Laundry preoccupies me for nearly an hour after arriving home. I get mine done along with muddy shit Colton dumped in the washer. I assume he’s been out in the woods with the dogs recently, but who knows? My brother is very skilled at getting dirty.

Once I’ve washed, dried, and folded tons of clothes, I return to my room. I keep waiting for my parents to appear to provide my talking-to but upstairs remains quiet. Rando wanders by my open door, never looking inside.

Bored and lonely, I think of Cap. I imagine him riding around town on his massive Harley or hanging out in the bunker-style office. He probably had breakfast with his family this morning. I know they have a routine. Soon, that’ll be my routine too.

I hate thinking of leaving my room and the comfortable feeling of knowing my parents are just downstairs. This life is all I’ve known. It’s boring for sure yet also comforting. I can’t imagine living somewhere else, and those doubts dig into my head like a tick on a dog’s ass.

Needing reassurance, I dial Cap’s number and hope he picks up. If he sends my call to voicemail, my confidence will end up in the crapper, and I need to be fiercely committed if I plan to stand up to Pop AND Mom soon. Those two are pros at tag-teaming us kids. I can’t hesitate when confronting their parenting firewall or they’ll talk me into never moving out.

Rather than ignore my call, Cap answers by saying, “I thought you’d call earlier.”

“I only got home a few hours ago.”

“Figured you’d call me when you got up. I guess you didn’t miss me at all, huh?”

Grinning, I shake my head. “Not even a little.”

“I missed you, though. Does that mean this relationship is lopsided in favor of you?”

“I wish,” I mutter and roll back onto the bed. “Are you doing something with your voice? I don’t remember it sounding so deep.”

“That’s because you were distracted by my good looks. Poor Pipsqueak was literally blinded by my beauty,” he says, chuckling so deeply I can feel it in my gut.

“How come you never get blinded by my beauty?”

“What makes you think I’m not? You don’t know me when I’m not around you. I could be a whole other guy when you’re not around to make me horny and stupid.”

Giggling, I hate the sound of my silly laugh. He just makes me feel dumb in the best way.

“Are you having second thoughts about moving here yet?” he asks, always knowing where my head’s at.

“Yes.”

“I’ll survive alone if you need more time.”

“But driving back and forth sucks.”

“Has your father warmed up to the idea?”

“No, and Mom will soon be his backup.”

“Would it help if I came up there and won over your parents?”

“No, but you could help me pack, and we could make out in my bedroom.”

“When do you want me there?” he says immediately.

“How soon can you make it?”

“If I leave now, three hours probably.”

Stunned by his answer, I don’t respond right away. “I didn’t really mean today.”

“Why not? There’s a hotel near your house. I already checked. I keep an extra pair of clothes in my Harley. I can head out as soon as we hang up.”

“I don’t know.”

“Audrey, play it straight with me. No games or sarcasm or saying yes when you mean no. Just be square and answer me. Do you want me to drive up and see you?”

I look around my room, feeling homesick. I don’t want to leave this place, but I miss Cap already and wish he were next to me.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there by dinner.”

“No, wait,” I stammer. “Can you drive up tomorrow?”

“Why tomorrow?”

“I need time to prove to my parents that moving is my decision and I’m not your puppet.”

“Are you sure?”

“A hundred percent.”

“Tomorrow then.”

Sighing, I can already feel him next to me. “Tomorrow. Let me check on my parents and then I’ll call you back in a bit.”

Hanging up, I’m bitch-slapped by how much I crave him. I miss the way I feel when he’s in the same room. That Audrey is so much more EVERYTHING than the Audrey, who sits unsure after hanging up. I really like that Audrey. She doesn’t worry so much about what others think or do. She’s an all-around more relaxed version of me. Yeah, I want to hang with THAT chick and not the one I am in Ellsberg.

Heading downstairs, I find Pop and Mom in the kitchen. They stop whispering at the island and stare at me with matching disapproving dark-eyed gazes. I grab a handful of grapes from the fridge and start eating them out of my palm.

“Cap is driving up to see me tomorrow. I’m excited for Mom to meet him.”

“The guy is pushing too hard,” Mom says and looks to Pop. “Don’t you think he’s pushing too hard?”

“Yeah, he's an asshole.”

Popping another grape into my mouth, I mumble, “Gram said you were such an asshole to Mom that you lost her for a while and only got her back by being less of an asshole. You've been married for like ever, right? It’s possible Cap can decrease his assholeness like you did, Pop.”

“When did Gram tell you that?”

“Years ago while sloppy drunk on peach schnapps.”

“I wasn’t an asshole. Immature maybe.”

“And Cap is around the same age as when you won Mom’s heart. Immature isn’t a deal breaker especially considering how immature I am.”

“You are very young,” Mom sighs.

