I shifted just enough I could see out the window and watchedHop pull out with Lanie at his side in his truck.Tack and Tyra in their hugeSUV were already out and driving away.
I shifted more and saw the curb was empty but I knew thatalready, the sound of Snap’s pipes were fading.
“Honey,” Mom murmured and I looked to her.“You okay?”
“This,” I waved the note in the air, “is Snap’s.”
“Sorry?”she asked.
“This place they moved me into without my permission oragreement or even really acceptance.Snapper owns it.”
“Oh,” she murmured, her eyes drifting reverently to thepaper.
Yep.
Reverently.
She’d always liked Chaos too.She used to party with themwith Dad back in the day before I came along.
The thing I was worried about was that she’d start to get tolike Snapper, especially before she’d even met him.
This could happen.He was just that likable.An all-aroundgood guy.Easy on the eyes.Easy to talk to.Easy to be with.Sweet, smart,thoughtful.
It was my turn to call her attention to me.
“Mom.”
She looked right into my eyes.
“Please, Rosalie, let them take care of you.”
I closed my eyes.
I opened them.
“You did the right thing with Beck and his club,” she saidwhen I did.“I’m proud of you.Your father would have been proud of you, thoughhe wouldn’t have let you do it.”
That made my lips quirk.
Then again, Dad would have been on me about being with Beckat all.He’d let me make my own decisions, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’thave something to say about it.
“He still would have been glad you considered it,” shecarried on.“It went bad.He’s not here to keep you safe and I—”
“Mom—”
“But they can,” she finished determinedly.“I’m here tolisten, you want to talk.I’m here to hold on to, you want to let it out.I’mhere to get angry right along with you, you want to rail and scream.Whateveryou need from me, I’m here.But I can’t give you that.I can’t keep you safe.Youcan’t keep you safe.But they can and…” she swallowed then pushed it out,“Bounty is not done with you.”
I drew breath in through my nose, ticked my mom was worried,ticked at Beck, ticked at myself, but she was and there was nothing I could doabout it so I nodded.
“We’ll go look at it soon, okay?”I offered.
“We should ask Tyra and Lanie to meet us,” she suggested.
I shook my head.“I don’t think getting deeper into thatcrew is a good idea.”
To that she stated, “He’s handsome.”
She was talking about Snap.
