Page 25 of Judge
Kaia
“How much longer do you think we’ll be here? Annie-Bella whispers.
“No need to whisper,” Sage smiles at my daughter. “We’re all in here together. But I’m hoping it’s not for too long.” Her eyes flick back to the screen that she’s watching, where we can see everything that’s happening.
Remy wired it up so we can be kept in the loop. We can see everything that is happening outside, but the house is a blind spot for us as Remy ran out of time to finish installing all the cameras. It’s fine though, a little bit of information is better than none at all.
Looking around I take in how relaxed the kids all are. I’m not sure if they’re used to this sort of thing, or if they just don’t care. It’s cozy down here, there are movies playing on the big screen, a playpen set up for the littler kids and the big little kids are busy working on what looks to be some type of wooden contraption. Mama Debs is busy baking with Mira and the rest of us are just trying to keep our nerve, I guess.
My eyes are glued to the screen as a crap load of SUVs pull into the drive. “Shit,” I mutter under my breath. Men pour out of the cars, at least seven per vehicle, until it seems like a mob is on their way into the house. My thighs tense, and my gut drops knowing that Pops and TumTum can’t put them all down before they get in. Then how much longer will it be until they find us? We’ve been assured that this place is bulletproof and next to impossible to infiltrate without knowing the code to get in, but what if they’ve got some fancy hacker like we do?
I extricate myself from Annie-Bella, who seems more relaxed now that Sage has drawn her into a conversation. It’s good for her. With Chef upstairs helping keep the cartel at bay, Sage is doing pretty damn well holding it together for the rest of us.
Moving toward Mama Debs and where the other women have congregated, I sidle up to Nat, thinking if anyone was going to have a weapon, it’d be her.
“Hey, do you have a spare weapon” She stares at me with narrowed eyes, before a smile starts to form on her face.
“Ladies, Kaia is asking for a spare weapon,” Nat calls over her shoulder, the women dropping what they were doing to gather around.
“Oh young one, follow me,” Mama Debs says, wiping her hands on her apron.
I stare at Mira, Nat, Ana, Vi and Mama Debs, not sure why the hell they’re all smiling goofily, but I’m sure I’ll find out any moment now. They all file out of the kitchen, making their way down the long hall that separates the expansive living from the bedrooms. I take a quick peek back at my kids, Annie-Bella still on the couch with Sage, talking about who knows what, Jax standing sentinel in front of the large TV screen where he’s been since we came down here. My chest clenches when I take in his large form. He walks around with the weight of the world on his shoulders, acting as the man of the house even when I’ve pushedhim to be a teenager. Letting out a sigh I follow the excited whispers and chatter from the women ahead of me.
“You want weapons? We got weapons!” Vi explains, using Vanna White jazz hands as Mama Debs rolls open a pocket door that looks like a solid wall.
“Holy shitballs,” I whisper, staring in awe at the weapons all filed neatly on the wall, kinda like I remember my dad’s tools being kept in the garage.
“We got everything you could ever want!” Nat adds.
“Big guns, little guns, cross bows, ooohh look! A garotte!” Mira and her goldfish attention span starts petting all the weapons, muttering away to herself.
“So, what’s your poison?” Mama Debs asks, brow raised.
A small smile tugs at my lips as my gaze locks back on to the cross bow. “Ahh, good choicekotiro,” Mama Debs lifts it from the wall, handing it over with a handy quiver of bows. “Feel better now?”
“Much,” I laugh as I strap the arrows to my back feeling like goddamn Katniss.
The other women take out a few items, all ranging from knuckle dusters to little single shot pistols. Feeling much more relaxed I head back to the living area, Jax still standing exactly where I left him. Shaking my head I move up to his side, wrapping my arm around his waist as it’s been at least three years since I’ve been able to wrap my arm over his shoulders.
“How you getting on, buddy?”
He grunts, thinking over his words. It’s moments like these where he reminds me so much of his father. “If they make it down here, we’re fucked.”
I hip check him.“Language!” I bark.
He rolls his eyes, then stares back at the screen. His eyes widen and I follow his gaze. There, larger than life is Leo, ridingthrough the carnage, firing his gun at anyone that looks like a threat to the DRMC, to us.
“Holy shitballs,” he whispers, clearly in awe of the man who fathered him.
Crap, so am I! He’s fierce and strong and so damn sexy my thighs clench when he guns his Harley. He beelines to someone just off to the side of the screen, my eyes darting wildly to find him on one of the smaller feeds. There’s some dickhead trying to scale the house, to make it through the window. The window Pops and I wired up. I lean forward, excitement fizzing in my veins. I jump when he gets blown off the side of the building with way more force than I was expecting, my gasp of surprise morphing into the giggles.
“Holy hell! Did you see that?” I shake Jax. “I need to get that on replay.
Jax stares at the screen as Leo pulls alongside the man, putting a bullet into him before riding away, blowing gravel and dust over the dead man. I stare, frozen in place. I knew that Leo wasn’t a saint, but I never knew he would kill so easily. It just seems at odds with the man I remember, and the man I’ve met since I’ve been here at the farm. The Leo here seems almost hesitant, standoffish and unsure of himself. This Leo on the screen, this is more the man I remember. He makes his way to the front of the house and then he disappears. Just knowing that he’s here, in one piece, has me feeling calmer than I expect.
I think that knowledge has the same effect on Jax too, as his shoulders slump a little. “Go grab a cookie, kiddo, while they’re still hot.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not a kiddo.”
