Rebel on the Run (4 page)

“And let’s face it. My dad had to have guessed I’d never follow his footsteps. I’d only have been a pain in his ass, smudging his image when I didn’t color in the lines. This might have been the first time things got so fucked up between us, but it wouldn’t have been the last. So I swore to leave quietly. To never come back. I told my dad to kill me for sympathy votes. So you wouldn’t look for me. Honestly, they’d already destroyed me. What did it matter? Instead, they cooked up this story about me going to party in Europe, then they tried to buy me off to make it real and to make sure I didn’t try to change my mind. I guess they thought I’d be content with fast cars, eager women and sitting around on a beach with my thumb up my ass. Fuck that. Like I’d take dirty money. I told them I’d build my own life. I’d only ever come back to make them miserable if they hurt you. I tried to protect you. I thought I was doing what was best. I’m sorry. I was immature and naive and… I’m sorry.”

Bryce let go of Kaelyn. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he remembered the loss. The grief. Not for his old life. But for her.

He’d lived with it every single day. The thought of her happy and whole had been the only thing making it bearable. To find out it’d been for nothing…

All those years of agony.

All those years of lying by omission to his friends. Far more sordid in some ways, his past hadn’t tortured him with the base suffering the rest of the guys had endured. He wasn’t really one of them.

He might have pummeled the wall, put his fist through something, if Holden hadn’t been there to lay his hand on Bryce’s shoulder. To squeeze hard enough to remind him that his back was covered. But would it still be when they realized what this meant?

Rebel shot to his feet, making Buster bark and cower closer to Kaelyn. He turned to face his friends, hands spread wide as if to make a target of his chest for them. He deserved whatever they flung at him. “So now you know my deep, dark secret. I never wanted for a thing. I don’t know what it’s like to starve.”

Bryce glanced at Roman, then away. “I’ve never been beat. Or abused…in other ways. I didn’t have to watch my family suffer. I’m some twisted freeloader who took kindness that another, needier kid could have really used. Because I didn’t know what else to do. Where else to go.”

His breath sawed in and out of his lungs. His shame and ugliness finally out for them to judge as harshly as he deserved.

Except they didn’t. Well, most of them.

“The way I see it, what you did took guts.” Roman stepped in, bracing his hand on Rebel’s shoulder. Sally seemed to be nodding, from what Bryce could tell out of the corner of his eye. Alanso too. “It wasn’t any big deal for me to leave nothing for something better. I didn’t have shit, so there wasn’t anything to sacrifice.”

Kaige hummed while hugging Nola to his chest. “That’s true, Rebel.”

“You’re either the bravest or dumbest of us to forfeit a fortune for this.” Holden chucked him in the arm.

Like that, Bryce deflated. They didn’t hate him? Call him an imposter?

He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He’d hidden from them for so long, he felt naked in front of their assessing stares.

Until his gaze roamed to Carver. The man’s maroon cheeks and clenched fists were as out of place on the usually easygoing guy as an amateur’s wing and spinny rims would be on his Roadrunner.

“Meep—” He winced and prepared to be punched again, this time by someone who could knock out a tooth or three when his ex-friend cut him off.

“How fucking dare you?” Carver’s hackles rose, making him seem much more intimidating than an average dude his size. “Guys like Barracuda suffered. Fucking day and night. Tortured by the conditions they were raised in. Hell, Roman still
does
. What about Kaige? He has nightmares about his dad killing his mom! I sucked nasty cocks for money to eat. Alanso and Cobra both lost their moms. Sally escaped a fucking
cult
.
All the while you had a silver spoon in your fat face. You asshole poser, you never once knew what it was like. To be one of us.”

“If I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be.” Barracuda put his hand on Carver’s shoulder and squeezed. Or would have if his roommate hadn’t shrugged him off, looking ready to spit.

“Fuck that.” Meep lunged forward, damn that speedy fucker, getting in one solid blow straight to Bryce’s gut. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as the impact to Bryce’s heart. Before Meep could rain more of his uncommon anger on Rebel, Roman snagged the back of his shirt. Kaige and Holden were a step behind, securing Carver’s arms behind his back and escorting him to the kitchen.

