“I also reached out to Stephanie,” Kara said, looking to Maya. “She has her own forensic accounting firm—”
“Stonewall Financials. I know,” Maya nodded.
“Right,” Kara nodded, looking a little put out.
I wondered if Maya kept in contact with Stephanie after all the years, and if that was why Kara seemed upset? Just because Kara hadn’t kept up with most of her friends, didn’t mean that Maya hadn’t.
Shit, just because Maya hadn’t kept in contact with me and guys, didn’t mean she didn’t keep up with all of her friends. Her ink was testament to that. The fucking wall of photos at Slade’s booth at Skin of a Different Breed was testament to that too.
Clearly, Maya had kept up with people over the years.
“So yeah,” Kara continued. “Stephanie is digging into what she can find publicly. And Jack’s getting her what he can findnot publicly.”
I read through the lines on what Kara was trying to say—Jack was getting her records and accounts by hacking into systems illegally. I didn’t give a damn how Jack Adams found the information, as long as it led him to Hillcrest’s fucking location so we could go in there and wipe the bastard off the face of thefucking planet—after torturing him for a week straight, maybe longer, like ten fucking years.
“What happens now, with your dad? Does that mess up things at the firm for you?” Maya asked Kara.
Kara shook her head. “No, it shouldn’t. The plea deal he accepted gave me the guilty verdict that I needed to gain the firm. With my father’s guilty verdict, his ownership shares in the firm were transferred to me. I now own sixty percent of all shares in the firm.” Kara shrugged a shoulder.
Maya laughed lightly. It was a balm to my tortured soul. I was so fucking glad she was able to laugh still, after everything that happened. “Good for you. Bad ass bitch.”
Kara’s daughter fussed in her car seat and Kara bent down to pick her up. “Are you bored? Did you think we forgot about you?” she cooed at the baby.
I watched Maya as she watched Kara intently. The yearning in her gaze about did me in. “Can I hold her?” Maya asked, and my fucking heart exploded in my chest. I need to work my shit out with her ASAP, because I had things I needed to work into her.
I don’t know where my need to have kids came from, but seeing Kara with her daughter so often, and then hanging out with Luke daily too, it really drove home the idea of having a baby of my own.
Nico stood up from where’d still been kneeling next to Maya and backed away.
Maya also stood up though, confusing me. I thought she wanted to hold the baby. “Let’s go sit in the living room, I’m kinda sore.”
Kara only nodded and followed Maya into the living room, where she waited until Maya was situated at one end of the couch, before she handed over her child.
Maya’s bright smile warmed me from the inside out. The wonder and awe on her face only added fuel to the fire—I wanted to have a baby with Maya as soon as possible.
I eyed my brothers, wondering what they were thinking, but saw it clearly on their faces as they both froze and stared in awe at Maya cooing softly to the baby in the other room. Yeah… they were on board alright.
Johnny chuckled and shook his head. “You guys are fucked.”
“Yep,” We responded together.
Nico
The clubhouse was quiet when Marcos and I rolled in later that afternoon. Jason stayed behind with Maya—because I told him I’d kick his fucking ass if he ever left her alone again—but I was wishing I had been able to.
As vice president for the club, I couldn’t do that though. Not when Marcos was president, and he was going to call church in a couple hours after most of their guys got off work. Lots of them still had day jobs, as the club wasn’t earning enough to make ends meet anymore. Not since the bullshit Buckley pulled over the years, and not since we stopped running coke for the Seratellis.
All of that was changing though. Marcos and I were on it. In the meantime, though, we had to wait. So we headed into the clubhouse early to see what we could hear, and when Lukegot out of school, Jason would join us for church and the vote, bringing Maya and Luke along. They would wait in one of our dorm rooms while the meeting commenced.
It would be different having Maya back here again, but I couldn’t wait. She had run the Devil’s Chasers when she’d been with us before. Maya had been the only old lady at the time, and while we never inked her, she always wore her ‘Property Of’ patch showing that she belonged to the three of us.
None of the Devil’s Psychos had old ladies—except for Nickle—we weren’t as sophisticated as the Knights. I was pretty sure every member over there was wifed-up. It made me yearn for more with Maya. I wanted her tatted with my ink, permanently showing my ownership of her. She was mine, and I was never letting her go again.
Watching her this morning with Kara’s baby only confirmed that. I never used to understand Marcos’s obsession with knocking her up back then, even going as far as to tamper with her birth control. But now I got it, completely. The urge was strong, but I knew I couldn’t act on it.
Maya needed time to recover, and we all needed to discuss limits and way too many other topics before we could ever discuss having a baby together. The urge was there, though.
I followed Marcos into the president’s office and closed the door behind me. “Dude, I never got it before, the birth control tampering, but I get it now.”
