Maverick
I’d fought Cherry on taking my sheets. I didn’t want to get rid of the smell of Tavi’s shampoo, just like I refused to let the car Van had left in my bed go.
It had been a week without her.
A week where I didn’t know if she was safe or if she was hurting. A week where I’d drunk myself to sleep every night, dreaming of her being happy with someone else.
Mari had tried to help, but I refused. I couldn’t bear to let her see me this way. I hadn’t even been this broken up when our marriage ended, how was that fair to her? I felt like an asshole. Bane kept me company as I sobered during the day, talking to me about things he was learning at soccer and school. Since the lockdown had been lifted, things had shifted to normal. Animal still monitored Mari and Bane, when they came and went, but Lani refused. She was mad at me, and I had to give it to her. I was mad at myself too.
Too mad to fix things. She’d taken one of the spare cabins, living separately, privately to grieve in her own way. She’d sworn until she was blue in the face Parker had never tried anything, he was just an asshole, but I wasn’t sure if I believed her.
If I found out it was anything less than fatherly, he’d be getting a rod up his ass while I paraded him around town, chained to theback of my bike like Rowan had done to her bullies not too long ago.
“I need to wash them, Mav.”
Cherry was at my door again, banging and causing more of a headache than I already had. She was talking to someone in the hall, before I heard her give up and tell them to try. A soft knock landed on the door, and I heard Prez’s ol’ lady’s voice.
“Maverick, can I come in?”
“It’s unlocked,” I called back. The door opened and Rowan stepped through, closing it behind her. Rowan didn’t hold back, she moved over to the bed and sat down on the side I wasn’t occupying. “What do you want?”
“I just figured we could chat since you’re being a dick to everyone.”
I liked Rowan. She had spunk, and she was good for my Prez. She also didn’t take any prisoners and that meant she was the perfect ol’ lady for him.
“You know why.”
“You’re hung up on a woman, yeah I get it, but I don’t know why. You never introduced her as yours, so it couldn’t have been that serious, could it?”
I was silent, unable to form words that would make sense to her. Is that how Tavi felt? That I was hiding her away? I just hadn’t wanted her to be overwhelmed, she had enough going on. Being with me would mean a lot more shit than I thought she’d want to deal with right now.
I should have told her that. I should have put her in the cabin with Mari, but I’d wanted her with me, in my bed, in my arms. When it came to her, I was so fucking selfish.
“Oh shit, that’s why you kept her away, she is important to you. Now, I need to know all about the woman who tamed the infamous Maverick, lady killer.”
“Lady killer?” I repeated.
She shrugged. “It’s what Chaos called you, and coming from him that’s kinda crazy. The guy’s sticking his dick in every wet pussy out there.”
I scrunched my face up, knowing exactly what kind of man Chaos was. “It doesn’t matter. She didn’t want this.”
“What did she say to you?”
“Nothing. She left a note.”
She was silent for a minute, before she asked, “Can I read it?”
“Why?”
“Morbid curiosity. I’ve never broken up with someone in a note, I want to know what it says.”
“Getting ideas of breaking my prez’s heart with a bit of pen and paper?” I asked her, almost laughing at the notion. There was no way he would have allowed it. He would track her down and spank her red raw before he stuffed her so full of his cock she wouldn’t be able to walk for a week.
The fact that I knew that was both disturbing and undeniably annoying.
“Give it.”
I sighed, and grabbed the note from the bedside table, handing it over to her. Watching as Rowan read the note, her facial expressions changing constantly, she hummed, as if she had something to say but didn’t know how to say it.