Justice’s Reward (Saint’s Outlaws MC: Kansas City Chapter #1)

1. Chapter One

Chapter One

A dley Pearson straightened her jacket and walked out of the courthouse.

She hated those first seconds leaving the building but was unable to carry to defend herself.

The courthouse’s stringent no guns or weapons policy irritated her.

She deserved to be able to defend herself.

So many people had no idea of the seedy underbelly of the city just waiting to take advantage of someone not watching after themselves.

But Adley had lived in the seedy underbelly and was never going back.

In addition, sometimes her clients weren’t happy with her representation.

She did what she could to get them off as long as she didn’t think they were guilty of what she considered moral crimes—murder, human trafficking, abuse, etc.

If it was robbery, burglary, or non-violent crimes, then most times she’d take the case.

She caught a glimpse of Justice from the corner of her eye and turned toward her Jeep.

Maybe she wouldn’t have to deal with him this time.

The man knew every button she had and enjoyed pushing them.

If he were some ugly Joe-Schmo, then she couldn’t care, but Justice was a member of the Saint’s Outlaws MC.

The man was built with tattoos that had her rethinking her opinion on dating one-percenters at least once a day.

The smirk that sometimes made her want to slap or kiss it off his face, coupled with him riding his motorcycle, had her wondering how long she could hold out against him.

She needed to quit thinking about Justice and make a list of what she needed to do to stay safe. Safety trumped sexy time with a hot guy every time.

Her most recent client had been accused of robbing a jewelry store. She usually was a good judge of character, and she’d fallen for his I only tried to rob the store to feed my family line. His wife was convincing when she pleaded her case while holding their two-year-old son.

Adley had prepared what she thought was a slam dunk.

Two days ago, they linked four more robberies to her client’s fingerprints—two of which had homicides involved where the homeowner was killed during the robbery.

Suddenly, Adley’s slam dunk was a case she wouldn’t have said yes to if she’d had all the information. She despised being lied to.

Her client had yelled at her as he was pulled from the courtroom that she’d get what was coming to her.

She walked toward her vehicle, putting a little speed in her step to make sure Justice couldn’t intercept her.

Just once, she wanted to be able to relax and take a walk on the wild side, but she just couldn’t chance that.

There was too much at stake for her to let loose and not worry about the consequences.

“Adley, how about I take you out for some fantastic Kansas City barbecue?” Justice called out in that deep, dark voice that had her imagining sweaty nights in a rumpled bed.

Justice above her, his tattooed chest close enough for her to lick the sweat off of him.

And don’t get her started on that ball cap he wore backward most of the time .

She held her hand up and flipped him the finger.

She needed to keep as much space between them as possible.

She couldn’t tell him “no” to his face because then she’d be able to smell the cologne that he wore.

Between the bad-boy vibes in his suit and the intriguing smell when she was close to him, she needed to run far and run fast before she did something she’d regret.

Zane “Justice” Lawson debated if he was going to try one more time to ask the woman out who intrigued him with her sassy, smart-ass ways and her intelligence. The fact that she had a banging body in her tight-as-heck suit was just a bonus. Adley was the complete opposite of Justice’s last liaison.

He’d made the mistake of sleeping with a woman he picked up in a bar because he’d been lonely. First mistake. His second was using the condoms she’d provided. Come to find out, she’d wanted a free ride and thought having his baby would provide that.

His baby mama had a banging body, but smart she wasn’t. If the woman’s head was filled with marshmallows, he wouldn’t be surprised. Except for thinking the marshmallows probably had more substance than she did.

He hoped he was done dealing with her. He’d paid her twenty thousand dollars to sign her rights away to Ian Xavier because she hadn’t paid any attention to him in the last month.

Justice had wanted full custody, but she kept holding out for more.

She’d picked up the money last night, dropped the papers, and said goodbye to Ian.

At least Justice had made her say goodbye; she hadn’t even wanted to look at their son.

