The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 61

Chapter 42-2

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“And I don’t want your asking in a vague, prideful, I’ll-ask-if-I’m-desperate way. I’m serious, sweetheart. If you need anything, you ask before it’s an issue. Lawyers. Food. Toothpaste. Whatever.”

Something pulls tight in my chest, because I know this is love, and I know he’s trying to help. I also know that needing help still sits wrong inside me after years of being made to feel like every need was another burden that I shouldn’t place on anyone.

“I know,” I say again, softer this time.

Dad hears the difference, and so does Mayhem, and so does Locke. His tattooed hand settles briefly against the outside of my thigh, not claiming attention, not announcing itself, just there.

“Good,” Dad says. “Now tell me why you two were standing outside my door, whispering like you’re about to ask permission to rob a bank.”

Mayhem sits straight up. “Are we robbing a bank?”

“No,” I say. “Not today.”

“Tomorrow?”

“We’ll see.”

“So,” Dad interrupts. “What do you want to talk about?”

I decide to just cut straight to the chase. “I want to work.”

Silence settles for half a second, which in this family is the equivalent of three days. Dad’s eyebrows lift and Mayhem looks at me.

Dad folds his hands on the desk. “Doing what?”

I take a breath, and suddenly the nerves are gone, replaced by the excitement that’s been building since last night, since the moment that I remembered who I used to be.

“I want to work in the garage.”

Mayhem blinks, then he smiles so slowly that I know I’ve won half the room already. Dad doesn’t smile, though, not yet. His expression shifts instead into something thoughtful, almost careful.

“You want to wrench again?” he says.

The word hits me directly in the heart. Again. Not start. Again. Because he remembers, of course he does.

“I do,” I say.

Dad studies me for a long moment, and I let him, because this isn’t like asking for a hobby. This is me asking to step back into a life that used to fit me, asking to stand in the middle of grease and noise and men who swear too much and work that leaves your hands sore and your head strangely clear.

“I’m still working with Locke every day,” I say quickly, because that part matters. “On the accounts, the companies, the drug operation. On all of it. I’m not backing away from that.”

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Chapter 42

“Nobody thought you were,” Mayhem says quietly.

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t glance at him, then back at Dad. “But when we’re not doing that, I need something else. Something that isn’t just me sitting around waiting for the next terrible thing Knox visits upon us.”

Dad’s face softens, and I keep going before I can lose the momentum.

“I need to be close to all of this. I need to feel useful again, Dad. Not decorative, and not handled. Useful.”

Mayhem clears his throat, and when he looks at me, the teasing is gone completely. “You were always good with bikes, Zarabug.”

“She was better than good.” Dad finally smiles. “Pain in my ass, mostly, but fucking incredible at the work.”

I laugh, and the tightness in my chest breaks just enough to let air in. “You let me rebuild the Sportster when I was thirteen.”

“I supervised you rebuilding the Sportster.”

“You mostly drank coffee and told me I was holding the wrench wrong.”

“You were holding the wrench wrong.”

Before I can throw something at him, the office door opens and Jade wanders in. She’s carrying a box of donuts and the look of a woman who knows perfectly well that she’s interrupting something, and has decided to make that everyone else’s problem.

“Why are we yelling about wrenches?” she asks.

“I’m asking Dad for a job in the garage,” I say.

Jade stops and stares at me. “Oh my God, yes.”

Dad sighs. “Don’t encourage her.”

“I am absolutely encouraging her.” Jade drops the donuts on the desk, crosses the room, and points at me with the intensity of a woman presenting evidence at trial. “This is perfect. She’s at the clubhouse, she’s close to everyone, she’s busy, she’s doing something she loves, and if anyone gives her trouble, there are literally twenty violent men within shouting distance.”

“Thank you,” I say. “I appreciate the support.”

Jade nods. “I’m here for justice and snacks.”

“Okay,” Dad says finally, turning back to me. “Then here’s how this works. You start part-time. You don’t lift anything heavy until your doctors clear you, and if I catch you pretending you’re fine when you’re not, I’ll fire you myself.”

“You can’t fire me before hiring me.”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want. It’s my place.”

I sit very still, afraid to smile too soon. “So – does that mean definitely yes?”

Dad looks at me for a long moment, and then his expression changes again, becoming something so

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Chapter 42

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tender, I almost can’t bear it.

“Yeah, sweetheart,” he says. “That means definitely yes.”

Jade makes a tiny triumphant noise and throws both arms around me from behind, nearly strangling me in the process. Mayhem grins like he’s already planning how to annoy me in the garage, Dad pretends he isn’t emotional, and Locke simply reaches and takes my hand.

I look down at our joined fingers, then around the room at the people who love me loudly and imperfectly and completely, and for the first time in years, the future doesn’t feel like something waiting to happen to

It feels like something I might actually get to build. And this time, I know exactly where to start:

With my hands.

With my family.

And with grease under my fingernails.

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