CHAPTER TWELVE

Maverick

This mood won't shift.

I've been in a perpetual shitty mood since the hospital, and everyone is noticing.

As I sit at a table, drinking my sorrows away, Noah steps beside me. "Drinking again, I see?" he states with a smirk.

My eyes slowly lift to his. "So?"

Noah chuckles. "Mav, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but if you're wound this tightly, you should go grab Navy or Hope… fuck, Indigo's cute too. Actually, any one of the club girls will do and go wild, brother. 'Cause you're wound tighter than a nun's cunt."

I scowl. "Fuck, Noah. Don't say shit like that."

He grins. "What? That you need to get laid, like serious—"

"Fuck off, Prospect. Or I'll make you tell Rhyan you can't wait to get your patch so you can fuck the club girls."

His eyes widen, his grin falling from his face. "Understood. I'll leave you to do whatever it is you're doing." He turns and walks off without saying another word.

"Yeah. That's what I thought," I mumble, then bring my drink back to my lips.

The thing is, his idea probably isn't all that bad. Releasing my tension with a club girl would normally be a go-to move. There's just one problem—I can't get Sadie out of my fucking head.

Leaving that voice message has left me feeling anything but good. But then again, I also don't feel bad because she has clearly ghosted Clover and me, and that's a shit thing to do without any real explanation. The thing I can't quite figure out is why it's affecting me so much.

She's only been at the clubhouse a handful of times, and sure, we've had fiery exchanges each time, but arguing with her also does something to me.

However, Sadie cutting me off like this feels unnecessary.

There must be far more to it than I know about.

I'm not wasting any more time on her.

I am done.

Fuck it!

Suddenly, Clover appears beside me, breaking me from my rambling thoughts. "Mav, can you help me with this?"

My eyes shift to her, and I pat the seat beside me. "Sure, what is it?"

She sits, placing the sheets of paper in front of me. "It's home economics. It's about baking, which is more Sadie's area of expertise, but…" she trails off.

I glance down at the notes. There are measurements and shit about ingredients and nutritional guidelines, and I widen my eyes, knowing I'm completely out of my depth.

"Shit, Clo. I don't know anything about this," I tell her honestly.

She gnaws on her bottom lip like she is debating her next move, but then she flares her nostrils and lets loose. "Well, that's why I had a fucking tutor, but somehow, you went and fucked that up, didn't you!" Her voice raises the more she talks.

I glare at her. "I didn't fuck it up. She chose to leave. I told her to stay."

Clover huffs dramatically, throwing her assignment paper on the floor, and starts to stomp off but then spins around. "This is stupid. I should just leave school now," she yells

Everyone turns to look at us.

"Clo, Clover!" I yell back at her, but she turns and continues to rampage while storming off.

I let out a heavy sigh, bending down and then picking up her assignment papers, feeling the weight of the world on my damn shoulders.

"I'll go help her," a familiar, soothing voice chimes from my right.

Sadie approaches me, and my heart lurches as I stare at her. So much I want to say, but nothing is coming out. She slowly takes the papers from me, her eyes tentative like she's scared I will yell at her before she spins from me and heads for Clover.

I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding while I watch her walk away. My hands shake when Haven wraps her arm around my shoulders and pulls me to her. "You, my dearest little brother, have it so fucking bad for her. It looks like you're about to either spontaneously combust or break down and cry like a little pussy-whipped boy. Which is it, Mav?"

Jerking my head back, I turn to Haven and curl my lip up. "Me? Like Sadie? You've got to be fucking joking?"

She laughs. "I kid you not. Deny it all you want. The fact you have been moping around here since she left like an angry, sad, irrational puppy tells me everything."

"What the fuck makes you think my mood has anything to do with her?"

"Because the second you saw her, your eyes lit up, you stopped breathing, and you couldn't talk. If you felt pure hatred for her, like you've been trying to convince yourself, then you would have yelled at her. Told her how pissed off at her you are for walking out on Clover. But you couldn't…" She smirks. "You just stood there, mouth open… yep, like I said, pussy-whipped."

I turn to face my sister and glower. "You're a bitch, you know that?"

She chuckles, leans in, and kisses my cheek tenderly. "I love you too. Now, the thing is, what are you gonna do about this Sadie revelation?"

"I can't do anything. She's Clover's tutor—"

"So you do admit you feel something?"

"Fuck! No," I blurt out.

Haven smiles while narrowing her gaze on me. She grabs my shoulders, looking deep into my eyes. "The sooner you accept it yourself, Mav, the sooner you will be man enough to do something about it. She's great. There's something about her I can't quite put my finger on, and we probably need to look into that, but Clover loves her, and the rest of the club likes her. She'd fit in well here. You could do much worse."

"Is that some kind of approval or blessing speech?"

"You don't need my approval. I just want you to be happy, Mav. And right now, with you fighting this damn hard, all it's doing is making you miserable. So… stop fighting."

I let her words sit with me momentarily, and then I nod. "I'll think about it."

Haven slaps my back. "For now, though. Let her and Clover have their time together. You can talk to her after."

"Yeah."

