“Second, this city,” she continued. “I’ve only been here a few hours and already I’m in love. It weirdly feels like home, but it could just be that I’m on vacation and everything is new and exciting.”
“Nah, I think it’s just the fact that L.A. is pretty amazing,” Stormy replied. “This place makes Coleville look like a boring little one-horse town.”
“Coleville is a boring little one-horse town,” Brooklyn said as she rolled her eyes. “That’s why we love it so much.”
“I don’t understand this loyalty you have to Coleville,” Stormy said. “What’s so great about it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I’ve just never really had a reason to leave, and it’s home.”
“We can talk again after you’ve spent a couple days out here,” Stormy replied. “I guarantee you’ll change your mind.”
“I still think it’s freaking crazy that you just up and moved out here,” Brooklyn sighed. “What did you do about your car? Your house? What did your parents say?”
“My car is at my parents’ house. Some construction guy is renting my house for the next year. And my parents were pissed, but I’m twenty-three so there’s not much they could do to stop me,” she said. “I’m trying to move on.”
“Good for you,” Brooklyn said. “I’m glad you got it all figured out – logistics and everything.”
“Ryder helped,” she said.
“That makes sense,” Brooklyn teased.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stormy asked.
“I just don’t think you would’ve done this on your own,” Brooklyn replied. “You’re sort of a fraidy-cat.”
Stormy playfully pushed Brooklyn, though she knew she was right.
“So what do you think of Ryder so far?” Stormy pried. She was dying to know and knew that Brooklyn had more of an opinion than she shared a few seconds ago.
“I knew you were going to ask me that,” Brooklyn said. “So far, I think he seems like a pretty alright guy.”
“Just alright?”
“I mean, it’s cool that he wants to take care of you and stuff, and it was super nice of him to fly me out, but don’t you think it’s all just so weird?” Brooklyn stated. “Like who does that? Let alone what powerful, biker gang VP just sweeps some naïve little Midwestern girl off her feet like some knight in shining armor and moves her away from her friends and family so he can take care of her?”
Stormy didn’t like what Brooklyn was saying one bit. She refused to believe it.
“All I’m saying is that this sort of stuff doesn’t happen in real life,” Brooklyn continued. “Just be careful. Don’t let your guard down too much, and don’t become too dependent on him. You just don’t know people that well until you’ve been with them for a while. Just take things slow. Promise me that.”
“We are taking things slow,” Stormy said. “At least physically.”
“Okay, that’s good,” Brooklyn said. Her tone sounded more condescending than sympathetic.
Stormy was quiet, and Brooklyn knew she’d upset her.
“You asked for my honest opinion,” Brooklyn said. “I gave it to you.”
“I just want you to like him,” she said. “I was just hoping you’d see in him what I see in him.”
“Give it a little more time,” Brooklyn said. “I’ve only been around him an hour or so. I really don’t know him. It’s not really even fair for me to give you my opinion on him yet anyway. We’ll talk again on Sunday, okay?”
Stormy nodded. She hoped Brooklyn was wrong about him and that he didn’t have ulterior motives, but she did have some valid points. When Stormy stepped back from the entire thing, it did seem a little too good to be true.
“I didn’t just come out here to be with him,” Stormy said. “He wants my help finding out who killed Jett.”
“Oh, you’re still going to help him with that?” Brooklyn asked. “I thought you were trying to get out of that lifestyle? You going to be his old lady or something?”
Stormy nodded.
“Be careful. Seriously,” she said. “This isn’t some small time biker gang.”
“Ryder would never let anything happen to me,” she said.
CHAPTER 19
Dinner was at seven that night. The girls got dressed to the nines and danced around in Ryder’s massive bathroom while Brooklyn blasted music from her iPad.
“Girls, you about done?” Ryder called through the door. “We need to leave soon.”