Deserted - Auctioned

He just had to figure out who might follow.

The chip burned in his pocket.The next morning was rattling. Gray was balls deep in nightmares about gunfire and Jonas’s choking sounds before he died, when Jayden shook him awake. Gray bolted out of the bed and went from facing one pair of pale brown eyes, filled with anguish, to another set. The same shade, a kind of brown that always had light in it, but this pair was younger and showing worry.

“You said Jonas’s name,” Jayden said. His hair was more disheveled than usual, and he looked entirely too innocent to be exposed to Gray’s nightmares. The boy was only wearing a pair of briefs, revealing the youth he tried to hide underneath his attitude and experience. He had some minor scars along his torso that shoved more concerns into Gray’s head.

He swallowed dryly and scrubbed at his face. His heart rate returned to normal, and he blew out a breath.

“Bad dreams?” Jayden guessed.

Gray nodded minutely and tightened the drawstrings to his sweats. The clock flashed red and let him know it was eight in the morning. A good time to check out and get this day started. It wasn’t like he’d be able to sleep more anyway.

“Finn says bad dreams are unfinished business,” Jayden stated frankly.

Kinda hard to finish something when someone was dead.

“You’ve mentioned him before,” Gray muttered. “Is he a friend?”

Jayden shrugged lightly and jumped up to sit on his bed. “Sometimes. When he’s not trying to find me a family.”

Ah. “Do you have any friends your own age?”

He considered that and squinted as he scratched his shoulder absently. “Not really. Kids are whiny.”

Gray coughed around a chuckle.

“Are we going to Washington today?” Jayden asked. “Can we get breakfast before?”

“We’re starting our journey today, yes,” Gray replied. “It’ll take a few days to get there. It’s a long drive.” He eyed the coffeemaker on the unit where the TV stood. “We’ll get breakfast on the way to Father O’Malley—after you’ve showered or taken a bath.”

“But I showered yesterday,” Jayden protested.

Oh boy. Gray couldn’t wait for the conversation about laundry. Last night, Jayden had said he’d done laundry with Sister Margaret two Saturdays ago. In his opinion, that was very recent.

Considering he only had two sets of clothes, he was in for a few changes in his everyday life.FiveJayden was in high spirits after his goodbye with Father O’Malley, who had been admittedly amazing about the whole thing. He’d cranked up the excitement for the boy and focused on all the “cool sights” Jayden would experience along the way.

“Our country is beautiful, Jayden. No two states are the same. I think you will have a great adventure, and I can’t wait for you to call me to tell me about everything you see.”

But there was one more thing Gray wanted to do before they left Philadelphia.

They stopped near a small park, and Gray headed to the nearest bench, where he hid the chip-like thing on the ground. Then he returned to the truck and found parking far enough away that they’d created some distance, while still keeping the bench in his view.

“What are we doing?” Jayden wondered.

Gray reached back for a bag of snacks he’d picked up at 7-Eleven and handed Jayden a soda. “Pick a snack. We might be here for a while.”

Jayden chose a chocolate bar.

“I want to see if a friend of mine has been following me.” Gray chose his words carefully so he wouldn’t scare Jayden.

Man, it better be a friend. It better be Darius.

“It’s a stakeout?” Jayden asked.

Gray smirked. “Yeah. A stakeout.”

And stakeouts were incredibly fucking boring.

They lasted an hour before Jayden was getting restless.

“Can I go over there?” He pointed to a run-down playground across the gravel path in the little park. “You’ll see me. I just wanna see if there are any worms in the sandbox.”

To be eight again…

Gray hesitated. He didn’t want to let Jayden go that far. The kid had already done more for Gray than he had for Jayden, and failure was not an option. He was going to keep Jayden safe, and if someone was, in fact, following them, it ended here. At the same time, he couldn’t blame Jayden for wanting to get out of the truck. They’d been sitting here doing nothing for over an hour.

Maybe Gray should invest in an iPad. Endless hours on the road might get easier if Jayden had some movies to watch.

“We can compromise,” he decided. “We’ll both go over there for a little bit.”

“Okay,” Jayden said happily and tied his scarf. “How long—”

He was interrupted by a knock on the driver’s side window. Gray whipped his head to his left, and shock tore through him for a quick second. I fucking knew it! Anger flooded him, drowning out the small voice that cried out with relief—and, fucking hell, yearning. A beat later, he pushed the door open and got out of the truck.