Page 64 of Maverick

He grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We’re done here. Let’s grab a drink.”

I muttered curses but followed him inside the bar to hash out final details over some expensive Tennessee whiskey, on him. My head was about to explode.

We made the plan. Sky would meet Maddie at a diner off I-65. Kingpin’s men would watch from unmarked vans. If Sky showed signs of wanting out, Maddy would give a signal, and Villain and Irish would intercept her. But I would be the one to take her away. No reuniting with Kingpin, no returning to Nashville. Ralph Getty and the Music City Syndicate would tear the state apart if they realized we had her. We had to move fast.

The next morning, I parked behind a rundown gas station near that diner. I felt queasy remembering I'd left Lexi behind in Kansas. She was alone and hurting while I tried to figure out if my ex needed rescuing. And Lexi wasn’t taking mycalls. However, I knew from talking to Sarge she was still at the Road Monster’s clubhouse, though. Safe and sound.

Fucking hell. But if this was the only way to save Sky and Lexi, I had to do it.

Villain kept me posted over text. Sky arrived in a black SUV, stepped out, and approached Maddie. But they went inside to eat. Not until they finished and stepped out did Maddie flash a peace sign, the signal. Irish and Villain swooped in, cornering them in an empty lot. I lingered, nervous as hell, until Villain called me over, meaning she wasn’t resisting.

I found Sky pinned near a dumpster, Maddie off to the side, looking terrified. Sky’s eyes locked on mine. She looked older, harder. Fuck, it hadn’t even been a year. There was a flicker of relief in her gaze.

“Hallow,” she breathed. “You’re here. Finally.”

I swallowed, forcing a nod. “Yeah. If you want out, I’ll help you.”

She looked at Maddie, tears gathering. “I’ve been blackmailed by Ralph. He threatened my child. I had no choice. I had to keep you away, so he wouldn’t hurt little Ralph.”

“Little Ralph?”

“You think Ralph will let his son be called Bo or Caden?” she said, explaining the child now had a third name.

Caden. I’d tried hard not to think of the kid I’d been raising with her as my own when she up and left me, taking him with her. “Where is he?”

“Still with Ralph and the family. Adam,” she called me my real name. “Ralph will never let him go. Our son is lost to his real father. But I can’t take it anymore.”

A tangle of guilt and anger coiled in my gut. So maybe she never truly left me by choice. I tried to keep a blank face from the emotions that were giving me whiplash. “Then come with me. We’ll figure it out.”

Sky didn’t argue. She just sobbed once, then threw her arms around me. I stiffened, memories flooding back. I was totally confused.

Lexi, I’m sorry, I thought silently, stepping away from Sky.

We hurried to my Harley, ignoring Maddie’s sobs. She would stall anyone who came looking. If Ralph’s men showed, Irish and Villain would handle it. I gunned the engine, and Sky hopped on, her arms around my waist like old times. It was like a dream. Or a nightmare. I was a bit fuzzy on the difference. Shaking, she buried her face in my back.

Then I tore out of there, heading north, away from Tennessee, away from the chaos. My mind spun with old regrets, longing, and raw fury at Ralph. If he truly blackmailed her, forced her to leave me, fuck him. I wished him dead. But overshadowing all that was Lexi’s face, her tearful eyes when she had asked about my “wife.”

Damn it. Her safety was my responsibility, too. I saved Sky, but was it nostalgia, guilt, or love? Couldn't say.

I rode for hours, Sky silent when we stopped briefly, except for her soft, uneven breathing. Every mile brought me closer to Kansas and Lexi. But how the hell could I explain it?

Hey, princess, this is my ex, the one I used to plan a future with, who might or might not still love me.I felt sick.My ex, who set your mom’s murder into motion, all to get my attention.

But I had no other option. Kingpin had made it clear. Sky couldn’t stay in Tennessee, not with the mob breathing down everyone’s necks. My old illusions about Sky’s betrayal lay in ruins, replaced by something more complicated. If she’d been forced to leave me. That meant I never gave her a chance. I never once doubted her leaving, but on her own accord. Fuck, I’d abandoned her too.

And where did that leave Lexi, the woman who just gave me her virginity, who was now reeling from the news?

The horizon stretched before me like a question I had no answers for. Sky clung to me, her tears soaking into my cut. And all I could do was grit my teeth, tear up the asphalt, and pray that I could salvage something out of this nightmare without losing Lexi in the process.

Chapter 34

Lexi

I could practically feel the storm brewing the moment they rode up to the clubhouse gates. After all the heartbreak and chaos, the last thing I expected was to see Maverick and Sky rolling in together. Yet there they were, her arms wrapped around his waist on his Harley, dust swirling around them as they rumbled onto the gravel lot of the Road Monsters MC compound in Kansas.

My heart twisted with a combination of dread and anger. Just days ago, I’d given Maverick my virginity, trusting him with my body and soul. Now he had arrived with his wife, the woman he’d once told me had left him, but apparently was still legally tied to him, or some version of him. I’d tried to remain calm, to remind myself that he’d gone to help her only because she was in danger. But seeing them together, leaning so close, nearly broke me all over again.

I stood at the edge of the clubhouse yard, arms crossed tight over my chest. My chest felt void.So, this is it, I thought bitterly. He rescued her, after all. Good for him. All around us, bikers milled about, some shifting in curiosity, others watching for a potential fight. After all, the MC had reason to be on guard. While Maverick was gone, I learned one of the reasons the bikers had been so weird about me being here was because they knewI had a target on my back. My presence was putting them all in danger.

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