Page 26 of Judge’s Redemption

Then he turns us. My back hits the mattress, and Judge comes over me with all of the restraint gone from his face.

“My turn.” He thrusts deep before I can answer.

I wrap my legs around his waist as he fucks me hard and fast, one hand braced beside my head, the other gripping my thigh. The bed strikes the wall, and he kisses me hard enough to steal every sound. Judge drives into me twice more and comes with my name against my mouth, his body locking over mine.

For a long moment, neither of us moves. Then he rolls to his side and pulls me against his chest. His heartbeat is still hard beneath my cheek.

“I missed everything,” he says quietly. I know what he means. Evie. Me. The life we should've had. “And I missed you too.” His arm tightens around me.

“That doesn't mean trust comes back because we've had sex twice,” I say.

“No, I know.”

“It comes back if you keep giving me the truth and stop choosing for me.”

His silence lasts just long enough to matter. “I'm trying.”

It isn't a perfect promise. That makes me believe it more.

I return to the salon the next afternoon.

Judge argues once, not about whether I'm allowed to go, but whether working my appointments while Mercer is out there is smart.

I remind him that hiding indefinitely means Mercer controls my life anyway. He doesn't like it. He agrees.

The plan makes the front of the salon look normal. Gray parks his bike across the street where Mercer can see him. Cash hides in an unmarked truck covering the rear service lane. Judge stays out of sight in the empty unit next door, close enough to reach either entrance in seconds. Two more brothers hold farther back in case Mercer sends a second car.

Dottie works beside me until five, pretending not to notice the men stationed around Main Street. Then she collects her purse and keys. “I’ll pick Evie up from preschool and take her home with me. You sure?”

“I'm sure.”

Her gaze drifts toward the window. “You've got enough bikers out there to invade Arkansas.”

“They're being subtle.”

A motorcycle engine revs across the street.

Dottie snorts. “Of course they are.” She leaves through the front. I finish my last client alone. At six, I lock the door and wipe down my station.

For twenty minutes, nothing happens. Then a dark sedan crawls past the front window.

Gray doesn't move from the curb, but one of the brothers stationed farther down Main Street pulls out behind it when it turns toward the river road. My phone buzzes with a message from Judge.

Stay inside.

A second engine roars in the rear lane. A vehicle swings across the service entrance, forcing Cash's truck sideways as two men spill out behind it.

The alley lights go out and my pulse kicks.

Before I can do anything, the back door opens and a man steps inside. Another appears behind him. Cal Mercer enters last.

I recognize him from Judge's description, he has the cold confidence of someone accustomed to ordering other people into danger.

“You've caused a lot of trouble,” he says.

I back toward the styling chairs. “You're the one stalking me and my four-year-old.”

His expression hardens. “You're going to help Judge understand the cost of refusing me.” One of the men moves toward me. I grab a metal stand and swing. It catches him across the side of the head. He staggers into the mirror, shattering the glass. The second man lunges. I drive the broken end of the stand into his stomach and run for the front.