Page 1 of Judge (Devil’s Rose MC #7)

Judge

I t’s going to be fine. All I have to do is walk into the diner, march up to Kaia, let her know she’s in danger and that she needs to come with me. Easy. Simple. There will be no push back, no questions. Kaia will just follow along like a little lamb and smile politely while she does it.

Yeah, right. Kaia will take one look at me and kick me out on my ass.

If she doesn’t do that, she’ll stab me in the eye with a fork.

Either way there will be violence. I just know it.

I shouldn’t be surprised really. I’ve known Kaia for most of my life.

Well, I had known Kaia for most of my life.

Before I fucked that up by getting my dick wet with Chelsea Masters, the high school bicycle.

Up until that point Kaia and I had fooled around a few times.

We had both been awkward as hell, so we wanted to lose our virginities to someone we trusted.

The first time sucked. Badly. The second and third time?

Well, let’s just say that after a decade and a half of fucking easy women, those two times were something that I’ve never felt since.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. I throw my leg over my Harley Davidson Roadster, the navy blue tank glistening in the sunlight.

Dismounting I stand and take another deep breath.

This is going to go badly, and I’ll have witnesses.

I try to ignore them, but the Girl Gang is all lined up on the pavement like a damned receiving line.

I give them a nod as I walk past, because let’s face it, if I ignore them they’ll give me even more shit to add on to what’s going to be a pretty shitty day by anyone’s standards.

I mean this and then the fact that our club is under attack and we’ll be locking down?

Yeah, I think I’d prefer to be back out in the sandbox I met Rhodie in, getting shot at.

I take one last deep fortifying breath before stepping up to the door of the diner.

“Yo Boomer! Outta the way!” a kid yells, skidding up next to me on his skateboard, kicking and catching it in one slick movement.

“Who the hell are you calling Boomer?” I grumble but he pays no attention, instead flinging the door open wide enough for him to slip through, but my big ass gets hit on my way in after him.

Fucking youth. There’s probably a reason why at the ripe old age of thirty-three I haven’t had any children.

I’m scary looking. I’m quiet. I’m fucking grumpy.

Don’t get me wrong, the MC kids and babies are all good, I can smile at them and say hi, but let’s just say that I don’t see myself with small versions of me any time soon.

“Hi! Can I help you? We have seats around the counter or you can take a table at the back?” A young girl asks from beside my elbow before glancing at the punk, then back at me.

I stare down at her, blinking to try and get my thoughts back together after that fucking teenager set me off kilter. I can see the little bastard now, standing behind the counter smirking at a teen on the other side. As if I needed another reason to avoid this place.

The little brunette stares up at me in anticipation of my answer. “Shit, sorry, um, counter.”

“Perfect!” She bounces off with way too much energy, joining that little douche canoe behind the counter. He shoulder bumps her and I get the urge to scare the shit outta him. That’s not how you treat women.

Shaking off my already worsening mood, I nod once again at the Girl Gang, this time all of them perched along the counter, with Pops and Mad Dog in tow. Fuck my life. Deciding to just bite the bullet I make my way to the counter, staring down the little skateboard punk.

“Yo, can I help you?” the punk smirks.

“Yeah, you always try to run over customers?”

“I gave you a heads up. Not my fault your reflexes suck.” He gives me a sickly sweet smile. “What can I get for you?”

I have no idea how old this kid is, probably because I don’t know enough to compare, but I’d say he’s a little younger than Sage and Niko. Maybe around early teens but big for his age. He’s tall and solidly built, but not old enough to have grown out of the slight gangliness that kids his age have.

Choosing to ignore the little shit I decide to just ask, “Yeah, I’m looking for Kaia.”

His brows pull down, eyes flicking to my cut, then back up to my face. “Why?”

My eyes move to the little brunette, standing at his elbow. She’s a heck of a lot smaller than he is, but flicking between the two I can see the resemblance in the set of their chins. There’s something oddly familiar about these kids, but I’d remember them. Well, the asshole one at least.

“Yo, creep, stop staring at my sister.” The kid steps in front of the brunette, shielding her.

“Why are you looking for our mom?” his sister asks.

“Annie-Bella, go serve those people down there, I’ll take care of this,” the boy murmurs, giving his sister a look. She nods once and then heads toward the Girl Gang who have eyes glued in my direction.

