Page 21 of March 5
Dio shifted his weight to his other leg. He needed the parts shop job but working alongside Maverick all day ate a hole in his gut. Nobody knew how he'd reacted to Skye lately, especially his MC brother. Guilt and shame ate him up.
Maverick and Brooke had welcomed him into their home, into their family, and most of all, trusted him around Skye.
"Riders round up." Jagger walked with the others outside.
Dio took off in the other direction, going to the door leading to the parts shop in the front of the building. Behind him, Maverick loomed, silent and aware. His MC brother's quietness never bothered him. He always welcomed the chance to work besidehim because Maverick was a great listener.
Except today, Dio didn't feel like talking.
"UPS picks up tomorrow." Maverick shut the door behind him. "I'll get a pallet, and we can start sorting the outgoing orders."
"Sounds good." Dio took the clipboard off the side of the shelving unit.
Maverick would kill him if he mentioned he had a problem with Skye being around. His MC brother wouldn't take the information without questioning what his problem was in the first place.
He scanned the list of orders. Carrying the clipboard with him, he retrieved each item, keeping the orders separated on the counter in piles per invoice. After he finished one sheet, he brought out the unassembled boxes and started taping them together.
Once he completed the taping, he leaned to the side, stretching his back. Whenever he stopped walking and stood still, he could feel the weakness in his lower back.
"Hurting?" asked Maverick.
"Nah." He picked up the muffler and put it in the box. "Just gotta keep moving."
"I hear you." Maverick printed out a label. "Getting old sucks."
He chuckled. "Speak for yourself."
"You're not far behind me, brother."
Skye's dad had ten years on Dio. But they'd both lived a hard life. Maverick spent a lot of years in prison, and Dio earned his battle wounds riding for Havlin since he was eighteen years old.
"Brooke, whether she knows it or not, remindsme daily that I'm getting older." Maverick stuck the label on the box. "I drag my ass home every night, and I'm ready to go to bed by nine o'clock."
"Hell, you know she doesn't mind having you at home." Dio envied what they had.
Their love was apparent to anyone who spent time with the them. After all the years they'd been together, Brooke was Maverick's world, and he'd never seen a woman more in love with her old man.
Maverick chuckled. "Thank fuck for that."
He grabbed the fuel filter and two bottles of two-stroke oil. "We'll need a biohazard and a liquid sticker for the box." He pushed the box down the counter toward Maverick at the printer.
Thewhirof the printer filled the shop. Dio pulled the next order.
"When are you going to settle down?" asked Maverick.
He dropped the brake cable he had in his hand. "I got a house. I got a club. Money is rolling in as long as I can ride. That's all I need."
"You say that now. But there will come a time when you'll want a soft body beside you for longer than an hour." Maverick cleared his throat. "We live a hard life. You need to balance the shit that we go through, or you'll die a cranky asshole."
He chuckled. "Some will claim it's too late for me. I'm already an asshole."
"Skye doesn't think you are." Maverick pointed at him. "You'll do what you need to do so that you never disappoint her."
Maverick walked away, disappearing behind the shelving units. Dio ran his hands over his face.Suddenly having Skye in his life seemed like too big of a responsibility.
"She's grown up," blurted Dio. "She doesn't need me anymore. It won't be long, and she'll get married and move away."
As much as he needed to remember that, the idea of losing her filled him with anger. There was nobody good enough for her.