CHAPTER 19

Maverick

 

Aubrey had an event for basketball before school, so I dropped her off early and then took Dixie Mae to the Pig for breakfast. We were sitting at a window table when I caught a glimpse of Cricket’s car out of the corner of my eye as she pulled into the parking lot. What was she doing coming home so early in the morning? Returning from an exercise class? Coming back from a man’s house?

“Daddy, are you okay?”

I looked at Dixie Mae and raised a brow. “Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You just made that noise like a growly bear when you get mad.”

Christ, I didn’t even realize I did that. Deep down, I felt like Cricket wasn’t that kind of woman, but things could have changed over the years, and the thought drove me mad. “I’m fine, baby. Are you gonna eat all your bacon?”

“No, you can have one.”

I took the offered piece and shoved the entire thing in my mouth, and when she giggled, I felt that innocent laughter warm my soul. We finished our breakfast, and by the time I paid my bill, Cricket was in the kitchen, and I couldn’t help myself. I walked over to the counter and waited until she looked at me, and when she finally saw me, she jumped. “Hi.”

“Where were you last night?”

Her face paled, and her eyes got real big as she came over to me. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw you pull in a few minutes ago.”

“I was at the store.”

“What store?”

“The market. I needed milk.”

I tilted my head. “You couldn’t come down here to get milk?”

“We were out of it here.”

“Dixie Mae had two glasses of chocolate milk before you got back, so that’s just plain not true.”

Her fingers strummed on her leg. “White milk. We were out of white milk.”

“Why are you lying?”

“I’m not.”

“Were you with a guy?”

She scoffed. “No. But if I was, it’s none of your business.”

I leaned over the counter and tugged at the string around her apron, pulling her closer. “Oh, it most definitely is. You best remember that, Pixie.”

Her mouth fell open, and I winked, then called for Dixie Mae. After I dropped her off at school, I had to run home before I went to work, and when I pulled up, I heard myself growl like a bear when I saw Brenda on my porch.

I got out of my truck, and she made her way over to me. “I was just leaving a note for you.”

“You couldn’t have called?”

“You didn’t respond to my texts, and when I did call, you sent me to voicemail.”

She had a point. “If you recall, you drove drunk with my daughter in the car, unbuckled, then hit a tree. She could have died. You are no longer a part of either of our lives, and I don’t have to answer you, nor do I want to.”

Pain lanced across her face, and she nodded. “I deserve that. I—”

“I fuckin’ know you do.” I started to walk past her, but she grabbed my arm.

“Wait. Please. I just… I want to see her.”

As I slowly turned around to face her, I put my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t strangle her. “You lost that right when you almost killed her.”

“I made a mistake. I’m better now.”

“A mistake is forgetting to close the gate behind you. Driving drunk with your kid in the car is something else that I don’t even have a word for because the idea of doing that is unthinkable to me.”

“You drive drunk all the time.”

I ran my tongue along my teeth. “Don’t you dare.” I pulled my hands out and used one to point at her. “If you ever want a shot to see your daughter again, throwing bullshit insults at me isn’t the way to go about doing that.”

“You’re going to let me see her?” she asked hopefully.

“No. Not now.”

“Please, Maverick. I miss her so much, I… I know she misses me too. I’m her mother. She needs me.” She started crying in earnest. “You know she does. A child needs their mother.”

I shook my head, trying to hold my ground even though her point had validity. A point that I learned the hard way when I lost my own mother the way I did. It was exactly why I struggled so badly with stripping away Brenda’s rights because the last thing I wanted to do was have my daughter lose her mother. But my job was to protect Dixie Mae. Even if some of my decisions had the potential to cause her pain along the way, at least I knew I always had her best interests at heart. Unlike her own mother. “She needs to be protected. You didn’t do that. You put her in danger.”

“I’m better now. I just want to see her. Please. I want to tell her how much I love her and that I—”

“I don’t have time for this.” More, I didn’t want her begging and pleading to get to me to the point that I changed my mind.

“Will you at least think about it?”

I lifted a shoulder as I walked up the steps. “Maybe.”

“Thank you.”

Without looking back, I went inside and then leaned against the door as soon as I closed it. “Fuck,” I hissed. “Goddammit.”

I felt sorry for myself for a couple of minutes, then I went and grabbed my cell that I forgot when I rushed out of the house this morning before going to work.

All damn day I couldn’t focus on shit, same for the evening. Between Piper and Brenda and Cricket, I felt like a nut job. I couldn’t get Cricket out of my mind, especially when the girls were bitching when I made them a frozen pizza. Not that it was unusual to think about my Pixie, but the possessive side of me coupled with getting so close to her earlier and smelling her made me crazy. I had to see her. I needed her. But my girls were sleeping, and I didn’t want my family to know anything, so I sent a prayer up and then called Oakley, Wilder and Frankie’s nanny, who lived close by.

And thank God she answered and didn’t hesitate to agree to come over. The girls had both met her before, so I wasn’t worried they would be scared she was here if they woke up. I was just hoping they wouldn’t find out since I only planned to be gone a couple of hours.

“You’re a lifesaver.” I greeted Oakley when she arrived and held the door open.

“It’s not a problem at all.”

“I should only be a couple of hours, but if you need me, don’t hesitate to call.”

She smiled. “I’ll be fine. Take your time.”

I made sure to lock up behind me, and by the time I pulled up next to Cricket’s car, my palms were sweaty. When I put my key in the bottom lock, I was actually surprised it turned, thinking she’d have changed the locks out when she realized I still had access to her place. I jogged up the steps, and because I didn’t want to scare her too badly, I knocked. “Cricket, it’s me.”

