Chapter 3 #2
“I swear I was going to call you today,” Sydney says, looking at me with eyes pleading for me to believe her. “I just couldn’t risk your parents finding out where I went.”
“That was beyond risky, Syd. A million things could have happened to you, and I wouldn’t know where to look for you.”
“How did you find her?” Barrett asks, standing next to the door. I can’t tell if he’s making sure I don’t take off with Syd, or if he’s keeping his options open for making a quick getaway. I’m sure the latter is something he’s used to.
“I checked her computer,” I answer and arch a brow, giving Syd a look that screams that though I’m happy she’s safe, we have a lot to discuss. “Apparently, my niece did her research.”
“Smart kid,” Lucy says. “She obviously doesn’t take after her father.”
“Not the time, Lucy,” Charlie says.
Lucy shrugs and grabs a mug of tea off the bar and sips it, her gaze darting between me, Sydney, and Barrett as though she’s waiting for the show to start.
“Is there somewhere I can talk to my niece privately?” I ask Lucy.
“You can take her back to your room, Syd. I promise I won’t listen in with my ear against the door. Scout’s honor,” Lucy says, holding up three fingers.
“She was never a Girl Scout, but I’ll make sure she doesn’t go back there,” Charlie reassures me.
“Spoilsport,” Lucy comments, and Charlie rolls her eyes.
“I’ll save you some breakfast,” Cece says, and I nod to her in thanks.
“Lead the way, kiddo,” I tell Sydney, and she walks down the hallway then makes a left to a row of doors.
She opens the third one on the right and we step into a room with a queen-size bed, a small nightstand next to it with a lamp emitting a soft glow inside the room.
I spot Sydney’s backpack on the chair in the corner and look through another door, finding a small bathroom.
“You slept in here last night?” I ask.
“Yeah, when I got here, it was pretty late, so Charlie and Lucy set me up with a room. I guess they don’t live here anymore. Lucy said this was her bedroom when she first came to the clubhouse.”
I sit on the bed and pat the mattress next to me. When Syd has a seat, she blows out a long breath. “I’m sorry. But being in that house with your parents was kind of scaring me. I can understand why Mom quit talking to them,” Syd says.
“I can relate. Trust me,” I mumble. “How the hell did you even find Barrett?”
Syd bites her lip and stares at her hands as she picks at her nails. “Mom,” she finally answers.
“What? Your mom hated him. She couldn’t say his name without making a face.”
Syd scrunches her nose like she just smelled something rancid. It’s the same face Sam used to make when she absolutely detested something.
“That would be the one,” I say with a small chuckle.
“Mom was freaked out before she died. Something kind of had her spooked, but she wouldn’t tell me what.
I…I thought it either had something to do with the guy she was seeing or whatever she’s been using, so I didn’t really question her.
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for her to act like that sometimes. ”
I hate that Syd knows that. When Samantha was alive, it was hard, but I managed to stay neutral with her.
I wanted to rail against her and tell her how much she was fucking up her daughter, but as long as Sydney felt comfortable coming to me when things were chaotic at home, I kept my mouth shut.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have put it past my sister to have forbidden Sydney from seeing me.
Samantha had a jealous streak when we were young, and if she thought her daughter wanted to stay with me over her, it would not have gone well.
Now, though? Now I’m pissed. And I feel like shit for being mad at a dead woman who had problems no one knew about.
“A few days before her accident,” Sydney continues, “she told me if anything happened to her, I should find Barrett. She knew he was in Massachusetts.” That’s news to me. How did Samantha even know that? Guess we can add that to the list of questions we’ll never have answers to.
“So you went online and found him?”
“It wasn’t hard. They have tons of websites you can use to find people. He doesn’t have a criminal record or anything, either.”
“Probably because he hasn’t been caught,” I say. “This is a motorcycle clubhouse. These guys aren’t exactly on the up-and-up, Syd.”
“Neither was my mom,” she shoots back.
She kind of has me there.
“I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me, though. I knew you wanted to know about him. We could have found him together.”
Syd shrugs. “I don’t know. When I heard your father talking to you last night, I got scared you were going to leave me with him. He’s got a lot of money, and my mom always said she stayed away because she was afraid he would try to take me or try to make her stay.”
When Samantha left home, my father wrote her off.
At least as far as I know. She was a disgrace to his public image as far as he was concerned.
I still don’t understand why he’s adamant about wanting Sydney to live there.
My parents aren’t exactly the loving parental figures they’ve always portrayed to the public. So why now? And why Syd?
