Page 19 of Judge (Devil’s Rose MC #7)

Judge

I ’m going to be arrested. Kaia in her tight pants jiggling up and down in excitement, tits bouncing under her shirt, is pushing me to the edge.

It seems I’m not the only one with eyes on Kaia, either, because half the soccer dads are drooling over her and if one more fucker looks her way I’m taking his eyes out.

“Yo, you look irritated to fuckery,” Tank says, stepping up next to me.

“Do not look at Kaia. Keep your eyes on your own woman,” I growl. I don’t want to have to fight a brother.

“Why the hell would I be looking at your woman? Have you seen mine?” He gazes over at Mira, who instead of wearing a supporters shirt like the rest of the women, is wearing a dress with bumble bees all over it. I mean, the colors match the team I guess.

“Yeah, sorry brother, just too many fuckers with eyes on my woman.”

“Does she know she’s your woman yet?”

I glare at him, and then go back to staring daggers at yet another overweight fucker who dares to look at Kaia.

“You know, to make her yours you kinda have to use your words,” Pops says, coming to stand next to me, eyes on the game. “Holy shit! Did you just see what your kid did?”

Of course I saw what Annie did. When my eyes aren’t glued to Kaia, they’re on the twins.

They move as one. When one goes one way, the other moves opposite, always where they need to be.

They’ve scored four goals together, and completely blocked the other team from gaining any ground.

I can see now why Chelsea wants my kids off the team.

They make everyone look like shit, especially their fat ginger kid who seems to throw his weight around a little too often.

“They’re the best fucking players out there,” I say to Pops, eyes on the play as Annie dribbles the ball toward the goal.

“Damn straight.” He watches on a little more, but I know he’s about to shit talk me, because he inches closer.

I really know shit’s going to go down when Mad Dog moves in as well. “So, Son, you got a plan to win them over?” Mad Dog asks, not even wasting time on pleasantries.

I stare at them, hoping that if I don’t respond, they’ll fuck off. They don’t. Instead they move right into my eye line, blocking my view of the twins.

“Do you mind?” I grumble.

“Not at all,” Pops grins. “You know, if you want my help…”

“You just have to ask,” Mad Dog says, slapping a hand on my shoulder. My eyes narrow to a squint, taking both of them in. “What? I’m helping him out.”

“He’s pretty much my VP,” Pops answers.

“Your…VP?”

“Well, yeah, kid. I’m the Love Pres, he’s the VP,” Pops says as if that makes sense.

“Say the word, and before you know it, that little lady is yours.”

My eyes dart to Kaia where she’s huddled between the women, laughing and clapping for the twins.

I like seeing her relaxed like this. I like how she is when she has a group of people around her.

She never had many friends growing up, but the DRMC can give her what she’s always wanted.

Friendship. A large family. I want her to have all that, and above all else, I want her to have me.

Turning to Pops and Mad Dog, I give them a nod. “OK. After the game, we’ll talk.”

They both give me nods, and move to the side to watch the game. Just in time for me to see that big ginger fucker run straight into Annie-Bella, knocking her completely off her feet, sending her smaller frame flying before she lands in a heap on the ground.

In the blink of an eye I’m moving like I’m back in some shitty sandbox, trying to get to one of my men. I drop down beside her, cradling her head. “Shit, sweetheart, let me look at you.”

Kaia lands on her knees beside me moments later, brushing Annie’s hair from her face.

“Step back! Let me see,” Switch’s loud as hell voice booms out, thank fuck my brother had a day off today. He’s been pulling double shifts for the past two weeks, so it’s good to see him.

“Gently roll her, brother,” Switch gentles his voice as he leans in, brushing his hands over Annie-Bella’s arms and legs. “OK, nothing seems to be broken.”

At that, Kaia flies to her feet and starts yelling.

Hers and Jax’s voices break through my panic, but it’s not enough for me to take my eyes off my little girl.

I don’t care that I haven’t been in her life the past fourteen years.

She’s still my baby girl and some fucker hurt her.

There’ll be time for payback, I just need to know she’s OK before I do anything.

I run my hand over her hair, her steady breathing telling me she’s going to be fine, but it’s hard to focus on anything else.

Behind me are voices I don’t recognize, yelling, screaming, and snippets of voices I do recognize breaking through now and then.

