If, for some reason, they overheard her telling Dodge, they might be upset she didn’t want to share it with them. Maybe even disappointed.
They also might tell her that traveling around in a damn bus trying to make money wasn’t smart and might even suggest breaking up the band and encourage her to go get some minimum wage job that wouldn’t help.
Minimum wage was called that for a reason. It only gave you enough to afford the minimum, if even that. And she needed a lot more than the minimum to solve her problem. Or at least attempt to solve it.
She’d been at a loss for a long time. A complete and utter loss.
She thought things would change once she turned eighteen.
She was wrong.
So very wrong.
She thought it would be a magical age. She’d officially become an “adult” and would get the power back that she had lost years before as a teen.
She found out the hard way that wasn’t true.
She quickly discovered she was just as helpless at eighteen as she had been at twelve, thirteen, fourteen and every year after that. Why? Because she had no money.
Becoming labeled as an adult didn’t do shit. Having money did.
The saying was true: Money talked.
The only good thing about turning old enough was that she could leave.
The only bad thing was, what she had to leave behind.
She’d been torn.
Now she hoped her brother would help her recover what had been stolen from her.
Not her innocence. That could never be recovered.
But the one thing she valued most in life.
Her secret.
The secret she’d kept shoved so far deep and never discussed because if she did, it would break her heart into a million little shards and she was afraid she’d never be able to recover from that.
She needed to remain strong and determined. Also focused.
On her music. On making a name for the band. On her goals. And in turn, making money.
No matter how hard things got, she never gave up. Not once.
Dodge’s deep and delicious voice filled her ears, bringing her back to the skoolie. She focused once again on him. On his larger than life presence. On the man that had twisted things inside her. Who made her question almost everything.
Who made her drop her guard.
He’d been watching her with his own eyes guarded. He didn’t like what he’d seen cross her face. He didn’t like being kept in the dark.
But he didn’t need to like it. It was her burden, not his.
A warmth swirled through her as she did the same to him, checking him out from the top of his knit cap covered head all the way to his biker boots still coated with a dusting of snow.
When she lifted her gaze again and their eyes locked once more, he tipped his head toward the door to his left. “Outside.”
Her heart began to thump heavily in her chest for two reasons. The man standing before her and the man she was about to meet. A brother but still a stranger. When Sig shouldn’t be.
When she took the few steps to close the gap between them, Dodge kept his eyes locked on her while he ordered, “Go ahead and hook up the bus to the utilities again. You won’t be goin’ anywhere for a while.”
He did not wait for a response from any of the guys, instead he turned on his boot heel and headed back outside into the cold.
As she passed Rex in the driver’s seat, she nodded. “Hook up for now. I don’t know how long we’ll be here.”
“We should go with you,” Nico said behind her.
“No, it’ll be fine. I need to talk to my brother first and figure out some things. Then we can make a new plan.”
“Syn…” Rex said, turning her name into a warning.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll see if I can score us some more food, too. Sit tight and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“We don’t know these fucking people,” Rex insisted.
Syn paused on the bottom step. “You’re right.” She stepped out into late night chill. She was surprised Dodge had even been waiting at the farm and not working the bar since it was a Saturday night.
The bus door closed tightly behind her and in the dark, she saw the man, also dressed in almost all black, standing off to the side. Waiting.
Big, heavy snowflakes fell around them, landing on his leather-clad shoulders, on his black beanie and getting caught in his beard.
In a blur, his hand snaked out of the dark, wrapped around her throat and he twisted them both until her back was pressed against the side of the bus. His chest and hips pinned hers, trapping her.
His other hand drove into her hair, using a tight grip to tip her head back, arching the very same throat he held onto, and he took her mouth. Their lips and tongues colliding.