The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 60

Chapter 42-1

Zara

By the time Locke and I get to the clubhouse the next morning, I’ve already changed my mind four times. Not about wanting the job, that part is settled.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more impossible it becomes to imagine not doing it. Now that I’ve pictured myself there again with tools in my hands and an engine in pieces in front of me, the wanting has become something alive.

Ridiculous, maybe. Unexpected, definitely. But alive.

The part that I keep changing’ my mind about is how to tell my father. Which is absurd, really, because he taught me to change oil before I was tall enough to see properly over the handlebars of his Harley. He taught me the difference between listening to an engine and merely hearing one. He taught me that a motorcycle, like a person, will usually tell you what’s wrong if you’re patient enough to pay attention.

And still, standing outside the office with Locke beside me, my hand hovering near the door, I feel

nervous.

Locke notices. “You’re stalling.”

“I’m preparing.”

“You’ve been preparing for twelve minutes.”

“It’s a complex conversation.”

“It’s a job request.”

“It’s my father.”

His mouth curves slightly, and because the man has apparently decided that sensual lips and devastating cheekbones aren’t enough, he leans close enough that his voice brushes warmly against my ear.

“Baby, your father survived you and me spending the past few nights together. I think he’ll survive you asking to work in the garage.”

Heat climbs instantly into my face, and before I can decide whether to elbow him or kiss him, the office door opens and Mayhem fills the doorway, looking entirely too amused for a man who has known me since I had braces and unfortunate bangs,

“You two going to stand out here whispering all morning, or are we having the family meeting Dad’s been threatening since breakfast?”

I stare at him. “Family meeting?”

He grins. “Oh yeah.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“It is. For us. He made coffee.”

Chapter 424-

“Dad making coffee is not ominous.”

“It is when he makes the good coffee.”

“The cinnamon one?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, shit,” I say. “The man does mean business.”

Clam

Dad is behind his desk when we walk in, and for a second my nerves shift into something softer because he looks up from a stack of papers, sees me, and smiles, and gestures to a steaming cup on his desk.

“Morning, sweetheart. Coffee for you.”

“Hi Dad. Thanks.”

His eyes move over my face, pausing briefly at the bruise on my cheek, and the warmth hardens just enough that I know he’s thinking about Knox. Dad’s gaze drops to the folder in front of him, then back to

“Before you say whatever you came in here to say, we’re talking money.”

I stop dead, the cup of aromatic cinnamon coffee halfway to my mouth. “No.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely not.”

Mayhem drops into a chair, stretching his legs out like he’s settling in for a show. “Oh, this is gonna be so good.”

I point at him as I sit down. “You stay out of this.”

“I am literally your bigger, smarter brother. I’ve been waiting my entire life to stay in this.”

Locke says nothing as he takes the chair beside mine, but I can feel his amusement like heat.

Traitor.

Dad leans back, expression calm in the way only fathers and presidents can be when they’ve already decided the outcome of a conversation.

“So your brother took a nice chunk of change from Knox’s safe, but not nearly enough to be comfortable long-term.”

“I have the jewelry that Mayhem took from the safe too,” I point out. “I can easily pawn it.”

“Zara, you’ve got access to family money.”

“I know.”

“Do you?”

I sigh. “Yes, Dad.”