Chapter 54
CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR
CHASSIS
When the rental pickup truck pulls into a sandy dirt-and-rock driveway, I look around. We’re only about an hour out of town, but I’ve never been this far north of Vegas before. I’ve been to Vegas, Prescott, and Los Angeles.
That’s as far as my traveling journeys have taken me. Which makes me wonder how in the hell my brother has been here before.
Gauge shifts the truck into Park, then touches the button to turn the ignition off. Reaching out, I curl my fingers around his wrist to stop him. He turns his head, his gaze finding mine.
The last hour has passed in complete silence.
I have a feeling he wants to get the fuck out of this truck so he can call Dad and Amos, something he doesn’t want to do in front of me for whatever reason.
Probably because this entire situation is my fault and he doesn’t want to make me cry by calling me an idiot to my face.
“How do you know this person, and what are we walking into?” I softly demand.
His lips twitch into a smirk. “Don’t worry about how I know her. Just know Heleni is a good person. No worries on any of that.”
Heleni.
I almost ask him who the fuck that is and how the hell he even knows her, but something catches the corner of my eye. The door to the blue ranch-style house opens, and I watch a woman walk out. A woman I would have never guessed my brother would ever be attracted to in a million years.
This Heleni woman is no biker babe.
She’s wearing a long skirt that sits low on her hips with a floral design printed all over it.
Her top is a flowy crop top made of linen or a gauzy fabric.
When the sun hits it, she’s clearly not wearing a bra—it’s completely see-through.
Her long, light-brown hair skims her elbows, and she wears it long and straight.
I open my mouth to ask him who the hell this woman is, but I don’t get the chance. She walks closer to us, lifting her arms as she waves her hands back and forth, and my brother is finished with me. His focus is only on this woman.
My hand falls from his wrist as he pushes the door open, climbs out, and marches directly toward her. I watch as he reaches down, wrapping his arms around her, and then my brother spins her around.
I stare in complete shock.
My brother has never done anything like this before that I know of. He’s… playful. I pinch myself, unsure if I’m really seeing what I’m seeing. He gently places her down on her feet, and then I watch, in awe, as he lifts his hand to cup her cheek.
He lowers his head, and his lips touch hers in a gentle, albeit sweet kiss. Blinking, I know I should look away because this seems very intimate, but I can’t. I’ve never seen any of my brothers be gentle, tender, and caring toward someone else before.
Not that they’re raging lunatics and assholes or anything, but I’ve never seen them bring someone they genuinely care about around. I don’t know if they’ve kept them away for a reason. I just assumed they did the clubwhore thing and nothing else.
When they’re finished with their greeting, the woman twists to the side, and her eyes find mine around my brother’s arm. She waves me over. I guess it’s time for me to get out of the truck and meet this woman.
Opening the car door, I jump down and try to smooth out my outfit, then cringe because I have nothing else to wear. This trip did not give me time to pack a single thing. I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow, but I guess that’s a problem for later.
As I walk toward them, my brother slides his arm around this woman’s waist and gently pulls her close against his side. I know I must be watching them with a mixture of confusion and surprise etched on my face.
Once I reach them, Heleni takes a step away from my brother, then another toward me, and wraps her arms around me. “Welcome to safety and peace, honey,” she whispers against my ear. “I’m Heleni.”
“Chassis,” I murmur, taking a step backward.
She does the same, taking one single step back, but we don’t get much space between us. She curls her fingers around my biceps as she holds on to me, her gaze finding mine and focusing. It’s in this moment that I know why Gauge is with her.
Looking into this woman’s eyes instantly puts someone at ease. There is a calming spirit about her that I’ve never felt before. She is unbothered and unworried about anything and everything.
Her gaze searches mine in silence, then she smiles and shifts her focus over to Gauge. “I love this. You are connected in a past life. You’re meant to be together.”
I open my mouth to remind her that Gauge is my brother, but I don’t get the chance. She releases my arms, taking one of my hands before reaching out to take Gauge’s. She sucks in a deep breath, holds it, then lets it out slowly, her eyes never leaving mine.
“You were sisters in another life, intertwined for eternity as soulmates, but sibling soulmates.”
Imagining Gauge as my sister makes me want to burst out laughing, but I don’t, because at the core, that’s actually really sweet.
And I can’t deny that we have a special connection, although each of my brothers and I have a different yet special connection to one another.
So who am I to know if she’s full of shit or not?
Maybe they are meant to be my siblings, not just in this life, but in every life.
“Now come inside. I made you something to eat. We’ll get to know one another while Gauge handles whatever he needs to handle.”
My lips curve up into a smile. I like that.
She’s giving him his space to handle his business, and she isn’t fazed in any way whatsoever that she’s not part of that.
Also, I would love to get to know her, and I won’t be able to get a proper read on her with Gauge hovering.
He’s obviously got feelings for this woman, and I want to know who has stolen my brother’s heart.
I’m also starving.