Page 3 of Carson

“No worries. You can leave it with me, and I’ll make sure she gets it when she comes in tomorrow.”

“Is everything okay with her, besides not feeling well?” I ask.

Robin visibly relaxes. “You know, I tried to get her to reach out to the club. I told her they might be able to help her out. I thought maybe she could do some work for them in exchange for one of the guys working on her van. It’s broke down out at the state park.”

“Fuck, Carson and I could help her out,” Cole says, falling into a seat at the nearest table.

She rushes to sit down next to him. “Oh, that would be wonderful. She’s the sweetest girl.”

“How long has she been here?” I ask.

“Oh, I guess about six months. The water pump went out on her. She was just traveling through. The poor girl has probably made the money to get it fixed ten times over, but she’s always giving it to someone,” Robin says, shaking her head sadly. “Me included. She gave me two thousand dollars to get my youngest’s teeth fixed. They’d been hurting her so badly, and I just couldn’t refuse Luna’s offer. I’ve tried to pay her back, but she won’t accept it. I tell you, she’s been a straight-up angel to a few of us around here. I hate to think about the day she does get her van fixed, and she leaves us.”

“You don’t think she has any intention of sticking around?” Cole asks.

“No. That girl is longing for the open road. I don’t think she stays in one place very long. She’s a bit of a wandering soul. I think being trapped here has been hard for her.”

“Do you think she’s running from something?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. She’s a great listener, but not much of a talker. All I really know is that she’s a traveler living in her van.”

My brother and I exchange a glance.

“We can head out to the state park and take a look to see what it will take to get her going.”

Robin leans over and places her hand on mine. “That’s wonderful. I’ll pay you boys what I can.”

“No, ma’am. You keep your money. We owe you for all those times you let us fill up for free,” I tell her.

She rolls her eyes. “There is no way all that soda is anywhere close to the cost of replacing a water pump.”

Cole chuckles. “Aw, Miss Robin.” He taps a finger under her chin, and she blushes, giving him a shy grin. “You underestimate how much seeing this smile is worth.”

Cole has always been the smooth one. He talks. He flirts. He reels them in.

Me? I’m better after all that.

Hell, sometimes we’ve even pulled the old bait and switch. I know it ain’t right, but we’ve been doing this shit so long I don’t know another way.

Bottom line is, I need Cole.

Cole doesn’t need me.

Don’t get me wrong, I have my own strengths. We all do. But being a twin means he picks up where I leave off and vice versa. Together we can do fucking anything.

I slip a couple of Benjamins into Robin’s apron pocket while my brother keeps her distracted, and then I stand. “Don’t you worry about Luna. We’ll get her taken care of.”

My words break the spell Cole has her under and she looks at me. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Like I said, she’s done a lot of giving while she’s been here, but she hasn’t allowed herself to take anything from anyone.” She wags a finger in my brother’s face. “I know you boys will convince her to accept your generosity.”

He flashes her an ornery grin and rises from his chair, pulling her with him. “You take care now, you hear? Don’t be afraid to reach out for anything. You still have my number?”

She nods and walks with us to the door.

I check my watch when we get outside. “The wedding has already started. I think we should handle this ourselves. Rage and Serenity deserve to have their special day without interruption.”

“I agree, brother. Luna’s been here for six months and hasn’t reached out to him. That alone tells us she doesn’t want him to know she’s here.”

“Yeah, we need to figure out why that is.”