Justice stood waiting for the woman he couldn’t get off his mind to come out of the courthouse. She equally infuriated him and turned him on. If nothing else, he was all up for some hate sex. With the way Adley lit a fire in him, they’d burn up the sheets.

Adley Pearson walked out of the courthouse, and Justice headed toward her. He couldn’t figure out why she despised him. He was positive he’d caught a glimpse of interest a couple times in her eyes, but then she’d turn that icy stare on him and flip him off .

Did it make him a total jerk that he enjoyed watching her cheeks pinken when he pissed her off? Or that he wanted to yell “Any time” when she flipped him the bird?

“Adley, how about I take you out for some fantastic Kansas City barbecue?” he called.

She didn’t even turn to look at him. Just continued walking toward her Jeep and held her middle finger up high for him to see.

He chuckled. She was nothing if not predictable. He could not figure out why he couldn’t get the prickly woman off his mind.

He should be thinking about getting home to Ian.

His baby mama had the birth certificate completed and submitted to the state before Justice had a chance to even offer any suggestions.

If he had, he would have suggested possibly honoring his dad or granddad.

They’d both been gone way too soon when the club was almost wiped out when Justice was a senior in high school.

He'd be forever grateful to the Saint’s Outlaws MC for allowing his mom’s and aunt’s request to have their club become a part of them. He, his brother, and his cousin had served in the military, and when they’d come home, the club had been waiting for them.

He slid his leg over his motorcycle. He’d dressed for court today, but he didn’t mind riding his baby in his suit as long as he could ride her.

Matilda had been with him for years. He and his dad had been building her when his dad was killed.

The bike had sat unfinished until he came home from serving.

He’d worked on it then until he got it running.

He’d paid for a custom paint job because he sucked at painting.

Each time he rode her, he felt a little closer to his dad.

He chuckled as Adley drove by, rolling her window down and giving him another one-finger salute.

He’d love to have a chance to turn that fire to moans.

He rode toward the flower shop, wondering how Ian would do tonight.

He’d been fussy last night and this morning, but his mom had said that all babies went through fussy times.

He wasn’t sure how he would have made it as a single dad without his mom and his club.

Thank goodness, with Ian only being seven weeks old, he wouldn’t remember his mother.

When Justice wouldn’t marry her, she’d basically held Ian hostage for cash.

Justice was willing to pay, but what had spurred him to get Ian out of her hands was when a neighbor called, saying Gina had left her apartment but that the neighbor could hear Ian screaming from inside.

Justice had gone over and immediately taken Ian into his custody. The money was so Gina didn’t come near his son again.

As he got closer to Ruthy’s Flower Shop, he had to hide a smirk.

If his mom saw his amusement at seeing her all baby-crazy, talking in a sweet voice and making exaggerated faces, she’d smack him upside the head again like last week.

His mom wasn’t the bake cookies and wipe your boo-boos type of mom.

She was one of the toughest women he knew.

She had to be to hold the club together with his aunt, Pit’s mom, Chuck.

Very few knew that his mom was Ruthless, the boogeyman of the MC.

It was a well-protected secret, and Justice planned on it staying that way .

His mom ran her flower shop, but it was a front for some of the other things his club took care of for people.

Ruth was five foot five, with steel gray hair.

She could look completely harmless at the flower shop when she wore jeans, biker boots, and a sparkly top.

But then, tick the woman off or do something to someone she loved, and her face got that look that Justice knew meant retribution was coming.

He backed into his spot behind the flower shop and went in to see his mom and son.

He used his code to get in because the front of the shop might look like a normal flower shop, but the back had state-of-the-art security that no one was getting through. It was the only way he allowed his son to be here.

He chuckled at the sight that met him. Pit, his President, was making faces at Ian. His son could make even the most stoic biker smile at him. Ian may not have come into his life the way he’d always thought he would have a child, but he didn’t regret having him.

Justice had served in the military and been a lawyer for JAG.

When he was serving, he always imagined coming home and finding a woman who was strong and could live with his lifestyle.

