22. Jaime
Chapter 22
Jaime
I bring Maeve to Wolf and Analisse’s house. They’re not coming back until tomorrow morning, but they wouldn’t mind anyway. Wolf’s harassed me about my singleness for years. He’d love that I was bringing a girl over. He’d probably love even more that it was Cal’s girl.
Maeve hesitates when I turn the car off. “Whose house is this?”
“It belongs to a friend,” I explain. “He lives here with his girlfriend, but they went out of town for Thanksgiving.”
“And he’s okay with you coming over when he’s not here?”
“One hundred percent okay. I have my own key,” I explain, motioning for her to follow me. “Come on.”
Inside, the house is just as I left it. Double locking the front door, I take off my boots and head into the kitchen. Maeve comes in a second later in her socks, looking curiously around. “This is really cute. Cozy.”
“Analisse completely renovated it when they moved in. She’s really into that kind of stuff. You’d like her,” I muse. Analisse would like Maeve, too. In another life I could have introduced them.
She pauses near the kitchen table, peering at a framed photo on the wall. “She’s pretty.”
“I don’t know, I’m kind of into ballerinas,” I say, handing Maeve a cold bottle of fruit juice from the fridge .
She laughs quietly, rolling her eyes. “Oh, is that your type?”
I’m messing with her because I like teasing her, but I meant what I said. I’m into her. Maeve is beautiful. So beautiful that I knew, the first time I saw her, that it was eventually going to become an issue. Ignoring it was easy in the beginning because we barely spoke to each other. All I had was body language.
Eventually she noticed just how much I watched her, and once she did, the vibe between us changed. Then she stopped doing coke. That’s when she began to come back to herself and open up to me. We started becoming friends before I even realized it and soon, I liked the girl behind the pretty face. Maeve is strong, dedicated, and loyal. She stuck with Callum for a long time, way past the point where she should’ve dumped his ass, because she took what they had seriously. It’s not her fault he took that for granted.
I take a bottle of juice for myself and motion for Maeve to follow me into the guest room. The window there looks out into a small backyard, separated from the neighbor’s property by a wood fence. I crack it open as a strong breeze blows through the fruit trees, shaking their leaves with a rushing sound.
Maeve sheds her leather jacket and sits on the bed, drawing her legs in as she rests against the headboard. Grabbing the weed and rolling papers I left last time I was here, I toss off my jacket and sit beside Maeve.
“It’s such a pretty day,” she says, gazing at the serene scene through the window.
“What do you want to do?” Laying a book on my lap, I begin to roll the joint. “We can go somewhere if you want.”
“No,” she says. “This is exactly what I wanted to do. I just wanted to hang out somewhere with you. Alone.”
“But?” I prompt, sensing a question in her voice.
“What if Callum checks my location?” she asks. “What if he saw me here?”
“I turn off your GPS sometimes,” I admit.
“Is it off now?”
“What do you think?” I ask, smirking.
She turns toward me, pushing her hair over her shoulder. It’s pulled back with a black headband today, the dark curls tumbling down her back. “How do you do that?”
“I have ways.”
“But—”
“I don’t always do it, obviously,” I explain. “He’d get suspicious, or he’d just reinstall it. He hasn’t said anything yet, though, so maybe he hasn’t noticed.”
She exhales deeply. “You don’t know how much of a relief that is.”
“I probably should have told you,” I say, licking the seam of the joint. “I did it the first time I took you to the shooting range.”
“I did wonder about that.” Maeve looks down at her phone, turning it over in her hands before placing it on the bed. “Too bad I can’t keep track of him the way he does me. See how he’d like being stalked.”
At this point, it’s safe to say I can trust her, so I brush off my hands and pull up the tracking app on my phone. Finding the map with Cal’s location, I put the phone down between us and point to the screen.
She sucks in a small, sharp breath. “That’s Cal? Right now?”
“Mhm. And Griff and Mac.”
“How?” she asks, her finger barely touching the screen as she drags it over the map. “No, why are you doing this?”
“Because I like to know where they are,” I say simply, lighting the joint.
“But why ?”
I can feel her eyes on me, so I look at her, smoke drifting from my lips. “Because I don’t trust them. I don’t trust anyone.”
Maeve’s eyes narrow, one side of her mouth lifts in a tiny grin. “Not even me?”
“I don’t know,” I say, even though I do. Taking another, deeper pull, I hand the joint over. “Should I trust you?”
