“I know you will.” Gray pulled Jackie in for a hug. “Remember, even when you feel weak and the grief is threatening to take over, you’re strong as long as you keep breathing. Keep fighting. And call me whenever—day or night. I’ll send a request on Facebook so you can get my number. We’ll stay in touch.”
“Okay. Thank you.” Jackie sniffled and hugged him harder. “Thank you, Gray. Thank you. Thank you for finding me.”
Gray’s throat closed up, and he couldn’t form a single word. All he could do was tighten the hug a bit more before it was time to let go.
Darius got a similar treatment when he exited the house with the empty spare tank.
Jackie hugged him tightly and thanked him over and over.
A couple minutes later, Gray and Darius were on the ATV, driving away from the house.
It felt so goddamn wrong, but it was the nerves talking.
Jackie could reach out to Ryan if things got too bad, Gray reminded himself.They cleared their campsite on autopilot, both stuck in their heads.
Darius loaded the ATV onto the truck.
Gray packed up their tent and gear.
When that dude, that fuckin’ Hank, showed up, Gray almost snapped at him. He didn’t have the fucking patience for any fucking politeness or fucking chitchat—fuck. He took a breath. Thank goodness for Darius. Darius pulled it off. The bullshit fell out of his mouth naturally. There was a story about how Gray—or “Chris”—had twisted his ankle at Skull Rock. Another story of how they were chased by bees in the cactus garden, which Darius and Hank chuckled heartily at. And in return, Hank gave a play-by-play of everything he’d done with the family.
“So, you’re off home, eh?” Hank asked.
“Nah, not yet,” Darius answered. “Kid’s not heading back to school until Monday, so we thought we’d do one night in Big Bear before I hand him over to his folks.”
“Ah—beautiful up there.” Hank nodded approvingly. “Well, it was great meetin’ ya, James.”
“You too, Hank. You too. Shame we didn’t have time for that beer.”
Urgh.
After throwing the last of their things in the back seat, Gray got in the passenger’s seat and plugged in his phone charger. Three percent battery left. Darius better get here and start the car. Gray wanted to get out of the park, out of the fucking desert. He wanted to see the bars on his phone showing he had service. He wanted a report from Ryan. He wanted… He wanted to get home to the boys.
Thankfully, Darius didn’t linger. The second he got in behind the wheel, it was clear he was on a mission. It would be a race against time itself to get home as soon as possible.
“Are you gonna miss Hank?”
Darius snorted and turned onto the main road leading out of the national park. “When he wrapped up one story and began another in the same breath, I thought I was gonna crush my molars.”
A surprised laugh burst out between Gray’s lips. “You’re a great actor. I couldn’t tell.”
Darius hummed and placed his phone on his thigh. He was distracted too. “Ry should be in place now.”
Gray tried to get comfortable but knew it wouldn’t happen. Not yet. The discomfort was hardly in the seat. Instead, he watched the road ahead of them. He felt Darius’s impatience with each vehicle that drove too slowly, even though it was they who drove too fast.
Come on, come on, come on.
It felt like half a lifetime before Darius’s phone vibrated with a message, and he instantly tossed it to Gray. “Read it before I lose service. It’s gonna be spotty for a while.”
Gray brought the screen to life and checked the preview.
In position. SOPS reading. Hourly reports starting now.
“What does SOPS mean?” Gray spelled out the abbreviation. “SOPS reading. Ryan’s in place. He’s gonna report every hour.”
“Good,” Darius replied. “Jackie is the SOPS. Subject of protective surveillance.”
Oh. Good. Okay, good. Things were going okay.
“I’m glad.” Gray set the phone in one of the wells between them. “You’re my SOPS, by the way.”
Darius grinned quickly, concentrating on passing cars on the road, and gave Gray’s knee a squeeze. “You’re mine.”
On every level.Gray woke up slowly, first registering the faint sound of the radio, then the movement of the truck, Darius’s humming… They were on the road, and Jackie—
“Jackie!” He sat straight up in the seat and warred against the cobwebs of sleep and disorientation. “Is he okay? How long was I out?”
“Easy, baby. Everything’s going well.” Darius unlocked his phone and extended it to Gray. “Read for yourself.”
Gray scrubbed at his face first, and he couldn’t help but cringe. He didn’t smell great, to put it mildly. They hadn’t showered since they’d left Washington. Then, with the phone in his hand, his eyebrows went higher and higher when he saw the list of updates from Ryan.