“Whoa whoa, who do you think you’re dealing with, young buck?” Pops voice drifts toward me, along with Mira’s “Yeah!”

“What did you just call my gator?” Chewy’s voice is dangerously low.

Shit. I turn in time to hear Ana yell, “Oh, it’s on!”

The next thing I know the DRMC women are swarming. It’s the only word to describe it. There’s hair, bodies and fists flying everywhere.

“Um, Dad, can you please move out of the way so I can see?”

My eyes move down to stare into the big green eyes of my daughter, her words still working their way into my brain. Dad. She called me Dad. Swallowing thickly, I nod, moving my body and gently sitting her up, so she can see what belonging to the DRMC means.

My brothers are all standing in a line, arms crossed over their chests.

Marx is in a yelling match with that ginger kid’s father, Jules is staring daggers at another dad, and Pops is shoving someone’s grandpa.

The women are not holding back. Chewy shoves Chomper into Rhodie’s arms, then hands Laney over to Sage who seems to be corralling the toddlers back to their play pen thing.

Chewy then lets out a battle cry before punching one of the moms in her fake tit.

Mira is pulling hair, Blanche is up in another’s face and Vi has just slapped a mom, much to Jules amusement.

Judging by the look on his face, Mama Debs will be babysitting tonight.

“Holy shit,” Jax whispers, under his breath. “This is insane.” He turns his wide eyes to mine, then snorts. He snorts once more, before bursting into laughter. “And I thought Mom was the only crazy lady I knew.”

“Son, never call them that. They’ll have your balls,” Tank says wisely, before moving to remove his woman’s hands from the hair of some brunette she’s fighting with.

A throat clears behind me, and the ref is there, Elio, Cove and Jovie standing in front of him. “Do any of these kids belong to you? They’ve been running a gambling ring and have won a large number of juice boxes that they’re now selling from a stand.”

I stare at the guy, then at the kids, then the chaos around me, before turning to stare at the twins. We burst into hysterical laughter and I just let the chaos wash over us. Someone else can deal with that shit.

Kaia

“I can’t believe we had to forfeit the game all because of that fat bully kid,” Ana grumbles.

Looking around, I want to burst into laughter at the absurdity of it all. The game may be over, but we’re all still at the soccer field, chilling out under the DRMC branded pop up gazebo. These people are nuts, in the very best of ways.

“I’m just glad Sergeant Davies didn’t have to arrest us all,” I snort, then giggle.

“Nah,” Vi waves a hand at me, “he would never. Mom would never allow it. Besides, we didn’t throw the first punch. That scary blonde started it.”

“To be fair, she didn’t throw the first punch, it was more a slap,” Nat says, holding a cold juice box to her cheek.

“Meh, tamayto, tomahto.”

“I can’t believe they called Chomper names. What monster calls an orphaned, disabled gator names?” Chewy glowers, and I can tell by the look on her face that she’s planning something. Probably feeding them to her orphaned disabled gator.

It’s weird, I should be creeped out that I’m building a friendship with a woman who has a pet gator that she treats like a baby, and yet somehow, that’s one of the more normal facets of Chewy’s character.

“I don’t like unfinished business,” Blanche murmurs.

“What do you mean? We totally finished that. I have the hair extensions to prove it,” Lovely waves a handful of hair wefts in the air.

“What the hell are you going to do with those?” Nat asks, wide-eyed.

“Ohh, perhaps you could braid it? Or use it for crafting or something.” Mira shrugs, eyes on the fake hair Lovely’s waving around.

“What’s your plan?” Pops narrows his eyes at Blanche, clearly calculating something.

“Well, it’s not going to be the last game the twins play, so I say we tool up and come back next week.”

We all stare at her for a beat before a smile breaks out over my face.

“Ah, why are you all smiling like that?” Leo frowns down at me in the fold out chair.

“Nothing,” I smile sweetly back, then laugh out loud when his frown deepens. “Just planning something with the girls.”

“And Pops,” Pops adds.

“Yup, and Pops.”

“Jesus Christ,” Leo mutters under his breath the same time Marx does.

I suppress my giggle and gaze around at the scene around me.

I mean, sure, some of us look slightly worse for wear, most of the girl gang’s hair is a mess, because Chelsea and her posse are total hair pullers, but other than that, everyone looks happy and content.

Jax and Annie-Bella are sitting with Leo’s parents.

