Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Camryn
Four hours in a van with my niece and Barrett has been interesting to say the least. He let Syd have control of the radio for the first two hours.
That was…not fun for anyone other than her.
But I know it scored major points for Barrett, even though I caught him wincing multiple times when the screams coming through the speaker reached near ear-piercing levels.
Finally, he turned it over to me, and I spared us by playing some old country music.
When I offered to give him a turn, to my surprise, he said he was happy with my playlist, so I kept it going.
Traffic is a bitch, exactly like I knew it would be when we got into the city.
“Where the hell am I supposed to park?” Barrett gripes on our third trip around my block.
“And this is why I never bought a car. Oh, right there!” I point at a car pulling out of a space, excited that it didn’t take another three rounds of waiting for someone to leave. The van barely fits, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Syd and I get out of the van and stretch our arms over our heads.
“How was sitting in the back?” I ask.
There was a little fold-down seat in the cargo area of the van that Syd volunteered to take.
“Not too bad.” She looks around the street where my apartment building is located. “It’s weird to think that this is the last time we’re going to be here.”
I exhale a deep breath and nod. This kid has had too many “last times” in her short life.
I won’t lie and say I’m not feeling a little sad about leaving my apartment.
When I came to New York for college, I was so excited to be out from under my parents’ rule.
The city gave me a fresh start. Originally, I thought I’d be an art director at some posh gallery or something along those lines.
That was my idea when I came here, at least. But then I realized rubbing shoulders with all the rich assholes like my parents was a hard no for me.
Though teaching wasn’t necessarily in my life plan, it turns out I loved it.
And I loved my little apartment that my salary barely paid for. But it was mine. I’d done it on my own.
“Not a bad place,” Barrett says, taking in the tree-lined street and the brownstone apartment buildings.
There’s a crispness in the air that signals fall is right around the corner—and that wasn’t here when we left.
Now we’ll be in Shine when the fall colors paint the landscape all those reds and oranges.
We won’t experience another New York Christmas.
No skating at Rockefeller Center. No Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.
No more Serendipity frozen hot chocolate.
My eyes fill with tears, which surprises me.
We’ll have to start entirely new traditions in Shine.
“Hey, you okay?” Barrett asks as he quietly stands next to me.
“Yeah.” I clear my throat. “I wasn’t expecting it to hit me like this.” I shake my head. “I’m not having second thoughts or anything. Just…”
“Just saying goodbye,” he finishes for me.
“Yeah.” I look over at Syd, who is leaning against the van, scrolling through her phone. “Ready, kiddo?”
She straightens. “Yup.”
Barrett walks around to the back of the van and opens the doors, pulling out several broken-down boxes. “Grab the tape, would you, Syd?”
“On it.” She bounds to the back of the truck.
God, this kid is absolutely amazing. This is a new adventure for her, and I’m so damn happy she’s up for the challenge.
Not that I ever thought she wouldn’t be, but now that Sam is gone, it completely depends on me and Barrett to take care of her, to make sure she grows up into a well-adjusted adult.
Though I’ve been working toward that for the last several years, it hits me that we’re all she has, and if we fuck it up, we’re the only ones responsible.
“Come on, Aunt Cam. Let’s get this done so we can go get some pizza,” she calls as she crosses the street to my building.
“Pizza, you say?” Barrett asks, following her.
“Holy shit, you haven’t had a slice until you’ve had Georgio’s,” Syd tells him.
“I don’t know, kid. I’ve had a lot of pizza in my life. Some of it’s been pretty damn spectacular.”
I follow them to the stoop, unlock the door to the building’s small entryway, and start trudging up the stairs to my third-floor apartment.
Barrett and Syd argue about what makes a good slice, and a smile stretches across my face.
I was terrified when Syd told me how drunk Barrett was the night she came to the clubhouse.
Then the next day, he barely said five words to her.
To see the transformation in their relationship has been amazing to watch.
When I get to my door, it’s ajar. Alarm bells go off in my head.
“This was closed and locked when I left,” I say.
Barrett immediately drops the boxes he’s carrying. His hand wraps around my arm, and he pulls me back from the door.
Nodding to the right, Barrett says, “Go stand over there with Syd.”
