CHAPTER 26
maverick
Harley wearing my shirt was a memory that’d be forever etched in my mind. Hell, I didn’t give a fuck if I ever got the shirt back as long as he was the one in it.
After what happened in the shower, I doted on him.
I did everything in my power to make sure he was okay.
While it was mostly about him, a tiny part of me was selfish.
I wanted to keep him. I didn’t want what happened to be the reason Harley and I didn’t work.
I didn’t care if he wasn’t into the same kinks I was.
To be honest, I didn’t give a fuck if we never had sex.
If that made him happy, so be it. I had a hand. I just wanted him.
Breakfast was simple—and I didn’t pour alcohol in his cereal.
I definitely put some in mine when he wasn’t looking.
It took the edge off for what I knew was coming.
Aidan’s truck had been parked across the drive less than half an hour ago.
Thankfully, he hadn’t come to the door and started shit, but he was just outside.
I knew what kind of bullshit was waiting for me. It was only a matter of time.
“Hey,” I began when Harley reached for the door. I took his hand and pulled him toward the kitchen with me. “I wanted to give you something.”
“Okay.” He stood there patiently as I dug through my junk drawer. Admittedly, I should’ve thought about this before and had it ready, but I was running on my impulses at this point. Usually, I was where Harley was concerned.
After several minutes, I found my spare key jammed into the separated bottom of the drawer. Probably should’ve taken it out and fixed it, but oh well. I took his hand and put the key in it.
“I know I’m gone a lot with work and shit, but you can always come over,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Harley whispered, looking down at the key like I’d given him something truly special.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Just park where you are now. There are cameras that no one knows about in case someone does something fucking stupid with your car. They won’t—hopefully. We’ll deal with it if they do. You know what? This is stupid, isn’t it? Never mind—”
“No!” He shut his hand around the key so I couldn’t take it from him. His mouth found mine in a swift kiss, his lips turning up at the corners with a smile. “Thank you.”
“It’s just a key,” I grumbled as I wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him close. “It’s nothing special.”
“It’s everything, Mav,” he told me quickly. The words made me grin like an idiot, doing something to me that only Harley could accomplish. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. Reluctantly, I pulled away and gestured to the door. He had to leave eventually.
He walked outside first, and from the way his shoulders tensed, he saw my brother waiting. My home was out of the way with a single looping dirt drive as the only way in or out. That made it real hard to miss my damn brother as he glared at us.
I flipped him off for the hell of it. Harley took cautious steps backward toward his car, his expression worried. Oh, my sweet princess was overanalyzing the situation. I grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked his body against mine. He let out a flustered yelp as he braced on my chest.
“Are you sure?” he asked quietly when I moved in to kiss him. His brows furrowed together adorably.
“I don’t give a fuck, princess,” I retorted gruffly. I didn’t. At all. Though he didn’t look convinced by my words, so I added, “If he messes with you, I’ll kill him.”
I meant that too. Harley was my line that Aidan couldn’t cross. I took a lot of shit from him, but that was different. I refused to let him do anything to Harley.
“Mav—”
I shut him up with a kiss. There was no reason for him to think about those things.
“Don’t worry, princess,” I said softly when we separated. “Aidan and I will always have our problems, but I’m done rolling over for his bullshit, and he knows it. It’ll be fine.”
He made a face.
“I’ll be fine.” I grinned and hoped he understood. The conflict of leaving was written all over his face. I didn’t know how to make him understand that it’d be okay. I could handle whatever Aidan wanted. “How about I text you when he’s gone?”
“Please?”
“Anything for you,” I promised. He smiled slightly and kissed me—the kind of kiss that absolutely carried the weight of my homophobic asshole brother’s gaze. It was brief and stiff, but I couldn’t blame him for that.
Arms crossed and back rigid, I watched Harley walk to his car and get in. I waited as the engine started and as he hesitated to leave.
“Just get out of here, Harley,” I muttered under my breath.
Thankfully, he didn’t linger too long, and he didn’t slow down as he drove past Aidan.
I watched how my brother stared after him—practically glared at the bumper.
Only when he was good and gone did I turn to face my brother. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with him?” Aidan demanded as he crossed the drive.
“It’s none of your goddamn business,” I snapped.
“None of my damn business?” he repeated as if I didn’t know what I was saying. “Are you a fucking moron? I raised you better than that!”
“Oh, please,” I scoffed. As I turned to go back inside, I muttered, “What a load of bullshit.”
He was so full of himself that it was laughable. Aidan followed me inside, his temper spiking at my obvious dismissal of him. The door slammed while I headed straight for a drink.
“When are you going to get it through that stupid head of yours that messing around with Harley Lowell is only going to end in trouble for us?” Aidan asked.
I shrugged, taking a long swig of warm beer.
It wouldn’t do anything, but it’d keep me preoccupied from having to focus solely on him.
“Every minute you spend with him puts all of us at risk because sooner or later, they’ll figure out what you did.
And rich assholes like them, they’ll take everything from the likes of you and me!
They don’t give a fuck about people like us! Is that what you want?”
“Fuck off. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“If you don’t steer clear of him, I swear to fucking God, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” I yelled over him. “What the hell are you going to do, Aidan? Cut me out? Let me go? Go back to doing things the old way? How’s that working out for Pete?”
Pete was a guy who had run with Aidan for a while. Going in blind to rob someone hadn’t gone so well for him, and the homeowner ended up in the hospital. He was still in jail for breaking-and-entering, along with assault.
“You and I both know that your way was mediocre at best,” I snapped. “Yeah, you got some results here and there, but you sure as hell didn’t have the kind of result you have now.”
His jaw ticked in anger—anger incited by the fact that he knew I was right.
“My way gets results.” Yeah, I said it to rub it in. Fucking sue me. A target with a plan was better than winging it and hoping nothing bad happened. “If you want me to keep giving you names, you’ll back off. I’m not doing this bullshit with you. My life is my own. End of story.”
It wasn’t the end of the story. I knew that. He definitely knew that. It was all about how the hell he wanted to react. Either we were about to fight it out right here in my kitchen and break something, or he was going to threaten me and leave.
I took another long sip of beer and just waited, staring hard at him—silently daring him to make the next move.
“Don’t you ever fucking forget who broke into their house,” he growled. “If anyone hangs for this, it’ll be you.”
He was right. The day I went to help Aidan break in, Clifford was home.
Clifford was always home. I refused to let Aidan hurt him, so I did the only thing I could think of: I had him wait outside while I robbed the Lowells for him.
Other than him being in the general vicinity, there wasn’t a damn thing to tie Aidan to the robbery.
Young me was a fucking idiot.
“You done?” I asked, pretending to brush him off. I wasn’t in the mood to push his buttons any more than I had. I wanted to cling to the good feelings Harley had left me with. Those were the only things that mattered.
I watched a myriad of expressions play across my brother’s face and braced for the fallout. Honestly, anything I did could set him off. It just depended on the day.
“Don’t fuck this up,” Aidan snarled. “You’re going to throw it all away for a guy who left your pathetic ass once already. When are you going to get it through that stupid fucking head of yours that he doesn’t give a damn about you? No one does!”
“Not even you,” I cut in. It wasn’t a question. Just a fact—one I’d known for a long time.
“And yet I’ve done more for you than anyone else has,” he said, the rising anger in his voice making me stand a little taller in anticipation. “Stop thinking with your fucking dick, and do the right thing for once before you regret it.”
He stormed out, and I didn’t push it any further because he was right. Everyone left. Even Harley. Maybe I was a moron for hoping it’d be different this time.