Claim (Men of Inked Sinners #2)

1. Tate

1

TATE

“Tate. Tate,” Hazel says, her voice nearly a screech as she barrels through the front door of the shop. If this were a cartoon, she’d have smoke billowing out from her shoes as she comes to a stop. “Guess what?”

I round the reception desk as Maddy walks in with less enthusiasm, which is usually the case. Teenage malaise…it’s something. “What?” I ask as I kneel in front of Hazel.

“We’re going to camp,” she whispers as her body shakes from excitement.

“You are?” I ask with my eyebrows raised.

Hazel nods as she bites down on her lip.

“It’s bullshit,” Maddy mumbles behind her younger sister.

My eyebrows don’t come down as I look around Hazel to where Maddy is standing. “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?”

Maddy’s arms are crossed, and the look on her face is like she’s eaten the sourest candy on the planet. “I don’t want to spend two months in the woods. I hate nature,” she mutters through gritted teeth.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“They have canoes,” Hazel says, touching my shoulders. “I don’t know what they are, but they have them.”

“It’s a long boat that you row,” I explain to her as I tap her cute little button nose. “I love canoeing.”

“Sounds horrendous,” Maddy adds as her face somehow becomes even more sour. “It’s in Indiana. Who the heck wants to go to Indiana for the summer?”

I hold back my laughter at her dramatics. “Indiana is beautiful.”

“I want to spend the summer here with my friends.”

My heart aches a little for Maddox. I know how important time with friends is at her age, but I try to keep in mind that she’s going to have the summer of her life at camp. “I went to camp when I was around your age. It was my best summer ever.”

I was a little older than Maddy is now when I went, but I made amazing memories and friendships that still go on to this day.

“It’ll be my worst.”

Wylder walks into the shop with a box from Tilly’s bakery across the street. “I got everyone’s favorites,” he says, holding up a cup of coffee in his other hand, which instantly puts a smile on my face.

I push myself up from the floor, touching the top of Hazel’s head as I walk around her to get to my coffee and Wylder. “Thank you,” I whisper to him as I take the cup from his hand.

“You can’t buy me off with a cupcake anymore, Dad. I’m not a little kid,” Maddox grumbles.

Wylder’s forced smile tightens at his daughter’s displeasure, but that’s not anything new. The girl likes nothing, and her favorite pastime is complaining. “Fucking impossible,” he mutters as he squeezes his eyes shut.

“Did you get me a chocolate banana?” Hazel asks, oblivious to the drama unfolding around her. “It’ll be a long time before I can have another one.” She takes the box from Wylder’s hands before he recovers from Maddox’s attitude.

“It’ll be okay,” I whisper to him. “It’s a phase, and it’ll pass.”

“When?” he whispers back.

“A decade,” I say and instantly bite my lips to stop the laughter from bubbling out of me.

“Fuck,” he groans.

“That’s two dollars, Daddy,” Hazel says as she peels away the paper wrapper from around the banana cupcake, which is also one of my favorites. “And Maddy owes one.”

Wylder’s eyes slice to Maddy as she stares at the floor, suddenly finding something interesting.

“When do the girls leave?” I ask, changing the subject.

“In two days,” Maddy replies, still not meeting her father’s eyes.

“We’re leaving early Monday morning. It’s only two hours from the city,” he explains.

“Do you want to come?” Hazel asks me.

I glance at Wylder, and he nods. “Sure, baby. I’ll come with you guys. I want to see if the camp is as miserable as Maddox thinks it is.”

“Oh. It will be,” she says. “There are going to be so many bugs. I hope you’re ready to get bitten, Hazel.”

Hazel’s eyes grow wide at her sister’s statement. “I hate bugs.” She sticks out her tongue and gags. “They’re the worst.”

“They’re as big as softballs in Indiana,” Maddy adds, trying to scare the heck out of Hazel. “I haven’t even mentioned the spiders.”

“Maddox,” Wylder snaps, making Maddy seal her lips shut in a hurry. “The bugs are no different there than here, Hazel.”

“Is that true, Tate?” she asks me for confirmation.

“It’s true,” I lie with the best convincing head nod I can muster.

City bugs and Indiana bugs are not the same. No one will ever be able to convince me otherwise, but I can’t tell the kid that. She’d have a panic attack before she even got there.

“I’m going to miss you girls this summer,” I tell them.

“You’ll live,” Maddy whispers. The sass is strong with her today. Unusually so. She’s always snippy, but not quite this much.

Wylder sighs. “Give it two weeks, Maddy. If you hate it, I’ll come and get you.”

She finally looks in his direction. “Promise?”

“I promise, sweetheart.”

