Page 26 of Judge (Devil’s Rose MC #7)

Judge

I impatiently listen through church waiting for Wire to finish his report on finances and some other shit I don’t care about. Ever since Kaia told me her secret and Jax told me his plans, I’ve been quietly fuming. How dare some slimy fucker threaten my family?

“Good, thanks Wire. Anything else to add?” Marx looks around at each of us, holding eye contact for a moment.

I clear my throat and his surprised gaze finds mine. In the entire time I’ve been a brother in the DRMC never once have I had anything to bring to the table. “Ah yeah, so, Kaia told me something interesting last night.”

“I fucking knew it! Knew she couldn’t be as untroublesome as she seemed,” Rider cackles, rubbing his hands together.

“Shut the fuck up Rider!” Marx growls, bringing his attention back to me.

“So, ah, shit.” I sit, trying to find the right words, then throwing caution to the wind, “She ended your brother, Sniper. I watched her do it, she told him he was a piece of shit and she was doing you a kindness.” My shocked brothers stare at me in silence, so, while I have a captive audience, I carry on.

“She’d done that shit before, pumped an overdose into her father’s veins after he was assaulted by her ex-boyfriend.

Long story short, he was using her to cam girl, simple shit, feet, no face nudes, then she comes home one day and he surprises her with a friend and a camera. ”

“Motherfucker,” someone growls and I damn well agree.

Running a hand down my face, I continue with the main points, “He threatens her that if she doesn’t do it, he’ll make Annie.

” A chair goes flying and Sniper paces, head back, looking at the ceiling, “She locks herself in with the kids, calls her dad, the ex assaults him and when she goes to check he chokes her the fuck out. She wakes up with Annie on the phone and Jax with a baseball bat in his hands and the scumbag on the ground.”

“Fuck, brother,” Tank’s meaty hand lands on my shoulder, giving me his strength.

Marx takes a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. I can tell by the set of his jaw that he’s pissed on my behalf. “How old were the twins?”

“Eight.”

“Where is he now?” Sniper asks in a low, deathly calm tone.

“He was meant to be in prison but somehow got out early. He tracked them down to the diner, and threatened my woman and my baby girl.” My hands fist at the thought that he had the balls to walk into her business to intimidate her.

“He dies.” Sniper up and leaves the room, and the Pres lets him. Hell, the guy just found out that my woman ended the bane of his existence, I think it’s only fair we cut the guy some slack.

“Those in favor of ridding the earth of this scum?” Marx asks, looking around at us.

Rider bangs his fist on the scarred table in the dining room, then Tank, followed one by one by my brothers.

“Wire, find out all you can about this -” Marx looks to me.

“Seth. Seth Carrick.”

“On it, brother.” Wire nods once, fingers flying over the keys.

“Judge, how do you want to do this?” Rhodie asks, most likely already planning strategies in his head.

“Don’t care. As long as we get him before Jax does. His plan was to go after Carrick himself before he realized he doesn’t need to do that shit anymore, DRMC will take care of it.”

“Good boy you got there,” Flack nods, “But kid needs to be a kid for a bit longer.”

I tip my chin in agreement. That may have been how Kaia and the kids did shit in the past, but no more. They have a whole damn family at their backs now.

“Well, it turns out that Seth Carrick has a set of balls on him. Checked into a motorlodge just out of town under his own name and credit card.”

“Dumb fuck,” Savage snorts.

“Tombs,” Marx looks toward Gus, Jules and Tav before doing a double take. “Where the fuck did Pops go?”

Looking around the table it takes a moment for all of us to clock that Pops somehow disappeared into thin air.

“He was here just a minute ago because he was bitching about Wire’s report being too long,” Dex smirks as Wire flips him the bird.

Marx runs a hand down his beard, “Fucks sake. Tombs, you’re on Carrick surveillance. Landrys, ‘you back them up. Mad Dog, TumTum and Chef, you’re on Pops duty. I have a feeling that fucker will go after Carrick himself if we’re not careful.”

Everyone nods and we all get up to leave once Marx bangs his fist on the wall behind him.

“Brother,” Wire calls, stopping me in my tracks. “I’m sorry, I could have found out this shit if I had have dug deep-”

My hand lands on Wire’s shoulder, stopping his sentence, “Wire, there’s nothing to be sorry for. I wanted to hear her truth and I got it.” I give him a little shake and he nods once, eyes back on his screen.

“I’ll get the girls to help me. I’ll go through everything we can to get any footage or images of Kaia taken down.”

