Maverick forced himself not to text Karly on Monday. Or Tuesday. He reminded himself she was a working single mom, and she was busy.
But by the time Wednesday rolled around, he was almost desperate to see her. The hour when the dents-and-dings needed to be picked up and distributed inched closer, and Maverick’s ideas morphed from minute to minute.
When Jordan walked in with Lucas, Maverick jumped up from the stool where he worked on a bike that needed a new bumper and gas tank.
“Vice,” he said, striding across the shop before the boys could go into the front of the store. Jordan turned toward him, and Lucas seemed to sense he wasn’t part of this conversation, because he took a long look at Maverick and went through the door to the biker bar out front of the shop.
“What’s up, Boss?” Jordan asked, glancing around the shop as if Maverick had a disciplinary council with him.
“I want to go on the dents-and-dings tonight,” he said.
Alarm pulled across Jordan’s face. “Why?”
“And I want you to get me an address for a delivery,” Maverick said, ignoring the question. He knew Karly lived out near the orchards. Everyone in her family did. His connection to Declan had earned him that. But the rocker didn’t know which house specifically was Karly’s, though he thought it was the one next door to Mia’s. And she was the second one in.
Declan had offered to ask his wife, but they were still in Europe, and Maverick didn’t want to answer any unnecessary questions. Declan had wanted to know why, and Maverick had dropped that text string pretty fast after that.
“Who?” Jordan asked, his eyes narrowed.
“Karly Lydell,” he said.
“All right,” Jordan said.
“I’ll put the trailer on my motorcycle,” Maverick said. “And I’ll take Rosco’s tonight.”
“Boss, I swear I’m not wasting too much time with Felicia.”
“That’s not it at all,” Maverick said, clapping Jordan on the shoulder.
“Then what’s this about?”
“It’s personal,” Maverick said, club code for conversation over. “Text me the address. I’m not heading out until later, and I’ve already called Rosco’s.”
“All right,” Jordan said again. “And Lucas? He should still come with me to Market Fresh?”
“No, I need him behind the bar tonight,” Maverick said. “I’ll talk to him.” He started for the door, his hands still feeling grimy from the oil change he’d done earlier. He’d hurry upstairs and shower and get all the mechanical smells off before leaving for the grocery store.
“Mav,” Jordan said, and he paused. “This isn’t dangerous, is it?”
“Why would it be dangerous?”
“There’s a hog down the street,” Vice said. “Just sitting there in the trees just past the convenience store. He’s got a bird on his back.”
“Bulldog.” Maverick’s heart fell all the way to his boots, rebounding painfully back to its spot in his chest. “I’ll deal with him.”
“Be careful,” Jordan said. “They don’t normally come down this far, and it’s broad daylight still.”
Maverick clenched his jaw, well-aware of why Bulldog had come—and what he’d have to do to get the guy off his back.
But first, he was going to deliver groceries to shut-ins, needy families, and single moms. Since Karly fit the last category, it shouldn’t cause a blip on the Hawks’ radar.
Right, he told himself as he skipped the shower and simply put the trailer on this bike and got ready to go.
When he left, there was no motorcycle in the trees, and Maverick spent the next couple of hours looking in his rearview mirror. He didn’t see anything, and he delivered everywhere but out to Sunshine Shores Orchards to hopefully arrive at Karly’s late at night, under the cover of darkness, after Navy had gone to bed.
Finally, he wasn’t able to prolong the trip any longer, and he texted her. I have some extra food tonight. I’m bringing it to you. Be there in twenty.
He deliberately stuck his phone in his back pocket, completely on silent so it wouldn’t even buzz. That way, he could claim he hadn’t seen her request to please not come.
He wanted to go.
Needed to see her.
Breathe in the cherry-rosy scent of her skin. Kiss those lips. Tell her he thought the Hawks were lying to him, and there was no reason they couldn’t be together.
According to Vice, her house was the third one in, and he pulled into the driveway and killed the engine quickly, as Jordan had also texted to say the grandparents lived right next door.
Maverick swung his leg over the bike and looked next door, as if Gramps would have a huge hawk painted on the front door.
Of course, he didn’t.
Maverick swept the area with his sharp eyes as he turned toward the trailer, not even a flicker of light out here. No headlights had followed him. Nothing. Why Bulldog was tormenting him, he wasn’t sure.
If Jordan had seen the bird on Bulldog’s back, it was because Bulldog wanted him to.
He filled the reusable grocery bags with cans and fresh produce and started for the front door. It opened before he got there, and he climbed the steps to Karly’s beautiful form, his eyes raking down her body.
“I don’t need food,” she said.
“I’m coming in,” he responded, and she stepped back to let him pass. He felt the whisper of her fingers against his shoulder, where he wore his patches and his president’s armband. She closed the door behind him and followed him into the kitchen.
“I have plenty of money.”
“I didn’t come because you couldn’t afford food,” he said, setting the bag on the counter. He turned toward her, feeling brash and apprehensive at the same time. “I came to see you. You haven’t texted or stopped by.”
“I know.” She sighed and undid the topknot in her hair. Her curls fell in waves around her shoulders, and Maverick almost moaned with the need to touch her hair. Hold her close. Kiss her.
“Is Navy asleep?” he asked
“Yes.”
