“Right now’s not a good time to be mouthin’ off to the man who put you on this Earth, boy,” Dutch warned him.
Rook’s jaw got hard and he sucked on his teeth but ate his words. Something Cage knew his brother had a hard time doing.
He had seen Rook and Dutch get into some vicious, bloody brawls when Rook was younger. But Dutch was past the age of getting into scraps. Cage was pretty damn sure his brother could take their father to the ground and Dutch wouldn’t be able to get back up so easily afterward. If at all.
As soon as his old man had a secure hold on the sleeping infant, Bryson grabbed Cage’s upper arm.
He stiffened and ripped his arm free. “Unless you’re arrestin’ me, hands off.”
Bryson tilted his head and stared at Cage, the pig’s narrowed blue eyes spearing him. After a moment, he jerked his chin toward the other side of his cruiser.
Cage reluctantly followed.
When they got there, Bryson pulled a small notebook from his back pocket and flipped it open before sliding a pen from the front pocket of his uniform shirt. “You know who this S woman is?”
“Yeah. She gonna get charged for leavin’ her baby?” His baby.
Jesus fuck. He suddenly felt like puking.
“She left the baby for the father, so... I mean, it wasn’t the best circumstances the way she did it... but she meant well for the most part. We could go talk to her, if you want. I still will need her name, either way.”
Cage shook his head. “Can we hold off on that? For now?”
If the cops showed up to confront Sarah, it would cause more problems with the Amish and, again, possibly screw up the club’s relationship with them. The Fury relied on them to farm the fields and give them supplies in return.
And he remembered, only too well, how pissed off Trip had gotten at Sig because of Rebecca. He ordered them all to stay away from the Amish women. Not just once, either.
“How she did it wasn’t much different than her droppin’ it off anonymously at the fire station, right? In fact, those people would be strangers versus droppin’ the kid off with us... with blood.”
Bryson ran a hand down his clean-shaven cheek. “If she isn’t your baby, Cage...”
“If she ain’t, I’ll give you the mother’s name. Don’t wanna cause more shit between the club and the Amish, if this kid turns out to be mine.”
Bryson’s eyes narrowed on him again. “What do you mean by more shit?”
Cage regretted that slip up. What happened between Sig and Rebecca was no one’s business but the club’s. That shit had settled. He wouldn’t be the one to stir it back up.
“Nothin’ your brothers in blue need to be involved with. Just a mistake Sig made.”
Bryson cocked a dark eyebrow. “A mistake like you made?”
“Sorta.” But no kid came out of his. Cage dropped his head and shook it. “Don’t make any goddamn sense.”
“Just a little reminder, condoms aren’t a hundred percent effective. Shit happens.”
“Yeah, thanks for the fuckin’ Sex Ed lesson.” Asshole.
“You know, I could still call CPS, if you want. They can take her until the DNA results come back. Then, if she isn’t yours, they could put her in a foster home. Unlike older kids, babies are easy to adopt out. Like I said, my cousin and his husband may—”
“No,” Cage cut him off.
Bryon’s mouth got tight. “Why? Is it because they’re gay?”
“’Cause your cuz is a fuckin’ pig. No pig’s raisin’ my kid. Sig didn’t have a say with Levi, but if he had...” That was all Cage needed to say. He made his point.
“Well then, good thing Autumn cared more about Levi’s well-being than about me wearing a badge.”
“Truth? Sig also figured the badge bullshit might help with keepin’ Levi safe from the Shirleys.”
Bryson didn’t have much to say about that. “I’ll tell the EMTs they can leave. You want me to stay until your shop girl gets back?”
Shop girl? “Nope. Don’t need you. Not sure why you’re here in the first fuckin’ place.”
“Because someone left a newborn in a box in front of the garage, remember? Nobody knew it was yours.”
Cage heard the unspoken dumbass added onto that. He grimaced.
“Anyway, I’ll check back if I don’t hear from you in a couple of days. I need you to let me know as soon as you get those results back. Get the tests done today.”
Right, boss.
“Do you hear me, Cage? Today. It’ll take two or three days to get the results back, if you’re lucky. I’m sure you don’t want to be changing more shitty diapers than you have to if she doesn’t turn out to be yours.”
“You mean like how you change Levi’s when he ain’t really yours?”
A muscle in Bryson’s cheek flexed dangerously. The cop leaned in but not close enough to touch Cage. “Levi is mine. He’s my fucking son. I’ll protect him with my last dying breath. He’s a Bryson, no matter what you think.” The cop straightened. “Oh, that’s right, it doesn’t matter what you think about it. Now, how about worrying about your own daughter. If she’s yours.”