your life before you think you can fit so easily into mine.”
Bronco doesn’t tell me to get the fuck out of his room, but his edgy demeanor says enough. I tell him good night and then hurry upstairs. Checking on Sidonie and Desi, I find them zonked out in the pink princess room.
Then I check on Mom. While I don’t think I look upset, she gives me a sympathetic smile and asks if I want to talk. Not sure what I would even say, I shake my head and leave her to watch her movie on the tablet.
Bronco is the sexiest man I’ve ever met, and I feel things for him that I can’t control. But now I struggle like a teenager confused over a boy’s sudden coldness. I’m not dumb. I know men, but maybe not enough on a deeper level.
Checking on Carina, I find her sleeping soundly in her new crib. The nursery is lit by a small light from the monitor. I slide under the lavender-colored comforter on the twin bed and struggle against the urge to cry. Today was too much in too many damn ways.
An hour ago, I dreaded leaving this beautiful house with this new family that I felt myself wanting to be mine. I found myself daydreaming about grocery shopping in Elko and helping Bronco raise his girls. The fantasy felt so real.
But it was a lie. I don’t know the man downstairs. We’re hot together, but life is about more than fucking, and he remains a stranger.
Despite how much my heart wants to believe I belong here, I’m ready to return to Shasta. I miss my tiny room on the third floor of the Victorian. There’s so much to love about my home—waking to Max’s cooking, being surrounded by people who accept me, and knowing my place.
Elko only leaves me confused and, quite frankly, ashamed.
BRONCO
If Sidonie hadn’t kept me up most of last night, I would never get a lick of rest tonight. I sit in the dark living room long after everyone else is asleep. Lana got my back up, thinking about twenty years of fighting and bleeding to take Shasta.
Albert “Fuse” Reiss and Chris “Cum Shot” Matteau weren’t sitting on their asses during that time. They wanted Elko too. We fucked with each other for so long that it became mundane. Then they shot Summer, and things unwound quickly. My daughter should have never been in that position, and she won’t ever be the same. I didn’t handle the shooting well either.
Then the Reapers Motorcycle Club showed up and ended those old battles. River Majors has made his feelings clear on Elko. His club has no intention of expanding to Ohio. The Reapers will stick to Kentucky, for now. Fuse and Cum Shot are dead. A lot of the top Skullz are buried, but there are plenty of them still around. Maybe even the one who aimed the gun at my daughter.
I’m not sure I buy Lana’s innocent act. How could her people not warn her about the shooting? Or the deal I made to make things square afterward? Why would they keep such important information from her? Her innocent act feels like a lie.
That’s why I pushed her out of my bedroom and want her out of my house. I can’t let my attraction to her put my family at risk.
Except Sidonie is already attached to Lana and Desi. My daughter’s heart craves something I’ve never been able to give her. Now I’ve brought people into her life that could leave her broken.
Dozing in the family room recliner, I finally wake around nine to the girls whispering up on the walkway. Hours earlier, Lana was up with a cranky Carina. I considered seeing if she needed anything, but then my mind returned to how good she felt in my bed. I’m going soft on this woman. Distance makes sense.
Sidonie shuffles down the stairs with Desi and Uno behind her. She smiles at the sight of me in my chair and hurries over.
“Did you sleep okay?” I ask, despite her smile.
“Yes. Lana is sleeping. Carina is too.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Did you sleep in the chair?” Sidonie asks as I stand.
“No.”
“Can they stay this summer when there’s no school?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” I say, mentally willing her to stop asking questions that’ll get Desi’s hopes up. “Let’s make you breakfast.”
“What about Lana?”
“My mom sleeps late,” Desi says, swaying and smiling at the high ceiling. “She used to work at night, and