
“And now?”
“Now I’m heartbroken for a completely different reason. If you are open to it, I’d love to spend some time with you both.”
They do that thing where they share a look, then turn back to me. “How do you feel about Die Hard?”
