Cassie’s idea to raise money for Kids Can Do was a huge success, but then, she and the ol’ ladies had put a lot of work into it. Tents had been set up for food and booze. A couple of pigs—four-legged, not two—roasted on spits. An area had been set up away from the adults for the children to hang out and play games. They had a silent auction earlier. And pool and dart tournaments were currently happening inside The Barn.
Best of all, they raised way more scratch than expected. Way more than anyone expected. From what Autumn said, who’d been keeping track of the donations from individuals and local businesses, plus the event fees, it was close to fifty grand.
Fifty fucking grand.
Kids Can Do would be getting a nice fat check.
Now it was getting late and everyone was gathering inside and in the courtyard to eat, drink and party for the rest of the night.
He stood near the barn and out of the way of the women moving like worker ants under the pavilion. Cassie, along with Stella and Autumn, were getting the evening activities organized for the participants. A bunch of the Dirty Angels’ women and the wives of Diesel’s Shadows were helping her, too.
Yep, it was a good fucking day. Evidenced by the tired smiles everyone wore on their faces.
He also knew an almost six-year-old whose ass was dragging and had hit her limit for the day. The tiny tyrant had turned into a cranky complainer. And after Cassie made sure her daughter ate a decent meal, instead of only junk food, she handed her off to Saylor for the rest of the night.
Judge’s eyes sliced over to their house mouse, who was holding Daisy’s hand and walking across the field back to the modest ranch house he hired the Amish to build. Right now, it was big enough for the four of them with the ability to expand in the future, if needed. Hugging the tree line, it was still close enough to The Barn so they could walk there, but also far enough away so Daisy couldn’t see or hear shit happening outside in the courtyard during parties. Plus, they put her bedroom on the back side of the house, just in case.
Saylor had her own room, too, since she was there to help with the house, the meals and Daisy. Rev’s teenaged sister ended up in juvie during high school for a bunch of different shit and when they released her the day she turned eighteen, their parents wouldn’t let her back into the house. She had nowhere to go, and since Rev lived in the club’s bunkhouse, she couldn’t stay with him.
Judge didn’t think Cassie would be on board with an eighteen-year-old troublemaker moving in with them. But she shocked the shit out of him when she was willing to give the girl a chance, as long as certain rules were laid out and Saylor followed them. Even though it had only been a couple of months, so far, so good.
The arrangement was actually perfect. They had someone to watch Daisy while they worked, Saylor had a roof over her head and a job to keep her out of trouble, and Rev was close enough to keep an eye on his little sister.
And not just to keep her on the straight and narrow, but because she was young, outgoing and gorgeous. Which was a dangerous combination.
Rev and Judge hadn’t been the only one keeping an eye on her today, a lot of the single bikers had, too. Not for the same reason. However, Judge now considered her not only Fury property, which put her under Judge’s protection, but as if Saylor was his own sister.
That meant if anyone fucked with her, they would have to deal with him as judge, jury and enforcer. Or even executioner, depending on what they tried or did.
Trip, walking up behind him and whacking him on the back, pulled him from his thoughts. “This is the kinda shit I wanted for the club. All this right here.”
Judge glanced at the man at his side. “Well, you’re fuckin’ gettin’ it.”
“This fuckin’ club’s turnin’ into the family we all need. All of us. Not just for our brotherhood but our women and kids, too. Gotta thank you for you and Cass takin’ a chance on Saylor. Glad to see it’s workin’ out.”
“Yeah.” Judge’s gaze slid back over to the house where Saylor and Daisy disappeared.
“Businesses are in the black, too. Good time to expand.”
“Get Deke on it.”
“Already got him searchin’. The more scratch this club makes, the better off for everyone.”
Judge was financially upside down right now because of that house. Even with using the Amish, building it hadn’t been cheap. Any funds he had put aside for Ry’s college fund were now gone. Any money he made with Justice Bail Bonds was used to support a four-person household and the rest went back into the club account since Trip had let him borrow the remainder he needed for the house instead of trying to get a bank loan.