Page 48 of My Darling Mayhem

“Morning.” I smiled at them while setting my coffee on the truck's hood.

Wren had stopped walking as if something had hit her or shocked her.

With her mouth parted and eyes huge, I felt a blush working up my jaw.

“You’re in a suit,” she said, suspiciously as if she wasn’t sure if I was playing a prank.

“I have a meeting today with a pretty high-profile client. I try to dress nicer when he comes in.”

Wren walked Cruz over to me, standing there with her hand on his shoulder. Her eyes hadn’t stopped roaming over my face and down my chest. “Well, could we get a ride again? I guess my car isn’t working after all. I’m not sure what’s happening, but it isn’t even turning over.”

“Of course you can.” I hid my smile by raising my cup, then handed it to her. I loved that she accepted it, placed her lips right where mine had been, and began sipping.

I helped Cruz into the truck, then walked to her door, where she asked. “What exactly do you do for a living? I never did figure that out.” The second she reached for the handle along the doorframe, I gripped her hips and helped her settle.

“I’m in financial management, actually. I uh…I help people manage their money and investments.”

Before she could respond, I gently shut her door and jogged around the side.

Her gaze was locked on me the second I climbed in.

“Finance? You said you went to trade school…”

I began reversing out of the drive. “I did. I went to welding school but stumbled across these night classes focusing onfinances. The professor noticed me sitting in the back of his classroom each night and decided to ask me a few questions about stocks. Then, I decided I was in the wrong class. He took me under his wing and trained me in everything he knew. Even though I was a part of a motorcycle club, I often missed classes because of it. He never gave up on me. His dying wish was to see me make a career out of it. Gave me a ton of recommendations to the firm he was a part of. Old man changed my life.”

“Wow, that’s incredible, Archer. Truly incredible. I never would have guessed.”

I sent her a smile. “Most people don’t get this far with me to learn any of this…they just write me off as some redneck with a bike.”

I caught her slight wince and the way her head dipped, and maybe she had misjudged me…but really, she hadn’t. I was a fuck up. She’d been right to protect herself and Cruz, but it was only a matter of time before she realized it. By then, I was hoping to convince her that I was more than a hookup.

We reached Cruz’s school, and I couldn’t help but look around for Kane. I knew he rode the bus from his foster parent’s house, but my heart did a little lurch when I showed up without him. I hated that he wasn’t living with me full-time and that this custody shit was still being drug out. Thistle called his contact, and I was waiting for the hearing date. My lawyer told me everything on my end looked good, and there was nothing else I needed to do.

“Hey, Cruz?” I said, hopping out of the truck with him and walking him up to the crossing guard. The rest of the drop-off lane hated when I did this, and I understood it…but they could all fuck off. I didn’t care. Life was too damn short not to do what you wanted to do.

“Can you tell Kane I said I miss him and hope he has a good day?”

Cruz beamed up at me. “Yeah, I’ll tell him.”

“Thanks, Bud.”

I patted his back, but he twisted and gave me a hug. My arms came around his little back, and I squeezed him to my chest, telling him to have a good day before he ran off with the crossing guard. I made the mistake of turning around and seeing Wren’s expression through the windshield.

She watched intensely as if some puzzle piece had finally clicked into place.

I slid back into the truck, noticing that, today, no one honked.

“You okay?”

We started driving, but Wren was staring intently out the window. Her brows were dipped, and her lip was pulled under her white teeth.

“Wren?” I glanced at her, driving past the first street light beyond the school. We only had about three more until I took the turn for her job.

“Can we…” She dipped her head. “Can you pull over up here?” She turned her face, her tone urgent.

I did as she asked, pulling over into a vacant parking lot. The truck faced an empty storefront.

“Is everything okay?”

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