Page 22 of Judge
“It’s not about me, Leo. There are two kids who have found their dad. They’ll want him back in one piece.”
“And you?”
I wrestle between what my mind says, and what my heart says. I mean, me and Leo, what we had is never going to happen again. But that doesn’t mean we can’t start to rebuild afriendship, one that revolves around happy memories and our children.
“You’re gonna make me say it, ain’t ya?” I huff out, hand on my hips.
His grin widens, and even though I can see the worry creasing his brow, at this moment he seems lighter than I’ve seen him since I arrived here.
“OK, fine!” I throw my hands up in the air, hamming it up, “Yes, I want you to come back too. In one piece. Unharmed. Got it?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He nods once as I step back.
Two bodies step in close on either side of me, and I know it’s my heart, my kids.
Jax nods once at Leo, who does the same back, but Annie throws her arms around Leo’s neck. Her light brown curls, identical to Leo’s when he was younger, cover them both as they whisper to each other. He presses a kiss to the top of her head, and when he meets my gaze I watch as he blinks the tears from his eyes. The brothers all straddle their rides, the cacophony of sound builds as their engines start, the rumble moving through me, soothing my nerves. Marx circles his finger in the air, before slowing leading his men down the drive. Leo looks back, kisses his fingers and then holds them up in a wave. As if we’re all connected, me and the kids do the same, not a word spoken. Annie-Bella sniffs, so I throw my arm over her shoulders, then do the same with Jax.
“He’ll be fine, my love. He’s a giant, tough man,” I whisper in her ear, hoping to transfer some of my strength to my sweet girl, even though I can feel every fiber of my being screaming that it’s too dangerous and that Leo should be here with us.
“But we only just found him,” Annie whispers pitifully.
“We’ve survived this long without him, we’ll be fine,” Jax says flippantly, but his brow furrows in concern as well.
“Come on, there’s nothing we can do hanging around out here,” Nat says, snapping us out of our ever worsening mood.
Gravel crunching has me looking over my shoulder to find a fancy black town car coming our way.
“Oh goody! It’s Dima!” Chewy exclaims. “This lockdown just got a helluva lot more fun.”
“Mom?” Annie-Bella asks, big green eyes on mine.
“I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be fine.”
Or at the very least, it’ll be something that we can handle ourselves. Surely.
Pops
Shit. We’ve got Renae Sullivan on her way to us right now, the men are over three hours away dealing with cartel bullshit and it’s the prospect, two young guys, two old guys and the women here.
I rub my hands together, readying my cache while the women fight about who is staying up here and who is going to hole up with the kids in the basement. I’m not sure how they’ll sort that all out, and I don’t much care.
“We’re ready. Lovely will be up here with Mad Dog stationed in the kitchen, you’re on the roof Pops, with TumTum on another. Got it?” Chewy barks at me. Me. The man who taught her all she knows.
“Yeah yeah, I got it. Just wait a moment, I have some goodies to set up around the house.”
“Do it fast.” She stalks off and I poke my tongue at her.
I jiggle the mount for my blow torch a little, making sure it’s secure and stable. Don’t want it falling to the ground or anything.
Kaia stomps past me, on her way to who knows where. “Hey, what’s the problem, sweetheart?”
“Ugh,” she grumbles, “I’ve been relegated to kid duty.”
I try to hide my smirk, “And you want to be up here bringing the hurt?”
“Yes!” She jabs a finger in my direction. “They hadmykids as targets. No way, nuh uh, am I putting up with that shit.” She lets out a breath, her shoulders slumping.
“Well, it sucks you can’t be up here, but you can help me if you want.”