“I would never have left you there, sweetie. I planned to ask Barrett if he would sign custody over, since technically, he’s your father,” I reassure her. “Though I’m not sure he’s going to be inclined to do me any favors right now.”
Sydney chuckles. “I could hear you on the other side of the door before I walked out. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you that pissed off. Not even last night when your dad was threatening you.”
There’s something about Barrett that’s always gotten under my skin.
Maybe it was the way he looked at me right after I first met him, like I was the dirt under his shoe.
There were plenty of times after that first day at Lake Titan that I’d been forced to spend time with him since Sam was sneaking around, and I had to tag along for cover.
The man never let me forget how unwanted I was.
He’d tell me to run along like a good little puppy while he and my sister found somewhere to “be alone.” Hell, Sydney was probably conceived behind some tree or at the carnival that was in town that summer while I was walking around by myself, stuffing my face with cotton candy. Not that I would ever tell her that.
“You are the most important thing in my life, Sydney. There isn’t anywhere that I wouldn’t fight tooth and nail to get to you if I thought for a second you were in trouble.”
“I know, Aunt Camryn.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and she leans against me. We sit like that for a few moments before I hear a loud growl come from Sydney’s stomach.
“Hungry?” I ask. We can finish this conversation later. If the girl is starving, she needs to get fed.
“Yeah. I haven’t eaten since the bus ride here. I was too nervous last night.”
“Come on. Let’s get some food in you. I also need someone there to call 9-1-1 in case Barrett tries to poison me,” I say with a laugh.
She looks up at me from under the arm I have wrapped around her. “You two really hate each other, huh?”
“We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot. And after him taking off on you and your mom, there wasn’t any love lost between us.” That’s putting it incredibly mildly.
Sydney and I walk back into the main room of the clubhouse as a few of the guys are clearing plates while the three women I met this morning are sitting around a table.
I’m slightly taken aback by the idea that these men are cleaning up after themselves and not making the women do it.
From what I assume about motorcycle clubs, that’s not usually how it’s done—not that I know much about the subject.
“You’re back,” Cece says with a sweet smile. “Cash, would you mind grabbing the plates in the oven for the girls?”
He smiles and leans down, pressing a small kiss to her lips. “Be right back.”
Cece sees the expression on my face and must have some uncanny ability to read minds. “I cook, they clean. Well, Cash does, but he makes his brothers pitch in when we’re here.”
“That’s…” I’m not really sure what to say to that.
“Completely normal and not what you’d expect from a group of bikers and their old ladies?” she finishes for me.
“Something like that,” I answer with a smile. Cece seems sweet. Actually, so far, all of the women I’ve met seem kind. But that still doesn’t mean I’m happy about sitting in a clubhouse with a bunch of bikers.
Cash brings us the plates, and Sydney starts inhaling her food like she hasn’t eaten in days. When I take a bite of the blueberry and cream turnover that Cece made, I nearly groan with how good it is.
“My sister is a magician in the kitchen,” Lucy says next to me. “She sells out practically every day at the coffee shop in town.”
“What do you do?” Charlie asks me from across the table.
“I’m an art teacher in New York,” I reply.
“Oh, you have to meet our friend Mia. She’s the school librarian at the high school in Shine,” Charlie says. “Lucy, weren’t you saying that the shelter wanted to start an art program for the kids there?” Charlie looks at me. “Lucy and Jude volunteer at the women’s shelter once a week.”
Okay, not something I would expect.
“Yeah, Matilda has been looking into it,” Lucy replies.
“You should meet her, too. I’m sure she would love some advice,” Charlie says.
“Oh, we aren’t going to be here for long. I have to get back to work. The school year just started. They didn’t have a problem with me taking some time off for my sister’s funeral, but…”
“I figured you would want to stay with Sydney,” Lucy says.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Lucy and Charlie share an uncomfortable look.
“The club is big on taking care of family. I don’t think Barrett is going to be okay with you taking off with his kid,” Lucy says.
The turnover turns into lead in my stomach. That is not what I wanted to hear.
The girls look behind me, and I turn to see Barrett coming down the hallway with two people: a man in a vest that reads “President” and a woman in a smart-looking business suit. The two are holding hands. It’s not exactly the coupling I would expect, but somehow looks perfectly natural.
“Camryn,” Barrett says, walking up to the table with the couple. “This is my president, Ozzy.” The man gives me a perfunctory smile and reaches out to shake my hand. “And this is Freya, my attorney. She’ll be handling my custody case.”
His what?