Page 16 of Forsaking All Others

Things changed as the kids got older, but we had the support of the club, always pitching in to lend a hand and pick up Tara from school. Bottomline, we made it work. We always made it work.

I made a mistake coming here.

A big mistake because even if I got Maverick to agree to the reboot of our old business, it wouldn’t be him and me making it work. I wouldn’t be totting Maverick’s children to the compound, I’d be taking Theo with me and that’s on me and Colt. Maverick is good to Theo, he sees him as an extension of me and our children’s baby brother, but a man like Mav can only take so much and asking him to take more would be an insult.

I force myself to look into Maverick’s eyes.

“I guess I just got nervous, you know? I laid in bed all night thinking of what kind of skills I have and who would hire me. Then I realized the last time I worked was when we had H & M Recycling and a sense of nostalgia washed over me.”

He doesn’t say anything for a long while and I move to start my car.

“It ain’t a bad idea,” he finally says.

My hand falls from the ignition and I turn to him, raising an eyebrow.

“It isn’t?”

He shakes his head and sighs before lifting his hips off the seat. Digging into his pocket, he pulls out a wad of cash.

“How much is the mortgage?”

And just like that the flame starts to flicker.

“Maverick.”

It swirls.

“Not gonna ask again.”

It climbs.

“Fourteen hundred a month.”

Higher and higher.

“Here’s five grand,” he says, offering the folded bills to me. “Call the bank and pay three months in advance. That should give you two a little breathing room.”

Burning everything and anything that stands in its way.

“I can’t take this, Maverick.”

Our souls cry.

Yearning.

“Sure you can,” he retorts, reaching for my hand. Turning my palm over, he drops the wad of cash on top of it and forces me to close my fingers around the money. “Like I said, you got my kids, Holly. This ain’t a handout, it’s me balancing the scales. Now, you can tell Colt or not—that’s your call—but tonight, after I get done here, I’ll come over and we’ll talk about H & M.”

Tears sting my eyes as I stare at him quietly. Part of me wants to throw my arms around him and thank him for being…well, for beinghim—someone I can rely on no matter what. The other part of me wants to scream and cry because despite his good heart, he still managed to break mine.

“Quit looking at me like that,” he growls. “We’re still a team even though you decided to bring another player into the mix. Now, I gotta go inside before King has a fucking stroke on me,” he says as he reaches for the door handle.

Heat engulfs me.

Desperation claws at me.

Don’t go.

“Maverick, wait!”

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