Page 73 of Busted Dreams

“What’s going on over here? All the whispering is giving me a complex.” Jonah squeezed in beside us. Behind him, Trinity was glaring daggers at his back. Weird, I thought they were friends.

“Just boyfriend girlfriend stuff. You wouldn’t know anything about that.” Beck pressed deeper into me as he grinned at Jonah.

“I can’t deny that.” He let his gaze linger over me before turning away. “Let’s go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave.”

“So I take it Beck strong-armed you into going?” Rhys walked over and tugged me out of Beck’s grip. “Astrid’s riding with me.”

“She lives here, man,” Beck deadpanned.

“And she rides with you every day to school,” Rhys returned drily.

“Why doesn’t she just ride with us, right, Thatch?” Trinity smiled, but it was too sickly sweet to believe she actually wanted me to ride with them. Thatcher even narrowed his eyes at her, then turned to me.

“I’d love for you to ride with us, Astrid, but my sister’s being a grade A bitch right now. I can’t guarantee she wouldn’t say something just to piss me off.” He grabbed her arm gently and tugged her up. “Come on, sis. We’re riding solo. Maybe we can finally have that chat I’ve been trying to have all week.”

She went, albeit not happily. The scowl directed at Thatcher said there would definitely be no word exchanging in the car. Or if there were, not nice ones.

“Okay, then, how about we all ride in my SUV? It’s big enough for all of us.” Rhys plucked his keys out of the bowl on the small kitchen table.

“Works for me,” Jonah said.

“Sure, I can direct you if you need it. But it’s not hard to find.” Beck opened the door that had slammed shut behind Thatcher and Trinity.

“Does Thatcher know where we’re going?” I slipped on my jacket and walked out first.

“Yeah, pretty girl. I gave him the address.”

I sat shotgun while Beck and Jonah took the backseat. There was a much different vibe in the car today as we headed over to the compound. The last time we went out there, we weren’t sure what would happen with Jonah or his future, and quite honestly, the concrete building creeped me out.

At night, it loomed in the darkness with a bright red door. The trees that towered over the building and most of the road were large and, when shadowed, kind of spooky. I could tell why they loved it. Danger seemed to radiate from the whole place, dissuading anyone who might need to stop there.

“So, Rhys, what’s the deal with the scholarships? Sorry I couldn’t be there, but both Jonah and Astrid said you killed it.” Beck gripped the back of my headrest as he leaned between the seats.

Rhys’ face lit up, showing how excited he actually was. “Great. I’m working on setting up two visits right now. One to DU, which is too easy because it’s less than an hour from here, and one to University of Michigan.” Rhys shot me an unreadable look, then went back to watching the road. “You know, I invited Astrid, but it might be fun if we all went and made a weekend out of it. You know, get away from here for a while.”

I was speechless and pumped. No matter what doubts I had about him as I dated the others, this was the ultimate show he truly was fine with it. And I knew this wasn’t about just me. He cared about the others. They were friends, and he wanted to share this with them.

“Wow, I’m shocked you’d want us to come. For real?” Beck tipped his head to the side so his face rubbed against mine.

“Yeah, why not. I’ve only been to Michigan for games, and never got to look around. There’s tons to do there though. You in?”

“Hell yeah. What about you, Jonah? You want to go?” Beck turned to Jonah.

He smiled too quickly, but I saw right through it. How hard must it be to see everyone get closer to their dreams while you just treaded the same murky, hated waters? The talent and intelligence inside him were enough that I knew he’d one day make it out, but he didn’t seem to see. Certainly, didn’t believe it, and I couldn’t say I would have felt any differently if I were him.

“Sure, I’d love to,” he said half-heartedly.

Beck frowned as he studied him, but Jonah looked back at him blankly.

Later. If he didn’t open up to Beck soon, I’d talk to him about it later.

“Sweet, then we’re road tripping,” Beck eventually said. “The next dirt road is the one you’re going to take. It’s fucking long and deserted, so you can’t miss the big concrete building. It actually looks like some kind of bunker. That’s where we’re going.” Then he proceeded to give Rhys the lowdown of what to expect. “I only really know Graves and Angel. That’s my uncle and cousin. Graves actually took the club over years ago from a real piece of shit.”

“And you said before he’s been working on cleaning the club up?” Rhys asked, meaning that they stopped their illegal activity.

“Yup. They’ve apparently done a damn fine job. I can’t complain when we haven’t heard a peep from Reaper in weeks.”

No one commented on what that could possibly mean. In my mind, I chose to ignore it.

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