Prologue
7 years ago…
KARA
“Would you ever just go away with me?” I ask Rush, lifting my head up from his chest just enough to peer into his eyes.
“Where? And for how long?” he asks around a yawn, his arm fastening tighter around my waist.
Pop still has a week left on a long ride. As a prospect, Rush isn’t allowed to go on the big rides with them yet, since he still has to earn his place. And part of earning that place is keeping the warehouse clean, guarded, and stocked in their absence.
Only a few others who aren’t really trusted yet are still here. However, there are so few, that Rush and I have been able to actually spend real time together without having to sneak around so hard.
My father would kill him, and my brother may decide to do the same. Never can tell with Drex. He’d either not care at all, or he might kill Rush just for the disrespectful approach. Depends on his mood.
My father would do it just to hurt me. No doubt about that.
Rush doesn’t think that though. He thinks we’re being overly cautious.
Because he thinks he’s one of them, and he’s not. He’s just too naïve to see it.
“I can get money out of the account, and we can go to Bali or something just as exotic and sexy,” I tell him as I drag a finger down his chest. “And we’d stay gone, using some more money I have stashed away for a rainy day.”
He tenses, and I try to distract him by dragging my hand down farther. He captures my wrist, halting my descent, and looks at me like I’m crazy.
“Why would we do that?” he asks seriously.
Because he doesn’t see.
And I don’t want to get him killed by opening my mouth too soon.
“If I bought two plane tickets tonight, would you go?” I ask him.
That story will be printed tonight, and by tomorrow, the cops will be coming to arrest Herrin. He won’t have a chance to get out of it. The paper has all the proof, even if my brother refuses to listen to me.
Drex’s head has been twisted, since Pop has actually doted on him all these years, grooming him to be the perfect protégé. Drex can’t step outside the bubble of lies long enough to examine the truth.
Maybe if I’d been doted on, I’d be just as fucking clueless, because I wouldn’t want to see. Just like he doesn’t.
He wouldn’t even hear the evidence, let alone see it. He doesn’t want to know, because that would mean he’d have to face the truth.
And life as he knows it would be blown all to hell.
Unlike me, he likes his life.
Just like Rush.
Just like them all.
Rush continues to hesitate, thinking over my question. “I’d rather we just stay here. I’ll eventually earn my cut, and we can ride with them. Your dad won’t mind us together once I’m really in the club.”
The smile on his face is just too honest. Even though he was tossed around and kicked out of home after home until Sledge took him in last year, he’s still too naïve about just how cruel people can be.
“If I said I wanted to leave it all behind and just go be normal, happy people, would you go with me?” I go on, needing him to agree so I can tell him everything and we can get out of here before Pop gets arrested in another state tomorrow night.
He runs his finger down my cheek, a confused smile on his lips.
“No. Because we’re not normal. We’ve both seen shit that prevents us from being like the Barbies and Kens out there. This is home, Kara. And it’s the first time I’ve ever really had a home.”
“Home is just a blanket word used to describe a sense of belonging, and we can belong anywhere we want to together,” I tell him with a soft smile. “Let’s just go far away from here.”
I start to lean up to kiss him, but he moves out from under me with angry, jerky movements.
“What the hell is going on with you?” he snaps as he stands and starts pulling on his jeans with his back to me.
Sitting up and keeping the sheet clutched to my chest, I take a shaky breath.
“Seriously,” he snaps, not looking at me as he dresses. “You’ve been acting weirder and weirder for months now.”
It’s like pulling off a strip of wax. It’ll take too long to slowly try to peel it back from the edges. It’s better to just rip it off.
“A few months ago, I discovered that Herrin killed my mom, and—”
He bursts out laughing, and my heart sinks as he turns around and looks me in the eyes with an incredulous expression.
“Your mom was a junkie. And—”
“My mom and Drex’s mom both died from a drug overdose, and you think that’s a coincidence?” I ask bitterly, tired of trying to coax him into this when he should be willing to go without hesitation if he really cares about me.