He took a step closer to her. “And you didn’t go to bed?”
She gestured at the sweatshirt that fell off her right shoulder, the sexy, tight pants she wore. “On my way there, Maverick. Then I got your text.”
And she hadn’t changed. Another step. One more, and he could touch her. “Are you afraid of me?” he asked, because he could see the glint of fear in her eyes.
“Not anymore,” she said.
“Good.” He took that last step and swept his arms around her, pulling her right against his body in one swift movement. “I’m dying,” he whispered, not caring that he sounded weak now. “I asked you to come by, and you didn’t. Why?”
“I don’t know,” she said, her breath falling across his collarbone. He ran his hands up her arms, along that silky skin peeking through the neck of her sweatshirt.
“So I came to see if you were all right,” he said, though that was not why he’d come at all. “And I came to kiss you.” There, that was the truth.
“Kiss me, then.” Karly looked up into his face, and Maverick didn’t waste his time.
He claimed her mouth with his, probably a little too roughly for someone who’d never dated a biker before. She grabbed onto his shoulders, and he threaded his fingers through her hair, his need for her consuming him in an unreasonable way.
He didn’t care. He didn’t want to be reasonable right now.
He just wanted to kiss Karly, make sure she knew he wanted her, and that she could be his if she wanted that too.
By the time he returned to the club, the ice cream bar sat in darkness and the front of the shop was completely silent. There were a few bikes outside, so Maverick knew someone would be in the back, and he paused at the doorway, wondering if he had to go check in with them.
He didn’t. He was the leader, and he could go where he wanted and do what he wanted.
Sort of.
He lived by the Sentinels code, and if he put the club in danger, he could be in a lot of trouble. There was a Vice and a Sergeant at Arms for a reason. He wasn’t God, and he pushed into the mechanic bays to find Jordan, Lucas, Davis, and Dexter standing around a bike while Ian tinkered with his bike.
“Hey, boys,” he said easily, and Davis elbowed Vice, who exchanged a glance with the others and then broke away toward Maverick.
“Boss,” he said, a hint of nerves in his eyes.
“How’d things go tonight?” Maverick asked, glancing at the other patches. Ian stood up, a blue mechanic rag in his hands.
“Good,” Jordan said. “You get all the food delivered?”
“Yep.” Maverick met Jordan’s eye. “So maybe I got caught up with Felicia.”
Jordan blinked, and then he burst out laughing. “Yeah, that better not have happened.”
“It didn’t,” Maverick said with a grin. He stepped toward everyone else. “Can you guys come over here for a sec?” Now that he’d involved Jordan, he needed to tell some of his most trusted guys about what he was doing.
His secret girlfriend was about to become not-so-secret, at least with these five men. And he should probably tell his Sergeant at Arms, especially if William Addler really was a Hawk—which he still hadn’t been able to confirm. Ian was the Enforcer, and he worked closely with Gerald on compliance issues for the club, as well as the protection aspect. It was because of him that they’d gotten to Williamsburg so quickly last year. His experience in the military was invaluable, especially in explosives.
“I have some news,” Maverick said when everyone had circled around him. They all wore cuts inside, and Maverick felt out of place among them in his leather. “I’m seeing someone.”
“What?” Davis asked, his voice full of shock. “You?”
“After Ruby?” Lucas asked, glancing at Ian.
“Yeah, she cut you up,” he agreed.
Maverick didn’t need the reminder. “It’s Karly Lydell.” He watched his guys for their reaction, and only Jordan didn’t look like he’d been hit with a bowling ball. “It’s on the down-low,” he added. “She has a one-year-old daughter, and her husband died last year, and she’s from one of the biggest families in town.”
“Who?” Lucas asked.
“The Addlers,” Maverick said at the same time Vice said it. “She’s the oldest Addler sibling,” Maverick added. “And there’s another thing.” He didn’t want to tell his club anything, but he might need their help.
“Her grandfather might have been a Hawk.”
Several heartbeats of silence went by, and Maverick hated them.
“I’m calling Gerald,” Vice said, and Maverick nodded at him.
“Good idea.” He looked at his other guys. “I need to find out for sure,” he said. “I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of it.”
Ian cursed and turned back to his bike. “We can’t bring a war to Forbidden Lake, man,” he said. “I got kids.”
“I know,” Maverick said, thinking of Karly’s pretty little daughter. “There’s no record of him in the Hawks history. You don’t think I looked?”
“Gerald’s on his way in,” Vice said, rejoining them. “Fifteen minutes, and he sounded pissed.”
Maverick nodded, hoping he didn’t lose his whole club over this. At the same time, he thought as long as he ended up with Karly and Navy, he could survive without his club.
That thought felt false too, because his club was everything to him. This shop, the biker bar, the loft where he lived. They’d been his whole life for the past twenty-two-years, and he couldn’t just walk away.
“Send Gerald upstairs when he gets here,” he said. “And you can all come up too. I’m taking King out for a minute. I’ll be back in a few.”
“Go with him,” Ian called over his shoulder, and Lucas and Vice grabbed their jackets.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Maverick growled.
“Yes, you do,” Vice said. “Davis, you’ve got the club.”
Maverick walked away from his guys and went upstairs to get his dog, his mind switched back and forth between his choices.
Karly or his club?
His club or Karly?