13. Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Nap time is my happy hour.
Chance had double-checked the house, and Berlin had shown him all the security measures in place, but he still didn’t like sleeping in a new place. Especially with the potential danger from a biker gang hanging over them. They had no idea what, if anything, Johnny or Brody had told the other members of the Uptown Street Kings.
It would be monumentally stupid of them to tell the truth, and he didn’t actually think Johnny would say shit about them. But Brody might have already called his lawyer and spun a story to his gang.
Chance didn’t know if Brody had put targets on Berlin and him, and he hated not knowing. Especially with her involved. The thought of anything happening to her had him seeing red.
Leaning against her bedroom door wearing little shorts and an oversized hoodie, Berlin eyed him curiously. And god she was gorgeous. She’d showered and braided her long, dark, pink-streaked hair, washed her makeup off and smelled like vanilla and something fresh. He was having far too many fantasies about her, something he needed to lock down tight. “You checked again?” she asked, her tone dry.
He lifted a shoulder even as he ordered his dick to calm down. Because this woman had him twisted up in a way he’d never experienced. In a way he’d never realized was possible. “Can’t help it.”
“You just want to sleep in here with me?” she asked, throwing him with the question.
He froze, until he remembered the twin beds in the room she’d chosen. “It wouldn’t be weird?”
She shrugged. “Not to me, but you’re tall. I get if you don’t want to sleep in a Barbie bed.”
He laughed, something he seemed to do a lot around her, and headed in with her. The bed would definitely be too small, but he wanted to be close to her for more reasons than he wanted to explore. “It’s fine, and yes, I’d rather be in here in case anything happens…and you already moved my bag in here.”
She snickered. “With all your manic checking, I kinda figured it was a foregone conclusion. Fair warning, I need a white noise machine to sleep so I hope it doesn’t bother you.”
“No worries, I actually listen to ASMR to get to sleep.” Had for years. He could sleep without it, but it was often the only way he could actually doze without staring at the ceiling as his mind raced a thousand miles a minute.
“I tried that, but for some reason it makes me even more hyper. Will the noise machine bother you? I can just use earbuds.”
“Nah. It’ll be background to the ASMR.” He pulled out his own earbuds. “I’m good. And you’re sure the alarm is set?”
“Yes,” she said on a laugh. “And it’s set to blare so loud that no one would stick around if it goes off. And no rando is accidentally setting it off, trust me. Not to mention the rest of the crew gets an alert if it’s triggered.”
“Okay.” He could rest, then. Because it wasn’t himself he was worried about, but her. Yeah, she was capable, but she was still soft and untrained and… The thought of anything happening to her sent a slick of ice down his spine. Not on his watch.
She pulled the blackout drapes shut before stretching out on a twin-sized bed, and since he didn’t want to get caught staring, he lay on his back on the other bed, settling in. But he didn’t put his earbuds in yet.
“Thank you for your help with this mess,” he said into the quiet. The white noise machine was faint, just adding a little bit of background without being overwhelming.
“I like helping. It’s actually let me take my mind off my sister…and my own bullshit.”
“What bullshit?”
She shoved out a sigh and turned on her side to face him, so he did the same. There was enough light streaming in from the attached bathroom that he could see her clearly.
“Maybe it’s not bullshit, but I’ve got to let my sisters spread their wings and be more independent. I just have this compulsive need to take care of them because I’m the eldest. To take care of everything,” she added in a whisper.
“Yeah, I can see that.” He kept his voice pitched low as well. She was bathed in shadows but hadn’t bothered with the covers, so her legs were bare. He wanted to cover her with himself, keep her warm, protected…to make her moan with pleasure as she came against his face. “Who takes care of you?”
She was silent for a long moment. “When we were growing up, my parents were sort of hippies,” she said, not answering his question. “I didn’t realize our lifestyle was abnormal until later. And for the record, I don’t think abnormal is a bad thing. But they dragged us around the US and Europe for most of our lives under the guise of us getting a ‘real world’ education. And maybe they meant it.” She sighed.
“But?”
“But…I ended up making sure that we all had breakfast every morning, that my sisters and I actually took necessary tests, reminded my parents when it was time for vaccinations or checkups.”
He’d known she’d taken care of her sisters from conversations they’d had while gaming, but he hadn’t expected this. “Jesus, how old were you when…you started taking care of them?”
“Forever really, but when I was twelve Cheyenne got really sick and my parents didn’t want to take her to the hospital. My mom insisted it was just a fever. We were in Oregon at the time, staying in an RV park. I made a big stink and one of our neighbors was a traveling nurse. She called 911 when my parents wouldn’t do anything. And it’s a good thing she did, because it turned out she had appendicitis.”
He swore softly.
“Yeah, they were a little better after that.”
“I’m sorry you had to parent your own sisters. That’s not fair.”
“I know. And I don’t regret it or anything. I just… Sometimes I wish I’d had a normal childhood. Or maybe not normal, just parents who cared more.”
There was a sad note in her voice that made him want to pull her into his arms. But he knew that wasn’t on the table, and that it would only complicate things anyway. “If it makes you feel better, my mom dumped me with my grandma and ran off with…I don’t even know.” Some random flavor of the week. After his sister Ivy had died, she’d left him and Enzo, and signed over her parental rights. At the time he hadn’t understood—and he still couldn’t imagine doing something like that, but she’d lost a child. It had broken her in a way he could never understand.
“Of course that doesn’t make me feel better.”
Yeah, that had been a stupid thing to say. God, he was not great with women. Or people in general. But he was good with Moonlighter. “I know, sorry, that was stupid. I just meant… I don’t know. Families suck sometimes.”
She did that snort-laugh thing as she flopped on her back. “Yeah, true enough. But I’ve got my sisters, and despite what you saw earlier,” she said around a yawn, “I think of my crew as family.”
“I definitely believe that. And the redhead thinks of you as a younger sister, in case you didn’t realize it.”
“Adalyn.” She paused, then rolled back over to look in his direction. “You think?”
“Oh yeah. It’s why she was so upset. She was worried about you.”
Berlin made a hmm sound, then pulled her covers over her. “We’re going to find your brother.” Her voice was sleepy now.
“Just get some rest,” he murmured, not wanting to think about his brother one way or another. Unlike Berlin, who’d looked after her sisters, he’d failed his sister years ago and now he felt like he’d failed Enzo.
It was why he had to find him, to make things right.