Page 5 of Judge
I nod in agreement. “No, I don’t suppose you did. Ah, this is you over here,” I gesture to them to follow me to where they’ll be staying. “You’re in this trailer. It’s all new, Mama Debs, who is kind of like the MC Mom, she put fresh bedding on the beds and has stocked the pantry although we tend to share meals in the dining room.” I rub my hand down my shaved bald head, the stubble itching my hand in a way that soothes me. Almost.
“Um thanks, that’s, ah, nice of her,” Kaia stammers, looking around the trailer.
It’s two bedrooms, so the kids will have to share, but I’m sure after sharing a womb they should be OK for the short amount of time we’ll be locked down. Hopefully.
“If you settle in I’ll go get your things.” I rush out, trying to make myself useful.
Before I reach the car I realize I’m being followed by two shadows. Turning, I swallow when I take in their intense gazes. They get that from their mother.
“Um, hi.” I cringe inside. I’m an ex-marine hardass fucking biker and that’s all I could squeak out in front of two teenagers?
The girl grins, possibly smelling my fear. She bounces on her toes a little before opening her mouth. “Hi! I’m Annie-Bella, and you’re my dad. Whoa.” She takes a deep breath and then whispers, almost to herself, “I look kinda like you,” she looks up at me with wonder in her eyes and I know she must be feeling the same thing as me. She’s right. She does kinda look like me, but stunningly beautiful. Again I get a pit in my stomach and my chest squeezes painfully.
My attention snaps to her brother as he steps in front of her, shielding her from my gaze. “Quit it! He’s not our dad,” he saysto his sister over his shoulder. She pouts, shoulders slumping slightly. He turns back to me, green eyes blazing, “Stay away from our mom. She told us about you, you know. It’s all good that you’d rather hang with skanks than listen to what our mom had to say back then, but you can’t just come in and take over. We’re only here so we don’t get killed by some douche canoes who have it in for you.”
I have no idea what to say, so instead I swallow thickly, then nod. Picking up all the bags in their trunk in both hands, I quietly walk past the kids, ignoring Annie-Bella’s whispers about how strong I am, and the boy’s continued efforts to quell his sister’s enthusiasm. Placing the bags just inside the door, Kaia spins around, pulled from her thoughts by my entrance.
“That’s all of it,” I mumble, trying hard not to stare.
She’s even more beautiful than she was when we were young. Her brown skin glistens in the sunlight coming through the window, her oversized tee knotted at the back, showing off her plump ass in her yoga pants.
“Thank you.”
“Um, can I ask you something?” she lets out a sigh, but she doesn’t argue, so I take the chance. “Annie-Bella introduced herself. You named her after our mothers?”
A sad smile plays on her lush lips, “Yeah. After my mom died yours stepped in and taught me all the things a girl should know. Seemed wrong to only name Annie-Bella after mine.”
I can feel the thickness in the back of my throat, the ache in my heart that even in the moment when she may have hated me, she never hated my family or what they meant to her.
Swallowing the emotion, I clear my throat, “And the boy? What did you name him?”
Her back stiffens, her gaze on a fixed point outside the kitchen window. “Jackson. Jackson James Kennedy.”
My heart feels too big for my chest and my knees are weak. She named our son after me. Maybe not my first name, but my son bears my surname as his first.
“Thank you,” I barely whisper out, before knocking twice on the door jamb and leaving.
I’ll walk away today, let them get settled in, but it’s the last time I’ll ever walk away from them.
Kaia
Shit. I take a deep breath, before blowing away the memory of the hurt look on Leo’s face. He has no reason to be hurt. Leo - dammit, Judge, is the one who decided he didn’t want us. I need to remember that. He’s Judge now. He isn’t my Leo anymore. He hasn’t been since the day my last email went unanswered. One day I’ll ask him about that, but it’s not going to be today.
“You OK, Mom?” Jax’s voice sounds uncertain.
I smile at my sweet boy, always quick to defend me and yet no clue how to deal with an emotional woman. He’s been the man of the house for far longer than he ever should have been. Even when I tried to treat him like a little boy, he would still tell me “Momma, Poppa said that I have to be the man of the house, and look after you and Annie.” Damn my father trying to teach my son how to be a man. Most of all, damn the bastard who took him away from us.
“I’m all good. We’re here now and Judge was nice enough to let us stay.” I give them both a tight smile.
“He seems nice,” Annie-Bella says softly.
I let out a sigh. Annie has spent her life looking for a father figure. She thought she had it once. Hell, I thought she did too, and then he turned out to be the worst mistake of my life. At least from what I know of the DRMC they are good men. They’d never hurt women and children, so I guess Judge isn’t too different from how he was when we were young.
“I think he is probably a good man. I don’t think the DRMC has bad men in their club,” I answer cautiously.
“I looked into them before we came here. They’ve done lots of stuff to stop trafficking of drugs and women and children, so the guy might be a giant dick, but he’s probably a good guy. Even if he is a deadbeat dad,” Jax adds. I don’t even have the energy to correct his language. I’m all twisted up and have the beginnings of a headache thanks to having to shut down my business and cram our worldly goods in the back of my junker car in under an hour.
“Do you think he might want to get to know us?” my sweet girl asks. She may be fourteen, but she’s never had attitude or a mean bone in her body. Her brother got all that.