I grasp Syd’s hand and pull her away, putting my body in front of hers.
Barrett reaches behind him and pulls a gun from a holster I didn’t know he was wearing.
“Where did you get that?” I whisper-shout at him.
“I never leave home without it, pup.”
Anxiety is clawing up my chest. He was carrying a loaded weapon the entire drive here, and I never knew it.
He never leaves his house without one. Reality slams into me.
This is his life. Carrying weapons for what?
Just in case he needs to take care of someone real quick?
In case he’s attacked and needs to defend himself?
This is the life my niece is now a part of.
And it scares the hell out of me. Knowing he’s an outlaw biker and seeing what that looks like in broad daylight are two very different things, and I was not prepared.
With one hand pointing the gun into my apartment, Barrett uses the other to gently swing the door open.
“Where’s your bedroom?” Barrett asks before stepping into my apartment.
“To the left. Bathroom is across the hall, and the kitchen is to the right.”
He nods and steps inside.
“I’m scared,” Syd whispers behind me, and I squeeze her hand tighter.
“It’s okay, sweetie. We’ll be okay.” I don’t know if I believe that as much as I did just a few minutes ago, but not because I think we’re in physical danger this instant.
If—and that’s a big if—someone is in my apartment, I know Barrett will take care of it.
No, the danger I’m afraid of is letting my guard down more than I already have.
Letting myself feel like Syd has found a family when it seems this family is putting her in danger.
A couple of achingly breathless minutes pass before Barrett walks out of my apartment with the gun tucked away. “All clear, but your place has been ransacked.”
I close my eyes and take in several long breaths, trying to calm my racing heart before stepping toward the door. Barrett moves out of my way so I can enter, and what I see guts me.
My apartment is in a state of utter chaos.
The cushions of my couch have been torn apart, and my coffee table is sitting on its side.
I look to the right, and all of my cupboards are open.
When I walk closer to the kitchen and look down, the few plates and coffee cups I had are scattered on the floor, mostly broken.
Pots and pans are littered around the floor as well.
Someone pulled everything out of my cupboards and simply left it where it landed.
“Careful,” Barrett says, walking behind me and placing a comforting palm on my lower back. “There’s a lot of broken glass.”
“I can see that,” I say and turn out of his touch.
I walk toward the bathroom and peek inside. It’s in a similar state to my kitchen, and I shake my head before padding into my bedroom. The mattress sits halfway off the frame, and all of the bedding has been pulled off and lies in a jumbled heap in the corner.
Syd and Barrett stand in my doorway, watching me as I slowly spin, taking in the destruction of my room. My dresser drawers are open, and bras, panties, socks, and pajamas are either hanging out of the drawers or lying on the floor.
I had one small jewelry box sitting on top of my dresser with a few pieces that I’d been given over the years.
I open the box and find it empty. I’m not particularly attached to most of the pieces, but there was a pair of diamond earrings that my grandmother had given me on my sixteenth birthday that I’d planned to give to Syd when she turned sixteen.
Those are gone, along with anything else of value in the jewelry box.
“How the hell did someone come in here and ransack the place without anyone calling the cops?” Barrett asks, his eyes scanning the destruction.
I shrug. “It’s New York,” is all I say.
“Well, I’m fucking glad you aren’t staying here,” Barrett says.
Syd looks at him, then to me. “You okay, Aunt Cam?”
I slowly shake my head back and forth and let out a long sigh. “No. But there isn’t much I can do.”
“Should we call the police? File a report?” Syd asks, and I shake my head again.
“It’s a break-in, and whoever did it is long gone. The police aren’t going to be able to do much, sweetie.” Not to mention her father has a gun tucked inside his fucking pants.
“What do you want to do, Cam?” Barrett asks. That’s the first time he’s called me anything other than my full name or that ridiculous nickname he still uses for me.
“We’ll pack up the rest of our clothes,” I tell Syd. “Then I’ll call the landlord and ask him about getting the place cleared out since nothing is salvageable. I guess I can kiss my security deposit goodbye.”
“Give me his number. I’ll take care of it,” Barrett says, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“You don’t have to do that,” I say, putting up a weak pretense of a fight.