Page 51 of Judge
I turn on my heel and head out to find my woman and the twins. After what happened yesterday with that Seth guy I decided to move them back into the trailer. I wanted to keep them near and I wasn’t that interested in staying at their place. Here, we have the force of my brothers at my back if something was to happen. I would have moved them straight into the house I built for them and refused to let them leave, but even I know that two fold out chairs ain’t comfy living.
I climb the two steps to the trailer door and let myself in. “Hey Dad,” Annie grins at me. Jax gives me a chin lift and Kaia moves toward me, sliding in under my arm when I raise it.
“Hey, baby girl,” I greet my daughter, before pressing a kiss to the top of Kaia’s head.
I take in the scene around me and I’ve never felt such peace. Kaia urges me forward, her small body forcing me into a chair two times too small for me so I’m sitting at the tiny dining table.
“I’m making mac n cheese and Jax is on the steak,” Annie chats away busily.
Kaia joins me at the table, a soft smile on her face as she watches the kids. “How you doing, baby?” I murmur to her, the sound of the twins bickering in the background.
“Lighter. Scared. Ashamed.” Her large eyes hold mine before she ducks her head. “Guilty.” she whispers.
“Hey, hey, look at me,” I pinch her chin in between my fingers and tip her face up to look at me. “We ain’t doing that, baby, remember?”
She nods, sniffling before she pulls her shoulders back and gives me a tight smile. “Strong. I feel strong. And safe.” She gives me a little smile and I feel about ten fucking feet tall.
“That’s cos you are, baby.”
The kids serve up dinner and we sit and eat. They tell me about school, although I can sense something ain’t quite right there, Annie seems a little hesitant to share much, but I guess that’s probably teenage girl stuff. Jax on the other hand is a lot more talkative than I’ve ever seen him, and I guess our chat earlier has probably helped with that.
“What are you going to tell Dad?” I ask, looking between the twins.
Annie eyes her brother, before staring up at me, worrying her lip.
We’re in a standoff, and I know as the adult here I should be the one to broach the subject first. So I decide to lay it all out there.
“I know what you did, son. You saved your mom and your sister, and I’m so fucking proud of you.”
His eyes widen and I don’t miss the sheen in them as he looks away, nodding. I leave him to do whatever he needs to do, to recenter himself, so I wait, quietly, patiently, until he turns back to face me. He must read something in my face because he looks at his sister, then takes a breath, blowing it out.
“He’s back. Seth. That’s his name. Seth Carrick. I-” he gulps, “I was going to go after him.” Annie gasps, frowning at her brother. “But I -I can’t do it on my own,” he mumbles. He looks at his hands, before looking back up at me. “Will you help me?”
I grab him by the back of the neck, pulling him into me. My other hand finds Annie and I draw her in too. “Of course, son, but leave it to me, yeah? You be a kid. Go to school, date some girls. Me and my brothers will take care of things, got me?”
He pulls back, looking sheepish that I’ve been hugging the shit outta him. “Yeah, I ah, I got you.”
“Good. Now, shit, go off and have a good time! It’s a party!”
Shaking off the memory I lean back in my chair, hand on Kai’s thigh, laughing at my kids across the table. This. This is what I want every damn night, and I’m going to have it.
Kaia
“When were you going to tell us, hmm?” Chewy taps her foot as she leans against the counter.
The rest of the girl gang, including Pops and Mad Dog are lined up on the counter stools, staring at me.
“Ah, tell you what?” I ask, eyeing them all.
“About that dickhead ex of yours!” Blanche hisses over the top of her daughter’s head in the front pack. I’m starting to doubt that child will ever learn to crawl or walk. She’s always attached to her mom or her dad.
My eyes dart around the diner and I relax a little when I see that we’re thankfully quiet. The only tables taken up are with school kids. Annie and Jax are sitting together doing homework, the big little kids are at a booth, scheming with some messy looking ginger kid their age, and there are a few booths with teenagers dotted around. One in particular made my baby girl shrink into herself when they walked in but Jax is with her, eyeballing Chelsea Wilson’s kid and his crew who seem to be sneering at the twins. Little assholes.
Looking back at the girl gang, I close my eyes for a moment, then take them all in. “Look, I didn’t want to-”
“Nope. No excuse, girl. You and those kids belong to us. You’re in trouble, you tell us and we take care of it. That’s how this shit works,” Pops says, laying down the law.
My throat closes and my eyes start to burn knowing that all these people have my back.
