Judging Judas (Tarnished Saints Series Book 3) (4 page)

“It’s the way all kids talk today,
and dress as well. If you don’t have a tattoo or a piercing you’re considered a stupid nerd.”

“I swear, if I were your father you’d be singing a whole different tune.”

“Well, then thank God you’re not.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth. Now tell me why you stole a purse and took the squad car. Did you really think you’d get away with it?”

“Why not? I get away with everything else.”

Judas looked down to her huge belly and j
ust shook his head. “Not everything. Now just answer the question.”

“I was upset,” she told him.
“I guess I just kind of freaked out when I found out my mother’s been lying to me for my entire life.”

“And how’s that?” He continued typing as he listened to her story.

“Because the man I thought was my father – you know the guy that just died from a drug overdose and was in a band and cool and all – well it turns out he wasn’t even my father at all.” She looked at her hangnail and started biting at it.

“He wasn’t?” Judas looked up, interested in this after all.

“And then my mother decides to move to this shithole of a town –”

“Watch it!” he warned her.

“Alright, this half-horse town - and she tells me the whole stupid reason we’re here is to find my real father. So I was upset. I ran and did some crazy things – whatever.”

“Who’s
your real father?” he asked slowly.

“I dunno,
some asshole named Judas.”

“What did you say?” He stood, towering over her and she looked up and rolled her eyes again.

“Ok, so I said asshole. Who really cares? And I tell ya, I don’t want anything to do with the bastard after what he did to us.”

“And what exactly would that be?”

“I guess he ran scared and left my mother at the altar when she was pregnant with me. Can you believe it?”

“Is that what she told you?” His shock of surprise was now overshadowed by his own fury.

Judas’s heart raced and his temper surged. He started thinking of the crazy story this girl just told him and he knew it was no coincidence. He had no doubt in his mind this child was his. This mouthy, knocked-up girl who should be behind bars or at least in a three-ring circus was his? And Laney had never told him? God, could this day get any worse?

“J.D.” L
aney rushed in and threw her arms around her daughter, followed by his deputy.

“Stop it mom, you’re smearing my mascara.” J.D. pushed her away.

“I hope you didn’t hurt her,” Laney said to him, and all he could think of was that she’d kept this from him all these years only to hurt him in return for leaving her at the altar.

“Deputy, take her prints and lock her in the
holding cage until Mrs. Durnsby gets here to ID her purse and the perpetrator. And keep the girl in there til I can decide what the hell to do with her.” He stepped around Laney, making his way across the room and to the door.

“Wait! Where are you going?” Laney
cried out, running after him.

“I’ve got a brother to pick up at the airport, no
t that I need to tell you anything.”

“Then I’ll come with. I need to talk to you.”

He stopped abruptly and turned to face her. “Don’t bother,” he said. “Our daughter already told me all about it.”

“Judas – she knows you’re her father then?”

“No, she has no clue it’s me. Maybe you should fill her in on the little secret, or did you want me to tell her?”

“Judas, I can explain.”

“I doubt it, Laney. No matter how much pain I caused you all those years ago, it can never compare to how you just hurt me.”

With that, he left her standing there and headed out the door,
trying to digest the fact he was not only a father but about to become a grandfather as well.

Chapter 4

Laney just stood there for a moment with her mouth opened, wondering what the hell just happened. She hadn’t been in town an hour and already her daughter had got
ten herself arrested, plus Judas had walked out on her – again – after finding out he was J.D.’s father.

This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. She
had wanted to get settled in the antique shop she’d just purchased and get her bearings before she went out looking for Judas to tell him the news. But then J.D. had messed up those plans.

She regre
tted now never having told Judas the truth for all these years. But then again, the way her life was going at sixteen had led her down roads she wouldn’t want to revisit. And unfortunately, her daughter was heading down those same roads now.

“Would you care to have a seat Ms. McDermott while I take your daughter’s fingerprints and finish up a few things?”
the deputy asked her.

Laney d
idn’t want to leave, but she knew J.D. wasn’t going anywhere, and she also knew she had to do some fast damage control before Judas got back.

“I think I’ll just come back in a little while, if it’s alright if I leave her here,” she said instead.

“Mom! You’re leaving me? Are you frigging serious?” asked her daughter.

“J.D., there’s a couple thin
gs I need to take care of. Just behave yourself and don’t give the man any trouble and I’ll be back soon.”

“Then at least bring me some food,” the girl called
out, rubbing her belly. “The little bastard’s hungry again.”

“Don’t call the baby a bastard,” Laney told her.

“Why not?” asked J.D. “After all, that’s what he is since I’ll never see the jerk who knocked me up again. It’s kind of like me in a way, huh? I’m a bastard too, right mom? And I hope to hell I never meet my true father cuz if I do I’m going to kick his ass for what he did to us.”

Laney’s heart about broke when she
heard this, and she left quickly before her daughter would notice the tear in her eye. She had to do something to make things better. She couldn’t let her daughter go to jail – and at the hands of her own father to make things worse. No, she just had to find some of Judas’s family and try to reach out to them for help.

She stepped out into the bright sunlight and looked around. She recalled Judas had eleven brothers, though she’d only really known the ones that were in school with her and around her same age.