“Leo, what the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you that you’re barred from my establishment?” Kaia’s husky voice barks in my direction.

She’s standing in the middle of her diner, hands on her hips, hair wild, looking like fucking Medusa. If her gaze could turn me to stone she would. She’d probably then grind that stone to dust and dance on it. Or take a shit on it.

“Kaia, I need to talk to you. It’s urgent,” I plead, palms out, as if to implore some soft, sweet part deep inside her.

Instead, she throws her head back and laughs in my face. “No. Nope. Not at all. Doubt it. You need to get gone Leo Jackson. And don’t come back.” She scowls my way, but I don’t miss the way her eyes dart, the way they constantly look past me to the kids working the counter.

There’s a flutter in my gut that things aren’t quite what I think they are.

There was never any explanation about where Kaia went.

One day she was there staring at me like I’d ripped her heart out, the next, gone.

I tried reaching out and nothing. No word, no letters.

Shit, I even created a fucking social media profile to see if I could find her.

Then she pops up in my town, an hour away from where we grew up, and bars me from entering her diner.

The best fucking diner in town. No, something is up, and I’m going to fucking get to the bottom of it.

I know Kaia. I know all her quirks and tells.

I also know her weaknesses. So I don’t argue.

I just watch her. Watch her every move. Watch the way her dark eyes dart to her kids and back.

The way she bristles every time I look in their direction.

The way she wrings her hands and gives them tight smiles when they begin shooting her concerned glances.

I’m thirty-three years old. Kaia is thirty-two, thirty-three in three weeks. That big annoying kid looks to be maybe thirteen or fourteen? Kaia left when I was eighteen. My gaze shoots to hers, my stomach dropping into my boots.

“Kaia,” my voice barely a whisper above the din in the diner. “How old is your son?”

Her eyes widen, dark pools staring directly into my soul, a resigned look on her face. “He’s fourteen. They both are.”

Kaia

I watch as the father of my children slowly crumples to the floor, the big bastard taking out my waitresses’ tray, spilling pancakes and maple syrup onto the floor before his giant ass lands in it.

“Ah, shit kid, come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” A kind faced older man with the same leather vest Leo wears grips him under the arm while Jax and Annie-Bella come racing over.

“You OK, Mom? Want me to kick that guy’s ass?”

A little huff escapes me, “Jax, what have I told you about kicking asses?”

“No need to kick ass when you can use your words,” he replies in a bored voice.

“Don’t worry, Mom! I have the bucket and mop,” Annie-Bella sloshes water onto the floor where Leo’s ass print is proudly on display.

“Baby, I’ll do that, you go serve the MC women,” I smile gently at her. My little girl is a nurturer.

I have no idea how I managed to raise two completely different people, but I did.

Jax is a lot like Leo at the same age. Big, talented at sports, academic at school.

The only difference is he got my smart mouth and terrible temper.

Annie-Bella is quiet, gentle, also sporty like her brother but her academics starts and ends with reading and writing.

She hates math and science, but give her a pen and paper and she can make whole worlds out of nothing but her imagination.

“Um, hi. You probably don’t remember me-”

“Of course I do, you’re Lovely, right?” I reply immediately.

I know all the women sitting along the countertop. They come in often for mommies group with Pops, Chewy’s grandfather. They’re a hell of a good time, if not a little nosy. They know all the sordid details of why I don’t talk to Leo, or want him anywhere near my diner.

“Oh! Um, yup, that’s me.” Lovely’s pale cheeks pinken a little. I have no idea why she would think I’d forget her. She’s got this sort of gentleness about her that you just don’t see much. Especially not in women who hang around the MC.

All the women, aside from her and Mira seem to be the type to not take shit from anyone. I quite like that about them, too.

“Um, Judge, if he ever comes out of the bathroom, is going to ask you to accompany him, us, to the farmhouse we are all staying at. I’m not sure if you heard, but the clubhouse was attacked?

We’re all fine, but the clubhouse is not.

” Her eyes are wide and she darts them to the bathroom door, then back to me.

My brows pull down in confusion. “Wait, why would I need to go with him?”

“We have reason to believe that the person who did it knows about your connection to Judge.”

“Leo. His name is Leo. Well it was when we were young,” I mutter. Back when we were inseparable. Best friends. “Besides, we have no connection to each other at all.”