“There’s a genuine fear that even something as small as taking a job in the city, of becoming a part of that life, would mean leaving behind what we have. A man doesn’t have to move to another state to become someone new. He could go about twenty miles west and be transformed.”
I knew Brock, Steele, Mason, Zack, Connor, and Garrett as well as anyone outside their circle; I knew what made them click, how everyone misunderstood them, and what parts of them were actually true. But this was one thing I could not understand.
“Why wouldn’t you want to grow up, though?” I said. “More money. More comfortable living conditions. More freedom—”
“Says the girl living at home with Daddy.”
That hurt, but Brock saying it with a smile made it so much easier to handle.
“Only because it gives me career opportunities!”
“And you call that freedom?”
Brock was just teasing me, but I didn’t think he realized how hard that hit me.
“And how would you define freedom, Mr. Noelle?”
“Please don’t ever call me that,” he said with a laugh. “God, that makes me feel so…”
“Like an adult?”
“Touché,” he said. “I would say freedom is the ability to ride my bike, enjoy my life, and hang with my friends without corruption or danger over my head. And…well, I’d take doing that peacefully for now.”
I said nothing more. I’d heard the stories about Sheriff Davis and a gang here called the Bandits. Fortunately, whenever I’d been with Steele, we’d never been attacked, and while Sheriff Davis carried a whiff of over-the-top self-importance to him, he’d never acted corruptly with me.
Maybe that was because I was a woman.
“Well, hopefully, you find that,” I said.
A brief pause came between us. The tension rose, like there was something I needed to say, something I needed to do to capitalize on this chance encounter. Just because I’d be passing through Santa Maria more didn’t mean I could rely on serendipity to bring us together again.
“Wouldn’t you want a woman with you, too? I can’t imagine the lonely road is better than the one with a companion.”
Brock laughed and looked down for a few seconds, as if worried Steele might enter at any moment.
“Well,” Brock said, hemming and hawing as he tried to find the right words. “I suppose it could. I’d have to be careful, though. I wouldn’t want just anyone on the back of my bike if it’s serious. I mean… there’s a lot of risks involved with that, you know what I’m saying?”
A tense pause came in the conversation. We both gulped. This was…
Ridiculous. It was ridiculous. I was getting swept up in conversation with a man I had no business flirting with, and I was putting Brock in a spot he didn’t deserve to be in.
“I do,” I said. “I do. I—”
“Hey, what the hell, Tara?”
I turned to see Elizabeth coming in. I’d never felt so strangely grateful for her presence. And yet, I also felt oddly disappointed.
“You were supposed to come in here and pay for gas! And now you’re talking to… him.”
Elizabeth went quiet when she saw Brock. She had never hated Brock individually; she’d only met him a couple of times, but even Elizabeth could grudgingly admit that Brock had some qualities to him. Had Steele been behind the cash register, though…
“Hi, Brock.”
“Elizabeth,” Brock said, his voice cool, not cold, but dispassionate enough that it had the same effect. “What pump do you need to set up?”
“Uh, four,” I said.
I pulled out twenty bucks and handed them to Brock. His thumb briefly closed over my fingers, sending a warm glow over my hand. But the touch lasted no longer than Elizabeth’s anger had, and he advised me the pump was ready. I thanked him and walked past Elizabeth to the car.
