Chapter 17
Maverick
When I saw Gavin looking at Henley like she was the star on top of the fucking Christmas tree, I lost it. Enough said.
“Are you going to tell me what that was all about?” Henley whispered as we walked down the hall toward the kitchen.
“No.”
“Really? You’re not going to say …” she started.
“No,” I told her firmly.
“Alrighty then,” she said sarcastically. “Just so you know, I think Gavin is really nice, and it was fun hanging out with him.”
“Good to know.”
“I’m sure you’ve missed him. I mean… it has to be hard being so far away from him, but I can tell he’s happy here. The guys seem to like him.”
I didn’t respond. There was nothing to say. Yes, I missed my brother, and yes, he seemed to be doing great. It was a good move for him to prospect here, but I had no intention of talking about it. I had other things on my mind.
After dinner, everyone went their separate ways. Henley helped the girls finish cleaning up the kitchen and then headed back to the room. I hadn’t had much time to talk to Gavin alone, so I went to the bar to have a few beers with him.
“Things seem to be going pretty well for you,” I told him.
“Yeah, it’s been good, really good. The guys are great, and I love working in the garage. You should see some of the bikes and cars they pull through here. They’ve really made a name for themselves,” he explained. His eyes gleamed with pride while he talked about his work at the garage, and it meant a lot to me. When mom died, we both took it hard, but it was different for Gavin. He was just a kid and still needed his mother’s guidance. I tried to be there for him, but he was just too young and naïve. He had to figure things out for himself. I always thought he’d just follow in my footsteps and join Satan’s Fury, but seeing him now… I knew he’d made the right decision. He’d found his way, and he’d done it on his own.
“I’m glad you’re a part of it. It’s good to see you happy.”
“What about you?” he asked hesitantly. “Are you sure about signing off on the adoption tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I’m sure.”
“You know, I’d understand if you were having second thoughts or something, but John Warren…”
“I’m not having any doubts, Gavin. I know he’s where he needs to be,” I clipped.
“You’re right. I know that now. I’ve never told you this, but back then, I thought you were wrong. I thought it was a shitty thing for you to give him up. I really did, but when I saw him here with them, I understood. I understood why you did it. You did the right thing.”
As soon as those words came out of his mouth, something shifted inside of me. Just knowing he actually got why I did it, made the weight I had been carrying around seem lighter.
“Thanks for telling me that, Gavin. It means a lot.”
“So what’s the story with the girl?” he prodded.
“Nothing to tell. I’m keeping an eye on her until we find the guys who killed Skidrow. End of story.”
“Nah. There’s more to it than that, and you know it. I saw the way you were looking at her, and the way you had her pinned against the wall. She means something to you.”
“Maybe so, but it doesn’t matter.”
“It matters. Everybody needs someone they can care about, Maverick, even you,” he told me as he took a drink of his beer.
It was after three in the morning by the time Gavin and I left the bar. I figured Henley would be pissed I was coming in so late, but when I crawled into bed, she didn’t hesitate curling up next to me. With her head resting on my shoulder and her arm draped across my chest, she whispered, “Everything okay?”
“It is now,” I told her as I kissed her on top of her head. “It’s late, go back to sleep.”
The alcohol was clouding my thoughts, making it difficult to think straight, but I was almost certain that she said, “In case you were wondering… I wasn’t interested in Gavin or anyone else, for that matter. I only want you… just you.”
The room was silent. I could feel the rise and fall of her chest as her breathing became slow and deep. Even though she was sleeping soundly, her words continued to echo through my mind, and I wondered if I had imagined her saying those words to me.
“Henley?” I whispered, but she didn’t answer. The room was spinning, so I finally gave in to my intoxicated state and fell asleep. I couldn’t have been out for more than a few hours when I heard someone pounding on the door.
“Maverick!” Goliath shouted as he continued to slam his fist into the door. It felt like I had barely closed my eyes when he said, “It’s time to roll, man. Ana just called and the test is back.”
Why the fuck did I drink so much? My head was throbbing, and the light creeping in through the window was only making it worse. “Just a minute!” I shouted back. Henley was nowhere in sight when I pulled myself out of bed.
