Page 30 of Maverick
My mouth twitched upward. Okay there was one silver lining to this whole mess—more time with Kat. “A couple years back, Baller got drunk, climbed a tree, and passed out. Then he fell out and knocked his head real good. Didn’t know who the fuck he was for three days. The doc said the best thing for us to do was to go along with it until he remembered things naturally on his own. I figured the same might be true with your dad. He was already pretty worked up. If I tried to convince him you were his daughter, he might have thought I was up to something. This seemed like the easiest way to get him calm, and to keep you from having to leave. Although, you’re always welcome at the clubhouse. Larry’s part of the family, and by extension, so are you. Regardless of what we’ve got going on.”
Kat blinked in surprise. “Oh, thanks. That’s… sweet. And I guess what you’re saying makes sense. Telling him I’m your homeless girlfriend was probably an easier sell than trying to convince him he had a daughter.” She sniffled.
I rubbed her arm. “Look on the bright side, now I get to stay the night.”
She sighed. “Which honestly makes me feel a lot better. I don’t think I’d be able to sleep a wink in this house knowing he might wake up at any moment and go on another vigilante spree.”
My chest swelled with pride, knowing she felt safer with me in the house and in her bed. As she should.
I stood up, grabbing her hand to pull her up with me. “About that. Any guns he has in his room, we’ll have to leave for now. But let’s do a sweep of the rest of the house. As long as he hasn’t changed it, I know the combo to his gun safe. We’ll get everything unloaded and locked away. And then I’ll change the combination. I should have done this sooner, but I thought we had more time. Tomorrow, when y’all are out for Noodle’s morning walk, I’ll search his room.”
“He won’t like it. You saw how reluctant he was to get rid of one gun. He won’t suddenly be okay with getting rid of all of them.”
I ran my hand through her hair. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Geez, what a night this has turned out to be,” Kat said, shaking her head.
I bit my bottom lip. “Uh oh, Kitty Kat. You need to destress again? I’m more than happy to—”
“Ugh!” She groaned, but with a wide grin on her face. I breathed easier seeing that light come back into her eyes. She yawned and rubbed her hands over her face, wiping away any remaining tears. “Okay, big guy. Let’s do that sweep, then get in bed. Pretty sure I’m about to sleep for the next five days.”
***
When I left the house the next morning, Larry was in the kitchen making breakfast. He’d had no memory of the night before and immediately recognized Kat as his daughter. What a mindfuck. He was a bit surprised to see me there, but we stuck to the datingstory. Seemed like that would be the easiest, since there was no way in hell I was letting her sleep in that house alone after what I’d witnessed. Even with the guns unloaded and locked in the safe—with a new combination, Larry could still do some damage if he went back to thinking Kat was an intruder.
I couldn’t say I hated claiming Kat as mine. I actually liked it. A lot. More than I should for our temporary arrangement. An arrangement that just got a hell of a lot better since I’d be in her bed every night. I adjusted myself before knocking on the door to Baller’s office.
As our resident tech guy, he had long ago commandeered an unused conference room and turned it into his IT haven. It was dark with multiple screens on the wall and several towers of electronic whatevers that hummed and blinked. I could use a computer—I wasn’t out of the stone age—but I didn’t care to know how they worked. And looking at Baller, you’d never guess he did, either.
The former Homecoming King could charm the panties off every woman in town, and probably already had. He did not fit the computer nerd stereotype. But after he blew out his knee in the state championship game and got stuck in a bed for months on end, he had to find some way to occupy his time. One future died, but he found a new one. A better one, in my opinion.
“Morning, VP.” Baller spun around in his chair, looking mighty chipper after his late night. His blond hair was gelled into spikes, and he wore loose fitting dark jeans with a white undershirt. His neck angled to look around me, searching for something. “You alone? I thought Kat would be here. You know, so I could interview her about the camera.”
My eyes narrowed. “I can tell you anything you need to know.”
Baller grinned. “Nah, it’s better if the information comes straight from the source. Purity of data and all that. There are things she can provide that you can’t, brother.”
“I’ll provide you with my motherfucking fist if you don’t cut that shit out.”
Baller howled with laughter. “I thought I saw something between you two!”
I rolled my eyes. “You saw nothing.”
Baller cocked an eyebrow. “Pretty sure I saw your hand up her skirt. And I saw you walk her home. And then Ididn’tsee you come back until this morning. But hey, if it’s nothing, that’s cool. Now that I know she’s into bikers, I’ll be sure to chat her up next time she comes over.”
My fist tightened as I held back the urge to smash his pretty face. “Enough,” I growled.
Baller gave me a knowing smirk. “So, you’re saying she’s off limits?”
“I’m saying you need to show some respect because she’s Larry’s daughter. If one of you assholes pisses her off, that’ll fuck up our relationship with our neighbor.”
“And is this one of those ‘do as I say, not as I do’ things because you sure weren’t worried about fucking up that relationship last night.”
“Just shut up and look at this.” I tossed the trail camera into his lap.
“Okay, okay. Loud and clear, VP. She’s gorgeous, though. They don’t make them like that in Atlantic Shores. Well, not anymore.” His gaze softened, and a flash of regret covered his face before he switched it off. “Alright, onto the mystery of the hidden trail camera.”
He grabbed a screwdriver and removed the outer casing. “This is a nice one, not the cheap kind you can buy for fifty bucks online.” He scooted over to a table that sat against a wall and set out the pieces. “Oh yeah, let’s turn that off.” He chuckled and continued to mumble to himself for a few minutes.