“Thanks brother,” I manage to choke out.

I turn on my heel and head out to find my woman and the twins.

After what happened yesterday with that Seth guy I decided to move them back into the trailer.

I wanted to keep them near and I wasn’t that interested in staying at their place.

Here, we have the force of my brothers at my back if something was to happen.

I would have moved them straight into the house I built for them and refused to let them leave, but even I know that two fold out chairs ain’t comfy living.

I climb the two steps to the trailer door and let myself in. “Hey Dad,” Annie grins at me. Jax gives me a chin lift and Kaia moves toward me, sliding in under my arm when I raise it.

“Hey, baby girl,” I greet my daughter, before pressing a kiss to the top of Kaia’s head.

I take in the scene around me and I’ve never felt such peace. Kaia urges me forward, her small body forcing me into a chair two times too small for me so I’m sitting at the tiny dining table.

“I’m making mac n cheese and Jax is on the steak,” Annie chats away busily.

Kaia joins me at the table, a soft smile on her face as she watches the kids. “How you doing, baby?” I murmur to her, the sound of the twins bickering in the background.

“Lighter. Scared. Ashamed.” Her large eyes hold mine before she ducks her head. “Guilty.” she whispers.

“Hey, hey, look at me,” I pinch her chin in between my fingers and tip her face up to look at me. “We ain’t doing that, baby, remember?”

She nods, sniffling before she pulls her shoulders back and gives me a tight smile. “Strong. I feel strong. And safe.” She gives me a little smile and I feel about ten fucking feet tall.

“That’s cos you are, baby.”

The kids serve up dinner and we sit and eat.

They tell me about school, although I can sense something ain’t quite right there, Annie seems a little hesitant to share much, but I guess that’s probably teenage girl stuff.

Jax on the other hand is a lot more talkative than I’ve ever seen him, and I guess our chat earlier has probably helped with that.

“ What are you going to tell Dad?” I ask, looking between the twins.

Annie eyes her brother, before staring up at me, worrying her lip.

We’re in a standoff, and I know as the adult here I should be the one to broach the subject first. So I decide to lay it all out there.

“I know what you did, son. You saved your mom and your sister, and I’m so fucking proud of you.”

His eyes widen and I don’t miss the sheen in them as he looks away, nodding.

I leave him to do whatever he needs to do, to recenter himself, so I wait, quietly, patiently, until he turns back to face me.

He must read something in my face because he looks at his sister, then takes a breath, blowing it out.

“He’s back. Seth. That’s his name. Seth Carrick. I-” he gulps, “I was going to go after him.” Annie gasps, frowning at her brother. “But I -I can’t do it on my own,” he mumbles. He looks at his hands, before looking back up at me. “Will you help me?”

I grab him by the back of the neck, pulling him into me. My other hand finds Annie and I draw her in too. “Of course, son, but leave it to me, yeah? You be a kid. Go to school, date some girls. Me and my brothers will take care of things, got me?”

He pulls back, looking sheepish that I’ve been hugging the shit outta him. “Yeah, I ah, I got you.”

“Good. Now, shit, go off and have a good time! It’s a party!”

Shaking off the memory I lean back in my chair, hand on Kai’s thigh, laughing at my kids across the table. This. This is what I want every damn night, and I’m going to have it.

Kaia

“When were you going to tell us, hmm?” Chewy taps her foot as she leans against the counter.

The rest of the girl gang, including Pops and Mad Dog are lined up on the counter stools, staring at me.

“Ah, tell you what?” I ask, eyeing them all.

“About that dickhead ex of yours!” Blanche hisses over the top of her daughter’s head in the front pack. I’m starting to doubt that child will ever learn to crawl or walk. She’s always attached to her mom or her dad.

My eyes dart around the diner and I relax a little when I see that we’re thankfully quiet.

The only tables taken up are with school kids.

Annie and Jax are sitting together doing homework, the big little kids are at a booth, scheming with some messy looking ginger kid their age, and there are a few booths with teenagers dotted around.

One in particular made my baby girl shrink into herself when they walked in but Jax is with her, eyeballing Chelsea Wilson’s kid and his crew who seem to be sneering at the twins. Little assholes.

Looking back at the girl gang, I close my eyes for a moment, then take them all in. “Look, I didn’t want to-”

“Nope. No excuse, girl. You and those kids belong to us. You’re in trouble, you tell us and we take care of it. That’s how this shit works,” Pops says, laying down the law.

My throat closes and my eyes start to burn knowing that all these people have my back.