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Lily
“NOT HAPPENIN’,” DAD ground out.
I was standing in the kitchen with Mom and Dad and talking about Maverick’s and my plans to look for a place to rent.
“What? Why?” I demanded.
Dad scowled. “You’re not leavin’ this house until you’re married.”
“There goes our plan to elope,” I grumbled.
Mom gasped. “You wouldn’t really elope, would you?”
I bit my lip. “Not if it would devastate you.”
She sighed. “It would devastate me. But I wouldn’t have a problem with a small wedding.”
“Us and the Quinns?” I asked, hopefully.
“Us and the club,” Mom countered.
That meant a hundred people, minimum. I frowned. “That’ll take some planning... so I’m back to my original plan of finding a place with Mav.”
“Lily,” Dad said, his voice pitched low in his “serious” voice. “You’re not gettin’ married until all this shit with Jenny’s sorted. And you’re gonna stay close where I can protect you.”
“Dad—”
“You’ll obey me in this, baby girl.”
I threw my hands up. “Dad, I’m an adult. I start working at Legacy as a nurse in two weeks, and I’m engaged to be married, so which part of this indicates I’m still a child?”
“Daddy just wants you safe, Lil,” Mom said.
I took a deep breath and faced Dad again. Arguing with him was not the way to go here. “I know you want me safe, Daddy. But Mav and I want to start our lives together. He can keep me safe... will keep me safe. Or better yet, I will keep myself safe.”
Wrong thing to say.
“What the fuck!” Dad roared.
“Ohmigod, Alex,” Mom said. “Take it down a notch.”
“What’s wrong?” Hunter demanded, rushing into the room with Case on his heels.
“Nothing,” Mom and I said in stereo.
“Why’s Dad yelling?” Case asked.
“See what you’re doin’?” Dad accused.
“Hold up there, handsome,” Mom interjected. “You roaring down the house has nothing to do with Lily wanting to move out.”
“Lily wants to move out?” Hunter asked.
“Oh, yeah, you can’t move out,” Case said in all his teenage wisdom.
“And why can’t I move out?” I challenged.
Case crossed his arms, much like my dad was doing. “’Cause me, Dad, and Hunter can’t make sure you’re safe if you move out.”
“I can keep myself safe, Case. Plus, I’ll have Maverick for backup.”
“No. You need us,” he continued. “You’re a girl, and girls need us men to protect them.”
I watched Dad try not to laugh.
I threw my hands up again. “Seriously, Dad? This is working for you?”
“Which part of it isn’t working for you?” Dad challenged.
“Forget it. I’m no longer talking about this with you. Maverick and I are going to look at apartments this weekend, and since I’m an adult, you have no say in it.” I stomped up the stairs, you know, because I was an adult, and slammed the door to my room.
I glanced out my bedroom window and saw that Maverick’s was open, so I opened mine and leaned out. “Mav?”
He leaned into view and then stood and leaned out his window. “What’s wrong?”
“Dad’s being unreasonable.”
“I’m coming over.”
“No, don’t,” I said. “It’ll just piss him off.”
“Baby, I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“I don’t know why he still has this power over me,” I complained. “I’m an adult. I don’t need his permission.”
“I’m coming over.”
“Möosh—”
“Two minutes, Lil.”
I couldn’t say anything else because he was out of view, so I closed my window and rushed downstairs, arriving just as Maverick knocked. I disarmed the alarm and pulled open the door, shaking my head as Maverick stepped inside. “Don’t poke the bear.”
“Fuck the bear, Lil. This is bullshit.”
I reset the alarm and followed Maverick into the kitchen.
“Wanna talk to you, Hawk,” Maverick said, his voice gruff.
“Oh, yeah?” Dad said, his tone demeaning.
“Don’t patronize me,” Maverick ground out. “You talk to me like a man, or I’m takin’ Lily home with me.”
Mom raised an eyebrow in my direction, and I shook my head. With a grunt, Dad led Maverick out of the kitchen, and I stepped over to Mom.
“Maybe not the best move, honey,” Mom said.
“Didn’t have much of a choice, Mom.”
“Well, there is that.” She smiled. “Tea?”
I sighed. “Yeah, tea would be good, thanks.”
She handed me a mug, and we sat down at the kitchen table. “How do you deal with this?” I asked.
Mom smiled. “The alpha male, beat-the-chest, I-am-man thing?”
“Yeah.”
“You just have to let them do their thing and then talk it out when they’re calm. Your dad’ll come around.”
“He doesn’t get it.”
“He gets it, Lil. It’s just hard to let his little girl go. Give him a minute.” She sipped her tea. “Glad you have an alpha man by your side. He’s the only one who could stand up to your dad and win.”
I nodded. “I know. But the challenge is managing that alpha man so that he remembers we’re equal.”
Mom chuckled. “Oh, honey, he doesn’t forget; he just likes to see how far he can push you.”
“I was talking about Dad.”
“I was too.”
We dissolved into giggles, and all was right with the world again. “Thanks, Mama.”
“Anytime, baby girl.”
Dad and Maverick returned, and Maverick held his hand out to me without comment. I stood and grabbed my tea, taking his hand and letting him lead me up to my bedroom.
“What’s going on?” I asked after I closed my door.
“We can’t look for a place this weekend.”
“Why the hell not?” I snapped crossing my arms.
“It’s not safe. Your dad’s right. We’re gonna have to postpone until this mess with the Spiders is finished.”
“And?” I pressed.
He didn’t respond.
I raised my hands and shook my head. “No.”
“Babe, seriously.”
“No, Maverick, I need information. No ‘club business’ bullshit.”
