“FUCK!” I doubled over, holding my junk, cursing through the pain. The second I was able to straighten my back, I stepped away from her, my fist punching two holes in the wall. Two seconds later, I was in my jeans, my t-shirt, cut and boots in one hand, the other slamming the door shut behind me.
CHAPTER 31
Cameron
I zipped up my new leather jacket the second I stepped out to the front porch. It was almost seven a.m., and the sun was nowhere to be seen on this foggy day. Last night, I was freezing to the bones and couldn’t sleep. I convinced myself my insomnia had nothing to do with Dusty not being there. The cold was the only thing to blame.
Stepping off the porch, I noticed the sloppy scaffolding work. The amateurish thing could work on a hot day—it was only three-story high—but it wouldn’t stand this weather. And from the look of it, the grey sky was ominous enough to confirm the storm that destroyed the roof wasn’t over.
My arms crossed over my chest, my hands seeking warmth under my armpits, as I took a few steps and peered up at the roof. Fuck. Chain and Serial were still up there.
Petrified. Their faces pale in the fog. They must have been cold and starving, standing like this for more than twelve hours. Afraid, too. I could tell because they wouldn’t even look back at me, their throats working on rough swallows.
For a split-second, I thought about telling them to come down, even if they wouldn’t obey unless the order came from Dusty himself.
Did I just feel sorry for them?
The screen door swung open, the squeak snatching me—saving me—from the flicker of emotion sneaking up on me.
Owl appeared from the mist, looking more of aravenin all the leather. “What are you doing, princess?”
“Assessing the damage…not that’s any of your business. What areyoudoing here this early? Are you watching me?”
“I don’t sleep at night. They don’t call me Owl for no reason.” He towered over me. “And yes, I’m watching you. More like watching over you.”
“My guarding Owl,” I scoffed, saving my breaths. Arguing that I didn’t need a bodyguard would fall on deaf ears. Owl was just following orders.
I walked to the side of the house, inspecting the rest of the scaffolds. I pointed at a very fragile, unstable pole. “Someone’s neck could wind up broken because of this one. All of these need to be redone.”
He rolled his eyes at me. “The men will be done with the roof today at best. Nothing is gonna happen, princess.”
Great. Even the doctor here is a fucktard.
I didn’t know why I gave a shit anyway. It was the aspiring engineer in me who did, I presumed. As for me, I hoped all of them broke their necks, choked on their beers, rolled over their bikes or got fucking bullets in their ugly skulls.
“C’mon, buddy. Let’s go,” someone said from inside the house.
The screen door squeaked again, and a big man with red hair and a Road Captain patch on his back emerged. Then a little boy dragging a school bag flashed onto the porch.
I scowled as I watched him race to the parked bikes.
“Easy, buddy.” The redhead laughed and nodded at Owl but not me. “He can’t wait to get on the road.”
Owl laughed back. “Stay in school, Kid!”
Yes. Stay in school. Stay the fuck out of here. Run and never look back. What the fuck was a child doing here?
“A snake bit you?” Owl asked.
I dragged my gaze from the cutest little boy who was now wearing a tiny helmet and getting on the redhead’s bike. “What do you mean?”
“You look like you were bitten by a snake, princess.”
I only realized my brows were hooked so tight from the headache pulsing in my forehead. “Who’s that?”
“Skid and his son.”
“He lives here?”