Chance walked up behind me. “They grow like weeds here.”
“It’s massive!” I said, in awe of the beautiful emerald green plant and the fuzzy, purple buds.
“Back in the sixties they used to grow it out here.”
“They?” I asked.
“My grandma and granddaddy. This is their cabin. They used to harvest weed when they first started the club. Grandma used to grow them here because the plants love the soil near the water. After fifty years, they still randomly appear all over the property.”
I couldn’t help but smile. It was easy to picture hippies living out here during the Summer of Love, nurturing their fat marijuana plants while jamming out to Jimi Hendrix. This place had a good vibe about it.
I followed Chance up the front step to the porch where he found the key sitting under a pot plant. It was hardly a secure place to keep a key, but I figured most people in the county knew who this cabin belonged to and how unwise it would be for anyone to break in to it.
Watching Chance, I admired his broad back and the muscles of his powerful shoulders as he unlocked the front door and stepped inside.
Entering the cabin, I took it all in. The cozy living room with the plush couches and the worn rug spread out on the floor in front. The cedar-paneled walls and high ceiling. The river stone fireplace and the scent of freshly split wood coming from the log pile next to it.
It felt comfortable. Welcoming. Safe.
We moved into the kitchen where French doors opened out to a spectacular view of the river. Pale morning sunlight shimmered on the water, and birds took up song in the trees on the riverbank. This place was special.
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I really am grateful,” I said, turning around to face him. “But you don’t even know me. Why are you helping me?”
Last night I was frightened. Too frightened and in shock to think logically. But in the safe light of day, it seemed ridiculous that I hadn’t asked him why he was putting himself out to help someone he didn’t even know.
My question seemed to take him by surprise because he paused, his brow furrowed as he looked at me, weighing his words. “Because if I don’t help you, you’re going to get hurt.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He put the bag of groceries down on the kitchen counter.
“If you run now, you’ll always be running. You need to take a moment to think about this with logic and not emotion.”
“I am being logical. If Barrett finds me, he will make me pay for running away.”
“He’s one man, Cassidy. He isn’t untouchable. The law—”
“The law has let me down more times than you could possibly imagine. Same with my parents. Believe me, if there was any other option I would explore it. But there isn’t. No one can stop him. The only thing I can do is keep one step ahead of him.”
“No one is invincible.”
“He is.”
“Then tell me about him.”
I wanted to, but a cold lump lodged in my throat.
“I will. But can I have a shower first?”
His smile was devastatingly handsome, but the empathy in it made me want to cry.
“Come on. You can pick a bedroom and hit the shower. I’ve got a couple of phone calls to make.”
We continued through the cabin toward the bedrooms. There were two of them. A big one with a king size bed and a view of the river and a second one with a set of bunkbeds and a double bed.
“Take whichever room you want.”
I stepped into the smaller room and put my bags on the bed. Through the curtains, I could see an old shack across the river along the sandy bank.
“This will be perfect. Thank you.”
He went to the kitchen to make coffee while I grabbed some toiletries and clean clothes from my bag, and disappeared into the bathroom. For a cabin, it was a decent size with a shower bath, toilet, a set of shelves with towels, and a porcelain basin beneath a big gleaming mirror. I set my clothes on the basin and turned on the shower. The pressure was good, and as the water warmed, I stripped out of my clothes and stepped under the hot spray. Immediately, I felt my body relax—probably for the first time since yesterday morning. Despite knowing I was safe in the clubhouse, even my sleep had been restless.
Safe.
It had been a long time since I’d felt it. And it was strange to think I found it in a clubhouse full of bikers drinking hard liquor while watching their own battle it out in a makeshift boxing ring.
And because of Chance.
Warmth poured into my chest when I thought about him; he was offering me a glimpse of an unreachable dream—to not have to run from my brother anymore.