Page 49 of Maverick
She was sobbing, and reached out for me. I didn’t want to get her dirty, but I couldn’t resist the urge to hold her, protect her, make sure the bad didn’t get to her.
Shadow held his hand out. “Give me your kutte, brother, I’ll get Cherry to clean it up. You probably need to take her home and I know you got problems with your ex’s husband.”
Fuck, he was right. I shrugged out of my kutte and handed it to him, feeling naked without it, before I wheeled Lani around toward my bike.
“You ever ridden a bike, Lani?” I asked her. She was shaking, so I grabbed the jacket from my saddle bag that I had grown accustomed to carrying around since Tavi had a tendency not to bring one with her on our rides. She shook her head. I placed an old jacket of mine around her, and helped her with my spare helmet before I helped her onto the back of the bike and jumped on myself. Showing her the passenger foot pedal to put her feet on, I showed her to hold on and where to sit before I started up my Harley, one thing on my mind.
Getting her home safe.
“Can I go to your place?” she asked me, before I moved.
“My place?”
“Yes…I don’t want to deal with Parker and his lectures. He’ll also blame you and I don’t want Bane to hear that. I’m sick of the way he talks about you…he doesn’t know you. Please.”
“Won’t they be worried?” I asked her. I liked the fact she wanted to stay with me, even if I was angry at her being here, putting herself in danger.
“They think I’m at one of my friends’ houses for a sleepover,” she said, sheepishly. “Please, Dad.”
How the fuck could I say no to that?
“Yeah, okay, but we tell your mum in the morning, yeah?” I said. “I’m not going to lie to her, Lani.”
Lani nodded quickly. “I promise.”
Taking off, out of the carpark, I headed toward my place with Tavi. I already thought of it as our place. Fuck me, I was so fucked for that woman and Van.
Once I parked the bike under the carport, I helped Lani off and took her helmet from her, leaving it on my saddle bag. Bundling her under my arm, I walked with her up to the front steps of the house. Tavi was at the door, her expression turning from a smile to worry as she saw Lani.
“What happened?”
Lani started to sob again, and Tavi pulled her into her arms, comforting her in the way only women could. I closed the door behind me and watched as Tavi soothed my daughter.
Fuck, I was in love with her.
She accepted me, with all my flaws, my kids, my ex-wife, everything. She never complained. She just took me as Dane Hart.
That was fucking powerful.
“Go down the hall, baby girl, and get cleaned up. I’ll come up in a minute and check on you, okay?” Tavi said to her. Lani nodded, and headed down the hall toward the bathroom. Tavi turned to me, taking me in.
“You, come with me.”
I followed blindly, as I always would for her. She took me to the sink in the kitchen and grabbed some dishwashing liquid, squirting it over my knuckles and hands, and began to scrub. I could feel the cuts over my knuckles stinging as the liquid seeped into the wounds, but I didn’t care.
“This isn’t upsetting you?” I asked her. She took in my appearance and shook her head.
“You were taking care of your family, Dane. I would never be upset about that. I love you more for it. If you come home to me, bloody, I will always look after you, keep you clean, wash the blood off you, and make sure you know how much I appreciate you for being you.”
I pulled her to me, soap suds going over us as I kissed her hard, showing her just how much I fucking loved her. She pulled away to finish cleaning my hands, and my face. I hadn’t even realised I had blood on my face until then.
“Go and talk to her, Dane. Be gentle. It’s not her fault. She’s sixteen.”
I nodded, knowing she was right. I kissed her quick on the lips, and headed down the hall. Lani was standing in the doorway of Van’s room when I got to her, a soft smile on her lips.
“He’s so cute,” she said, softly. “He sleeps with a bike.”
I looked in at the little Harley toy I got for him a few days ago, after I had effectively moved in. He’d taken to it like a duck to water, and it had filled me with so much fucking pride.
