Page 24 of Maverick
Mari was less than impressed when I rocked up to her work, but it was the only way we could talk. When she motioned for me tostep toward her car, I knew she would listen to me. Things were weird at the clubhouse. Prez was distracted but shit was going down at the Pit and with his son. No one could get through to him that Trey was most probably a rat.
I didn’t want to believe it, fuck, if anything I wanted to protect the kid as much as if he were mine, but if he gave up the club, we were all in shit.
Things with Tavi were heating up, and I didn’t know if I could pull her down into a war with me. Not yet. Especially not with her fuckwit of an ex looking for her and not with little Van. That kid had already grown on me. I loved watching him eat his breakfast, play with his trucks and watch cartoons with him until he fell asleep. When he fell asleep on me, like I was the safest place he could ever be, I felt it.
The shift.
I wanted to be his safe place, just like I wanted to be my own kids’ safe place.
Mari got in behind the driver’s seat and I sat beside her in the passenger seat. For a moment, we didn’t speak.
“How bad is it?” she asked after a beat.
“I need a favour. Not now, but it may come.”
“Are we in danger?”
“No, never.”
She turned to me, those eyes that held so many of my secrets, who guarded my worst fears and who guided me on so many occasions, didn’t believe me.
“There’s a girl.”
Slowly, her eyes softened, and a smile erupted on her face.
“Don’t get too excited, Mari.”
“You havenevertold me about a girl before. Excuse me for being excited that you may actually turn from a grouch into the man I used to know.”
“Fuck, this was a bad idea.”
I made a move to leave, but she locked the door on me. The fucking bitch. Turning back to the smiling Cheshire cat that used to be my wife, I sat back, hating how fucking high school this felt.
“Tell me about her, and what’s so different about her that you’re willing to include me in it?”
I sighed, rubbing a hand down my face. “Her name is Tavi. She has a little boy, Van. Her ex is a piece of work, but I don't want to tell you about that.”
“I know what that means,” she sighed. “What is the favour?”
“I need to get her to safety for a few days until I can find a safe haven for her and Van. Shit is dicey at the club at the moment."
Mari sighed. “How bad is this ex?”
“Don’t worry, he won’t live long enough to get close to her again.”
“And finding thissafe haven,does that include you too?”
I shook my head. “No, you know I’m dangerous, Mari.”
She sighed, her head hitting the back of her car seat in frustration. “One day, Dane, you’re going to wake up and everything is going to be wrong. You’re going to realise you missed out on everything because you were scared.”
“I will never risk my kids, or you.”
“Or her?”
“She’s just a girl. She probably won’t even remember me after this is all over.”
“The way you’re not looking at me as you say that tells me otherwise, Dane. You obviously like the woman.”
