Dark Guardian (Black Hoods MC #3) - Avelyn Paige Page 0,36

told you, you still want to take them away from me, don’t you?”

I’ve never been on this side of his rage, and it takes a mere two seconds to understand how he can command such a large motorcycle club with one glare. He’s intimidating, but my body responds unexpectedly as my core ignites.

“It’s my job, Eugene. You know that.”

He presses his index finger against my breastbone. “I had hoped that somewhere in this chest of yours, you had a heart.”

“My heart breaks every fucking time I have to take part in ripping a family to shreds,” I bite out. “I barely sleep at night because all I see are their faces when I close my eyes. I hear their screams as they cry out for their parents or guardians.”

“Break the cycle,” he challenges. “Walk away from the case and leave these kids with me.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. If I don’t, someone else will come.”

“These kids fucking belong to me. You can’t come into my house and make all these promises you know you can’t keep.” I can feel his hot, heavy breath cascade over me.

“I know that!” I scream, the truth finally spilling from my lips. “Don’t you think I know that? If I had a magic wand, I would just wave it and give you custody, but I don’t. Their criminal father has legal rights in the eyes of the court.”

That gets his attention. “Criminal?”

“When I called to talk to him about his missing persons report, I requested a background check on him. He has a rap sheet a mile long. Possession. Intent to sell. Breaking and entering. Pending charges for assault. He’s not a good person.”

“That it? I can handle their father.”

“How? By making him disappear like you did with their uncle? Murder is not the answer. You can’t just kill anyone who opposes you.” The words feel foreign leaving my lips, and he doesn’t flinch once. For a normal person, this would sound absurd. For Eugene, though, it’s probably everyday decisions, and I don’t know how I feel about that.

“That’s how you see me? A savage bastard with blood on his hands? I’m not the boogeyman underneath your bed, Grace.”

“Then what are you?”

He prowls toward me, his eyes still filled with anger. A smart person would back away, but maybe I’m not as smart as I think I am, because as he gets closer, I can only stand there, frozen in place.

Placing his hands on my hips, he walks me back until I’m pressed against the wall. His breath fans across my face as he glowers down at me. “Why are you so goddamn infuriating?”

I arch against him, shocking us both. His chest is hard against mine, and now my nose is mere inches from his. Panting, we stare into each other’s angry eyes.

“Why are you such a brute?” We continue to stare at each other, our gazes imprisoned in the fire burning between us, the anger morphing into something far different.

When his lips crash onto mine, I lose myself. My fingertips dig into his shoulders and pull him impossibly closer. Whimpering into his mouth, I raise up on my toes, trying to put as much of him against me as humanly possible.

Holy Mother of God. The contrast between his soft lips and his rough beard makes my knees quake beneath me, threatening to fail me altogether.

His kiss carries me outside of myself. Away from my job, my past. Away from everything but the fact that I’m a woman, and this is the first man to ever make me feel this kind of passion.

Time stands still as he presses me against that wall. He pulls me closer, his fingers curling into my hips, sending a steady buzz of heady excitement all throughout my body.

“Uh, Mr. Judge?”

His lips pause, and for a moment, we stay that way, needing a second to compose ourselves and remember our surroundings.

When he finally pulls away, I’m able to get a view of Natalie standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with confusion, her body trembling.

Eugene moves to her in an instant, his thumbs wiping away her tears as they fall. “What’s wrong, honey?”

Deciding she doesn’t care as much about what she just walked in on nearly as much as what brought her here in the first place, she shouts, “Kevin’s being a big fat jerk!”

“Come here, sugar.” Opening his arms, she throws herself into him. “What did he say to you?”

“I was trying to work on my spelling and I