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“Jesus, it’s a parking lot, lady!” Case yelled at her.

Deciding to ignore the speeding idiot, she got Jax focused on what they would need. “What do we grab first, sweetie?”

“Cereal!”

Laughing at his enthusiasm she asked, “Then what?”

“Candy!” Her look had him rethinking that. “Cwackers?”

As they went through the aisles picking out the healthiest food she could find, Casey had ditched them a few aisles back in search of junk food because he couldn’t deal with the health crap.

A sharp bump from behind, followed sarcastically by, “Ooops, sorry,” had her turning around. The woman’s eyes were glued to Jax as he happily counted the animals on the box of animal crackers.

“It’s all right,” Dee replied hesitantly, not liking the look being directed the boy’s way.

As the person turned to leave, she asked her, “Do you make it a habit of stealing other women’s families?”

This must be Brooke.

“Excuse me?” Dee demanded, suddenly wishing Casey was done hoarding his junk food.

“You heard me. That’s my son, and you’ve stolen him and my husband away from me,” she snapped.

Shock resonated through her about the husband thing but years of neglect kept it from showing on her face. “The only thing I make a habit of doing is taking care of my family.” Brooke got a dark and bitter look on her face at that.

“You bitch! He’s my son, and I will have him back.”

When she went to reach for Jax, Deedee put a hand to her chest and pushed her back with a warning. “Don’t. Touch. Him.”

“Pincess?” Jax asked from behind her.

“It’s fine, little man.” She tried to soothe him, not taking her eyes off of Brooke.

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s okay. Mommy’s here now. I’ll take you from this mean, mean lady.” Brooke tried reaching for him again, only for Casey to come from behind her and grab her hand.

“Don’t think so, lady!” he barked.

“You not my mommy, pincess is!” Jax started yelling at her, tears beginning to well in his eyes.

“Get the fuck outta here, Brooke, or I’m not gonna be responsible for what happens to you,” Case whispered in her ear, so Jax didn’t hear the threat.

“Oh, please. You wouldn’t hurt a woman.”

“You’re right, I wouldn’t.” She smiled triumphantly at that. “But that doesn’t mean Miss Dee won’t lay a beatdown on your skanky ass.” It was Case’s turn to smile at the shock on Brooke’s face.

Done with the whole encounter, Deidre turned around and gave Jax a small kiss on the cheek, telling Brooke over her shoulder, “Stay away from my family, or I promise you’ll regret it.”

A couple of minutes later, she heard tires squealing out of the parking lot just as Case met up with them after following her out, and while Jax was choosing the apples he wanted. He didn’t say anything to her, just started helping Jaxson load his bag full of fruit. At a loss about what to say or do at the moment, she was pissed the woman had the audacity to approach them the way she had.

She was extremely disgusted that Dom had slept with her. A shiver ran up her spine at just the thought of him touching her. But then she thought of how Jax wouldn’t be in her life if he hadn’t, so that outweighed the bad. It was still an abhorrent thought, though. Unfortunately, she knew their troubles with the bitchy woman were far from over. The look in her eyes while she watched her son worried Dee beyond belief. It showed possession like he was a toy to pass around or something. But worse, she looked vindictive. Like she knew that taking Jax from Dom would hurt him more than anything else could, and that scared the crap out of Dee.

“Dee? You all right?” Case asked concernedly as they made their way through the produce, with Jax picking all his favorites.

“Yeah, fine.” Her voice sounded robotic even to her.

“You know he never married her, right? He was in a bad place, and she took advantage.” Case was only doing what every best friend would do, but he was pissing her off.

“Just fucking let it go, Casey,” she snapped at him, instantly regretting it.