Nodding, she takes a few hits and sinks back against the headboard. “I never talk, I never snitch.”
“Is that why you didn’t tell your brother the truth about your eye?”
“No,” she says with a rueful laugh. “I didn’t tell him the truth because he and my other brother would be on the next plane out here.”
“Can you blame them?”
She shakes her head, ducking beneath my arm so she’s snuggled against me. “But I’m so close to getting out of here. I don’t want any more drama.”
“That’s fair.” And for the best. Between my investigative team and the Oliveras family, the next week is going to be messy as hell. I’d hate for Maeve’s brothers to get tangled up in that.
“I want to fight my own battles and protect my family just as much as they want to protect me,” she adds. “Lucky has a kid on the way now. They have whole lives, you know?”
We smoke in silence for a while, watching the haze linger above the bed before it gets sucked out the window on the breeze.
“I hope he lets me go,” she says.
“He will.” Callum will be behind bars, so it’s safe to say he’ll leave her alone for a while.
“I told you he insinuated that he’d fuck with my family if I went back or involved them.” Maeve looks up at me. “Very few people can get to my family. They know how to take care of themselves, and each other. But Callum can be crazy. I always knew that. I just didn’t know how bad it could get. I don’t know if he’s always been like this and I didn’t see it until we lived together, or if this lifestyle brings out the worst in him, but I’ve seen a side of him that genuinely scares me, Jaime.”
I stub out the joint and set it down, turning to her. She doesn’t know how right she is. If she’d seen the things I’ve seen since signing on with this crew, she’d be gone already. “He’s crazy, but I can be crazy, too. I won’t let anything happen to you. Or your family.”
She melts into me, tucking her head beneath my chin. I slide my arms around her and pull her in close, squeezing her tight. The promise I made to Maeve is more than just words; it’s a personal vow. When it comes to keeping her safe, I’ll do whatever I have to. Even if that means killing Cal myself, or having Leo and Cedro take care of him before the Feds step in.
“Where will you go when I leave?” she asks, sipping her juice.
“Back down to Santa Barbara.” Until the investigative leads are able to solidify their case against the Oliveras family. After that, I’ll have to disappear for a while.
“Are you going back to the people you worked for before? ”
“I never stopped working for them,” I say. “That’s why I can promise you that Cal won’t go after you.”
Maeve goes still. After a long moment, she looks up at me. “Why does it feel like there’s a lot of stuff you aren’t telling me?”
“The less you know, the better.”
“You know, I’ve heard that my entire life.” She slides one leg over my lap, hands on my shoulders as she straddles me, and kisses the corner of my mouth. “I usually hate it, but for once I don’t want to know.”
“You trust me, right?” I ask, closing my eyes when she bites, and then licks, the shell of my ear. I’ve asked her this before, but I need her to be sure.
She bites the other ear, her teeth sharp, her tongue hot. A molten surge of desire at its most primal rips through me and my hands clamp down on her hips, holding her still. “I trust you,” she whispers, her breath tickling me.
If she’s trying to turn me on, she’s succeeded. I grasp her chin, bringing her mouth to mine, and our breath mingles as she opens to me. I’m instantly hard, but I keep my touch light, tracing my fingers down her neck, brushing my thumb over her pulse. She sighs softly, her hands sliding into my hair as she pulls herself closer. The kiss deepens, filled with the desire that’s been simmering between us for so long. I squeeze her hips, and her body arches into mine, the wordless invitation she always extends and I never accept. Today’s different, though.
She shifts restlessly, tugging on the hem of my t-shirt until I peel it off and toss it aside. Maeve’s lips part as she stares, her fingertips brushing over my torso. Pink tinges her cheeks. She’s never seen me like this because we’re never truly alone.
I unbutton her silk blouse, pushing it over her shoulders to reveal a black lace bra. The nearly transparent fabric does nothing to hide the blush of her nipples, or how hard they are. I palm them, gently squeezing as I kiss her again. It feels so good to take my time, to kiss her the way I want, with no threat of anyone seeing us.
Maeve’s breath catches when my lips leave hers to trail down her neck. Her skin is soft and smooth, and I savor every inch as I move lower, feeling her heart flutter beneath the delicate hollow of her throat. I’m licking the swell of her tits, fumbling for the clasp in the back of her bra, when she reaches down and unhooks it from the front.