Page 132 of Maverick

I sit up, sliding my arm between her hips and the back of the couch until I'm cupping her hip. "Is working at the club that important to you?" I don't know what I'm going to do if she says yes. Probably lock the doors, and make sure the only people who ever go there have a full background check. And cameras, lots of cameras. And extra security. Maybe then I could breathe while she's on shift.

She purses her lips and frowns. "When we were saving for a place, it was really important. But…I'm not sure we should keep staying here. When Nan and I first moved in here, the plan wasto save up, then get our own place. Technically, we have enough to do that now."

"Wait. Back up. You're still leaving?"

"Well, I thought we would."

"You're not happy here?"

"It's not that. We're really happy here, but you and I are together now. We've lived together for our entire relationship. We've only officially been together for like…six weeks? Oh my god. I'm living with my boyfriend of six weeks. That's insane."

"Is it, though? We're good. Better than good. We work, Cady. I don't see any reason to change that."

"But isn't it weird? Won't your family wonder about it?"

"Seriously? Have you met my family? It's like you don't even know us. Jonas asked Janey to marry him, so she'd have time to get to know him. This is slow compared to that."

She snickers and shakes her head. "You have a point. You guys don't do anything the normal way."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, I don't think it is. If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly normal either. But me and Nan…we're a package deal."

"I know that, Cadence. We love her, and honestly, if you tried to move out, I'm pretty sure some of my brothers would just refuse to let you take her. They're pretty attached."

"She's pretty attached too. And I don't want to move her. But she's in her seventies, and she beat cancer once. She's healthy. But she won't always be."

My gut clenches at the idea of Nan dying. Yeah, it’ll happen one day. But that day will be really fucking far in the future if I have anything to say about it.

"She'll have the best care in the world Cadence. If anything can be done, it will be. But when it's her time, we'll all be in that room with her. Whenever that might be. You will never be alone to deal with it again. Never."

"Six weeks," she mumbles under her breath. "God."

Laughing, I tug her back over me. "It's okay. You can take a little time to adjust. In the meantime, I'm just going to do a little of this." I press my lips to her throat, then give her a little nip. "You let me know when you're done processing."

Her dazed eyes meet mine. "Huh?"

Well alright then. I think I've figured out how to handle 'conversations' with her moving forward. I'll tuck this little tidbit in my back pocket and use it whenever things go sideways. Is that manipulative? Fuck yeah. But considering the arsenal she has at her disposal, I'm not too upset about it.

She whips out one of those weapons, sliding her hand down my chest to fiddle with my belt buckle. She says something, but I'm too focused on her nimble fingers undoing the buckle to register.

"Huh?" I mutter, tugging her mouth to mine. I think we're done talking.

For now.

43

CADENCE

"It's rock-fucking-solid," Nick says shaking the thick ropes attached to the large inflatable movie screen. "It's not going to fly away."

"To be fair," Jonas says, clearing this throat. "The other one didn't fly away either." Nick glares at Jonas, then flips him off. Jonas just stares at him impassively.

"What happened to it?" I ask. I know, but I want to hear it again.

"Look. Shit was happening," Nick says, propping his hands on his hips. "We needed to get to the club and check on you, Princess Cady."

He's teasing, but I don't mind princess, at all. I'll be the ass kicking princess any day. "So you….."