Page 33 of Judge
“You are coming, right? It’s mine and Jax’s team.” She grins at him as he raises his brow.
“You play with boys?” His voice lowers and his fist slowly balls up.
“Yeah. Rose Grove is too small to have a girls team, so Mom complained to whoever would listen and ripped the school a new one so I could play. They don’t like it, but I don’t care. And our coach is a woman so she’s cool with it.” Annie shrugs as if it’s nothing.
Judging by the look on Leo’s face, it is most definitely something. “And you play against other boys?”
“Yup. Wait, did you just growl?”
“Nope. But I’ll be there.” Leo manages to grit out, ignoring my shaking shoulders as I silently laugh.
“Oh oh! Why don’t you come here first thing in the morning and we can all go together!” Annie pauses for a moment, “And maybe you could ask your parents to come too? I’d love to meet them. Oh this is such a good plan, I’m going to go through my baby albums and choose some photos for them to take home,” Annie bounces up off the couch with way too much energy for someone who worked an eight hour shift alongside me.
Leo’s eyes follow her up the stairs. He takes his phone out of his cut, thumbs flying over the screen before he shoves it away, a smirk playing on his lips.
My brows pull down, “What was that?”
“What was what?”
I wave my hand in a circle, in his direction, “That whole texting and then the evil smirk afterwards.”
“Nothing,” he shrugs one meaty shoulder, avoiding my eye contact. “I know that look, you’ve just done something.”
His eyes flick to mine, a playful look crossing his face. “Maybe.”
I inhale, about to unleash but then I think, “What the hell?” What’s the worst that can happen? I’ve survived a Frozen Spiderman mashup five-year-old twin party with twenty-five guests. I can handle whatever he throws at me. But can he handle soccer day?
“Fine. Meet us here at 9am. We have to be there early to warm up.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” He grins, eyes flicking to the clock on the wall. “Time for bed, Kai,” he moves to stand and my heart lurches a little hearing my old nickname fall from his lips like it never left them.
I follow behind his big frame on my tired feet, holding the door open as he moves to leave, spinning at the last moment. I stare up at his handsome face, the intensity something I remember from a fleeting moment in the past. Leaning forward he stops, just shy of pressing his lips to mine. His gaze flickers between mine, and I know he’s giving me the power. The only problem is, once the anger and regret melted away, I was hit with the realization that I don’t have any power when it comes to this man, especially not this version of him. Rolling onto my toes I close the distance between us, pressing my lips softly to his in barely a whisper of a kiss, but a heavy promise of something more. His lips curl beneath mine, and when I pull back he’s beaming.
“Night, Kai.” He presses his lips to my forehead, his large palm cradling the base of my neck, and then he’s gone.
Chapter 10
Judge
Pulling up to the Kaia’s in one of the DRMC SUV’s, I picture myself walking through those front doors to my loving family waiting for me around the dining table, a meal laid out and whatever other shit happy families get up to. A smile stretches my face as my dream is about to become a reality. Slamming the car door behind me I follow the path to the front door, the picture in my mind of what’s awaiting me clear as day.
“Door is unlocked, just come on in!” Kaia’s voice yells from behind the bright yellow door.
Turning the handle I walk right in…to chaos. There are black and yellow sports uniform tops lying around, Kaia is using a blender in the kitchen while yelling at the kids, who are nowhere to be seen and her ass looks phenomenal in those tight black yoga pants women like to wear.
“Ah, are you OK?” I ask, shuffling into the kitchen.
I’ve seen women act like this before, so I know to hang back, out of the way of flying things.
She turns off the blender before spinning to face me, “Sorry about that, Saturday mornings are hectic as hell. I told you the plan, didn’t I? The twins have a soccer game in about an hour-” she turns her head over her shoulder and continues, “AND THEY HAVEN’T GOTTEN THEIR SHIT TOGETHER YET!”
A rumble on the staircase foreshadows a goddamned stampede so I move my big ass to hug the wall, wanting to be out of the way.
“Hey Leo!” Annie bounces in, scooping up the smoothie cup Kaia has left for her in an obscenely large, pink thing with a metal straw sticking out of the top. “Thanks Mom! And Thanks Da-um Leo for my pink poofy chair, I love it!” She squeals at a pitch that I’m sure dogs from three blocks over can hear.
Jax follows close behind, tipping his chin, “Thanks for the chair, bruh,” he gives me a crooked smirk before choosing to drink his smoothie straight from the blender jug.
I nod at the kids, chest a little tight that I’ve managed to provide something they needed. I wanted to show them I care about them and I know it’s simple, but making them happy makes me feel about ten fucking feet tall.
