She walked back down the driveway. He moved toward her when the front door opened.
"Get in here, Timber," said Dice. "Now."
Ramrod straight, Timber changed directions and walked past Romeo, glaring in his direction as if her dad being here and her obeying him was somehow his fault. Maybe it was, but damnit, they were trying to keep her safe.
Yet, it still pissed him off that she, once again, listened to her dad and not him. That needed to change.
Inside the house, he grabbed a glass of water and gave it to Timber. She stood in the living room, not moving to sit or ask what was going on. He led her to the couch and took her down, sitting beside her.
"Dice needs to talk to you." He glared at his MC brother.
They'd talked everything through before he was due at the meeting, and the plan was for Dice to lead the conversation. It would be better for Timber if she learned the truth from her dad.
Dice's gaze narrowed, and the whiskers around his mouth shifted. Romeo shook his head in disbelief. The fucker wasn't going to tell her.
"You can't stay at the apartment, so you're staying here." Romeo paused, waiting for Dice to fill in the holes. "Same rules, and I can take you back and forth to the diner."
Timber's head continued to shake throughout his announcement.
"I gave the bicycle back to Vega," he said, adding one more piece of information she wasn't going to like.
"You can't do that. Vega gave the bike to me," she argued.
Romeo pointed at Dice. "Open your God damn mouth and tell her, or I will."
Timber looked at Romeo, completely ignoring her dad. "What's going on?"
Dice walked away, going into the kitchen. Romeo got to his feet and took Dice's spot on the other side of the living room. This was bullshit.
The way Timber grew up.
The way Dice handled the situation.
The way he was involved in something that had nothing to do with him.
All fucking bullshit.
He wasn't going to blurt out that her grandfather was the head of Swallows and strip her of everything she'd had her whole life. Sure, it might've been a shit life for her growing up, but it belonged to her. Telling her a different world waited for her would only send her off in the wrong direction.
He stared across the room at Dice holding the whiskey bottle to his lips, daring him to say anything. There was nothing he could do unless he wanted to make the problem worse and destroy Timber in the process.
"You need to stay with Romeo." Dice emptied the bottle and lowered his arm. "Trouble is out there."
Timber crossed her arms. "For how long?"
"Don't know."
"Where's mom?" she asked.
"Don't know that either." Dice turned around to go back into the kitchen.
"Are you going to look for her this time?" said Timber.
"Damnit, girl." Dice whirled around, pointing a finger at her. "Just do what I say. I'll take care of your mother."
Timber shut down as if slapped. Always quiet and solemn, she acted differently around Dice. It was as if her dad had stolen her dreams, told her secrets to the world, and turned his back on her at the same time.
The craziest thing was that Timber seemed to accept everything Dice told her. That forcing her to change her plans and accept an unknown danger in her life was...normal.
Romeo hooked her arm, stopping her from leaving.
"That's it?" he whispered. "You'll stay?"
Most women he knew would put up a fight. They'd push their independence. There was nothing legally Dice could do to make Timber stay. That wouldn't stop him from paying someone to keep her here.
"If he wants me to stay here, I'll stay here." She leaned in until her breasts brushed his chest. "But the moment he leaves town, I'm gone."
"Where will you go?"
"Anywhere? Nowhere? Somewhere?" She backed away from him without dropping her gaze. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned around.
He was glad his brothers were gone at that moment because it was a sight to see Timber take her dreams and toss them in the air, out of her reach, in front of him.
"She'll run." Dice stepped closer. "You'll have to watch her."
At the end of his patience, he ignored Dice and walked up the stairs. He wasn't done talking to Timber.
Chapter Eighteen
Romeo's room appeared how she'd left it with the bed made, the curtains pushed to the ends of the rod, and all the stray pairs of boots lined up in front of the closet. Timber kicked off her shoes, sat in the chair underneath the window, pulled her feet up under her, leaned to the side, and put her head on the cushioned arm. A part of her was glad to be back in the Muel house.
Though, it was better when her dad wasn't in Spokane.
With him being the reason why she had to stay with Romeo, she went from an ordinary renter to a burden on the Muel family.
What had her dad done now to warrant her being under house arrest?
She thought the effects of being his daughter would only invade her life if she remained in the Seattle area. Gaining her freedom was why she'd moved to the other side of Washington state.
She exhaled heavily. Where would she have to go to gain her independence?
Maybe she should go to Mexico or some small foreign island where nobody knew her. She could get away from her dad and all the trouble he brings with him. She wouldn't obsess about why her mom keeps leaving her and popping up when she least expected it without any reason why she'd left.
It took money to gain her freedom. Money that seemed impossible to save at the rate she was working. She'd need to have two or three jobs, and right now, that seemed impossible without a car.
The door opened. She raised her head, seeing Romeo, and relaxed again.
"Is he gone?" she asked.
"Not yet." He stepped to the bed and stretched out on his side, propping his head up to look at her. "He'll head out soon when he realizes I'm done dealing with him for the day."
"You're done?" She raised her brow. "I didn't know you worked."
"Smartass."
Her chest warmed at the ease it was to get along with him once they were alone. Being with him was comfortable and exciting.
There weren't many men who could lay on the bed and talk to her without making her feel awkward. Having Romeo around felt right.
"I don't understand how you belong to the same motorcycle club as my dad, yet can live here and share your life with your brothers." She curled tighter in the chair, folding her arms around her waist. "My dad never lived with us—far as I remember. So how come I'm the one having to move all the time?" Before he could answer, she added, "Does he know where my mom is?"
She hated to ask. Romeo would take her question as a sign she cared about her parents. She had quit caring when she turned thirteen years old and realized her birthday had passed a week before and nobody was there to remind her. After she got over the shock that her mom and dad had forgotten her birthday, it scared her.
What if she got hurt? She wouldn't even use a sharp knife in the kitchen when alone in case she cut herself. Nobody would be there if she bled to death.
It was normal for her mom to take off before her dad visited Seattle to avoid seeing him. If he caught her mom unaware, then she always took off after the visit. As she got older, Timber assumed it was hard for them to be in the same room.