Page 6 of Maverick

Maverick stabilized her, looking stoic as ever.

Was he sleeping with my mom?

Maverick stepped in, hooking a thumb in his belt. “Diana’s told me a little about it, but not enough to figure out who’s behind the threats. She’s…not real specific.”

I frowned at him, unsure how to handle the protective note in his voice. Was he genuinely looking out for my mom, or was he using her for something else? My gaze caught on the patch on his vest that readMaverickagain, remembering the raw moment he’d saved me a second ago. A swirl of confused gratitude and distaste for his closeness to my mother curled inside me.

Nova cleared her throat. “Perhaps we can all find somewhere quieter to talk?”

“Yeah,” my mom piped up with a giggle. “Let’s get more drinks first.”

She was sloshed. It was mortifying. People nearby were starting to stare. Maverick raked a hand through his hair, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “We can move over to the bar tent,” he suggested. “Less dust, at least.”

We ended up at a makeshift bar under a large canopy tent. Dozens of folks milled around, music burning my ears, bartenders pouring shots. Fans whirred overhead but did little against the California desert heat. With our drinks in hand, we all found a rickety wooden table near the corner, and Mom slid into a seat between Nova and Maverick, effectively leaving me to perch on the edge of the bench opposite them.

“So,” I tried again, leaning in to speak over the noise, “who’s threatening you, Mom? And what exactly are they threatening you with?”

She glanced away, eyes darting around. “Just…someone who doesn’t like that I know certain…information.”

I let out an exasperated breath. “Can you be more vague?”

Maverick gave a half-smile, closing in to whisper something to me. “Your mom’s known around here as Dirty Diana. She’s, uh…gathered a lot of intel on different clubs, different men, all that. Some of them might not want their secrets out in the open.”

“Secrets,” I repeated, eyeing my mother warily. I’d always known she had a reputation, but hearing it laid out was something else.

She lifted both shoulders, not meeting my eyes. “I’ve had to…survive, Lexi. You do what you gotta do. But anyway, this man who’s threatening me says he’ll sue me for defamation if I ever breathe a word about him or his…connections.”

Nova exchanged a confused look with me. I cleared my throat, summoning my newly minted legal knowledge. “If it’s defamation, that means you’d have to be making falsestatements. Are you? Or do you have evidence to back up these alleged secrets?”

Mom pursed her lips. “I… Well, let’s just say I’ve got some stuff locked away. And he might not want it out in the open.”

I groaned. Typical. She was being so cryptic I couldn’t do my job. “Mom, I can’t help if you won’t give me details.”

“Later,” she insisted, patting my arm. “Tonight’s for fun. This rally only happens once a year, baby. Relax. You look so tense. You need to get drunk and get laid.”

Her idea of fun apparently included another round of tequila shots that Maverick ordered. I noticed he paid for all of them out of a fat wallet full of cash, then casually pulled a flask out of his pocket to top off his own glass. Nova seemed more than happy to join in.

“Cheers to new friends,” she announced, clinking her shot glass against Chigger’s, some cornfed biker who materialized from nowhere.

He matched Maverick's height but carried his burly build on a thinner frame. With his sandy blond hair in a ponytail complete with blond patchy beard, he was Nova’s type. At least his eyes sparkled with easy humor. Maverick introduced him as another Road Monster. Chigger wore a cocky grin and had a playful gleam in his eye as he scooted closer to Nova. They were already hitting it off.

I sighed, forced into another shot by my mother’s insistent beam. The liquor burned going down, but the warm rush in my veins dulled the edges of my anxiety.

For a while, the conversation shifted to random small talk as Chigger and Nova got to know one another. The rest of uswere merely audience members to thismeet cute. My mother got more and more wasted, clinging to Maverick, giggling, and then she was telling embarrassing stories about me as a kid.

“I once caught Lexi kissing the pages of a book. She was eleven. No… no… I mean she was really kissing it. So much so she broke her glasses. Can you believe it?”

I wanted to sink through the floor. But I adjusted my glasses feeling the same way I did back then. Utterly invisible. Maverick seemed distant, though he occasionally offered polite nods or half-smiles when Nova or I tried to include him. Something about him felt…wounded, under all that tough exterior, but I couldn’t be sure.

Eventually, Mom decided she needed to dance. She dragged Nova and Chigger along, leaving me and Maverick to wander to the bar. An awkward silence stretched between us as he ordered us another shot.

I sipped my tequila because my throat was burning. “Thanks again for stepping in earlier,” I said quietly, recalling how he’d punched that creep who exposed me. My cheeks warmed at the memory of my vest being yanked down.

Had he seen my nip slip?

He shrugged, like it was nothing, rolling his broad shoulders. “No big deal. I don’t tolerate that shit. But I do expect a peek at that full bush you’re sporting.”

I opened my mouth to deny the bush, but he quickly backtracked.

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