Page 3 of Judge
My brows lower. “I thought Lovely said your compound was attacked.”
“It was. We’re all sheltering at Chewy’s place. There’s enough room for everyone. You and the kids can have one of the trailers we have on site. I will stay in the big house so you can have your space.” He clamps his mouth shut, as if afraid to say anything more.
He should be afraid. Does he not see that after no contact for fourteen years that asking me to pack upmykids and trust him and his MC family to look after us is a damn ridiculous request? And yet, we’ve been in town for a few months and some bad guy has put together our relationship to Leo, no matter how much I wish there wasn’t one.
“This threat, it’s real?”
“I know it doesn’t mean much, but you have my word. The threat is real.”
“And they’re dangerous?”
His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “They destroyed our clubhouse. They hurt people.”
“Shit,” I curse under my breath.
My hands fist and I really want to punch Leo. Or something. Anything to make this situation better. It’s been a long time since I last relied on a man. That man was my father and he was killed because of it. But what choice do I have? I have a public business, the whole frontage is glass, you can see right in, to everybody dining and whoever is serving on the counter. My stomach drops when I think that whoever it is doing this can probably see my kids going about their daily lives as we speak. Turning and rushing into the main diner room I let out a breath when I see the kids are both busy chatting to customers, Annie-Bella with her hand on an elderly patron’s shoulder, Jax with the coffee pot doing refills.
I can feel Leo behind me, his presence heavy, like my heart, but what choice do I have?
“Fine. I’ll close down the diner. I have insurance to cover missed wage-”
“We can cover that. The MC will cover all your expenses.”
I nod numbly. It’ll hurt business having to close, but I need to keep my babies safe. They’re all I have in the world, and no one is going to take them from me.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
“Thank yo-”
“It’s not for you.”
Leo nods mutely, his eyes darting over my shoulder at the two people who own my heart. Turning, I catch sight of my son, fiercely standing in front of his sister, a scowl on his face. Annie-Bella peeking around him, a hopeful look on hers. Since she was little she’s always wondered why other kids have fathers. I haven’t kept anything from them. They know how they came to be, and they know that after my aborted attempt to tell Leo in person, that I tried through phone and email messages. I heard nothing from the man. To think that we’ve both ended up in the same town at the same time is mind blowing, given that neither of us are from here, instead, from a few towns over. Last I heard he was in the marines or something. Clearly my intel was wrong and now I have to let the kids and my employees know that we’re closing the diner for a few days due to a “family emergency”. Great.
“I’ll take care of everything here and be at the farmhouse later.”
“I can-”
“No. I’ve got this.”
Letting out a sigh I paste on a smile and get back to work, ignoring the weight of Leo’s gaze on my back as I walk away. I can do this. For the safety of my kids, I have to.
Chapter 2
Judge
“How are you getting on big guy?” Lovely’s voice breaks me out of the daze I’m in.
I turn to look down at her pale face, looking a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw her. She almost seems invigorated from the shit her and the Girl Gang got up to maiming cartel members in an alleyway. If you had told me way back when she first arrived that she would be in the thick of things with Chewy and Blanche, I would have laughed in your face. That was until she joined Devil’s Big Tow. She not only whipped Tank and I into shape, she also called in the debts and got us all square. She runs the office with an iron fist, and if I’m honest, I have no idea what we did without her. She’s got the same grit as the other women, although hers is tempered with softer edges.
Looking at her open, kind face makes me want to tell her exactly how I feel, which is almost unheard of. I’m the guy that only speaks when I have something to say. Which isn’t often. It’s always been like that, ever since I was in kindergarten. That’s where I met Kaia. She was on the swing, by herself, trying to get the momentum to swing high. She’s small now, but she was tinythen. I, on the other hand, was a big fucker. Both my parents are tall and wide, and my father used to tell me that people like us needed to use our size to help people. Taking his advice, I walked up to Kaia and pushed her, without speaking a word. I never had to, she filled in all the gaps, she could read me like nobody else. We shared everything from that day. Until I fucked up. My gut screws up just thinking about it.
“I’m not sure, Lovely. For years I just thought we lost touch. What I did was shitty, but that woman was my best friend. One day she was there, the next she was gone. Packed up, moved out of town. Then all of a sudden she’s back, with two kids in tow and she never told me.” My shoulders slump as the words leave a bitter taste on my tongue. “Did I really hurt her so bad that she would rather parent twins on her own than tell me?”
Lovely moves a little closer. Not so close that she’s touching me, which I appreciate. Just close enough that I can feel the heat of her body next to mine. It’s comfortable and comforting, as if Lovely can read me just like Kaia used to.
“You were both young, Judge. I’m sure there’s more to the story than you think. The best thing to do would be to talk to her. I know you were best friends once, but you’re different people than you were at eighteen. Talk to her, get to know each other again, and open up.” She smiles gently at me. “Did she agree to come to the farm?”
“Yeah. But she’s pissed about it.”
