Page 63 of Ugly Duckling
“Correct,” I confirmed.
He looked over at Paula, who was standing there silently fuming.
“What else is here that I’m looking at?”
She cleared her throat, then started to go into the fact that I “passed Lottie around” all the time.
“And these men and women,” Paula sneered in my direction. “They’re part of a motorcycle club. One that’s suspected to be a criminal club.”
A criminal club.
Jesus.
“I see,” he said. “Ma’am, not to be rude, but all of these things aren’t indicative of ‘bad’ or ‘criminal.’ Bikers are a good bunch, mostly. They’ll give you the shirt off their back. My daddy was a biker. He was the nicest man I knew. Watched out for his neighborhood and his community. Hell, he died while trying to save a turtle. Pulled over and stopped his bike in the middle of the road. The turtle lived, but he died.”
Paula didn’t know what to say to that.
“Emergency injunction denied. The child will remain with his father.” He paused with the gavel in his hand. “Though, don’t go getting up yet. We have a few more things to discuss.”
The Combs’ lawyer started to look nervous.
“W-what’s that, Your Honor?” Lewis stuttered.
Malone sat back with a smile. “You’re going to like this.”
I waited to see what the judge had to say and was pleasantly surprised for the first time in a while.
“You now have a restraining order against you,” he said. “I’m issuing it right now. You are to stay well away from Mr. Penn, Lottie Penn, and Mr. Penn’s fiancée, Sutton Sway. Some information was shared with me upon getting into my offices today, and I have decided that you won’t ever be getting close to them again if I can help it.”
He stood up with the gavel in his hand. “Dismissed.”
Paula stood up in a huff, but before she could storm away, he said, “Oh, and Mrs. Combs?”
Paula turned woodenly to stare at the judge. “The next time you cry wolf with any false allegations against Mr. Penn, you will be seeing the inside of a jail cell.”
She took a step toward the door, but the judge wasn’t done. “One more thing.”
Paula didn’t turn to look back.
“You’re lucky she didn’t press charges.”
My lips were firmly tilted into a permanent smile when Paula stomped out of the courtroom.
We waited for everyone to disperse from the room before anyone said anything.
“What the hell was that?” Audric asked, eyes lit with laughter.
“That was them messing with the wrong judge.” Malone packed her briefcase up. “I was hoping that he would be willing to hear from me beforehand, and he did. He’s a good guy. Real southern boy. And he is a good friend of my dad’s. He was more than willing to hear me out before court this morning.”
“Good.” Audric nodded. “How much good do you think those restraining orders will do?”
“Not.” Malone stepped around her chair to stare at me. “You document each time you see them. And make sure that you’re careful. They’ll try to trip you up, and they’ll just pick up their invasion of privacy. Don’t be surprised if you’re watched all the time now.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
But then again, mostly I followed the law.
But on those rare occasions that I didn’t…
