“Fuck Cal.”
“Pretty sure Tiger’s planning to.”
He glares at me. But there’s no heat in it.
“This is fucking crazy,” he mutters like he can’t believe it. Honestly, there’s moments where I can’t believe it either.
“Yeah,” I agree.
He runs his hand through his hair. “I don’t know if I’m ready for anyone to know.”
“They already know. They just haven’t said anything.”
“That’s different than it being confirmed.”
“You okay?” I ask.
“I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow after the hearing.”
“It’s going to go fine.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. Marcus is good at what he does. And Tiger’s a good guardian. They can see that.”
Tiger walks into the kitchen. Her hair’s wet, and she’s wearing one of my shirts.
“What are you two whispering about?” she asks.
“Nothing,” Jax says quickly.
“Right.”
He walks over and kisses her. “The hearing tomorrow. You ready?”
“No. But I’ll never be ready. So I guess it doesn’t matter.” She looks at me. Then back at him. “Thank you. Both of you.”
“Don’t thank us yet,” I say. “Wait until after tomorrow.”
We stand there in the kitchen. The three of us. And I think about how much has changed in the past few weeks.
How we went from avoiding this to embracing it. From fighting to accepting. From broken to whole.
Now that we have her, and that’s out of the way, it’s time to figure out the real life shit that truly matters.
Tomorrow is a big deal.
Chapter Fifty-Two: Tigerlily
The courtroom is smaller than I expected.
I thought it would be like on TV. Big and imposing. Rows of seats. High ceilings.
Instead, it’s just a room. Beige walls. Fluorescent lights. A judge’s bench that’s maybe three feet higher than where we’re sitting.
I’m at a table with Marcus. Jax is next to me. His hand is on my knee under the table.
Zinnia’s sitting in the front row behind us. She’s wearing the dress we bought yesterday. Navy blue. Too formal for a ten-year-old, but we thought it was appropriate for court.
