Page 85 of 12 Months of Mayhem

“Her. The chick. But,” he drawled out slowly, “that chick comes with baggage. A kid. A job. A life. A home she won’t leave.”

I nodded once, sharply. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“And that shouldn’t scare you if you want her.”

But it did.

It was written all over my face.

“Man, you’ve been wandering for years. You ever think maybe you’ve been looking for something this whole damn time? Something to make you stay?”

I shook my head. “Nah, man. I just don’t like staying in one place.”

Moose stood and stepped in front of me, forcing me to stop. “Nah, you just haven’t found something worth staying for.” He pointed at the door again. “That chick? She’s worth it.”

I opened my mouth to argue, to say something stupid, but he cut me off.

“And if it doesn’t work out, then fuck it. You get back on your bike and keep moving. Just like you always do. I’ve never known you to be scared of anything, but this chick’s got you shaking in your boots.”

“I’m not scared,” I grumbled. I was.

“Yeah, you are,” he said, and clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder. “You’re just scared to mess up something that might actually be good. But guess what? She’s a big girl, Tank. Let her decide if she wants to take a risk on your big ass.”

I stared at the door.

“Now,” Moose said, stepped back, and flopped onto the bed again, “make up your fucking mind what you’re going to do, so I can get some sleep, yeah?”

I stood there for a long minute and stared at that door like it had the answers.

Because the truth was, I already knew what I wanted to do.

I just had to be man enough to do it.

“Oh, and bring her flowers,” Moose called.

“To grovel?” I asked.

Moose shook his head. He pointed to the clock. “Because today is Mother’s Day.”

Chapter Twelve

Maddie

“You’re crazy,” I said and laughed softly as Diamond handed me the tiny figurine of a mama elephant and her baby.

“Maybe,” she shrugged, “but I saw this a couple weeks ago and thought of you and Tucker. I’m sure your mom took care of getting you something from him, but just in case she didn’t, this is from Tucker, too.”

I looked down at the little carved elephants. My chest squeezed. It was adorable.

“You’re too nice to me, Diamond.”

She laughed. “No, if I were nice, I would’ve figured out how to get your biker and put a big ol’ bow on him for you.”

Yeah, that would’ve been nice. But I’d told her more than once to stay out of it. Tank hadn’t been by since she came back to work. I told myself that was fine. I didn’t want to chase a man down. I wasn’t going to beg someone to stay. Especially not someone who’d made it clear he never did.

And today? Today was Mother’s Day. I’d worked the night shift and was ready to go home to the one person who made today matter—Tucker.

“That ship has sailed, Diamond.” I smiled down at the figurine. “And that’s okay. I’ve got Tucker, you, and my mom.”

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