Haven grins. "Mav, if there is one thing I have learned this year, it's that shit has a way of working out. I'm living proof of that. I was sent here to assassinate Alpha. Look at how that turned out. I ended up falling in love with him, and in the process, I found the family I was taken away from when I was young. Not to mention, I became a stepmother to a daughter who is more like me than I could have ever imagined, giving me the child I could never have on my own. You can't tell me that shit doesn't have a way of working out how it was meant to be?"

I let out an amused laugh, only now realizing how much has changed for my sister. "When you put it like that, yeah. You have had a big life upheaval, hey?"

"The biggest, but in the best possible way. It brought me to you, Clover, Alpha, and Poppy. Taking that hit on Alpha was the best thing that ever happened to me, and choosing to make a stand on The Nest is even better. Sometimes, you gotta take risks whether they pay off or not. You just gotta have the balls to stand by your convictions."

"Okay, I hear you. Now fuck off and go be a stepmom or whatever the hell it is you do these days."

She leans in like she is about to punch me but then wraps her arm around my neck, pulling me to her in a tight embrace. "You're gonna be okay, Mav."

I laugh, embracing her back. "Now who's the pussy?"

She shoves me away from her with a great, big smile. "I'm gonna go ride Alpha like a bucking bronco. See how long I can choke him before he passes out."

My eyes widen as I curl up my lip in disgust. "Jesus-fucking-Christ Haven, you're my sister. He's my president. I don't need to know your fucked-up kinkery."

She leans in and winks. "You should try it. Or better yet, choke Sadie. She'll be gasping for more… literally."

I spin her and push her away from me. "Okay, you need to leave this vicinity… Right. Fucking. Now."

Haven laughs, sauntering off toward Alpha. She whispers something in his ear, and he grins. Then they walk off to their bedroom.

At least someone in the clubhouse is getting some.

Then I shake my head, remembering he is getting some with my sister.

A shudder runs down my spine as I shift toward the bar.

I need a drink.

Like a whole fucking bottle right now!

Sitting at the bar next to Loki, Navy steps up to me with a smile. "You look like you need what he's having?" She points to Loki's tequila, and I nod once in agreement.

"And keep 'em coming."

Loki chuckles, turning to me. "I see Sadie's back."

Groaning, I grab my tequila and throw it down the hatch. Loki laughs again, then slaps my back. "Uh-huh, I get it, brother. Women can drive you batshit crazy. Trust me, I know all about it."

"You don't seem like the type of guy to have women trouble?"

Loki snorts back like that's the stupidest thing I've ever said. "Brother, have you ever seen me in a serious relationship?"

Furrowing my brows, I shake my head. "Now that I think about it, no."

Loki throws back another shot. "That's because there was a woman who drove me batshit crazy."

"This woman… she put you off relationships?"

Loki glances up at me, and I see a shift in him. His eyes darken. "She fucking ruined me. Made me into the man I am today…" Navy pours him another drink, and he raises it into the air. "Que será, será, motherfuckers." He throws back his drink, slamming the glass on the bar. Navy instantly pours him another.

I need to change the subject.

This one is obviously problematic for him.

"Okay, enough about women who are fucking us up. We need other topics. How's the new VP position treating you?"

"So you are fucked in the head over Sadie?" Loki smirks, and I scowl. "All right, other topics. I love all this new tech that Haven's brought my way from The Nest. I'm like a kid in a damn candy store."

Raising my brow, I tilt my head. "So it's gonna be useful?"

Loki snorts out a laugh. "Useful? I have dirt on all the crooks in California, even other states. I have so much dirt on people The Nest had in their systems, the stuff Haven gave us before the authorities dismantled everything, that I'm still sifting through it. It has given us a gigantic leg up."

Finally, something to smile about. "So what happens now?"

"Alpha and I are trying to devise a plan for the cartel. Problem is, they still have the numbers. But what we're thinking is, with this information, we can start blackmailing people to join our cause to take out the cartel. The enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing."

"This is fucking brilliant. Anything I can do to help, you let me know."

"You could help me sift through billions of documents. That would be a start. Your sister helps a little, but she has her hands full with the farm and Poppy, so any kind of assistance would be real fucking appreciated."

"You got it, brother. I got nothing better to do."

"You wanna go now?' Loki asks, and I nod.

We head to Loki's den to start sifting through information and end up spending the next few hours deep in criminal cell territory, looking through tons of data and filing it in relevant folders for safekeeping.

But one person is playing on my mind.

The same person that's been on my mind for a while.

I turn to Loki, a thought crossing my mind. "Hey, Loki?"

He glances up from his file. "Yeah?"

"When you ran the information on Sadie, did you find anything?"

Loki shifts uncomfortably, then nods. "There's a discrepancy, something she's not telling us. She seemed to appear five years ago. It's like she doesn't have a past beyond that."

Jerking my head back, I frown. "Why the fuck would that be?"

Loki shrugs. "People with no past are generally running from it… I saw it when I ran her details and raised it with Alpha. He said to keep an eye on her but not to tell the others. Because it looks like she's running, it's more likely we will need to protect her than be protected from her."

Sitting back in my chair, I let out a long breath. "Okay, so don't bring this up with anyone?"

"Best if you don't."

Well, shit! I don't know what to think now. My head was already messed up when it came to Sadie. Now this?

Who the fuck is this woman?