A tall man with an extremely long beard caught her attention first, then she recognized the vest he wore. He was standing next to a curvy blonde and a just-as-blonde little girl.
She had seen him and his cousin around town so she knew who he was, she just didn’t realize he had joined the local MC that Sig and Autumn, Levi’s birth mother, were a part of.
Her first instinct was to keep moving past them, but her curiosity had her pause. “Hi.”
The big man wearing a beanie turned his head and ran his gaze over her, then it landed on Levi in the stroller.
“You’re Judge, right? You own Justice Bail Bonds?”
“Yeah,” Judge grunted and turned to face her.
“I... uh... I’m Carly Bryson.” She waved her hand toward the stroller. “This is Levi.”
Judge’s nostrils flared and his eyes dropped again to the baby.
“Hi! I’m Daisy!” the little girl called out from her chair with a sloppy wave as she kicked her little legs back and forth.
“Hi, Daisy.”
What she assumed was the little girl’s mother introduced herself. “I’m Cassie.”
“Hi.” She jutted out her hand to the seated woman. “I’m Dr. Carly Bryson. A local OB/GYN. I’m Autumn’s doctor. Stella’s, too.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Carly laughed. “I wasn’t trying to get you into my stirrups. I just wanted to point out how I know the ladies of your club.”
Cassie jerked her chin toward Judge, who now squatted in front of the stroller, staring at the baby. “His club.”
“Oh, well. Right. His club. Will Autumn be coming today? I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“No,” came the deep grunt.
“Oh, well...”
Judge reached out and ran a finger down Levi’s pudgy cheek. “He got red hair?”
“No.”
“Good.” Judge nodded, his hand pressed to Levi’s chest. It was big enough to cover the whole thing. “He good?”
“Yes, he’s very good. Perfect.”
Judge nodded again.
“Is Autumn doing okay? I haven’t talked to her in a couple weeks. Sig did the last couple drop-offs of her breast milk. I just wanted to make sure everything with her... between them... was okay.”
“She’s good.”
“Can you let her know she’s invited over to the Bryson farm tomorrow for Christmas? That’s if she wants to spend some time with Levi.”
Judge rose to his feet. “Sig ain’t lettin’ her go anywhere without him.”
“Right.” And there was no way Sig, an ex-convict, was going to spend Christmas day surrounded by cops. “Well, please still tell her she’s welcome, even if she can’t come. I just want her to know... How thankful we are.”
“She knows.” Judge was still staring down at Levi with a relieved expression. Maybe he’d been worried that Levi was going to be born with birth defects. Which had been a valid concern. “You take care of him.”
“I plan on it.”
“Those inbreds on that mountain give you any shit, you let me know.”
Carly’s mouth opened and she let it hang there for a second not sure how to respond to that. She belonged to a family of cops. If the Shirleys gave her or Levi any trouble, the last person she’d go to was a biker. She didn’t want any more violence than there had already been. Levi was a result of it. More violence was not the answer.
“Okay, well...”
“Hellllooooooo there, handsome. Oh!” Teddy stared open mouthed at Judge. “Ooooh.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Oh no. No, no, no!” He circled his hand in front of Judge’s face. “This mess is not acceptable.”
Did Teddy even realize who he was dealing with? Judge was not one of his elderly regulars he did a style and set on. The biker was far from being one of the man’s “blue hairs.”
“Who told you that looks good? Hmm? You know who?” Teddy got right into Judge’s face and poked him dead center in the chest. “Nobody!”
Judge blinked at him, his face a stiff mask.
Cassie had a hand slapped over her face and was turning a light shade of purple, but had given Teddy a slight nod. Apparently, she agreed.
Daisy sat quiet in her chair with her mouth hanging open, entranced by the wonder of all wonders named Teddy.
“You’re hiding that handsome face of yours. Those green eyes, those cheekbones. Those luscious lips.” He curved a hand around one side of his mouth and leaned toward Cassie. “Bet he knows how to use them, too.”
Cassie nodded again, her hand still covering her mouth.
“Lucky, lucky girl, you. But, handsome, this... stuff on your face. Just no. It needs to go.”
“I like to pet it,” Daisy volunteered. “It’s scratchy, though. Nothing like Jury’s hair.”
Carly had no idea who Jury was.
“Yes, because that’s what it looks like, some animal growing on his face.”
As Teddy reached up to touch Judge’s beard, the bigger man stepped back. “Don’t.”
“Hmm. Playing hard to get... My favorite type of gorilla. But don’t worry, the only pair of scissors I have on me right now is tattooed onto my hip and only one man gets to see those.” Teddy turned to Cassie. “What does his hair look like under that knit hat?”
“It’s buzzed like he took a dog clipper to it.”
Teddy gasped and slapped a hand to his forehead. “You need some serious help, big man. And I’m just the fella to help you.” He pointed to the salon not even a half block away. “You see that place there? Manes on Main?”
“Teddy, lived here all my f— freaking life. Know who you are, know where your place is.”
Teddy’s dark eyebrows pinned together. “You have?”
“Yeah. Probably don’t know that ‘cause I never stepped a foot into your shop.” Judge leaned closer and growled, “And never plan to. Got my shit covered. Don’t need your help.”
Teddy’s mouth made a big O, then he plugged a hand on his hip. He must have realized he’d get nowhere with Judge, so he turned to Cassie. “You like that stuff on his face?”
Cassie pinned her lips together.
“See? She doesn’t
