Chapter 4
“Be my guest.”
I licked my lips as soon as the words left my mouth. It was the only reaction a man could have to a woman like Maeve. Saying she was beautiful would never do her justice. She was otherworldly.
Her small frame looked easy to toss around.
Although she was on the slim side, she had a little thickness where it mattered.
I watched her ass bounce as she sauntered around me like I was nobody.
I kept my eyes on Maeve as she pulled her bag further on her back and searched around the dirty garage for a spot to sit.
“Let me clean off a spot for you.”
I rushed in front of her to prepare a place for her to sit. She was, after all, the boss’s daughter. If I wanted to get close enough to him to take him down, I had to get creative. She seemed like the perfect place to start, no matter how much of a spoiled brat she seemed to be.
“Thank you.”
She stepped closer while I cleaned the stool in front of the workbench I’d been sitting at earlier. Whatever scent she wore was light and airy, like vanilla, strumming through my nostrils.
She smelled so good.
Sweet.
Soft.
Being this close to Maeve was not only careless, but it was also dangerous. I was here to take down her father and stop the violence that had taken over my city. That was my purpose, and although I could use her, Maeve was the type of girl I could get lost in.
I couldn’t get caught up in how good this girl looked. How good she smelled should have been my last concern. After today, I’d probably dream about how good she tasted, and that was treasonous.
I backed away from Maeve and retreated to my side of the garage. I was supposed to be assessing her Jeep, but she was clearly the only thing warranting my assessment right now. I took one last look at her, dipped down, and rolled underneath the vehicle.
I was thankful for all the hours Atlas made me spend with him out in his garage as a kid. Restoring old-school cars and working on his Harley had been his favorite hobbies, and he’d taught me everything I knew. If Maeve had been in the garage with us back then, I doubt I would have learned a thing.
I found it hard to focus on my work with her so close. I knew what needed to be done. Everything she needed should have been simple. It shouldn’t have taken longer than thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes.
That was all the time I needed, and Maeve would no longer cloud my vision, but right now, she was still all I could see. I lay back on my creeper, and as I turned my head to the right, her beauty was on full display. I watched as she opened her laptop and started typing away.
Her nails were long and red with jewels all over them. That shit was sexy as fuck. I had never seen a girl so dramatic with how she wore her nails, but everything about Maeve was unique. She had her own style, her own smell, her own look, and every bit of it was intoxicating.
I shook my head and focused on what I was supposed to be doing. I had to take care of this Jeep and get Maeve out of this garage because, even with distance, I couldn’t get the smell of her out of my nostrils.
“Daddy.”
I watched Maeve's whole face light up from underneath the jeep.
I knew she was a daddy’s girl from this moment alone. I’d heard how protective of his daughter Bishop was, but judging by her smile, she was just as protective of him. I watched as Maeve got up from the stool and walked over to her father.
I slid my creeper out and stood to meet the man I’d been waiting to meet for over a month. I’d successfully infiltrated the Durty Boyz, but I had yet to meet the president. Now, Bishop Moore stood less than ten feet away from me, surrounded by five of his men, including Guard.
Bishop, before today, was nothing more than a myth.
A man I had read about in a file, whose name I had written across the whiteboard and jacket that I had read from front to back.
I knew even the smallest details about him, like the day of the week he visited his wife’s grave and how much time he took to get dressed in the morning.
Over the last month, I did everything I could to bring us to this exact moment.
I’d arrested the former mechanic, got him to take a deal, and made sure I was his replacement.
I’d gone through the initiation process, built bonds with a few of the guys, and now reaped the reward.
Bishop Moore finally stood in front of me.
The men moved around the compound in more of a rush since he had arrived. Even the atmosphere had shifted. Since I joined, the guys had told me how much Bishop preached about family, but now I saw it firsthand.
This man was a criminal, but the way he looked at his baby girl with such love in his eyes told me he took being a father more serious than anything else.
“What are you doing in here, baby girl?”
“The Jeep was driving a little weird earlier. I knew you would be on my case if I didn’t bring it in to get checked out.”
“You right about that. Can’t have my princess stranded on the side of some road.”
I didn’t realize my eyes were still firmly planted on Maeve until Bishop cleared his throat to get my attention.
Even then, I couldn’t help them drifting right back to their original place.
Whatever it was in Maeve that pulled my eyes in her direction every few seconds was a force I was no match for.
“Who do we have here?”
Bishop looked me up and down, and everyone else’s attention followed. He had only come in with a few men, but almost everyone who was on the porch earlier was now trying to fit into the garage. Everyone wanted to be in his presence.
“This is the new mechanic, Dima.”
Guard went right into an explanation. When I arrested Drill, I learned no one came into Durty Boyz without going through Guard’s screening process. He was thorough in his background checks, and in over twenty years, the club had never been infiltrated.
Until now.
Until me.
Drill gave me everything I needed to bypass all Guard’s detections. It wasn’t easy, but I was determined to be where I am now. I had to be the one to close this case.
The way the men all gathered in the garage behind Bishop told me he was more than just a father to Maeve. All of them looked at him as one.
“Where you come from, son?”
“I grew up in the Queens.”
“Hmm, I know some people over there. Who’s your father?”
Telling Bishop who my father was would ruin this whole operation. Not only was my father a Fed, but he’d also chased Bishop for half of his career. He was the reason I was on this case in the first place.
I felt like my father spent more time on this case than he ever did with me. Maybe if I was the one to bring it to a close, I could bring some kind of meaning to my lonely ass childhood. If not, then I would at least get to leave my father in the past.
“I doubt you know him, and we don’t have a relationship.”
I stood tall and looked Bishop in the eye. I wanted him to know I was a man before anything. I knew getting his respect would be the quickest way to bring this case to a close. I had to start off strong.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
He looked me over again. I wanted to give Bishop my full attention, but for some reason, my eyes made their way back to Maeve. She stood next to Guard. They talked in hushed tones while he looked at her like his favorite niece.
No matter how hard I tried to pull my eyes away from her, they would only be off her frame for a few seconds before they returned to their original spot, her, where they always wanted to be. Bishop stepped closer to me so there was only a small space that separated us.
He cleared his throat again, and I surrendered my attention back to him. I didn’t want to. I knew what I wanted to look at, and it had nothing to do with the boss of the motorcycle gang I was sent to take down. His daughter had stolen my attention, and I didn’t know when I would get it back.
“Dima. I’m happy to have you here, but let me tell you something. Keep your eyes to your fucking self or on the vehicles I pay you to fix. Never should they land on my daughter, you got it? Club rule number one, Maeve is and always will be off-limits. Understand me?”
He’d gotten close enough so only I could hear what he had to say. I couldn’t be mad at it. Every father had a duty to protect his daughter. If he didn’t protect her, he wouldn’t deserve the respect everyone in this room gave him.
“Understood.”
I backed up to restore the space between us that he had closed. I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with Bishop, and if Maeve had never come here looking and smelling the way she did today, I wouldn’t have been so far off my game. Bishop was the job, and I was failing my assignment.
Bishop was right about one thing: Maeve would always be off-limits to me. I just had to convince my heart, and once I got my heart on board, I would have to tell my dick the same damn thing.
This was my first time being around her, and I already knew there was no way I was going to be able to control myself if I didn’t completely block her out of my mind.
I’d spent months learning everything about this crew, and none of my research prepared me for seeing Maeve in the flesh and having her return my gaze.
The way I felt in her presence would be difficult to ignore. But I had to try.