I nodded at him, and waited for Reaper to slide in across from me. “You’re one crazy SOB, you know that right?”
Reaper smirked at me. “And?”
“And I’m fucking down.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Tavi.
I’m coming by tonight. We’re going to talk, even if it’s one sided.
I waited for the response, but all I got was the little word under my text bubble changing from Delivered to Read.
Then nothing.
Fuck.
The way I wanted to punish that little minx. Maybe I would.
One last time.
Tavi
The smell of coffee lured me downstairs and into the kitchen to find Mari on the phone to her husband. She ushered me inside, and motioned for me to grab a mug before she pressed a button on the coffee machine and headed out of the kitchen, while listening to him rant at her. Well, that’s how it sounded anyway. He could have one of those voices that carries, but I doubted it, with the way she hightailed it out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with the coffee machine churning and the sounds of the birds outside.
I looked out the kitchen window, to a large backyard with a pool, littered with blown up pool floats and balls. It was the epitome of a house with kids. One I had very much wanted for myself with Van. Hardy would have lost his shit if I dared ask for a house in the suburbs with a pool and backyard, maybe a dog, for Van to grow up with.
Hell, I wanted a brother or sister for him too, but there was no way in hell I would give Hardy the idea of that. I didn’t want another connection with him. It was why seeing Van with Bane, and how much fun he was having, was giving me chest pangs. He was loving everything, not knowing what was going on around us, just the way I wanted it. I didn’t want him to hate me when he was older, I didn’t want him to be scared anymore.
What I truly wanted was Van screamingDaddywhen he saw Maverick come through the door of our suburban house, maybe somewhere close to his step-brother and sister, and where I could hang out with Mari for that supportive friend I needed. I’d never had one since being with Hardy. Hardy had never allowed it. Maverick would be the strong and firm kind of father, but also the one who would crack and give Van everything he wanted when my back was turned. The kind that would put my son–no, our son–to bed, before he came down the hall to our bedroom, and fucked me like he owned me, and needed to remind me I was his.
God.
Stop thinking about him.
He would never want to be with me. Not after everything. He’d felt betrayed. He should. I chose to put myself in the path of the Sons, knowing he would protect me. That was who he was.
But that’s all we were.
A woman and her son to be protected, saved from a terrible situation, and then he would send me on my way. Just like he was doing now.
I had to get away from here. Away from him.
Away from the temptation that was Maverick.
The coffee finished and I pulled my mug away when the machine screen went back to the normal selection display. The smell was next level. Like I’d just walked into a Starbucks shop.
Taking a sip, I had to resist the urge to moan at the sweet and bitter taste. It was fresh coffee, I knew that much, just from one sip. The birds outside were singing their morning songs, and it made it feel like a normal morning, just like they sold you in the movies. But not everyone had an asshole husband threatening to take your son away and do with you as he pleases, nor do they have a hot biker who could make all your dreams come true and currently pissed the hell off because, for all intents andpurposes, I was the enemy. I was the daughter of the man who started a war with the Shackled Sons for more land.
I shouldn’t be here.
The sound of soft music dragged my attention away from my misery. I followed the path to a sunroom set up to look over the backyard. A large canvas stood in the middle of the room, paints scattered all over the nearby table. Lani was moving to and fro, in front of the canvas, her brush moving over sections of her art. I could see papers pinned all around the room, inspiration pictures, but also other works she’d completed.
I marvelled at her talent. Lani moved to change her paint and I saw the picture she was working on. My heart beat a little faster when I saw who it was.
Maverick.
Mari told me that Lani and Maverick’s relationship was strained at best. He didn’t know how to talk to his daughter, now that she was sixteen, and didn’t want to drag her into a life she didn’t know what to do with. She, detached from her own father but secretly wanting his acceptance.
It made my heart ache.