“And it’s time for me to get my own place and learn to take care of bills and my laundry and other crap.”

“You already do your laundry.”

“Because I want to. When I live on my own, I’ll do it because I have to.”

“I think you’re too young.”

“You were younger than me when you married Pop. And when you had Lily and Rando. Geez, you did a lot by the time you were my age.”

Pop narrows his gaze until he’s glaring at me through slits. “Stop complimenting your mom as a way to distract her.”

“She isn’t distracting me.”

“Well, she’s distracting me then,” Pop says and exhales roughly. “Your mom did accomplish a lot by your age. I mean, what the fuck is the holdup, Audrey?”

“My soft upbringing made me soft. You should have been tougher on me, Pop. The blame really lies with you.”

Mom fights a smile while giving Pop the side-eye. “You wanted Audrey to date Hayes’s kid. This was your plan, and it worked. Why don’t we settle down and see what happens?”

“Her compliments tricked you!” Pop cries, shocked by my successful tactic. “She’s playing you.”

“No, she just put the situation into context. We think of her as a child, but she isn’t. You and I were already together by her age.”

“This isn’t what I wanted when I brought her down to White Horse,” Pop says, pacing a circle around the island. “I thought they’d date casually for a few years and then he’d build a house here and run shit from afar.”

“There’s no way he’d leave White Horse,” I say.

“You barely know him.”

“He loves his town and his family and his job. He belongs there.”

“And you love it here.”

Shrugging, I suck a grape into my mouth. “I can take it or leave it.”

Mom frowns. “I thought you liked your life.”

“I’m bored here. I don’t want to go to school. I can’t date any of the bikers, and the other men around here would shit themselves in Pop’s presence. Remember how weird Jay was around Pop? He acted worse around Colton.”

“Your brother bullied him.”

“Exactly! Normal men can’t deal with this family. Now a man like Cap wouldn’t worry about Colton. He’d just squish him under his giant foot.”

Pop nods. “Hayes’s kid is big enough to do it, and Colt could use a decent beatdown.”

“I don’t want anyone messing with my boy,” Mom grumbles, forever protective of her only son.

“He’s got to take his lumps like everyone else in the Reapers. Can’t have him going soft if he wants to lead the club one day.”

“Going soft?” I snort. “He’s already soft. If Pop screwed me up, Colt is all on Mom.”

“Hey!”

“It’s true,” Pop says, now focused on my brother rather than me.

Nodding, I pile on just a bit more. “I did his laundry today, and I bet he won’t even thank me. I guess that means I baby him too. I say we gang up on him tonight and kick his ass. I’ll get my brass knuckles, and Rando can bring her plastic bat.”

Smirking, Pop shakes his head. “That stupid bat.”

“It hurts like hell,” I say, frowning at his grin. “Has she ever hit you with it?”

“Of course not.”

“Then don’t mock the fucking bat. She popped me in the shoulder with it once, and I thought my arm would fall off.”

“Why would she hit you?” Mom asks, assuming I did something to cause the attack. As usual, her guess isn’t wrong.

“I tried to steal the last cupcake that she’d already put dibs on. Big mistake. She whipped out that bat so fast that I didn’t have time to react. So, yeah, never underestimate the bat.”

As if summoned by our plotting against him, Colton Johansson—looking the spitting image of our father—stumbles from his bedroom. His blond hair reminds me of a starfish, and I can smell old booze on him from across the living room. My parents watch him emerge from his room, and he stops to acknowledge their gazes.

“What?” he asks, pulling up the boxers barely hanging from his hips.

I stop chewing on my grapes long enough to throw him an ounce of info. “We’re thinking about kicking your ass.”

“Like you could.”

Colton shuffles back into his bedroom and shuts the door. I glance at my parents and sigh. “You heard him, Pop. He challenged you. Walking away isn’t even an option now.”

“Huh, beating the crap out of him might not be such a bad idea,” Pop says to Mom who shakes her head. “What? It couldn’t hurt. My pop smacked me around when I got too big for my britches.”

“No smacking.”

“You’re babying him, Mom,” I say with a mouth full of grapes.

“Stop stirring up trouble, Audrey.”

“No.”

“I’m not fooled by how you’re distracting us from your move.”

Pop points his finger at me. “I’ll tell you what. Tomorrow, you take Hayes Junior to Kirk’s Whiskey, and I’ll tell your brother to give Cap the business. Then your boyfriend can prove his mettle by smacking around your brother.”

“No smacking,” Mom says from the sink.

Pop waits until her back is turned to us before whispering to me, “Mild slapping then.”

Winking at my father, I’ll miss these moments once I move south to White Horse. No more Pop and me plotting to cause trouble. Usually, we target Uncle Tucker, but occasionally, we go after club guys who piss off Pop. Without me here, who will help him dole out his ass-whooping lessons?