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Prologue
River
The sound of something crashing outside jolted me awake. As I rushed to sit upright, it took me a few moments to realize where I was. The light in the storage room was on, showing me the shelves of supplies the Ink Shoppe kept on hand for all the tattoos Maverick and his father did every day.
“What?” Maverick groaned, his huge hand touching my naked back before he sat up beside me. His touch calmed me somewhat, but the adrenaline of being so forcefully awoken made me tremble. “What’s wrong, babe?”
Heart still pounding, I shifted my eyes around the room while I strained to hear the noise that had pulled me so abruptly from sleep. When the only sound I heard was our breathing, I started to relax, and the trembling thankfully began to subside.
“River?” Maverick cupped the back of my head, turning me to look at him. We’d both fallen asleep after having sex once the Ink Shoppe closed. I’d been so blissed out after countless orgasms that I hadn’t been able to fight it when my eyes grew heavy, and I’d passed out on the makeshift bed of blankets we kept hidden in the storage room.
“I’m okay,” I told him with a tight smile. “It must have been the wind blowing against the trash cans out back.”
His eyes narrowed on me. “You’ve been jumpy all day, baby. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
Wrapping my arms around his middle, I pressed my face into his wide chest. I was anything but okay, but I couldn’t tell him. Normally, I would have told him anything that was on my mind, but it was just better for everyone if I kept this to myself.
At least for now.
My birthday was a few weeks away. Then, I could tell him.
And pray no one tried to kill him once our fathers found out.
Until then, I wouldn’t put that kind of stress on him.
The alarm I’d set for myself went off, making me jump at the sudden noise as if a foghorn had blasted right in my ear. Groaning, I kissed Maverick quickly and then pushed to my feet, pulling on my clothes in a rush. I had a midnight curfew, but it was Saturday. My parents never got home from the bar earlier than two—later than that if it was Dad’s turn to close—but an urgency was shouting in the back of my head to hurry, hurry, hurry.
“Slow down,” Maverick said as he took his time standing and pulling on his jeans. “You have plenty of time.”
“No,” I muttered, lifting my hair out from under my shirt once it was in place. “I need to get home. Something feels…off.”
“Hey,” he grumbled when I grabbed my purse and phone. His arms came around me from behind before he turned me to face him. With a finger under my chin, he tipped my head up so I had to meet his gray eyes. Fuck, I loved those eyes. They were so full of love and possessiveness every time they landed on me. Every woman should have a guy look at her the way Maverick looked at me. As if there was no other person in the world they would rather be with for the rest of their life. As if the sun only rose to shine on their love. A lump filled my throat, but I quickly pushed it down. “Tell me what’s wrong, River.”
Of course he sensed something wrong with me. I would have been surprised if he hadn’t. There had always been this connection between us that I hadn’t fully understood until I was fourteen. As if we could read each other’s minds. I always knew what he was thinking, and more often than not, he knew what was going through my head as well.
Then he’d kissed me one day, and I’d realized why we were so connected.
Maverick Masterson was my soul mate. He was the other half of my heart. The reason I was born was to love him.
But as desperately as I wanted to share what was going on with me right then, I couldn’t.
Not yet.
So instead of telling him what was happening I pushed the attention to someone else. “It’s…my mom. I think something’s up with her.” I bit my lip. It wasn’t a lie. Mom had been acting weird lately, and I was worried about her. But I’d been so stressed over what was happening to me that I hadn’t stopped to really examine what might be going on with her.
Maverick’s eyes widened. “What, like she’s sick?” He practically whispered the last word. I understood why. After Aunt Raven had gone through her cancer treatments, we’d all been terrified that something like that could happen to our own mother.
“No,” I told him, shaking my head. “I think—” I broke off, not wanting to voice what I really suspected.
“Tell me, Riv,” he commanded. “If it’s bothering you this badly, I want you to tell me. No secrets, baby.”
Tears filled my eyes, because I was keeping a huge secret from him, but it was better—safer—if he didn’t know. “I-I think she might be cheating on my dad.”
“Fuck,” he choked out and pulled my head to his chest. “For real?”
I nodded, taking a moment to get my emotions under control before lifting my head. I did think Mom was cheating on Dad. With the shady way she’d been acting recently, there really wasn’t any other explanation. She was sneaking around, hiding things, and lying about places she’d been.
Just a few days before, she’d been late getting home, and when Dad asked her where she’d been, she’d said she was with Aunt Quinn. He hadn’t even questioned what I knew was a lie, because I’d been at my aunt and uncle’s house. Aunt Quinn had been home all day, but my mother hadn’t even stopped by.
So where had she really been?
The thing about my mom was that I knew she loved my dad. She would kill for him. Offer up her own life in exchange for his. But I’d noticed she never fully trusted him. Then again, she’d never seemed to trust any man. I got it, though. Her own father had shot her, had nearly killed her, all because she’d ruined his political career.
If a girl couldn’t trust her own daddy, how the fuck was she expected to trust any other male?
But that didn’t give her an excuse to cheat on my dad. He was a good man. He took care of Mom and me, working his ass off for the family-owned bar and the MC to provide for us. Not that we needed to worry about money. When Grandpa Hank—the man who’d stepped in as Mom’s surrogate father and my honorary grandfather—had passed away, he’d left all his money and other assets to the two of us. Money wasn’t an issue. I never had to work if I didn’t want to with just the money from the trust fund Grandpa Hank had set up for me when I was born.
Dad was a hard worker, and he’d never once looked at another woman. He loved Mom, worshiped her. All she had to do was bat her lashes at him and he was gone for her, giving her anything she even hinted that she wanted.
And while I knew Mom didn’t completely trust Dad, I’d never doubted her love and devotion to him in return.
Not until now.
I honestly didn’t want to think she was cheating, but it was the only logical conclusion. Why else would she lie about where she was?
Maverick kissed the top of my head. “It’s going to be okay, baby. Don’t worry about your parents.” His arms tightened around me. “Focus on what you want for your birthday, instead. You still haven’t told me what you want.”
“Just you,” I told him truthfully and tried to burrow myself deeper against him. “I only want you for my birthday.”
I felt more than heard his growl as he tipped my head up and lowered his lips to mine. “You will always have me, River.”
Wanting nothing more than to melt against him and have him make everything better, I let him hold me for a few more minutes before that overwhelming feeling that I needed to get home began to make me anxious. Pushing up onto my tiptoes, I kissed him hard. “See you tomorrow,” I promised before rushing out the back door.
As I hurried to my car, I saw two of the trash cans had been overturned, and one of the bags was ripped open. I didn’t give it a second thought, figuring some animal had gotten into it. On the drive home, I had to pass Hannigans’, my family’s bar, and was thankful to see my dad’s bike in its usual spot.
Some of my anxiety eased, but for some reason, I pressed a little harder on the gas. Once I was home and had my car in the garage, I ran inside.
Only to freeze when I walked into the kitchen and found my mother standing at the island with her phone to her ear. Her vehicle hadn’t been in the driveway, which had made me think she was still at the bar with Dad. She usually worked there on the weekends because Saturday nights were so crazy when college was in session.
She wasn’t dressed as if she’d just come from the bar, though. Nor was she in her pajamas, which was what she normally would have been wearing this late at night if she weren’t working.