Actually, sitting isn’t really the word.

Annie is almost on top of Leo’s mom, that’s how close she’s sitting.

Jax has his head bent next to Chuck’s, busy showing him something on his phone.

“Thank you, baby,” Leo murmurs, from above me before pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

Tipping my head back, I look at an upside down version of Leo, his green eyes sincere. “What’s with the ‘baby’?”

He raises a dark brow, that panty melting crooked smile tugging up. “Just felt right.”

“OK. Baby.” His eyes darken at my words and my thighs clench involuntarily. I didn’t mean to cause that reaction, but now I have, I don’t know what to do with it.

He doesn’t move for the longest time, just stands there, staring down at me. Thoughtful. Or maybe calculating.

“Mom! Mom!” My head snaps towards Annie-Bella’s voice, breaking the connection between Leo and me, but I’m thankful for it.

There’s so much he doesn’t know, so much to learn, and I’m shitting myself thinking that once I tell him, he’ll view me differently, he’ll walk away and I’ll lose everything I’m building. I’ll lose the DRMC.

“Yes, baby?” I smirk at Leo when I use the term how I normally would, then switch my attention back to my twins, both of them bounding over.

“Gigi said that if it’s OK with you, we can spend the night with her and Gramps!” Annie-Bella says, eyes shining bright. Ah, so it seems Annie Senior is a Gigi type of grandma. It brings a smile to my lips.

“But only if it’s OK with you,” Annie says gently, Chuck’s hand on her shoulder. “Jax can sleep in Leo’s old room, and Annie-Bella can have the guest room.”

“Please, please,” Annie-Bella whispers, her hands clasped under her chin.

I look at Jax, holding his gaze. Of the two of them he’ll be the one I’ll base my decision on.

Annie-Bella is so desperate for family that she’d do anything to be able to stay with her grandparents.

Jax though, he’s spent so many years protecting us whether I wanted him to or not, that at any sign of his discomfort I’d put my foot down and take my daughter’s moods and consequences.

Jax’s eyes dart between mine and his grandparents.

“Please Mom?” Jax asks. “Gramps has a collection of trains he wants to show me and I want to show him some videos of our old soccer games.”

I look toward Leo, who’s rolled his lips between his teeth, trying not to laugh. He’ll soon figure out two against one is not as funny as he thinks it is.

“As long as it’s OK?” I ask Leo’s parents who look at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Kaia, sweetheart, you know we love you, but you have to be missing your marbles if you think that we would say no to having our grandbabies stay the night,” I try not to snort at Leo’s mom’s very gentle way of telling me I’m an idiot.

“OK. Well, should we get going so you can pick up some spare cloth-”

“Already got bags packed, thanks Mom!” Annie-Bella says, grinning ear to ear.

My eyes narrow, “Did you plan this?”

“How would we have known that Gigi and Gramps would even be here today?” Jax answers, looking sweet as pie.

I move to swat his ass as he jumps away, laughing. “Too slow, Mom. Might wanna hone those skills before next week’s smackdown.”

“Do you want to keep them forever?” I ask Leo’s parents, who nod eagerly, laughing along with everyone else.”Fine, you can take them, and I’ll pick them up tomorrow. Is that OK with you?”

“It’s perfect, sweetheart. Thank you.” I stand to give her a hug and she kisses my cheek. “Your mom would be proud of you,” she whispers in my ear, before pushing me back and holding me at arm’s length. “They both would.”

I give her a smile, to hide my trembling bottom lip. Not well enough as Leo wraps his arm around me and kisses me on the temple.

“Judge, I do believe we need words.” Pops gives him a serious look then tips his head sideways.

Leo lets out a deep breath, grumbles something about “Love Pres bullshit” and then wanders off, Mad Dog bringing up the rear.

“What is that about?” Lovely asks, looking around at us.

“Don’t ask babe,” Marx grumbles down at her, lips twitching.

“Anyhoo, now that two of the kids are sorted out, who wants to get sitters for the rest and have a girls night?” Nat asks. “At the farm, of course,” she adds quickly, glaring at Savage, daring him to say something.

I’ve had exactly one girls night in my life, and at that one I got to shoot a rocket launcher. Who knows what else we can get up to. “I’m in!” I yell, two hands up in the air.

“Dammit, woman!” Leo yells and I throw my head back and laugh.