Wearing only a pair of boxers, I opened the door and asked, “Have you seen Henley?”
“She’s out front with Lily. She can hang out here with Bobby or…”
“No, she’s going with us,” I told him. “Just give me five minutes.” I still reeked of alcohol, and I needed a hot shower to clear my head. Goliath nodded as I closed the door behind him.
I turned the hot water on high and stepped into the shower, trying to wash away the fog of my hangover. It didn’t help. My head was still pounding while I got dressed and headed down the hallway. When I opened the back door, the heat of the early morning sun hit me like a brick wall. I still hadn’t gotten used to the Tennessee humidity, and I could already feel the sweat begin to trickle down my back. Henley walked over to me with a bottle of cold water and a couple of aspirin in her hand. “I thought you could use this.”
“Thanks, Slick,” I told her, taking the bottle from her hand. Her full lips curved into a sexy smile, tempting me to pull her close. “You ready to go?”
She laid the palm of her hand on my chest and said, “You really want me to go? I don’t mind staying here. I can hang out with Bobby or Gavin until you get back.”
“No, you’re coming. Lily said it shouldn’t take long, so I thought I’d show you around the lake when we get done, maybe grab a bite to eat.”
“I’d like that.”
With Lily and Goliath following behind us in their car, we headed over to the lawyer’s office. We drove in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I couldn’t stop thinking about the night I took JW back to Lily and Goliath—the night that sealed my fate, our fate. Every decision I’d made over the past year had a rippling effect, and I wondered if it all ended today. Would it—could it ever really end?
When we pulled into the parking lot, Ana was leaning against her car with a large, yellow envelope in her hand. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she was wearing her scrubs. Even in her work clothes, it was easy to see why Sheppard had fallen for her. She was beautiful and smart. Almost dying in that river was the best thing that ever happened to him.
Goliath pulled in next to me, and as we were getting out of the car, Ana walked over to us with a troubled look on her face. When she reached Lily, she said, “Hey, I need to talk to you before we go inside.”
“Why? What’s going on?” she asked.
The distressed look on Ana’s face said it all. Something was wrong.
“It’s the DNA test results. I don’t know how to tell you this…” she started as her eyes skirted over to me. Fuck. What the hell was that look? Whatever was bothering her obviously had something to do with me, but I had no idea what it could be.
“What is it? Just say it already,” I demanded, feeling my heart pound against my chest. I tried to think of all the things that they might find in a DNA test. Was John Warren sick? Did he have some kind of genetic defect because of me?
Lily looked at Ana with a pleading look in her eyes. “Just tell us, Ana,” she begged.
“The test results showed that …. Maverick isn’t John Warren’s father. After analyzing all the markers, they determined that the percentages were just too low for him to be the father,” she explained.
“Then the fucking test is wrong!” I roared.
“I don’t know what to say. There has to be some kind of mistake! We all know that Maverick is John Warren’s father!” Lily shouted hysterically. “It just doesn’t make any sense!”
A million thoughts were running through my head, and when I tried to speak, the words just wouldn’t come. The rage began to boil in my gut when I finally realized what Ana’s words really meant.
“Lily, I don’t know what to say. I’ve gone over it a hundred times. The results show that Maverick is indeed a close relative, but he’s not the father,” she tried to explain.
As soon as the word relative came from her mouth, I knew. Gavin was John Warren’s father. I think a part of me had known all along that I wasn’t his father. I’d felt it whenever I held him in my arms, certain something wasn’t right. Now, hearing the words out loud… knowing that I hadn’t been fucking crazy, made the ground shake beneath me. How the hell could I have been so goddamn blind? I took a deep breath, trying to slow the storm of thoughts that were spinning in my head. I couldn’t figure out how the fuck this happened? Gavin… Gavin was John Warren’s father. I was sure of it. Fuck! How could he watch me go through hell, and never say a goddamn thing?
Fury soared through my body. I’d spent the past six months thinking I was some kind of monster. Gavin knew how tormented I was, how broken I had become and the self-loathing I felt for not being the father John Warren needed. I thought I was incapable of being there for him… my own child. I detested the very thought of it. I tried to make excuses, telling myself I was protecting him from the club. But I knew that was never really why. It was me, only me I was protecting him from.
