Page 57 of Maverick
Reaper nodded. “Understandable. Go to them. We don’t need you until next church session. Get your head right.”
He clapped me on the back, in a comforting gesture, and headed out of Chapel. I felt like shit. I wasn’t lying, per se, but I was omitting a pretty significant fact about Tavi.
When I finally pushed up and left Chapel, Animal was hanging back. “I got them, brother. No one gonna hurt your family, Mav.”
I trusted him implicitly. He was one of the originals when I was coming up, and he watched over his idiot twin brothers like a hawk.
“Thank you, brother.”
Animal nodded and headed out of the clubhouse. He took his job seriously. If he were looking after my family, he wouldn’t sleep a wink, and he wouldn’t leave them alone. I had a choice to make.
Go down the hall and see Tavi and Van, or head to the cabin to see Mari and my kids.
Both my family.
Yet, still so separate.
I ran my hand through my hair, pulling it from my hair tie, and trudging down the hall to check on Tavi.
When I opened the door, Van was lying on the bed next to Lani, and Tavi on the other side. Her eyes were wide, as if she thought a threat would come through the door.
“All good?” she asked.
“All good, just a service to talk about the imminent threat. We’re going into lockdown so we’re safe.”
“Lockdown?” Lani asked, a little nervous. “What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry. You’re safe here. I’m going to walk you down to see your mum, okay?”
Lani nodded, jumping off the bed, and heading outside the room, leaving me with Tavi and Van. Van was sleepy, and I saw a slow smile pop up on his face. “You look like a girl.”
Both Tavi and I laughed. I knelt down beside the bed, letting him feel my hair. I rarely had it out, but I couldn’t bear to cut it off, and I knew Tavi liked to hold onto it when I was eating her out, so it was definitely staying.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep, little man?”
“You need to read me.”
Fuck. The innocence.
“If you have a nap now, I’ll read to you later, okay?”
Van slowly nodded, his eyes drooping faster than I think he realised. I disentangled his fingers from my hair and got up from beside him, before I moved over to Tavi’s side and knelt.
“I’m going to check on Mari and the kids, make sure they’re okay. Then I’ll come back and we can talk about everything and how it works in the clubhouse, yeah?”
Tavi nodded. I kissed her on the lips, quick but harder than I expected. We both needed a fucking break from this shit. But it all came down to leaving that cocksucker breathing. I should have taken him out when he spoke about Tavi.
I left the room without looking back, because I knew I’d never be able to leave if I saw her expression. I knew she was scared, and she didn’t know what was going to happen, but I didn’t know if I’d be able to appease her fears right now.
“Come on, kid. Let’s go see your mum and brother.”
Lani nodded, and followed me down the hall and out of the clubhouse, toward the cabin my family were in.
Tavi
My nerves were shot as I waited for Maverick to come back. Van was out cold, finally. At least he couldn’t sense my unease at being here, in the clubhouse. I’d give anything to be back at the house, the one I’d made a home, and reading one of Van’s stories to him.
Even just sleeping in one of Maverick’s shirts to feel safe. Everything here felt foreign.
