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“Got it.” I salute before I carry on walking down to the Clubhouse. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, but I’m not really looking for company. What I need is space. Time away from Brax to clear my head. He had acted like a whole different person this morning. The way he’d been when he came back from church just reminded me how temporary all this was. How quickly things can change, and how I’m doing myself no favors by becoming attached to him.
Maddy called by after the boys left for church earlier, she explained how they had the names of the people involved. And it doesn’t take a CIA agent to guess where Brax is right now. He’s working on getting me back home, back to perfect suburbia, and back to Julian.
Julian, the man I’m supposed to love. The man I promised to spend the rest of my life with before all this. Right now, I don’t even know if I want to see him. How will I ever look him in the eye after all the things I’ve done with Brax?
I bury my head in my hands and try to tell myself things will work out, but I’m not convinced.
“Which one is it?” a flat female tone causes me to look up. And a girl I haven’t seen before stands in front of me. She’s wearing black boots, with pink overalls tucked in at the ankle. The sleeves of them wrapped around a slender midriff. The white cropped tank top she wears is smeared with what looks like engine oil, and both her arms are covered in bright tattoos. Whoever she is, she has a really pretty face, and hair so blonde it’s almost white.
Using the dirty rag from her pocket, she wipes her hands clean before holding one of them out to me.
“Rogue,” she smiles, giving me a sturdy shake.
“Gracie,” I reply, realizing that I’ve never introduced myself like that before, Gracie is what Brax calls me.
“Gracie… You know anything about cars?”
“Well, I can drive one,” I answer her cautiously, it sounds like there’s more to come from her question.
“Perfect, follow me,” she pulls me up to my feet with a strength I wasn’t expecting from her dainty figure, and leads me over to the garage.
Pulling open the door of an old pickup, she gestures for me to get in the driver’s seat.
“Just try starting her up when I say.” She disappears behind the open hood, and I hear her tinkering and cursing as she fiddles with whatever it is she’s trying to fix.
“So, you gonna tell me which one of the assholes got to ya?” she asks, her head still buried into the job.
“How do you know it’s one of the guys?” I try to avoid her question.
“Well, you’re not dressed like the whores that hover around them like hungry sheep. Which suggests one of them brought ya here.” Her head pops around the hood. “Start her up,” she instructs
I turn the key in the ignition and it splutters, Rogue rolls her eyes and gets back to work.
“It's Troj, ain’t it? I swear that boy was sent from God to wreck panties and ruin hearts.” She stabs a guess, and I know which one she’s talking about straight away.
“Actually, it's Brax,” I admit, hearing a clang of metal straight after.
“Brax?” she repeats, sounding shocked.
“The one and only,” I sit back in the seat and sigh.
“Try her again,” Rogue instructs, and I attempt to start the truck. Still without luck.
“You sound surprised.” I can’t help but be curious at her reaction.
“Hell yeah, I’m surprised, Brax doesn’t seem like the settling down kind, if you know what I mean.”
“He isn’t, I’m only here until Prez finishes some shit he helped my mama with, then it’s back to normal.”
Rogue laughs, and it pisses me off a little. The girl doesn’t know me, she has no right finding amusement in my situation.
“What’s funny?” I let her hear the irritation in my voice. She comes back into view, crossing her arms and resting them on the open window.
“After this place, things will never be normal again. Did he put you on his bike?” she asks, resting her face on her hand and leaving dirty smudges on her cheek as she makes a sarcastic dreamy sigh.
“I rode with him once.”
“Then you’re in more trouble than you think,” she raises her perfectly shaped eyebrows at me. “Give it another go,” her eyes look down at the ignition, and this time when I turn the key, the engine sputters and starts with a choke.