“It’s okay. I always knew I would be an outcast. Even among misfit mechanics.” Bryce accepted Carver’s rage, absorbed it though it stung like alcohol in an open wound. To his surprise, Kaelyn seemed to have his back.

“Oh my gosh.” She ran her hands over his abs, making him groan. Not in pain. The adrenaline pumping through his system like high-octane gasoline magnified her simple touch. “Are you okay? I can’t believe that man
hit
you.”

He might have chuckled if his soul wasn’t bruised. The tap hadn’t injured him. Shit. They should have let Meep pound him and get it out of his system. With Kaelyn here, they’d lost their guaranteed method for blowing off steam.

How the hell could he fix this? He’d figure out a way. He had to.

In the meantime, Bryce accepted Kae’s gentle tending as a consolation prize.

From the kitchen, Bryce heard Roman settling his best friend. Maybe later the guy would be capable of civility. Hopefully the grudge wouldn’t last, though Bryce would understand if it did. Holden and Kaige rejoined the crowd in the living room, giving the roommates some space.

“I think we’ve had about enough.” Eli sighed. Immediately his wife, Sally, rubbed lazy circles on his back. “You might not have suffered outright abuse like some of our Hot Rods, or poverty, or whatever other horrors some of us have. But there are a lot of ways to hurt a kid. Some of them not even anyone’s fault.”

Bryce thought of fate, which had stolen Cobra’s mom. Sickness didn’t discriminate.

“I believe we were brought together for a reason.” Holden looked to each of them, deliberately pausing on Kaelyn, including her, before continuing. “Whatever family we had before doesn’t matter. Hot Rods are thicker than blood.”

Could he mean it?

“You’re one of us, Rebel.” Eli refused to blink as he promised. “Don’t ever doubt that. However you got here is irrelevant. Carver will come around.”

More cursing echoed from the kitchen, though somewhat less heated than before.

Roman hauled his roommate down the hall. A door slammed seconds later.

“You had a good reason to do what you did.” Alanso peered at Kaelyn, who stood tall beside Bryce. At least until she bent and scooped up Buster, who kept growling and barking while facing the hallway, where Carver had disappeared.

Rebel swallowed hard and thought of the threats his biological parent had made. Things that would have irreparably injured the one person he gave a fuck about. The same girl who circled around in front of him now, trembling lip and huge, watering eyes making his arms ache to hold her.

Except she was awfully grown up these days. 

And looking like the fine lady she’d been destined to become. Could she have been meant to be his from the start? How else could you explain her landing on his doorstep right when he was settled enough to claim her.

Only one way to find out, he supposed.

Especially since she peeked up at his mouth, even now.

Bryce took one stride toward Kaelyn, closing the gap between them. He didn’t force her to accept him, not after what she’d confessed. But he held out his arms, wide open. The hunger in his eyes had to be apparent because he’d never wanted something as badly as her.

She stepped into the circle of his embrace. And that’s all the permission he needed.

He slammed his mouth over hers, tasting the salt of her pain and the honey of her innocence combined. He caressed her lips with his, trying to take some of her hurt and easing his own with her sweetness.

The chemistry that had shocked him that long-ago summer, once he’d been old enough to give the connection a name, came roaring back to life like a five-hundred-horsepower street stroker engine. They grappled with each other, Kae practically climbing him as she attempted to get closer. The strangled whimpers she fed him had Buster pawing at them, dissolving the moment.

Although they broke apart reluctantly, some hope filled the darkest places in his soul.

From the tremulous smile she rewarded him with, he guessed the same was true for her.

She touched her fingertips to her swollen lips.

“Well then.” Sally spoke softly as she approached. “Why don’t you come with me and take some time to get yourself together, Kaelyn? I think we could use a few minutes to process this. And I think Bryce better go speak to Tom. That’s Eli’s dad. He’s kind of our adopted dad too. Anyway, I have a stash of these cool bath bombs that Nola bought me for my birthday. They’re pretty relaxing. Smell nice and make your skin soft too…”

Damn her, Mustang was right. Bryce had made things right, finally, with his garagemates. Or at least he’d tried. He could work on Carver later. But Tom deserved to know the truth. To hear it from him directly. A hell of a lot too late. Hopefully, better that than never.

