Page 16 of Judge's Justice

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Nobody would mess with you right now."

She beams at that. Sits up straighter. "Mama says I'm brave. Is brave the same as tough?"

"Sometimes. Being brave means doing things even when you're scared. Being tough means not letting things break you." I pause, choosing my words. "You can be both."

"Are you both?"

The question catches me off guard. I look at this five-year-old girl with her wild curls and her complete fearlessness, and I don't know how to answer that.

Am I brave? Maybe. I've walked into gunfire, kicked down doors not knowing what's on the other side, made choices that could have gotten me killed.

Am I tough? Yeah. Two decades in the military and three years in a motorcycle club at war will do that.

But am I both? The kind of person who does hard things without letting them break me?

I don't know anymore. Most days I feel like I'm held together with scar tissue and sheer stubbornness.

"I try to be," I finally sign.

"That's good enough," Grace says. "Mama says trying is what matters."

"Your mama's smart."

"I know." She grins. "She's the smartest person I know. Well, she was. Now you're smart too because you know how to talk with your hands and you have a motorcycle."

I almost smile. Almost. "That's not how smart works."

"Yes it is. I decided."

Hard to argue with that logic.

Grace looks down at the handlebars, then back up at me. Her expression shifts, more serious now. Thoughtful. "Judge?"

"Yeah?"

"The mean man last night. The one you fought. Is he going to come back?"

Fuck. I should have known she'd ask. She's five, not stupid. She saw what happened. Felt her mother's fear.

I crouch down so I'm at her eye level and raise my hands to sign. "Maybe. I don't know. But if he does, I won't let him hurt you or your mama. I promise."

"Are there more mean men?"

"Yeah."

"A lot of them?"

"Yeah."

She processes this, her small face serious. "Are you going to fight all of them?"

"If I have to."

"What if there's too many?"

"Then my brothers will help. The other men in my club. We protect each other. And we protect people who need protecting."