Page 29 of March 5

"You're young. Take your time. The jobs will be there for you next year or the year after." Her dad moved out of Aunt Brooke's way. "How's Mariah?"

"She's doing great." She waved her hand. "She would've been here for dinner, but she has a date."

"Oh, yeah?" Aunt Brooke's gaze came back to Skye. "I saw her hanging out with Brett a couple of nights ago. They seemed pretty comfy together."

She sat straighter. "Havlin's Brett?"

Mariah hadn't told her who she was going out with in the text, and between their schedules, she hadn't talked to her since the night she got the flat tire.

She looked at her dad. "Is Brett messing with her?"

"Don't know." Her dad walked over to thetable and sat at the end. "Better come and eat before it gets cold."

She grabbed the salad bowl and carried it to the table. "Have you seen them together at the clubhouse?"

"Can't say I have." Her dad dug into the food.

She turned to Aunt Brooke. "How comfy?"

"They had their arms wrapped around each other." Her aunt set a glass of water in front of her. "I'm not saying more in case it's something Mariah wants to tell you or maybe it was nothing. You kids are touchier with each other and your friends than I ever was."

She shook her head. "Mariah wouldn't hook up with a Havlin member. She's been around the clubhouse enough times with me to realize they use women."

"There's a difference between the bitches and Mariah. The bikers know her through you." Her aunt poured the oil on her salad. "I will say Brett's a nice guy. He just bought a house down the street from Bane and Daisy."

"Brett's like twenty years older than her," she blurted.

"More like ten years older." Maverick never looked up from his plate. "They're both adults."

Her thoughts circled. She never doubted that her dad and Aunt Brooke would accept and support her having a relationship with Dio—if she could get Dio to see her as a woman available to him. Besides, an age difference wouldn't matter to them because they had a lot of years separating them.

"Do all bikers go for younger women?" sheasked, throwing the question out to both of them. "I'm talking about those with an old lady at home."

"Never thought of that before," muttered her dad between bites.

"They do." Aunt Brooke wiped her mouth off on the napkin. "I've talked to Daisy about the guys hooking up with younger girls before. I noticed it when Jagger and Katrina got married."

"Why do they do it?"

"Because..." Her aunt paused, frowning down at her plate. "Because life is hard for Havlin members. Often, they don't have the time to get involved with someone when they're proving themselves to the club. A lot of the men, like your dad, spend time in prison, and it isn't until they're older that they realize what they want in life is a family and to settle down."

Dio had gone to prison for eight months when she was between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. If she remembered right, it had something to do with dirty money. It was the longest period of her life, not being able to see or talk to him. She had no idea if the letters she wrote and gave to her dad ever got to him.

Aunt Brooke reached over and held her dad's wrist, looking at him. "For us, it worked out. If I was older, I never would've met your dad."

The phone on the table vibrated. Her dad looked at the screen.

Aunt Brooke nudged Skye. "You're not eating."

She took a couple of bites of meatloaf. There was too much on her mind. Her appetite was missing the last few days.

"I need to leave." Maverick picked up his fork and ate the last two bites of his meatballs, cleaning his plate. "I shouldn't be gone long."

"Do you have to ride out?" asked Aunt Brooke.

He shook his head. "Fight at the clubhouse."

Aunt Brooke leaned back in her chair. "Over what this time?"