Dark Guardian (Black Hoods MC #3) - Avelyn Paige Page 0,57

The top goes askew, and the edge of a file that I had tucked away into my personal effects peeks out.

The file containing my last act of helping someone in the system had failed. A system that’s taken a year to even consider his right to access his birth records. Records that have been in our system since he was adopted from foster care at the age of two.

“Tyson Jackson, it’s your lucky day.”

I flip open the file, my phone at the ready to call him. While it rings, I finger out the copy I’d made of his birth certificate. My eyes scan the names as he picks up.

“Hello?”

All that escapes my lips is a gasp when I see the names listed.

Judge

“Make a left here,” Grace says, pointing at a side street that’s definitely not going to help us get to our destination.

“Put your finger down, woman,” I tease. “I know where we’re going.”

“I have a stop to make first.”

“A stop where?”

“Don’t you worry about it. Just make a left. You’ll see when we get there.”

Natalie’s head pokes up over the back of the seat. “Are we not going to see your friend? I thought that’s where we were going.”

“You and me both, kid,” I grumble, but I follow Grace’s directions, and once the coast is clear, I make a left.

She settles back in her seat, a smile plastered on her face, her hair blowing in the wind from the open window. She looks so different this way. No skinny skirts and tight buns. Instead, she wears ripped jeans, sandals, and a white shirt that shows off just the right amount of cleavage for my liking. And I like.

Her hair is loose, her lips are shiny with gloss, and if the kids weren’t sitting in the backseat of this truck, I’d be pulling over to the side of the road to show my appreciation.

“We are,” she assures us. “Greg’s looking forward to meeting all of you.”

“Is he like your grandpa or something?” Natalie asks.

Grace considers that. “Kinda,” she replies. “More like a pseudo-uncle.”

I look in the rearview mirror just in time to see Nat’s nose crinkle in confusion. “A what uncle?”

“A pseudo-uncle,” she repeats. “Like a pretend uncle. Or a stand-in uncle. He’s not my real uncle, but he takes the place of one. That’s why he wants to meet all of you. He said he wanted to meet my new family.”

That word bounces around the inside of the truck with the weight of a bowling ball.

“We’re your family?” Natalie questions, her eyes wide and filled with more hope than any thirteen-year-old girl should have to feel. And if I’m being honest, I’d like to hear the answer to that question too.

Smiling, she turns in her seat and reaches back, placing her hand on Natalie’s knee. “Mr. Judge and I are in a new relationship,” she tells her. “And I honestly can’t make any promises on what will happen with that.”

I frown, but wait for her to finish.

“But I know I love him very much. And I love you and Kevin very much too.” She’s never told me she loves me before. We’re still so new, and everything has been so crazy. But she loves me. Those words hit me like a rocket, sending jolts of happiness through every single part of me.

But she’s not done yet. “The four of us have been through more together than most biological families have been. No matter what happens between Mr. Judge and me, nothing will ever change that. We’re a family. All four of us. That family will grow as we do, but there will always be the four of us, no matter what. Okay?”

Natalie swallows and nods, her eyes filled with tears.

“You okay with that, Kev?”

Kevin stares out the window. “Yeah, that’s cool.”

All I can see of him is the side of his cheek, and it’s flushed a bright pink that’s not usually there. Grace’s words hit him as hard as they’d hit me.

“Oh, we’re here! Turn into that coffee shop right there.” Grace’s quiet, reassuring voice is gone, and now it’s just plain excitement radiating off of her.

“What’s going on, woman?” I ask, turning and searching for a place to park.

“You’ll see.”

Once I park the truck, she turns to me, her face bright and beaming. “I have a surprise for you. For all of you. Come on.”

Her excitement is infectious, but I’m not a big fan of surprises. I get out of the truck, my mind whirling with all the