The door swung open, and she stood there white as a ghost. “You scared the shit outta me.”

I didn’t like the fear that was etched in her features. It appeared more than just me showing up late. “Sorry. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, you just scared me. What are you doing here?”

She flicked the deadbolt, and as soon as she turned around and I was satisfied she wasn’t lying, I was on her. And when my tongue traced the seam of her lips, she was all over me.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted it fast or slow, but Cricket had an idea because she pushed me to my back, and I fell willingly on the bed. I watched in rapt fascination as she stripped naked and didn’t hesitate to help her remove my clothes immediately after.

She ran her tongue down my chest and teased me by licking and sucking on my cock like candy, and when I groaned her name, she got to business. Her lips closed around me, and my eyes shut as I indulged in the pleasure she was giving me.

Her mouth worked magic, and when I felt her wet pussy on my thigh, and she started grinding down, I fisted her hair. She peered up, lips swollen and red, and my dick twitched at the sexy as fuck look. “Ride my cock.”

“Okay.”

She crawled up and aligned my cockhead up with her wet center, then slowly sank down. “Good Christ, Pixie.” I dug my hands into her thighs. “Don’t move yet, baby. I’ll come already, and I wanna watch you fuck yourself for a long while before I fill you up.”

She whimpered, and her hips circled. “Hurry.”

I slid my hands up and plucked at her nipples, cupping her tits and leaning up so I could get them in my mouth. She moaned and soaked my dick but stayed still as I enjoyed her breasts, and when I felt her thighs trembling, I fell to my back and said, “Fuck me now, Cricket.”

“Yes.” She moved, fast at first, searching, desperate, and I loved that she was so lost in finding her release that she closed her eyes and just felt my cock inside her. It was as if she needed me more than I needed her, and for those minutes, I forgot about everything messing with my head. While she was making love to me, her body and mine were the only things in the entire world. I let her take control and loved every fucking second until she clenched around me. “God, Yes, Maverick.” Her walls convulsed, and she collapsed onto my chest.

I pushed up and grabbed the globes of her round ass and pistoned my hips up into her, fucking another orgasm out of her before I let go myself. We relished in the beauty of being together again while we came down slowly. I ran my fingers through her hair, and she kissed my chest. And then I made the mistake of looking over at the clock on her nightstand, and I knew I had to get going.

“That was amazing, but I need to get back to the girls.”

“Are they alone?” she sat up and asked on a gasp.

I rolled my eyes. “Do you really think I’d leave them by themselves for anything, let alone for an orgasm? No matter how spectacular you are?”

“You’re right. Sorry.”

“Oakley’s with them.” When her eyebrows scrunched together, I explained. “She’s Wilder and Frankie’s nanny, but she also helps out Frankie with her cakes and stuff.”

“Oh. Okay.”

I sat up and kissed her softly, then rolled her off to get dressed. My eyes caught on a small suitcase in the corner. “You going somewhere?”

“Why would you ask that?”

I angled my head, and she followed. “Oh, I lost an earring, so I brought it out to see if it was in there.” Her fingers moved, and she looked over my shoulder.

She was such a liar. “Did you find it?”

“Find what?”

“Your missing earring.”

“Yup.” She nodded. “So are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

I arched a brow. “Are you?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“You’re jumpy as shit.”

Her lips puckered for a moment. “I’m not used to living alone. It gets kind of creepy sometimes.”

It grated my nerves that for the last however long she lived with another man. “You can always stay with me,” I reminded her.

“Mav… Let’s not ruin what just happened.”

I’d give her that. “Fine. What do you want to do then?”

“I want you to tell me what’s wrong with you.”

“Why do you think something’s wrong?”

“I know you.”

Damn… she did. “Brenda came over this morning. She wants to see Dixie Mae.”

“Okay…”

I grabbed my shirt off the floor. “She almost killed her, Cricket. There wasn’t even a question when I took her to court that she’d lose custody. At the time, I seriously planned on never letting her get anywhere near Dixie Mae again, but she says she’s sober now, and I don’t know… I just… if I were to let them spend time together, it would have to be under my terms. But what if it’s harder on Dixie Mae?”

“Are you seriously asking me what I think?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Is that why you came here?”

I pulled my tee over my head and got out of the bed to put my socks and boots back on. “I don’t know why I did. I just know I needed to see you. But while I’m here, you asked. You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want.”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I don’t know all the details, so I’m not sure I’d be the best one to give you advice.”

“There are not too many details in she drove drunk with my kid in the car and almost killed her.”

“Maverick, I—”

I shoved my feet into my boots and cut her off. “Forget it.” She obviously wasn’t interested in more than my dick, which she’d proven more than once. I was just the fool who desperately wanted more. The loser who needed a woman who didn’t even want him back.

“No, I just—”

“It’s fine. I’ve been doing all of this alone for years. I’ll figure this massive disaster out on my own too.”

I ignored her when she called my name, and even though I was just pissed off at the world, I locked her doors behind me and then got in my truck. I made it about three minutes down the road before I turned around and parked across the street from her apartment and looked up into her window. She didn’t deserve for me to be a dick to her, so I was just cooling off before I went back and apologized.

A few minutes went by with me just staring, thoughts running through my head, and I was so busy thinking that I almost missed her when she pulled out of the parking lot. If it wasn’t for her lights shining at me, I would have. “Where the fuck is she going?”

I pulled out behind her and stayed at a distance, keeping my lights off. And when she pulled into the driveway of a newer house right before the other side of town, I stopped a few houses down. She pulled her suitcase from the back seat, lying little brat, and as she walked to the front door, it was swung open, and a man stood there waiting for her.

He was shirtless, and when she walked past him, he smiled. And I lost my mind.