Page 9 of Trip
“You’re right,” he agrees. “Anyway, someone put something in her drink. They drugged her. At first, everyone just thought she’d had too much or couldn’t handle her alcohol. The friend she was with stayed with her while she was throwing up and struggling to breathe.
“It was before everyone had cell phones. And her friend screamed for someone to call 911. I talked to her the day after it happened, and her voice was so hoarse, she tried so hard to save my sister. Someone disconnected the landline, probably to avoid getting into trouble. She had to run to a neighbor’s house to make the 911 call, but it was too late. May was already gone by the time the paramedics got there. Whoever spiked her drink used too much; she was such a little thing, her system couldn’t handle it.”
“Trip,” I whisper, unsure of what to say.
He delivered those words with a sort of detachment. This is the first time I’ve seen a crack in his exterior. It obviously hurts him to share this, even if he’s trying to come off as unaffected. The trust he’s giving me is implicit, and now I want nothing more than to show him I feel the same.
“I…” I start, blinking away tears I didn’t even realize were forming. “My parents… They were killed. But– I– It wasn’t an accident or anything like that. They were murdered.”
“Julia, that’s horrible,” he says as he places his arm around my shoulder and pulls me even closer. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. It happened recently, didn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. “It only happened about six months ago. And… they were killed in their bedroom one night when my sisters and I were staying with our grandparents to help out. I don’t know if they were waiting until we were out of the house, or if we were just lucky. My sisters and I tried to stay in town, but we couldn’t. We bounced around a lot. We stayed in a motel for a few months, but that was too expensive. Then we tried staying with one of my friends, but our parents’ murderer is still at large, so we just couldn’t stay.”
“And that’s how you ended up in Rio Lunas,” Trip finishes. I nod, unsure of what else to say. “Do the police have any leads?”
“No,” I say, the wound feeling almost too raw. “They– They can’t figure out a motive and don’t have any leads. No one called in any tips, and no one in our neighborhood had any cameras. Honestly, I don’t even think the police care.”
I leave out the theories I have about my father’s past. My family moved around a lot, and it felt like he was always looking over his shoulder. It might not be coincidence that when my parents finally let their guards down that something happened to them.
“They’re bastards,” he says with vitriol. “The police here didn’t do anything to find the guy that drugged my sister.”
“How awful,” I whisper, wondering how two broken people like us have found each other.
“It is, but at least I was able to do something about it,” he says. “That’s why I joined the Riders of Retribution. Whenthe police fail, we step in to keep our community safe. For you… Julia, I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I say. “I didn’t feel safe there, so I left. I was able to do something.”
“Well, let me have the Riders of Retribution do patrols around your place,” he says, apparently picking up on the fact that I still don’t feel safe. I don’t think I ever will again.
“You don’t have to,” I say, feeling like accepting his help would be asking for way too much. “I– We’re okay now.”
His gaze burns through me. It’s almost like he can see right through me. I hold my breath, waiting for him to speak.
“I want to keep you and your family safe, Julia,” Trip says, tightening the arm he has around me. “We both know that the police are useless. You already do so much for your family. Let me take some of that burden off your shoulders.”
“I…” I start, hesitating. “Maybe I should take you up on that. There’s–”
I stop myself again. He doesn’t need to know that my family might have been involved in something shady. If I accept his help, that means that I’ll have an extra set of eyes on my sisters when I’m not there.
But what if the man who came after my parents shows up and members of the MC get hurt because they’re not prepared? I can’t have something like that on my shoulders. I should warn them.
“Where’s your head?” Trip asks, ducking down to catch my eye.
“I… I have a theory,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper, “on why my parents were killed.”
He stiffens beside me before saying, “What’s that?”
“I don’t have anything concrete,” I admit. “They just always seemed nervous about something, especially my dad. We never stayed in one place for too long. And when we did, well… you know what happened. I just… what if my dad did something really messed up before my sisters and I were born?”
“Well, even if he did do something, I’m sure it wasn’t so bad that he and your mother should have lost their lives,” Trip replies. He kisses the crown of my head, and some of the tension I was holding onto starts to dissipate. “And, if you ask me, he was a damn good man. You have to be to raise a kid as strong, independent, and kind as you.”
I don’t know why, but a laugh bubbles out of me, starting in my chest but quickly morphing into a belly laugh. I throw my arms around him, letting him pull me onto his lap. He strokes my hair as the giggles wrack my body. By the time I’m able to catch my breath, I find myself wondering why I was so nervous about telling him in the first place.
“How do you know exactly what to say to make me feel better?” I ask, leaning back to look at him through the laughter induced tears swimming in my eyes.
“Believe it or not, I’m not usually good at this kind of thing,” he says, squeezing my hips playfully as another one of his rare smiles graces his lips. “The only thing that matters to me is keeping you safe and smiling. I take it that I’m doing a good job of that right now?”
“The best,” I confirm before I lean in to connect our lips.
