Digger shot her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Sure, Brandon. Let’s get Uncle Bones and Uncle King to come too.”
He’d never interacted with a kid this small on his own before so he sure as shit was taking Bones and King for backup. Then Bones surprised the fuck out of him by swinging the kid up so he was laying over his broad shoulder. Brandon stuck his arms out in a superman pose and laughed his little ass off.
“Come on, squirt. You point the way.”
King looked as equally surprised as him. Maggie and Bianca’s eyes were both glassy and their fingers covered their mouths like it was the most adorable thing they’d ever seen. He saw a new determination come over King, he felt it too – they’d got to step their game up.
Brandon spent the next twenty minutes pretty much passing them every toy in his room to look at and waiting for their reaction to it. He was running out of reactions for fuck’s sake and King was throwing him desperate looks like ‘how the fuck do we get out of this?’
A loud banging on the door left that question unanswered and made them all swing around to glare at the door. He had to stop himself from drawing his gun that was tucked into the back of his jeans. He’d promised Bianca that he would leave it secured with his bike and not bring it into the house, but had totally forgotten. He was grateful for that now.
They all quickly left Brandon’s room and strode to the front door. He reminded himself that they had eliminated the danger towards Maggie and Brandon, so this was most likely nothing threatening. Then again, whoever was at the door wasn’t being fucking polite either. King lunged into the family room, with him and Bones right on his heels.
“Maggie…Brandon…you alright in there?” Came the muffled shout of a man through the door.
King swung the door open and blocked whoever it was from entering or even seeing inside.
“And who in the fuck might you be?” He loved it when King’s voice got all gravelly. That shit made the hair on his body stand up and whoever was on the receiving end of it piss themselves.
“I’m the Dawes County Sheriff and I want to see Maggie right now.”
He spun away from the door and pulled a worried looking Maggie into the kitchen with Bianca on his heels.
“How does the sheriff know your real name?”
Maggie looked panicked for a second and was trying to see around him to the front door. He lightly gripped her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his.
“We’ve been going by Maggie and Brandon in public. The few times I said my name was Candace I never answered when someone used it and people would start asking questions. It just seemed easier.” She looked at the floor blushing, “He’s taken me out a couple of times and he loves Brandon. I told him bits and pieces about what happened but not everything. He’s safe, he’s the sheriff.” she hurriedly whispered, as if being the sheriff automatically made him a good guy.
“Just because someone’s a cop, doesn’t mean that they’re safe,” he said pointedly.
He knew both Bianca and Maggie hadn’t been able to go the local cops about Dane’s abuse because they were all in his pocket. He waited for Maggie to get and accept what he was saying. He watched as realisation dawned in her eyes. He nodded and went back towards the heated voices on the porch. Not even here a fucking hour and they’d got the bastard sheriff at the door.
“I’m not leaving ‘til I see that Maggie and Brandon are okay and want you all here.”
He had to give this guy credit, he wasn’t backing down and when faced with the Musketeers that was a pretty impressive feat. As much as he fucking hated law enforcement, it would be good for Maggie to have someone to turn to in an emergency when they weren’t here. Plus, looking at this guy and seeing the wildness and barely restrained rage in his eyes, he was obviously interested in more than Maggie’s safety.
Maggie’s small voice called from the door, “Hey Kyle. It’s okay guys, Kyle knows what’s been going on.”
Bones and King took her at her word and backed off, allowing him to finally got a good look at the guy. He was tall and built with short black hair and brown eyes. He could make out some kind of military tattoo just peeking out under his shirt sleeve.
They had plenty of brothers who had been in the services. None of them had served, yet he knew from his brothers that shit wasn’t an easy experience. Some came back twisted up inside and mad at the world, having seen too much shit to ever function in civilised society again. Those are the ones who join an MC. Then there were some like this guy whose sense of justice gets heightened and they continue on with their mission when they get state side.