Page 10 of Harmless
“Oh, you’ll be seeing Val soon.” Kyrie’s voice brightened, and I knew her smile was growing wider. “She’ll be running those supplies over to you.”
“Really?” I straightened again, but this time out of excitement at seeing her daughter, another one of my cousins. “That’ll be badass. It’s been too long.”
“She’s just like you, can’t keep her off a motorcycle. I swear you two should have been sisters.”
“Yeah.” I sighed through an uncomfortable pang in my chest.
I loved my little sister Lucia to the ends of the earth and missed her like crazy. We had an easy sibling friendship, bonding over books, gossip, and boys, but we otherwise didn’t have much in common. She didn’t get my love of riding and hated that motorcycles were so loud and always kicking up dust.
Aside from my parents, only Daren loved riding like I did. And Torr, but he and I had dropped all pretense of acting like siblings, hadn’t we?
Aunt Kyrie’s voice cut in before my mind could drift to those last moments with Torr. “Well, I’ll let you go, sweetheart. I’ve got to dispatch all these supplies and get these safe houses cleaned up for you.”
“Thank you so much, again,” I said. “You’re the best, Aunt Kyrie.”
“Absolutely. It feels great to be doingrealwork again, instead of going to charity functions where only a fraction goes to those who really need it.” She finished off that thought with a grumble before her voice became chipper again. “It was great to hear from you, dear. Let’s do that girls’ day once all these people are rescued and those responsible are tossed in a grave.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. The woman had come from a well-off family, the daughter of a governor. She was well-educated, a natural player in the political arena, and on the surface, prim and proper. Kyrie could blend seamlessly into the Blakeworth elite crowd and no one would bat an eye.
But she married three bikers, and at her core, was a biker bitch through and through. My aunt looked as pretty and fragile as a glass shoe, but if need be, she wouldn’t hesitate to smash the heel off and fight dirty with the jagged edge.
“Can’t wait. I love you, Aunt Kyrie. Give your three old men my love.”
“Love you too, kiddo. And I will.”
We ended the call, and I pulled the phone away from my ear to look through my recent calls. Kyrie and I had talked for nearly an hour, but she wasn’t my first call of the day. My call to Gwen had gone straight to voicemail, which worried me.
She was the one who’d arranged for Torr and I to get into Mystic Canyon, from faking our application paperwork to dressing us up. As a publicist for one of the Blakeworth elite families, she’d been able to carefully siphon money, clothes, and even cars from her employers.
Since capturing Torr and tossing me out, the resort staff must have dug deeper to discover our ruse. And I had a sneaking suspicion that any repercussions wouldn’t fall on the wealthy family who’d supposedly vouched for us, but on Gwen.
I tapped her number again and brought the phone to my ear. “Fuck,” I muttered, ending the call a second later when her voicemail greeting instantly connected. If anything happened to Gwen, it would be our fault. My fault.
I stared at my phone screen for a long while, willing it to light up with a call from her. When nothing happened, I sighed and scrolled down to my mom’s number, tapped it, and brought the phone to my ear.
It rang several times before going to voicemail, which wasn’t unusual. She was probably working.
“Hey, mom, it’s me,” I said after the recording beep. After that, my mind went blank for a moment. What should I tell her? Leaving my mom a message was such an autopilot process for me that my brain actually stuttered to a halt when it came to revealing actual details on what had happened.
“Um, I’m okay. Safe. I’m with LJ and Carter right now. I just wanted to let you know so that you wouldn’t worry. I’m going to be out here for a little while longer, but I’m hoping I can make it back home soon. I miss you. I’ll call again when I can. Love you, bye.”
I ended the call quickly, my throat burning. If I stayed on any longer, I’d spill everything about Torr and the resort, then she’d send my dads out to retrieve me like a lost little lamb. But this was my fight, and I had to see it through, no matter how badly I wanted to rush back home to where I knew I’d be safe at all times.
The reason I actually called her was because I knew she wasn’t likely to answer. If it had been one of my dads, they’d pick up and immediately grill me for details, and I’d cave. Chances were high they’d see me calling and immediately head for the nearest parked motorcycles.
It was sweet, and I was lucky to have a family unit that was so caring and protective. But my mom had a different perspective than them, a more nuanced one, perhaps. My fathers’ instincts were to run out and save me at a single hint of trouble. My mother knew I had to spend this time in the trenches, figuring out how to fend for myself. She’d get my message and let everyone know I was okay.
God, I missed them though. I’d never been away from my family this long. And it had only been, what, a week? A week and half?
I missed all the male voices talking over each other, the smell of coffee and fresh eggs in the morning, the shit-talking and roughhousing out of love. I missed the parties we threw at every excuse—birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, celebrations. Sometimes our house got so busy and rowdy with friends and family that I’d head out for a ride just to have some alone time, some peace.
But all that noisewaspeace. It was warmth and love and life being lived.
I was so caught up in missing my family and home that I jumped when my phone vibrated in my lap with a call. Looking at the screen, I frowned. Unknown number. Definitely not my mother calling me back.
I let it ring for another few seconds, steeling myself for whatever was on the other line before I answered. “Hello?”
“Rori? It’s Gwen.”