Then, after they’d been married a while, they could have a couple of kids, hopefully at least one boy to be the next generation of Saint’s Outlaws MC.

Things hadn’t happened like that. He was a single dad who was the Vice President of a one-percenter motorcycle club that ran the gun and retribution market in Kansas City.

They didn’t get involved in peddling flesh or drugs.

Their primary revenue streams were guns and retribution, with the protection market being the smaller venture.

They didn’t shake down people for protection, but if store owners came to them, the Saint’s Outlaws MC provided motivation for others to leave the store alone.

He hugged his mom as he passed by where she was talking on the phone, taking a delivery.

He chuckled. It was probably one of their most popular items. It was a get-well arrangement.

What an oxymoron. Get-well arrangement was code for beat or threaten someone to get their agreement or to just make a point.

Whether it was delivered by a Saint’s Outlaw MC member or friend of the club depended on where the recipient was.

Justice had delivered one two weeks ago to a man who was fighting his wife in their divorce—the wife he beat continually.

Needless to say, when Justice and his brother Tack got done with him, the man signed the divorce papers.

Of course, Tack had needed to help him write his signature because of his broken fingers, but sometimes things happened.

Justice went into his mom’s office, where Ian’s portable crib was, along with a rocking chair.

He stepped into his mom’s bathroom off her office to wash his hands.

No way did he want to bring all the courthouse germs home with him.

He hung his jacket up and then reached to take his little man from Pit, who had followed him in.

He cuddled Ian close but held him so he could see Ian’s face.

If you’d asked him a couple months ago if someone he’d never met could take hold of his heart so completely, he would have said no. Then Ian came into his life. The first time Justice had held him in his arms, he’d known he’d burn the world to keep his son happy and safe.

“How’s my little guy today? Did Pit teach you about being a biker, and did Mimi hug and snuggle you?” Justice asked, staring into his son’s gray eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t know how much I’ve gotten to teach him. I’ve been here an hour, and she only let me take him because she got a call,” Pit grumbled, sitting down behind his mom’s desk.

“Like I could keep Ian away from the big, bad MC President if I wanted, and, seriously, of course, I snuggled and hugged him. He doesn’t give me grief like the adult men seem to,” his mom said, coming into the room and immediately washing her hands before sitting down in the chair across from Justice.

She grabbed a couple cans of soda out of her refrigerator, handing one to Justice after opening it for him and one to Pit.

“How’s business?” Justice asked .

Ruthy shook her head. “We’re busy. Too many people not knowing how to treat women, but it pays the bills. I know he wasn’t planned, but oh my, I’m so glad you have him.”

Justice nodded and stared at the woman who’d raised him. She, along with his dad, had taught him how to treat people. Sure, they lived by their own set of rules, but never did his dad treat his mom as anything less than the woman he adored.

“Thanks, Mom, for everything you’ve done. I would have been lost trying to take care of Ian without you,” he said.

“Pshaw, you would have found your way. I didn’t raise a quitter,” she said, heading back to the shop, leaving him alone with his President and cousin .

His mom didn’t do well with compliments, but he wanted her to know how much she meant to him.

He brushed a kiss against Ian’s forehead. “We’ll just have to make Mimi know how much we love her and how special she is, won’t we? What brought you to the shop?”

“I was on the way home, bringing supper from the restaurant, and figured you might be getting here. Thought I’d offer to take little man in the SUV with me.”

“Why the SUV and not your bike?” Justice asked.

Pit rolled his eyes, leaning back in the chair. “Because my pregnant queen wanted so much food from the restaurant, there was no way it would fit in my saddle bags.”

Justice chuckled. Ariel, Pit’s wife, was due in a month and a half. The strong, fierce woman didn’t like that her body was at the mercy of raging hormones and was keeping Pit on his toes.

He stood with Ian. “Yep, sounds perfect.”

His thoughts on the sassy attorney with the oh-so-sweet ass would have to wait.