Page 49 of Maverick

Chapter 25

Maverick

We’d been sitting at the bar for just over an hour, Sophie was still happily playing with Leo and Chopper. I’d gotten Grace a glass of wine to steady her nerves. It had kicked in slightly and she was finally starting to relax after her frightening ordeal.

“You and your girl can come in now,” Slate interrupted with a smirk on his face. “I’ve got more than I did an hour ago.”

Grace stiffened under my hand, but only for a moment. “You found the driver?”

He smiled over his shoulder. “Did you ever have any doubt?”

Grace laughed. “I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve seen the goods.”

Slate dropped down behind his row of computer monitors and grinned at her. Diesel was there along with Rocky, Hawk, and Rebel, gazes full of a mixture of humor and worry as each of them noticed my hand on Grace’s back. “I like you, Grace. You’re a great cook and sassy, so if you get tired of this guy, you know where to find me,” he said jokingly.

Her face flamed red, but she rolled her eyes with a smile. “Um, thanks?”

“Watch out, Mav. You’ve got competition.” He laughed to himself, the asshole, and turned our attention to the big screen that hung on the wall. “This is video from our parking lot, and you can see the windows are too dark to see anything. But I got into some of the traffic cameras around here.” He wiggled his eyebrows, so pleased with himself.

“Is it even a man?” Grace asked, her brows knitted into a frown.

“He loves to leave you hanging. It’s a whole presentation with Slate,” I whispered in her ear, loud enough for Slate to hear.

“It’s probably a man,” he said with a teasing smile. “But let’s see what the traffic cameras have for us. This is the path he took when he hauled ass out of here, and he goes more than a mile before he rolled down the window.”

There he was. The asshole had brown hair and a few days’ worth of growth on his jaw. His face was twisted in rage, and I could practically feel his anger through the monitor.

Grace gasped and then her skin paled as tears welled in her eyes. One hand flew to her mouth and her legs wobbled. “Trent.” The word left her mouth on a shaky whisper.

I hooked an arm around her waist and let her lean on me. “Grace.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She pushed away from me and tested her shaking legs before she left the room.

I felt useless as tits on a fucking fish. The sight of her tears and her fear over that asshole? Good, now I was angry too. When I found him, I was going to end him.

“You should go after her,” Diesel said in his low voice, full of unshakeable calm. “Make sure she’s okay.”

“Yeah, but she’s not okay, is she?”

“Fuck no,” Slate growled. “Would you be?” He’d spent one afternoon with her and already he was protective as hell because that’s what Grace inspired in people.

So how the fuck did the man who got to marry her, who got to call her his, end up being the one person she needed protection from? “Fuck.”

“It’s too dangerous for her to leave now. You need to make her see that.” Diesel’s gaze was steady on mine. “He had to have followed her from somewhere.”

Mabel’s home. That means it was definitely Trent who tried to break into my grandma’s house, maybe he’d been waiting for his chance to strike. “You sure? Because I recall none of you were too thrilled with the idea of her staying around.”

“Yeah, well, now it’s different. She’s here and it’s clear she means something to you,” Rocky answered. “The girl too.”

“You eased into fatherhood well,” Rebel said, with a teasing smile on his face. I guessed it was his way of apologizing for being an asshole before. “Like you were born to do it.”

I flipped him off to let him know I accepted his apology and then I went after my woman. She knelt on the floor in front of Sophie, arms wrapped tight as she hugged her like it was the last chance she would ever get.

“Mommy, it’s too tight,” Sophie groaned.

“I’m sorry, baby. It’s just that I love you so much.”

Sophie put a hand to her mother’s cheek. “I love you too, Mommy.”

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