Page 21 of Judge’s Redemption

I strip the weapon from the man’s man, put him facedown on the wet pavement, and plant my boot between his shoulders.

“Tell Mercer this was the warning. The next man who touches Shay doesn't go home alive.”

When I turn, she's standing by the rear door with one hand wrapped around her wrist. Everything inside me changes.

I leave Mercer's man coughing in the rain and cross to her. “Let me see.”

“I'm fine.”

“Shay.”

She lowers her hand. Red marks already circle her wrist. My fury goes cold and deep. I take her fingers carefully and turn her arm beneath the light. “Anywhere else?”

“No.”

“You hit him.”

“I tried.”

“You bought me time.”

“I didn't need rescuing.”

“No.” I meet her eyes. “You had backup.”

Something in her face shifts. Not surrender. Trust, taking one cautious breath. Shay drives to her rental and packs under the club’s watch. Then we collect Evie from Dottie’s. I ride ahead of Shay’s car, Tank takes the rear, and the compound gates close behind all three of us as we ride in.

Evie sleeps in her car seat, Bun-Bun clutched beneath her chin. I kill my engine beside Shay’s car as Tank rolls in behind us.

Cash and Gray are already waiting outside the clubhouse. I reach Evie’s door before Shay has unfastened her seat belt, while Tank lowers his voice to a rumble and tells a staring prospect to clear the walkway.

Gray kills his engine beside us. “Rear fence is covered. Two men are watching it.”

“Good.”

Cash lifts Shay’s bag from the car. “Room’s checked. Windows are locked.”

Beneath the ordinary updates, every man here is armed, alert, and exactly where Kane ordered him to be. This is what my brothers do when the alternative is acknowledging how close Mercer came to my family.

Shay takes it all in through her car window. The armed brother posted near the gate, the bikes lined beside the clubhouse, and the Kingdom Come emblem painted across the wall beyond them.

“This is your normal,” she says quietly.

“It's my life.”

She glances at me. “There's a difference?”

“Not much.”

I carry Evie to my room. She stirs when I lower her onto the bed, but Shay sits beside her and smooths a hand through her hair until she settles.

My room has never looked small before. Now it holds three people, a child's backpack, Shay's overnight bag, and a stuffed rabbit apparently named Bun-Bun. It looks better than it ever has.

Shay notices me staring. “Don't make this into something it isn't.”

I take the first-aid kit from the bathroom. “Sit down.” She gives me a look.

“Recommendation,” I correct. “Not an order.”