Page 14 of August 20

Puzzles one day, movies the next day, even Barbies that magically appeared on the table. Yesterday, he'd handed her a makeup kit and pointed her to the bathroom, where she proceeded to make a mess of the room and herself.

Of course, Skye was content to stay under Maverick's control when she received everything a little girl could want. Every day was her birthday.

She reached across the bed. Her hand encountered a cold sheet.

Sitting up, she blinked awake and found Skye had left the bed while Brooke had slept. Shocked that she'd let her guard down, she threw back the covers and ran out of the room. Her bare feet covered the distance to the living room in seconds.

She found Skye on the couch beside Maverick. Opening her mouth to tell him to get away from her, she stopped when she noticed his hand raised on the back of the sofa, holding up his finger toward her.

"The little kitten jumped," said Skye, reading from a book. "Momma cat li-li—"

"Licked."

Brooke's neck snapped back at the sound of Maverick's voice. Except for the first day, she hadn't heard him speak in the last ten days. If he communicated with them, he pointed, gestured, nodded, and shook his head.

His voice was low and rough, almost whisper-soft. She almost doubted what she'd heard. But, he'd spoken. He'd corrected Skye.

"Momma cat licked the sh-shy kitten." Skye looked at Maverick. "Do you like cats?"

Maverick shrugged. His indifference never fazed Skye. Cats were her favorite topic last summer. She'd begged to have a pet, but they had lived in a pet-free apartment complex.

"Someday, I'm going to get a cat." Skye scooted to the edge of the couch cushion and put the book on the coffee table, where there was a stack of more books.

Apparently, Maverick was gifting her reading material today.

"I'm going to name my cat Flower because she's going to play in the flowers and smell good all the time."

Brooke cleared her throat, needing to break up their conversation. Skye needed to stay away from Maverick. She wasn't safe to be around him.

Grown men, especially bikers, only bought things for little girls if they had an ulterior motive. Just thinking what the gifts could mean made her swear never to let herself sleep that hard and long again. She had to watch Skye every second.

Skye looked over her shoulder. Brooke motioned for her niece to come to her.

"Let's eat breakfast." She guided Skye to the table.

In her hurry to find Skye, she hadn't gotten dressed. Her nightshirt covered her ass but not her legs. She sat down and hid her lower half under the table while she poured cereal for Skye.

Maverick walked into the kitchen and put bread in the toaster. She ignored what he was doing and concentrated on consuming the Fruity Pebbles.

"He knows how to read," whispered Skye.

Brooke cringed. Skye's whisper was louder than her normal voice.

"Mm." She took another bite.

Exhaustion made her short-tempered. Too many nights staying up and guarding Skye had backfired. Sometime in the middle of the night, she'd slept heavily and forgot that she was inside a house with a madman.

She couldn't forget.

She couldn't fail again.

"Can I wear makeup?" Skye wiped the back of her hand along her chin, catching the dribble of milk.

"Sure." Brooke set down her spoon.

She tried to eat every meal to keep her strength up and to stay alert. But her appetite was gone. It was hard to stay positive when she saw no way out of the house day after day.

"I'm done." Skye slid off the chair.

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