Page 28 of Justice for Radar

She would be leaving in a couple of days, but that didn’t mean that had to be it. I didn’t want it to be. I really wanted to stay in touch with her – and I knew how. I had the power. Seemed to me Justice needed a friend and she had one in me. The distance was a problem, but I just needed to stay the course.

Be right back, putting a pot of coffee on,I tapped out to Atlas.

Go, I got this for right now, he shot back.

My kids were his kids, too. My two girls wereallof the club’s girls, meaning they had more aunties and uncles than any two kids could want. I had no illusions about that the club’s place in my kid’s life and had no problem accepting the club standing up for my girls as much as I did as their father. It was nice to have the help and that they had my back.

With that thought, I pushed to my feet and went to the kitchen. I needed that coffee. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

When I gotup the next morning, it was only after a few hours of shitty sleep, but it was also to the incessant buzzing of my fucking burner across the coffee table I had in here. I sat up on the couch, the leather groaning underneath me – all my shit snapping, crackling, and popping in unsettling ways as I got myself vertical.

I answered the phone with a gruff, “Yeah?”

“You called this meet n’ greet, princess. We’re waitin’ on you.” The captain’s voice was rough, but that’s just how he was.

“Be right there,” I groaned, and he grunted in response.

I got up and wiped the sleep out of my eyes dragging my ass out and down the hall toward my room for fresh clothes. The first thing that hit me when I opened my bedroom door was the heavy chemical tang of cleaning products. I frowned and edged into the room so as not to disturb Justice who was sound asleep in my bed and peeked around the corner into my bathroom.

Holy shit,I mouthed silently. I mean, my bathroom was kept clean, I paid a cleaning service pretty handsomely for that, but this wasnext-level clean. Shit sparkled that’d never sparkled before and I low-key wondered if I was paying the fucking service too much.

What the hell?I wondered as I turned to look back over my shoulder. Justice way laying still but her eyes were open, roving up and down my back, a nervousness giving her brow a slight furrow putting a tightness around her eyes.

“You do this?” I asked stupidly, already knowing the answer.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized immediately and sat up. I snorted a laugh.

“You’re sorry you cleaned my bathroom?” I asked.

“I just had all this pent up…” she held her breath and let it out in an explosion of air. “I needed to do something, and I tend to clean when I’m that.” She formed her hands into claws and shook them back and forth like she was strangling something while making the cutest angry frustrated face.

I laughed lightly.

I shook my head. “Did it make you feel better?” I asked.

“Yes and no,” she said, sighing tiredly.

“Look, I gotta step out – club business. You mind if I grab a quick shower and some fresh clothes? I can use the other bathroom if you want.” I hitched a thumb over my shoulder.

“No, don’t be stupid,” she said, waving me off. “Use your bathroom. Just pretend I’m not even here.”

I nodded and looked at her sitting up on the edge of my bed and it was out before I could stop it, “Yeah, that ain’t going to happen.”

She averted her gaze and blushed hard, but she didn’t do anything else to signal she was uncomfortable. Didn’t cross her arms or try to hide under blankets. I smiled. “Sorry, just the more I hang out with you, the more I like you,” I confessed.

Her expression blanked a bit and she blurted, “Even with how crazy I am?”

I chuckled. “You have issues, maybe even a lot of issues, but you’re not crazy, beautiful and all of the issues you do have? You came by them honestly. You’re fine, believe me,” I said. “Try to get some more sleep. When I get back, I’m taking you out for a ride. You need to get out of the house.”

“Okay,” she murmured. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m more than sure, but the guys are waiting on me so…”

“Right,” she said.

I took the fastest shower in the west, er… technically east, and by the time I was out she was out and when she slept and all of the troubles and anxiety were erased from her face, she looked like a fucking angel.

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