Page 37 of Judge
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 Idon’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.
