Page 91 of Maverick

My brand new art studio was packed full every day. People from all the surrounding towns came to take classes and buy my art. I was planning on doing an art night for my students upstairs in the gallery soon.

Maverick made sure to screen everybody who came into the studio and always had somebody from the club there to watch over me. Joker was also checking in about once a week when he was in town. Snake was still out there and nobody wanted to let their guard down.

Today, I was doing a kids and parent art lesson. They got to work together to create one large canvas painting. This was one of my favorite classes to teach because I loved to see the parents showing their creativity to the kids.

Lilah and the boys were here with Bambi. She had been helping Lilah out a lot more as Lilah was nearing the end of her pregnancy. Knox was totally Striker’s kid; a little hellion. Lilah was due next month but was still working at the Medical Center and cruising around town.

As the kids and parents finished the painting, I brought over some wrapping paper and gift bags. “If anybody wants to wrap their canvas when it’s dry, you can use anything on this table! They will make a great Christmas gift for your loved ones.”

Bambi smiled and walked over to me. “Willow, this is wonderful. I’m still so amazed at all of this. You are killing it, girl!”

Ellie Jo was browsing upstairs and came down with a charcoal drawing of a motorcycle. “How much for this, Willow? It didn’t have a price on it.”

“How about fifty dollars?”

She smiled and took out her wallet. “Sounds good to me! Goose is going to love this. He has like no art on his walls.”

Bambi rolled her eyes and walked over to Lilah. Ellie Jo sighed and turned to me. “Ugh. She has been so catty lately. We used to be so close, but she let a man get in the way of that. I mean she’s just a club whore, nobody will ever want her after she’s been with so many guys.”

Instead of wrapping the drawing, I placed it on the counter and gave Ellie Jo her money back. “Bambi is my friend. I don’t know what happened between you two before I came along, but I do know what is going on now and I don’t like it. You can find somewhere else to buy Goose a gift . You are no longer welcomed here, Ellie Jo.”

She huffed and crossed her arms. “You girls think you're hot shit because you are sleeping with an officer of the club. Newsflash, sweetheart. He’ll get bored of you eventually and then you’ll be back in that shitty van of yours.”

I laughed and leaned into Ellie Jo’s face. “Unlike you, I’m not desperate for his attention. What Maverick and I have is called love and that’s something you’ll never know if you keep up with this charade. Goose clearly isn’t interested in you and you are taking it out on those around you. Go home and think about it, Ellie Jo.”

Just as I pulled back, some of the men came walking into the shop. Ellie Jo’s face got all twisted and she stomped past them and out the door.

Striker and Maverick looked confused and turned to me. Mav leaned up against the counter. “What the fuck was that about?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Just Ellie Jo being Ellie Jo. Tried talking shit about Bambi and me and I put her in her place.”

Striker nodded toward Goose. “Yo, man. What’s up little Ellie Jo’s ass lately?”

Goose growled and stomped toward the back. “I don’t know and I don’t fucking care, Striker.”

Lilah came waddling over and rolled her eyes. “What isn’t up that bitches ass. I’ll tell you later when there aren’t so many listening ears. Come on, babe. Let’s get these boys home and down for a nap. I need one too. This little girl is taking everything out of me. I cannot wait to push her out.”

Striker lifted both boys up in his arms and brought them outside. Lilah came over and hugged me tight. “You are the best, Willow. We’ll grab our paintings tomorrow. See you later!”

She slowly made her way out the door as the rest of the families headed out as well. Maverick, Bambi, and Goose helped me clean up the studio and shut it down. We set the alarms and headed outside.

I hugged Bambi and Goose and walked toward Mav’s motorcycle. He helped put my helmet on and hopped on in front of me. I loved being on his bike, even in this cold weather. We didn’t have to go far so my regular winter coat worked just fine.

We pulled up to our house and parked the motorcycle. Orion came running out, tail wagging, all excited to see us. He carefully helped me up the stairs and into a nice clean home.

I turned to Maverick with a smile, “You cleaned for me today?”

He nodded and placed his hand on the small of my back. “Of course, babe. Now go on in the bedroom. There’s a surprise for you on the bed.”

I walked into our bedroom and found a beautiful dress laid out on the bed. I slipped it on and stood in the mirror.

The black dress was a floor-length expansion dress. It flowed all around me with billowing sleeves. It’s v-neck came down to the middle of my breast and a slit came to the middle of my thigh. It had a small tie around the waist and I neatly tied it in a bow.

I turned around and saw a pair of slouchy knee-high velvet black boots at the foot of the bed. Carefully sitting on the bed, I slipped them on. They looked killer on me and I stood to assess myself in the mirror.

The heel was just high enough that it wouldn’t agitate my leg. As I was looking at myself in the mirror, a sparkle caught my eye. Hanging on the corner of the mirror, was a beautiful gold necklace. The pendant looked like a real leaf dipped in all gold. It hung on a delicate gold chain. I picked it up and put it on. On the other corner, six gold bracelets hung.

I smiled and placed three on each wrist. I quickly fixed my hair and make-up. A simple smokey eye and my hair down went perfectly with this outfit.

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