She lets out a long, loud grunt. “Fine. I can do anything for two weeks, but if you don’t come and get me, I’m going to thumb my way home.”

“Oh boy,” I mutter, picturing her being picked up by some creepy truck driver. “Don’t do that. I’ll make sure he comes to get you. I promise.”

But I have a feeling after two weeks at camp and making new friends, Maddox isn’t going to want to come home early. I thought I’d hate it too, but there’s something exciting about being away from home, surrounded by friends, and just having fun. It’s the way it should be for kids.

“I’m holding you to that,” Maddy says to me.

And I have no doubt that she will. The kid forgets nothing.

“Well, we better go. I have to get the girls packed up, and the list of shit they need to bring is a mile long.”

“That’s three dollars,” Hazel says without missing a beat.

“Want any help? I have the evening off, and Timber can close up the shop.”

Wylder’s shoulders relax. “That would be great. I could use a second set of hands and eyes.”

“Yay!” Hazel fist-punches the air. “Tate’s coming over.”

“I’ll bring pizza with me too.”

“From the bar?” Maddy asks with a glimmer of light in her eyes for the first time since she walked into the shop.

“Of course. They have the best pizza in town.”

“They really do,” Maddy says. “Pepperoni and black olive, please.”

“Well, duh,” I say with a smile.

Wylder snakes his arm around me, and he doesn’t hesitate to kiss my cheek in front of the girls. “See you tonight. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Anything for the girls.” I love spending time with all three of them. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was more than a little excited to have some time alone with Wylder without the girls around, too. “And you can think of a creative way to thank me later,” I whisper so only he can hear me.

We’re still new. Wylder and I are still feeling each other out, trying to decide whether this is right for us and for his kids. I wouldn’t even say we were a couple. We haven’t spoken the words to each other yet, and no promises have been made. There’s still a part of me that keeps setting off warning bells not to jump in feetfirst and get ahead of myself. Wylder’s been alone since Katie, the skanky ex-wife, walked away from him and the girls.

Wylder gives me a wink before he and the girls walk out of the shop without leaving me a cupcake. They’re not even gone sixty seconds when Tilly walks out of her bakery and hauls ass across the street. She always looks stunning and so put-together. Even with three kids at home, she never set foot outside with a hair out of place.

Tilly meets my eyes as I watch her through the giant window at the front of my shop, and she waves.

I’m at the door when her hand touches the handle. “What’s wrong?” I ask her.

She gives me a sweet smile, the same one she always has on her face. I swear she never has a bad mood. “Nothing, honey. I just talked to Wylder and heard the girls are heading out of town.”

“Yeah,” I draw out, confused.

“That’ll make for an exciting summer for you.”

My belly does a little flip. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Maybe?” She touches my cheek, and somehow her palm is cool even though it’s hot as hell outside. It’s a late spring heatwave. “Honey, you’ll finally get some time alone. Take this from someone who dated a single father, time alone is precious, especially this early in a relationship.”

I small pang of guilt washes over me. It couldn’t have been easy for her and Dad, even though we loved her from the moment she came into our lives. They never had much time alone except when my grandparents took us for a few weekends here and there. “I suppose so.”

“I like Wylder. Lord knows he’s better than Rowdy—but then again, almost anyone is.” She chuckles as she drops her hand from my face. “I see the way you look at Wylder. You’re smitten, baby.”

“Smitten has gotten me in trouble in the past, Ma.” I collapse into a waiting room chair and blow out a long breath. “I don’t want to make that mistake again.”

“We all make mistakes when it comes to love,” she says as she takes the seat next to me, covering my hand with hers. “But if you find the right person, all the mistakes before them will be worth it.”

“My last one almost got me killed. I’m pretty sure nothing was worth losing my life.”

“Rowdy didn’t lead a normal life, kid. He was surrounded by the worst kind of trouble, and you got yourself wrapped up in it too. That’s not Wylder.”

I lean over, placing my head to rest on her shoulder. “Were you worried about getting involved with a single dad?”

“Of course. I didn’t want to fall in love with you and Brax if the relationship wasn’t going to work out. But I didn’t let my fear and possible heartache stop me, and I’m glad I didn’t. I have three beautiful children and a husband who still makes my toes curl.”

“Ma. Please.”

Tilly giggles. “Although, at my age, when my toes curl, it often leads to the worst muscle cramp ever.”

“Ugh,” I groan.

“Anyway,” she continues like she wasn’t just talking about her and my dad having sex, “I think you should let your guard down and see where the summer takes you. You’ll have some time without the girls around to figure out if you’re the right fit.”

“Two months isn’t very long.”

She turns to me and stares straight into my eyes. “It’s long enough to know if he’s your forever, baby girl.”