“Maverick,” Henley whispered with a pained look on her face. She placed her hand on my arm, pulling me from my thoughts.
“It’s Gavin. He’s the father. He’s the only living relative I have,” I told Lily through gritted teeth. I took another deep breath, trying to calm my anger. I’d never felt such rage, such hurt. I took a step back, taking a deep breath. Then, just as suddenly as the onslaught of my initial rage from Gavin’s betrayal, it happened. Like a dim light shining through the black clouds, the darkness that had been surrounding me for fucking months was starting to fade away as an overwhelming sense of relief washed over me. Like the rolling in of the ocean’s tide, wave after wave of increasing relief, cleansing me of my guilt, my self-hatred, and my despair. John Warren wasn’t my son. I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t losing my mind. My instincts were right all along. “Call him. He won’t do anything to stand in your way of the adoption. He knows JW belongs with you,” I told her.
“But how? How did this happen?” Lily asked with her voice trembling.
“He failed to mention he was screwing Hailey, so you’ll have to ask him about that,” I snapped. The very thought of him being with Hailey and never telling me about it made my hands tremble with anger.
“I’ll call him,” Goliath told her as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his chest. “We’ll figure this thing out.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get the hell out of there. I needed to get this shit sorted in my head before I talked to Gavin. Right now, I couldn’t think about it. I needed an escape.
“I’m taking Henley over to Paris Landing. Call me if you need me,” I told them, taking hold of Henley’s hand, and without either of us saying goodbye, I led her over to the car. I knew it was a shitty thing to do, leaving them alone to sort out this mess with Gavin, but I couldn’t stay. I wasn’t ready to deal with my brother.
I started the engine and neither of us spoke as I pulled out of the parking lot. I’d been driving for almost an hour when Henley cleared her throat and asked, “Hey… are you okay?”
“No, but I will be,” I told her.
“Maverick, I’m really sorry,” she told me.
“Nothing for you to be sorry about, Henley. This had nothing to do with you.”
“Maybe not, but I’m still sorry all the same.” She tried to brush her long bangs behind her ear and looked out the window. She let out a deep sigh before she said, “I’m just going to say it. I’m pissed at Gavin. Totally, absolutely pissed! Like chop off his balls kind of pissed. He’s such an asshole for not telling you,” she snapped. “I know it wouldn’t have been easy, but he should have said something! Like, ‘Hey, Maverick, I screwed your girlfriend. Sorry about that!’”
“He saw the hell I was going through. How could he not say something?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine keeping something like that from Cassidy, but I’m sure Gavin had his reasons.”
“I don’t give a fuck what his reasons were, he should’ve talked to me about it.”
“You’re right. So what now?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
“You’ll sort it out. He’s your brother, and he’s about to find out that he’s a father. It isn’t going to be easy for him.”
“You know what’s crazy? I’m actually relieved that Gavin’s the father. Totally, profoundly… relieved. How fucked up is that?” I confessed. “Don’t get me wrong. I love John Warren, always have. But when I held him in my arms, it just didn’t feel like he was mine. It’s hard to explain. Something didn’t feel right. I cared for him. Loved him and wanted to protect him, but I felt this emptiness in the pit of my stomach. I thought I was fucked up, that something was wrong with me, and I honestly felt like he was better off with Lily and Goliath.”
“There was never anything wrong with you, Maverick. Your instincts were right, and in the end, you were doing what you thought was best for John Warren. That’s all that really matters.”
“I really did want him to be happy, to be safe. I knew Lily would be a good mother to him,” I told her.
“Of course, you did. Lily and Goliath adore that child. You made them all very happy.”
“Gavin…” I started, but his name got stuck in my throat.
“Is an asshole,” she said, laughing under her breath.
When I looked over to her and saw that sexy, little grin spreading across her face, I couldn’t help but smile back at her. Damn. My world had just been turned upside down, and Henley was here making me fucking smile. What was it about this girl? She had me thinking I might just have a future worth fighting for—a future with her.