He sighed. “Do you remember when you were little and Payton beat the shit out of some guy in a store?”
“Yeah. Vaguely. I remember being stuck in that gross basement after Payton and I were kidnapped more, though.”
The memories of being thrown into a dirty basement and seeing my mom on a mattress, bound and out cold, came flooding back. I thought Payton was dead and I was so scared. Ashley, Crow’s daughter, had been hurled down the stairs and she and Mom had worked to get us free. In the end, Dad had found us, and the Club had rescued us, but Dad had been shot in the process. It was the Russian Mob, from what I understood, but Dad didn’t really fill me in on the details. It was awful.
“Did you ever hear the entire story?” Maverick asked.
“Um, no. I was, like, four, and I haven’t really wanted to revisit that memory.”
Maverick dragged his hands through his hair, and I realized his hesitation to talk to me had nothing to do with Club rules and everything to do with trying to protect me. I closed the distance between us and slid my hands up his chest. “I’m okay, Möosh. Whatever you need to tell me, just tell me.”
He dropped his hands, so he could wrap them around me. “Hawk said Jenny had sold you but—”
“What?” I snapped. “She fucking sold me? To whom?”
“The Spiders, in a roundabout way. They work with the Russians and have a little trafficking business on the side.”
I held Maverick tight. “So...”
“So Jenny didn’t deliver. She owes them... with interest.”
I shivered. “There’s still a price on my head.”
“Yeah, baby, there’s still a price on your head.” He kissed said head. “A big one.”
“I...” I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed. “I get that now’s not the right time to move, but the thought of not waking up with you every morning is... well, really not a good thought.”
“I know. Hawk and I came up with an option.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Actually, we have two choices,” he said. “We move to the compound, or we make some changes to your parents’ basement and move in there.”
I leaned back with a frown. “We’d move into my basement? Really. And you’re okay with that? Okay with knowing my dad’s upstairs? Better yet... is he okay with that?”
“He suggested it, Lil.”
“He’s gonna know we’re doin’ it,” I said with a groan, dropping my head to his chest again.
Maverick chuckled. “He’ll get over it.”
“I don’t think he will.”
“Then we’ll move to my place... or the compound.”
“I don’t want to live all the way in Beaverton, Möosh. It’s too far from work.” I looked up at him again. “And your basement isn’t particularly private.”
“There is that,” he agreed.
“What about Uncle Brock’s place?”
“No.”
“Why not? His tenants just moved out.”
“Not secure enough.”
“That’s a lie. Brock’s FBI, Möosh. He’s got security cameras and—”
“No, baby. It’s already been decided.”
I scowled. “By whom?”
“Your dad and me.”
“Without talking to me about it?” I demanded, pulling away from him.
“Don’t make this a thing, Lil.”
“Ohmigod, Maverick, you made this a thing!”
“I’m trying to keep you safe!” he snapped.
“You’re kowtowing to my dad!”
“I’m not fucking kowtowing to your dad, Lily! I’m trying to keep you in the safest place possible... close to me, close to the club.”
“You promised me you’d talk to me,” I pointed out. “This is not a good way to start our new life together.”
“Baby, I had all of five minutes to make a judgment call. Give me a break. I couldn’t talk to you about any of this first. That does not mean I didn’t want to.”
He was right, I knew he was, but I didn’t want to let him off the hook entirely. I needed to set a different precedence.
“Lil?”
“I’m thinking.”
Maverick chuckled, reaching out and pulling me against him again. “Stop thinking about ways to punish me, unless they’re in the bedroom with both of us naked.”
I forced back a laugh and fell against him. “I thought you said no strap-ons.”
Maverick groaned. “Gross, Lil.”
“I still want to talk to Brock.”
He sighed. “You can talk to him, but the answer’s gonna be the same.”
“Don’t piss me off, Mav.”
“I’m not bending on this one, baby doll. Wrap your mind around it.”
“Then you’d better make that basement resemble something other than what it does now because if my dad hears me scream while you’re fucking me, even once, we’re out of here.”
He relaxed. “I will.”
“You have a week.”
“Babe.”
“One week, Maverick.” I cupped him over his jeans and then slid my hand under the waistband. “I can’t live without this at my beck and call any longer than a week, so figure it out.”
Maverick lifted me and carried me to my bed, kissing me deeply as he stretched out beside me. I tugged the button free from his jeans and slid the zipper down, so I could get better access to his growing erection.
“We shouldn’t do this here, babe,” he said between kisses.
“Let me do my thing,” I whispered.
“Lil—”
I sat up. “Off.”
He stood and pushed his jeans and boxer briefs from his hips, before sitting on the edge of my bed. I knelt between his legs and kissed the tip of his cock before sliding my mouth over the head. Maverick grunted, and I smiled up at him. “Shhh...” I gripped his length gently and pulled down as I took him into my mouth again.
“Lil,” he whispered.
I slid my hand under his T-shirt and ran a nail over his nipple, continuing to work his cock with my mouth and hand. It took him a little longer to relax, but when he threaded his fingers through my hair and gripped my scalp, I knew he was finally there with me. I loved giving him head. I’d heard friends complain about having to do it, but I genuinely loved it.
“Now, baby.”
I sucked a little harder, flattening my hands on his thighs as his body locked, and he came in my mouth. I waited until his hands left my head, and then I released his cock with a gentle smack, swallowing.
“You just get better at that,” he said, stroking my cheek. “Love you.”
I grinned and rose to my feet so I could reach his mouth. “Love you more.”
“Can I put my pants back on?”
I giggled. “In a minute.” I kissed him a few more times and then let him get dressed.
