Page 39 of Chelsea’s Knight

“Well, check into it,” Poseidon orders. “You never know unless you ask.”

“Y’all could always look into getting a surrogate, too,” Trident muses, seemingly a bit calmer now that he’s gotten his vent out. Maybe he just needs more caffeine, though, because he’s throwing back his huge-ass mug like it’s a lifeline.

I shrug. “Doesn’t matter to me one way or another. Whatever Chelsea wants is what we’ll do.”

I do, however, tuck the idea of surrogacy into my mind because it would be the closest she would get to having a biological child without being able to birth it herself since I presume our stuff would be used to impregnate the surrogate. My attention comes back into the here and now when Poseidon hits the gavel on the table and the vibrations from him slamming it on the highly polished wood make their way toward me.

Once we’re all quiet, he looks directly at me, huffs, and states, “Been waiting to give you this piece of news, brother. Well, both you and Specks, that is.”

Staring at him, I feel my heart rate accelerating because I instinctively know it’s about the attack Chelsea and I endured when Noah was kidnapped by his paternal grandparents.

“We finally got a trial date on the dockets?” I inquire, glad my voice doesn’t sound shaky given the fear spiking through me at the thought of Chelsea having to go through it.

Not like I wouldn’t be there and have to testify, but her interaction and subsequent injuries were far more severe than mine. Hell, even Noah wasn’t really hurt, just a slight bruise where the grandfather dropped him, but emotionally, I think he and Chelsea are on equal footing. She still has nightmares, which she doesn’t remember thankfully, and hearing her cry out in terror has me wishing they would just get hit by a bus or something.

“Pres, just spit it out,” Specks states. “I need to know how to prepare my woman and son for this shit.” His fists are clenched because he was in direct contact with Noah through a game they play online during the whole thing.

Poseidon glares at him for interrupting, even though he hasn’t said a fucking word since his initial statement, but Specks doesn’t budge. Nope, he crosses his arms over his chest and glares back at our president until Poseidon starts chuckling.

“Grouchy fucker, aren’t you?” he needles Specks who shrugs.

“Kaya hasn’t been feeling all that great lately. Trying not to worry needlessly but will say I’m glad Canyon’s back because she’s gone in a few times when I thought she should stay home and rest.”

“She could’ve stayed home if she wasn’t up to it,” Loki advises, looking concerned. “Hell, I was running the fucking shop on my own to begin with until she and Canyon came along. If folks wantusto do their work, they’ll fucking wait.”

“That’s what I told her too,” Specks spits out. “Several times as a matter of fact.”

“She can because I’m back and will grab the overflow,” I say, anxious now to drop the topic and get back on track to hear what Poseidon needs to tell us. “Can we get back on track?”

The tension bursts once everyone starts laughing. I tend to be somewhat laid back in church but hearing he has news that concerns me as well as Specks has tossed my normally calm demeanor out the proverbial window.

“Is it always like this in here?” I hear Glacier whisper, leaning forward toward Atlas.

“Pretty much. Poseidon does his best to wrangle us, but it’s like herding a bunch of cats,” Atlas advises, snickering.

“Alright, seriously, let’s take it down a few notches since all of y’all need to get into work but this was important enough I didn’t want to wait for our weekly church,” Poseidon demands, his tone switching minutely to let all of us know it’s time to focus.

“First things first, Mr. and Mrs. Mabry, when faced with the possibility they could receive far worse if it went to trial, opted to take the deal the District Attorney’s office offered. Because of the numerous felony charges they were facing, which included kidnapping of a minor, two aggravated assaults with intent for serious injury, commission of a felony or felonies in front of a minor, and a few others which were negligible, they could’ve gotten multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole,” Poseidon conveys.

“Not the death penalty?” Brooks asks.

“There are only three crimes in Georgia where that’s an option, and as much as we might think they deserve that punishment because they hurt three people we love and care about, unfortunately, it wasn’t an option,” Poseidon replies.

“Bummer,” Atlas snarks, his lip curled in unadulterated fury. When we all look at him with shock because he’s certainly gotten far chattier since getting Koba and adding Patsy to his life, he shrugs nonchalantly. “What? I’m just saying what we’re all thinking. Those fuckers don’t deserve to continue to draw breath as far as I’m concerned. They scared Noah shitless, almost killed Chelsea, and hurt Canyon. That’s reason enough for me that they be sentenced to death.”

“Well, alrighty then, let’s avoid putting Atlas on any kind of ballot where someone’s life could be on the line,” Trident harmonically says, snickering. “So, Pres, what did they get?”

“Forty years each, with the possibility of parole after two-thirds of their sentence has been served,” Poseidon returns. “They were older parents to begin with, so having to serve thirty years before they’re even considered means the likelihood of them leaving on their own power is slim and none. Especially, since apparently, they’ve been having a difficult time adjusting while being locked up for some strange reason.”

Snickers go around the room at that announcement. We may be on the straight and narrow, but we also have friendseverywherewho know folks.

“Sucks to be them, I guess,” I murmur. “But it makes me happy that Noah especially doesn’t have to testify against them in court. Reliving it for any of us sucks for sure, except he’s a kid who shouldn’t need to think about shit like that. Plus, Chelsea still periodically has nightmares. Granted, she doesn’t remember them in the light of day, thankfully, but she still has them several times a week. If she had had to testify, I suspect it would’ve been even worse.”

“Yeah, none of them need to go through it again, but you don’t either, brother,” Loki says.

“Now, if only I could hear that Chelsea’s prick of a stepbrother met with an unfortunate accident, life would truly be golden, y’know?” I muse out loud, trying to ignore what Loki said simply because in the scheme of things, I’m okay.

Specks snaps his fingers and opens his ever-present tablet. “Hang on, brother. Ever since you gave me their names, I’ve had searches running in the background to make sure he wasn’t paroled or anything else like that. Can’t have him living the easy life in a ten by ten.”

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