“Think about the kids,” she whispers. “It would give them a chance to have a little normalcy. You don’t have to decide now. The offer will always be there. You can call me at any time, even if you’ve already moved on.”
“I don’t have a phone,” I mumble.
“Well, we will have to solve that now, won’t we?”
I look over at her and study her.
“Why would he want to help me? I don’t want to get into some pimping situation.”
She chuckles. “If you knew my brother, you would think that statement is hilarious too. Absolutely not. No strings attached. He’s simply a good person who would help you out of the goodness of his heart.”
I look back at Tanner and Emily. I really hate keeping them on the road like this. It breaks my heart seeing how anxious they have been—Tanner especially. He saw far more than I thought he had. I hate that I couldn’t protect him from it all.
“Okay. I’ll take it,” I say, accepting the offer.
“Good. Next stop, I’ll give him a call and let him know we will be there in a few days.”
“Where does he live anyway?” I ask.
“Pensacola, Florida. Ever heard of it?”
I shake my head. “No. Florida? Isn’t that a three-day drive? I thought we were going to Boston?” I ask.
“I will still be going to Boston, after a slight detour. Don’t worry, darling. We will get you all taken care of. Hey, the kids might even like the beach.”
I think about how different it will be from Portland. I can’t believe we have already made it across more than half the country, and now we will be settling down on the other side of it.
It is surreal.
I only hope it’s far enough out of his reach.
“You sure you are up for another run?” Smoke asks me for the third time.
“I know it’s Gunner’s turn, but he and Sloane got that car thing that weekend. I’ll take his shift. It’s no big deal,” I tell him as if I haven’t already told him this twice before now.
“One of the other brothers can fill in, or, fuck, I could. I don’t want you taking on so much. You seem to be all work these days.” He studies me as I take a sip of my bourbon.
He’s not wrong. I followed Smoke to Pensacola because Boston never quite felt right for me. Something always seemed like it was missing. On the road, I always knew it wasn’t right because we needed a home. Now that we have settled, though, I still don’t feel right.
I can’t admit that to him, though. He would encourage me to get back on the road. Go visit other chapters. Find the place that feels right to me.
I don’t want to leave the men I consider my family, though. So as much as I feel unsettled, I won’t leave this place. Like it or not, this is home.
“I like work. It keeps me busy. We can’t all have a beautiful woman to come home to each night. Some of us have to play up the lifestyle the locals expect from us—boozing and women and all that.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “The others do plenty of that, but what about you? When was the last time you were down at Wild Greg’s?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “You know I don’t like going downtown.”
“Mac…” he says, warning in his tone, but my phone goes off, saving me.
“Oh, it’s my sister. Sorry, I should take this. You know she never calls.”
He grimaces, but nods because it’s true. My sister barely calls.
I walk away from him, stepping outside the clubhouse to take the call.
“What’s up?” I answer.