“Levi,” she said, remembering the name of one of Judas’s older brothers. “Maybe he can help,” she said, wondering where to find him. She looked over to the crowd standing by what she remembered to be Margery’s Diner. It seemed something was going on. She squinted, as she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her when she noticed what looked like goats on the roof.

She headed over toward the crowd, knowing she’d probably be able to find at least one of Judas’s brothers still living in town. That is, someone who
would talk some sense into him.

“Would you like a sample of cheesecake?” asked a woman
a little younger than Laney’s age of thirty-four. The woman wore purple-rimmed plastic glasses and a huge smile on her face as she came up to greet her.

“Why thank you,” said Laney, taking the cheesecake just to be polite and hopefully get some i
nformation though she couldn’t remember the last time she ate sweets.

“Are you a tourist?” asked the woman.

“No, I’m . . . a resident of Sweet Water as of today. My name is Delaney McDermott.”

“Well, so nice to meet you,” said the woman, balancing the tray in one hand and shaking her hand with the other. “I’m Candace Kane – oops,” she said with a laugh. “Candace Taylor now. I’m still getting used to my married name.”

“Oh, so you married one of the Taylor boys?” she asked, taking a nibble of the cheesecake, almost gagging from the sweetness which she wasn’t used to.

“Yes,
I married Levi. Do you know the Taylors?”

“I . . . guess you could say that. Actually, I used to live here as a child
and went to school with Judas and Levi.”

“Oh, then Levi will want to see you again. Levi,” she called through the crowd. “Come here
, there is someone you’ll want to meet.”

A tall man striking a similar resemblance to Judas strolled through the crowd, greeting several people on the way. He stopped right in front of her with a smile on his face.

“Hi, I’m Levi Taylor,” he said with an outstretched hand. “I’m mayor of Sweet Water. And who would you be?”

“Mayor?” Laney asked, licking the sickening sweetness off her lips. Yes, this could be just the person to help her. If he was the mayor, he could pull some strings. And being Judas’s brother, she was sure they were close and he’d be able to talk him into releasing J.D.

“Don’t you recognize her?” asked his wife. “Delaney said she used to live here and went to school with you.”

“Delaney . . . Delaney,” he said with a hand to his chin, seeming as if he was trying to remember her.

“You should remember me, Levi. After all, I was once going to be your sister-in-law, as I almost married Judas.”

“Of course, I remember you now,” he said. “I’d almost forgotten about you since you left town so quickly after Judas jilted you at the altar.”

“Levi, please,” Candace said to him as a warning to be considerate.

“Well, sorry to say it, but I’d ex
pect nothing less of my brother,” Levi continued. “So what brings you back to town, Ms. McDermott?”

“Just ca
ll me Laney, please. And I moved back here to start over again since my husband just passed away.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Well, thank you. But I’m trying to look forward, not backward. I’m opening a new business. Actually, I just bought the Timeless Treasures Antique Shop right here in town.”

“That was you
who bought it?” he said with an upraised brow. “Well, congratulations. You should like living here. Are you alone or do you have family with you?”

“
Well, as I told you, I’m widowed,” she explained, “but I am here with my seventeen-year-old daughter, J.D.”

“Well, she’ll be in school with Daniel then,” he said.
“That’s my brother, Tommy’s oldest son. I’m sure he’d love to meet her, as he’s always got his eyes on girls.”

“Well, not this one, he won’t,” she said, hoping to lead into the conversation.

“I can understand you being protective, but Daniel in a very nice boy,” Candace told her.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” she told them
. “I was actually referring to my daughter.”

“I’m su
re your daughter is very pretty,” said Candace, shifting the tray in her hand.

“Well, if he likes tattoos, body piercings and pink hair,
she is.”

That
got a shocked look out of both of them, and then a laugh.

“
And she’s eight months pregnant,” Laney added.

“Whoa!” said Levi, raising his hands in the air. “I don’t think I want to introduce them then.”

“Well . . . you may not have a choice in that matter,” she said. “Because . . . you see . . . my daughter, J.D. is . . .”

“Is what?
” asked Candace, curiously.

“She’s
. . . your niece, Levi,” Laney said quickly, waiting for a reaction. “You see, Judas is her father.”

Levi’s smile turn
ed into a frown, and she could tell he wasn’t pleased for some reason.

“Does he know?” asked Candace anxiously.

“Well, he found out before I could tell him.”

“Well, how d
id he react?” Candace handed off the tray of cheesecake samples to another employee.

“He just stormed away.”

“We can understand,” Candace assured her. “You know, Levi here went through the same thing,” she said putting her hand on his arm. “He found out recently that he has six-year-old twins. At first he was angry but then he liked the idea and was very excited. Right, honey?”

“Right,”
said Levi. “And tell me again – why are you telling us all this information, Laney? Isn’t this something that should be discussed only between you and Judas right now?”

“Well, I would if I thought I had the time,” Laney told them. “But unfortunately, I need to move fast. You see, I’m looking for your help to try to talk Judas into doing
something he’s not going to agree to.”

“Then you’re looking at the wrong man,” he told her. “I can’t even talk him into letting me keep a couple of goats on my roof.”

“But you’re his brother. And the mayor,” she begged him. “Certainly there must be something you can do.”

“What exactly is it you want me
to talk him into?” asked Levi curiously.

“Well, he’s just arrested my daughter and might throw her into jail. His daughter, that is. I’m sure he doesn’t really want to put his own pregnant daughter in jail, after all.”