Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC #4) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,39
been a bad boy, too. Always gravitated to leather since you were thirteen years old.”
“Oh, Pa was so fucking pissed when I spilled Kool-Aid on his leather jacket I borrowed.”
“God, the ass-whoopin’ they gave you scared even me.”
“I’ve still got a scar on the back of my upper thigh from where the metal tugged open my skin.”
She gasped. “That happened to you? Jesus, JayJay.”
“Hey, neither of us pretend we came from some sort of privileged situation.”
Her eyes fell out the window. “This is true.”
I settled my hand on her knee. “Talk to me, Simone. What really brought you to my house in the first place?”
As I watched her stare out the window, my heart sank to my toes. All of this stuff she was already worried about, and I had to pull her into all of this shit? She never should’ve gotten wrapped up in my bullshit. She never should’ve been front and center for any of this. Maybe it wasn’t safe that Simone was with me. Maybe I needed to send her on her way. Or call someone and have them pick her up.
Or take her home and tell her to stay away once we could get out of this campground.
“Simone,” I said softly.
She sniffled. “Just give me a second.”
Is she crying? “You’re worrying me here. Talk.”
She wiped at her eyes. “Brookie.”
I blinked. “What the fuck is a ‘Brookie?’”
She scoffed. “It’s not a thing. It’s a person. A loan shark, actually.”
My eyes finally turned forward. “Oh, boy.”
“Hey, don’t say shit like that. Okay? I thought I had things under control.”
“So, what was it? Gambling? Poker? Run up too much credit card debt?”
She shook her head. “Whatever. I knew you wouldn't understand.”
“I’m just trying to get to the truth of what’s really going on.”
She looked at me with fire in her eyes. “If you really wanted to do that, you’d know damn good and well I don’t have the time nor the patience for card games.”
“Just like when you were little.”
She looked out the windshield. “Yep.”
“So, what happened? Why did you go to a loan shark for money?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “Ma and Pa.”
“I’m sorry, run that by me again?”
She put her head in her hands. “Ma and Pa. They got me into this situation. They paid for my schooling and I was thankful for it. But a little less than a year after I graduated, they called me and held it over my head. Told me that I owed them for my education and that they were in a real bind they needed help with.”
“And that they would’ve had the money had they not put you through school.”
Her eyes gravitated toward the profile of my face. “I see you still know how they think.”
“People like them never change, S. No matter how much we want them to. How much did they need? And for what?”
She slumped. “Ten grand. To put a down payment on refinancing their home.”
“And you didn’t have that money, so you went to a loan shark?”
“No, I went to the banks first. I maxed out my credit cards to find you because I knew you’d be able to talk some sense into me. But they kept calling and calling and Ma even cried over the phone to me and Pa was talking about them getting thrown out onto the street or some shit so they had to refinance or whatever the hell it was they were doing and I panicked, okay?”
I took her hand. “Okay, okay, okay. Hey. Simone. Listen to me, all right?”
She sniffled. “Ye—yeah?”
“When we get ourselves out of this situation and get back to reality? I’ll help you with the loan shark. I’ll take Bowser or someone and we’ll pay a visit to this Brookie—”
“No, no, no. They’ll come after me that way.”
“Do you trust me, Simone?”
I looked over at her and gazed deeply into her eyes. And after searching mine for a few seconds, she nodded.
“Yes, I do.”
I turned my eyes forward. “Good. Then, trust that I will get you out of this situation. Then? We’re getting you a new damn cell phone.”
“Wait, what? Why?”
“Because it’s about time Ma and Pa lost our numbers. Even if we have to lose it for them.”
16
Simone
I rode with Justin’s hand curled tightly around mine as the truck bobbed and swayed. I hadn’t seen an actual human being or a restaurant or a pharmacy—or even an actual road—for well over an hour. And as I thought on JayJay’s conversation about changing my cell phone number,