Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
MAVERICK
I stare at Nevaeh as she laughs, the need to kill someone evaporates. She’s beautiful when laughing, and I know for a fact she doesn’t do it often. When Pirate and the others got here, I wanted to shoot them for interrupting, but now hearing her, I must admit I’m glad for it.
Taking Nevaeh’s hand in mine, I grab her coffee in my other and hand it to her before ushering her back inside to find Pirate trying to pry Gizmo off his leg.
“What the fuck is up with this damn cat?” he yells, trying not to hurt the cat, but at the same time trying to get him off.
“What’s a cat doing here anyway?” Wrath asks.
I drop Nevaeh’s hand and move to Pirate to extract Gizmo from his prey.
“His name’s Gizmo, and Nevaeh’s honorary brothers from the gym she goes to gave him to her for her birthday yesterday,” I announce, getting Gizmo and lifting him to me.
“Gizmo?” Pirate cocks a brow. “Who names a damn cat Gizmo? His name should be Vicious the way he attacked me.”
“Hold on,” Sabotage states and looks to Nevaeh. “Your birthday was yesterday, and you didn’t say anything?”
“I . . .”
“She and I already spoke about this,” I interrupt, knowing it’s a sore subject for her and not wanting to mess up her day.
I already know I’ve got my work cut out for me after hearing what she said about thinking herself dirty.
Fuck. Here I thought it was just the nightmares that I hear her having that fuck with her, but it’s more than that.
She hides it and does it well, though not from me.
Not anymore. I’ve got my eyes wide open where she’s concerned, and I’m not about to be blinded.
Sabotage shares a look with me and then nods.
“I knew it was her birthday,” Pirate pipes in, looking at his leg.
“What?” The question comes from all of us, but it’s the way Nevaeh’s voice quivers that gets to me.
Pirate straightens and glances around at all of us with a shrug. “What? It’s my job to know what’s going on and look into anyone who could potentially cause a threat to the club.”
He’s not wrong, but I thought he wasn’t going to look into the girls.
“That being said,” Pirate says, looking at Nevaeh, “I think you should share, it’s yours to share, and I’m not saying anything. Still, you should trust us and know we’ve always got your back.”
“You know everything?” Nevaeh asks, looking pale and visibly swallowing.
“I can’t say for certain, but I know who your family is and I know they’re still looking for you.”
“Pirate,” I growl warningly. I might not know, I sure as fuck want to, but it’s for Nevaeh to tell when she’s ready.
“They are?”
I watch as Nevaeh’s lip trembles.
“Nevaeh, sweetheart, if you were my daughter, just as I’d do and did with Fawn, I wouldn’t ever stop searching for you,” Sabotage remarks, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Nevaeh,” I call her name, getting her attention.
“Come here, Sweets.” I hold my arm out and wait for her to come to me while I hold Gizmo in my other arm.
Slowly, Nevaeh takes the steps, closing the distance between the two of us.
I secure her to me when she’s close and press a kiss to the top of her head.
“My dad’s the president of the Celtic Kings MC,” she whispers, not looking at any of us.
“He was the president,” Pirate informs her. “Your brothers, Banshee and Druid, are now Prez and VP of the club.”
“Hold up a minute,” Wrath says, staring in shock at Nevaeh. “You’re the daughter of Daghda?”
“Yes.” Nevaeh nods and tilts her head back in order to meet my gaze. “I haven’t seen them since—”
“Your birthday when you were taken,” I finish for her.
Cupping the side of her head, I press a kiss on her temple.
“Just relax, Sweets, just relax. When you’re ready to share the rest, we’ll talk about it then.
For now, drink your coffee and get ready ‘cause we’re gonna go to the beach and have some fun. ”
I ignore the others listening and watch my woman slowly relax and nod.
“Here, give me your mug, sweetheart. I’ll get you some fresh coffee,” Sabotage says, catching on to what I’m doing and what I said.
“Thank you,” she remarks, handing him her mug.
“Fix me one too, while you’re at it.”
Gizmo takes the moment to nettle his claws in my chest, not liking being ignored.
“Well, since yesterday was your birthday, Nevaeh,” Wrath speaks up, changing the subject. “I say today we celebrate by having fun on the beach and not doing a damn thing until tomorrow.” He looks at me and grins. “We should order pizza tonight.”
“Sounds good to me.” Sabotage grunts and hands coffees to Nevaeh and me before taking Gizmo in his arms. Unlike Pirate, Gizmo doesn’t attack him.
“Hey, why doesn’t he bite you?” Pirate demands and looks to my woman. “How come your cat don’t like me?”
“Maybe because he’s a good judge of character.” She giggles. “Or it could be because you always smell like food.”
“I do not.” The look on Pirate’s face is one that causes us all to laugh, and I know what he’s doing.
Pirate can be one mean motherfucker when he wants to be, and to those he doesn’t know. But you get in behind the walls we all know he keeps up, he’s like this, joking and teasing. He can even be a big mouth sometimes. It’s just how he is.
The tension in the room lightens, and I nudge Nevaeh. “Let’s get back out on the balcony while we drink these.”
“Okay, but I’m going to go put on some shorts first,” she says, but I shake my head.
“You’re fine in what you’ve got on, Sweets,” I tell her, not wanting her to change just yet, though if she pushed, I wouldn’t stop her.
Nevaeh bites her lip and nods. I love it when she does that. It makes me want to lean in and bite it for her. My dick twitches at the thought, and I inwardly curse, remembering what my brothers interrupted earlier.
Taking Nevaeh’s hand, I guide her out of the house onto the balcony and to a set of high back chairs so you can see the water over the railing.
Neither of us says anything while soaking in the sight.
Mine being of her, watching the way her eyes shine with the rising sun and the breeze brushing through her hair.
In this moment, she looks serene. It’s captivating.
My mind wanders to the information she shared, thanks to Pirate’s big mouth.
She’s the daughter of a previous club president.
She’s now the sister to said new club president.
I’d heard of the Celtic Kings MC. I hadn’t met them as they’re not close by, but they’re also not a day’s drive either.
If I remember correctly, they’re based in North Carolina.
A thought comes to mind, and I make a split-second decision to help my woman.
It may piss her off, might even make her cry, which fucking sucks, but it’s the right thing to do.
Jasper said she needed to finish healing.
That if I wasn’t going to claim her as mine, I needed to let her go.
That I needed to let her find a way to fully heal.
I don’t know if I can do that. Letting her go means never having her.
Maybe I should, though, I’m not. There’s no way in hell I’m letting her go, and I’ll be the one to help her find her way back without the memory of what she went through overshadowing everything she has ahead of her.
However, first things first, we’re going to enjoy the day, enjoy being with each other, and we’re going to do it without anything else coming up about the past. That will be after we’re done here and back at the clubhouse where I know my brothers and I can control the situation.