“If you really don’t mind, I’d love to get cleaned up. A soak sounds wonderful. Along with some space…to think.” Kaelyn lifted her chin as if their kiss hadn’t shaken her to the bones, as it had him. It was impossible to hide the dilation of her gorgeous cerulean eyes or the pounding of her pulse in her fine neck or the fullness of her swollen, reddened lips when she licked another taste of him from her own skin, though. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Bryce couldn’t help the insinuation in his tone.

Holden snorted, while Kaige laughed and bounced Nola on his lap, where she perched once more.

“Careful, Rebel. If you want to do that again, you shouldn’t rev the engine too high and risk blowing a gasket. Or, you know, scaring her off,” Swinger warned his friend. Though his eyes held a hint of humor, truth underlined the advice.

Kaelyn set them straight. “I don’t panic easily. Not anymore. And definitely not because of
him
.”

She folded her hands in front of her, a gesture straight out of finishing school. A tell she’d always had. Or at least since Bryce had taught her to play poker in their tree house. A forbidden pastime her aristocratic grooming would never have approved for a young lady.

“Who’s lying now?” He couldn’t say what drove him to call her on it. Unless it was the susceptibility she’d seeded in him. Misery loved company.

She surprised him again by flipping him off. The combination of her ladylike suit, though wrinkled, and the crass gesture had him hard—
harder
—in a second. He chuckled as she stormed off with Sally, who offered to lend her some additional girly crap and help her get settled.

Kaelyn DuChamp terrified him. She made him want things he couldn’t have. Not if he cared about doing what was in her best interest, like he had when she was younger.

And that, he believed, was the definition of love.

Fuck.

Chapter Three

Bryce plodded up the stairs to Tom’s house, which perched across the driveway from the Hot Rods’ garage and their massive apartments above the commercial space. His fist hovered a few inches from the front door as he gathered his courage and rehearsed his confession.

It would kill him to disappoint the man inside.

Without having to knock, the door opened and Tom jerked his chin toward the kitchen. “I figured you’d be stopping by. Everyone was acting funny when I asked where you’d gone. They must think I’m senile or some crap. You kids were never good at sneaking around when you were hooligan teens and you’re no better now. What the hell is going on?”

Despite the weights crushing his heart, Rebel cracked a grin. They’d always thought they were so slick, until Tom busted them…or let them get away with minor infractions. He’d known exactly the right balance to strike with the gang of stray juveniles he’d taken in.

“What’s so funny?” Tom swatted Rebel in the back of the head then shoved him toward the kitchen table, where so many of the Hot Rods’ troubles were hashed out.

“Nothing. Nothing.” Bryce held his hands up. “Seriously. I think that’s a nervous tic or something.”

Honestly, he couldn’t help smiling.

Despite the gravity of the situation, a sliver of Bryce celebrated having Kaelyn in his life again for however long he might manage it. That kiss had been everything he’d dreamed of as a teen, and beyond.

“It’s not like you to be edgy.” Tom narrowed his eyes as he took a seat across the scarred wood from Bryce, who still stood. “Usually you leave that to Roman. So why don’t you spit it out? Tell me quick how you’ve fucked up.”

“Why assume I screwed up?”

“Would you be here pussy-footing around if you hadn’t?” Tom grunted. “These little chats are becoming a regular thing lately. Eli, Al, Sally, Kaige…now you. Think I could have my own talk show on TV? No? Fine. So let’s put it on the table and figure out how to fix it.”

The reassurance that it
could
be handled settled Bryce.

He took a deep breath, leaned forward and held onto the edge of the table. “I lied to you.”

“About what?” Tom didn’t seem angry, more curious.

“Pretty much everything. Where I came from. My…
situation
.” Rebel cleared his throat.

“Bryce, you’d have had to tell me something in order for it to be a lie.” A wave of Tom’s hand flashed knuckles that seemed more gnarled than Rebel remembered.

“I guess I was embarrassed to admit the truth. Afraid you’d take me back if you knew I didn’t have it as bad as the rest of the Hot Rods.” He hung his head.

“You mean because your dad is some highfalutin senator? A rich bastard?” Tom crossed his arms. “Huh. Didn’t make him any less of an asshole, did it? He certainly didn’t deserve you or any other kid.”