Page 4 of Brood

“Great,” I mumble and take a bite of bacon. “I’ll get her on her way.”

“Maybe she should not get on her way,” Iris hints.

“Iris, I know how much you like to—” I try to protest only Iris cuts me off, standing to her feet.

“Jordyn.” Iris directs her attention to a short little thing swimming in an oversized gray sweatshirt. It’s got stains on the front and hangs down just above the holes in the knees of her worn jeans. “This is Brood. He’s going to be getting your car fixed up.”

The girl cautiously comes closer to the table, gaining the attention of Roman as well. “Thank you,” she tells me, tucking a piece of light brown hair behind her ear.

I sit there, staring for probably a moment too long before Roman kicks my foot from under the table. Clearing my throat, I finally open my mouth. “Yeah, wouldn’t thank me yet. Haven’t fixed it.”

“Oh… well…”

“But if anyone can, it would be Brood. Hi there, name’s Roman.” The loud fucker twists even further in his chair, making it scrape along the floor so he can extend his hand for Jordyn to shake.

“Hello.” She’s timid but takes Roman’s offered hand, only letting him hold hers for so long before pulling away. I know she sees the cuts we are wearing; her eyes flicker over the both of us. She either doesn’t know what they mean, or Iris has already explained that we belong to the MC. Or––

“What brings you to Rhino? Or through Rhino?” Roman asks suddenly uncaring he has a plate of food sitting in front of him. Only a woman could get the man to stop eating when food is in front of him.

“I’m on my way to Oregon.” She doesn’t elaborate any further, but I catch the second she looks down at her feet then back to Roman. She’s lying. “Excuse me.” She smiles politely and walks toward the door. I didn’t notice the backpack on her back before, it’s a heavy one too from the way she is carrying it.

“Cute little thing,” Roman muses, turning back to his breakfast.

“She looks like a teenager,” I state. Roman shrugs his shoulders. I shake my head and finish my food, helping Kas down from his seat when I’m only halfway through. “Stay out of the kitchen,” I call out as he toddles away from the table. I know right where he is going. There is a small set up of toys and crayons in the corner of the cafe for the kids, that will be hell to get him away from when we leave.

After some negotiating and bribery, I have Kas back in my truck, and we are driving the few blocks it takes to get to the clubhouse. I already have a seat inside the tow truck because coming with me on a tow is something Kas enjoys doing. Maybe it’s just riding in the truck, the vibrations seem to relax him. When he was a baby, it was the only thing I could do to get him to calm down when he was having a bad day.

As we drive down the road, on instinct, I look over at the café. She is out there right now, pacing back and forth as I drive by. Something about her bothers me. Too many questions surface just by looking at her. The bag. Her unkempt clothes. She has been on the road for some time, and when I reach the car parked on the side of the road, the littering of empty energy drink cans only confirms that.

It takes me no time to get the car hooked up, and we are heading back to the clubhouse. Only now I have more than the car to figure out. Something deep in my gut is telling me to dig a little deeper into this mystery girl.

---