AllFreeNovel
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Old and outdated.
They had bought it cheap after the elderly man living in it had died. The son just wanted it gone from his property, so he sold it to them for two hundred bucks. They couldn’t pass on it. It was better than the four of them living in an old van. Of course, it had needed work and still did, but Syn and the guys did what they could do on their own.
Syn’s eyebrows pinned together. “This chick was someone from the church?”
Nico grimaced. “I don’t think she belongs to the church.”
“Where does she belong?” Eddie asked, coming out of their tiny bathroom, zipping up and shutting the plastic accordion door behind him.
That meant he’d just dropped a deuce in the toilet. They tried not to use it too often since the water tank and waste tank on the bus were small, especially for four adults. Plus, everywhere charged a fee to fill up with water or to empty their tank.
Money they didn’t have.
But the fine, if found dumping their waste where they shouldn’t, was higher than the fee to do it legally.
One reason Nico went behind a bush at the church where they were parked was to avoid filling the tank so quickly. All the guys pissed outside whenever they could. Sometimes even Syn did, too, if she could find a spot private enough.
Maybe the church had a hose somewhere where they could at least refill the water tank. Though, at night the temps were below freezing and no one left their outdoor faucets on during winter in the north.
“She said most of the stuff came from the local Amish.” Nico’s words brought her attention back to her bassist.
“What’s in there for breakfast?” Eddie asked, elbowing Nico out of the way. He pulled out what looked like a homemade loaf of bread and a tub of something. He continued to pull shit out and groaned, “Holy shit. Homemade strawberry jam. Apple butter. Fresh-fucking-churned butter. Eggs.” He lifted something wrapped in white paper and held it above his head as he screamed, “Bacon!” and then hugged the package to his chest with a huge smile of ecstasy on his face.
“Great,” Rex said dryly. “Better hope we have enough propane left to cook it.”
“If we do, we might not have any left after,” Syn said just as dryly as Rex.
“I don’t care,” Nico said, still excited. “We have a gig tomorrow night. With that four hundred bucks, we can refill the water and propane, and empty the shitter.”
He forgot about filling the fuel tank, which was really important. But Syn kept that to herself for now since her mouth watered at the thought of a bacon, egg and toast breakfast. Her stomach also growled in agreement. “Store what you’re not using for breakfast that needs to be refrigerated in one of the compartments under the bus. It’ll stay cold enough under there.”
The bacon wouldn’t last long enough to be stored. Between the four of them, a pound would be instantly devoured. It probably wouldn’t even make it to their Styrofoam plates.
Eddie stepped up to the box and pulled out two tomatoes and lettuce. “If there’s any bacon left over, we can make BLTs later.”
“Or we can go eat in the bar. He said he’ll feed us tonight and tomorrow, too,” Syn said.
Three sets of eyes turned her way and their excitement about the box of food quickly disappeared.
“What did you have to do to get us this? If you had to…” Eddie shook his head and put the veggies back in the box. “I don’t want this shit if he forced you to…” He frowned.
“Did he?” Nico asked, running his gaze over her.
Syn rolled her eyes. Even if he did, what the hell could Nico see? She was wrapped up in a couple layers of clothes and had a blanket wrapped around her so she wouldn’t freeze to death. The only part of her exposed was her face under her kitty-eared hood.
Rex lifted Syn’s double-socked feet to make room on the couch that turned into her bed when pulled out. He sat in the spot where her feet had been and put them back on his lap, resting one hand on her ankle. “Syn…”
She shook her head. “Rex, I didn’t have to do shit.”
“You stayed in his place last night.”
“I fell asleep. That’s all. He didn’t make me…” She shook her head again. “He didn’t.” She left it at that.
“Where’d he sleep?”
“On his couch.”
Rex’s brow dropped low. “He didn’t…”
“No. And if he had demanded quid pro quo I would’ve told him to fuck off.”
“So, why is he helping us, then?” Eddie asked, suspicion tinging his words.
“Why does anyone help us? Probably because we look like we need it.” Her eyes began to burn and she rubbed at them. If she started crying over fucking nothing, she was going to be pissed at herself. This was their current life. She should be used to it by now. Things would get better, wouldn’t it? “We live in a shitty bus. We’re fucking broke. We have nothing but each other. It’s obvious we need help.”
