“Announce it to the world,” I mumbled.
“I knew Casper wasn’t his real name,” Eli said as he walked toward us.
“She’s the only one who calls him Cody,” I replied as I slung my purse over my shoulder. “I wouldn’t try it.”
“Of course not,” Eli said with a shit-eating grin, raising his hands in surrender.
“You’re pretty,” my mom said in amusement, looking him up and down. “Too bad me and my girls already found our other halves.”
“Um, excuse me?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Oh, please,” Mom said with a scoff. “The only people who haven’t figured it out is you two dumbasses.”
Eli laughed and I glared at him. “She’s right,” he said sympathetically, raising one eyebrow as he rubbed his chest in the exact spot my name was permanently etched on Mark’s chest.
“Bathroom,” I reminded my mother, choosing to ignore the entire conversation.
“I’ll walk you,” Eli offered.
“Cody,” my mom called again. When my dad didn’t turn to look at her, she rolled her eyes. “Just go with the pretty one,” she told me. “Your father is clearly preoccupied.”
“Fine.”
Mom looked at Eli, all joking gone from her expression. “If something happens to her, you’ll be the first to die.”
“Whoa,” Eli muttered, his head jerking back in surprise.
“Ignore her,” I told him as I started toward the building.
“I think my balls just shriveled up into my stomach,” he said as he caught up with me. “Seriously.” He reached down to the zipper of his pants. “They’re gone.”
“Just walk me to the bathroom,” I replied. “You can search for your balls while I’m in there.”
“You realize that if there’s more than one stall, I have to follow you in, right?”
“You realize if you follow me in, my mom isn’t the one you’ll have to worry about, right?”
“Point taken,” he mumbled, opening the glass door to the mini-mart. “I’ll just check it out and then stand outside.”
“Good idea.”
I got the key from the guy at the cash register and did my business quickly, anxious to get back on the road. God, I hated this. I felt like shit, my vagina throbbed constantly, and I just wanted somewhere to lay down and rest for at least a week. My mind wandered to Liv while I washed my hands, and I ruthlessly jerked it back to the present. The only thing I would focus on was getting us to Sacramento. There was nothing I could do to change the past, or to make us any safer, or to somehow untangle the mess my life had become. I refused to even think about it. I’d deal with it all later. Much later. Maybe never.
“All set?” Eli asked as I came out of the restroom.
“All set.” I followed him back out to the vehicles, and my stomach tightened as I got a look at Mark’s expression.
“Where’s your phone?” he asked, his hand out palm up. “In your purse?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at the other people in the group, all of them wearing the same grim expression. Reaching into my purse, I blindly searched for my phone and pulled it out.
“Give it here,” Mark snapped. As soon as I’d handed it over, he was completely dismantling it.
“What are you doing?” I blurted, reaching for it.
“It’s how they’ve been tracking us,” Mark replied flatly, handing back the phone without a battery. “You know Warren had a big stake in the telecom industry?”
“I had no idea where he got his money,” I replied honestly.
“Well, he did. So does the son. We figure that’s the only way he was able to track your phone so fast. When you own the business, it’s easy to throw your weight around.”
“With that much cake, we should have realized it sooner,” my brother spat.
“Money makes the world go ’round,” Lu grumbled.
“But we were at the house for days—” I snapped my mouth shut when I realized that my phone had been dead until I plugged it in to call Lily.
“Let’s get back on the road,” my dad ordered. “We’re wasting time.”
It didn’t take long before we were loaded back up and headed north again. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window, letting the cool glass soothe the headache that was forming at my temples. I just wanted it all to be over. I wanted to get settled somewhere in a little house where we could rest and I could relax, even for a few minutes.
The rest of the drive seemed to take forever, and I spent the last hour trying to keep Olive calm in her car seat, but eventually, we pulled up outside a garage on the outskirts of Sacramento. As a large gate with barbed wire across the top rolled open, I sat up straight in my seat.
I hadn’t been to the Sacramento clubhouse since I was a kid. Back in the day, my parents had brought us with them when they’d come down to visit, but as we’d gotten older, they’d started leaving us behind with various friends and family, usually my Gram.
“I swear, this place never changes,” my mom said as we rolled into a parking spot out back. “It’s like walking into a time warp, every time.”
“You’re from down here, aren’t you?” Mark asked as he shut off the truck.
“Yeah.” Mom sighed and sent him a tired smile. “Eugene is better.”
“Of course it is.” He chuckled, then met my eyes in the mirror. “You all set?”
“I just want out of this truck,” I said, stretching my arms over my head.
As soon as we’d climbed out, we were surrounded by people that I barely remembered. Old men with long beards passed my mom around, giving her hugs and kissing the top of her head, like she was a long lost sister. Cam had disappeared into the crowd, probably to call Trix, and my dad was shaking hands and giving back-slapping hugs of his own. As I stood there holding Olive, I realized that, while I felt completely out of place, my family knew these people and felt comfortable in their company.
Mark’s arm slid around my shoulders until his forearm rested against my upper chest, and his solid form pressed against my back. If we’d been anywhere else, I would’ve laughed at the blatant show of possession, but standing in that courtyard, I was thankful for the solidarity.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” an old timer said, grinning as he looked at the two of us. “You have to be Doc’s kid.” He laughed, reaching out to shake Mark’s hand. “I’d recognize that face anywhere.”
“Yup, that’s Woody,” my dad said, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Your old man was a good’un,” the old guy said. Then his eyes came to me. “And you have to be CeeCee. You look just like your mother did, way back when.”
“Lucky girl,” my mom sang, making everyone laugh. “What? You know it’s true.”
“Hey,” I said, smiling at him.
“Who’s the little one?” He shifted his head to the side, trying to see around Olive’s blanket.
“This is Olive,” I said, pulling the blanket down to show her face.
“Well, hello, Olive,” he whispered. “I’m Chunky.” He leaned back and whistled. “Hell, girl, that’s a fresh one. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”