“Get on the back with Mason,” he told Jax. He swung a leg over the front as Jax and Mason settled behind him, with Mason wrapping his trembling little body around Jax. Revving the motor, Cade glared back at the truckers and took off across the lot, with Jax clinging to his waist with one hand. He stopped at the edge of the lot, swung his leg off the bike and started to pace agitatedly up and down beside the bike.
“Damn it!” he yelled. Glaring over at Jax, he said, “It would not be a good idea to go back over there and give them what they deserve. Am I right?”
Jax swallowed hard at the fierce look on his face, happy all that fury wasn’t directed at him. “Yes. I mean, no, probably not. ”
“Those sons of bitches—gonna get in my face. Motherfuckers!”
“Yes,” Jax said with a nod. “They were, but it’s okay. It’s over. ”
Cade rubbed a hand over his face. “I should go back there and rip them limb from limb. ”
“Uh,no, you really shouldn’t. ”
“Even though they fuckingdeserve it?”
“Yeah, even though. ”
Cade stopped pacing and took a couple of deep breaths. He glared back at Jax and at Mason who was still clinging to Jax, his face buried in Jax’s chest. Cade frowned. “And you’re not hurt? Mason’s okay?”
“No, no, we’re both fine. You got there in time. ”
“Which wouldn’t have been necessary in the firstfucking place if you hadn’t run away from me!I left the room for like five minutes!”
“Yeah, well, it was probably a little more than that, actually. ”
Jax flinched as Cade turned a furious gaze back to him, and thenfollowed Jax’s gaze to a few people standing outside the service station, looking over at them curiously. Huffing out another furious breath, Cade continued to pace up and down beside the bike, looking back down the road as if he was expecting someone.
He turned back toward Jax. “Look, I won’t fucking force you to go with us. If you want to leave, I’ll take you somewhere safe. ”
Jax shook his head. “N-no. I want to go with you. ”
Cade angled a suspicious look at him. “Why the sudden change of heart? You just ran away from me before, at the motel. ”
“I-I don’t know. ’Cause you saved us, I guess. ”
“Yeah, well, what if it’s a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire?”
Jax shook his head. “I don’t think you want to hurt us. Do you?”
“No, Jax. I don’t want to hurt you. That doesn’t mean I won’t. ”
Surprised, Jax stared at him with an open mouth. He really didn’t know what to say to that. Finally, Cade relented. “Okay, no,” he huffed out a long breath. “I won’t hurt you. ”
“Then take us with you. You haven’t hurt us so far, and I’m…I’m tired of being on my own, hungry all the time. No place to sleep at night unless I can find some dirty bathroom floor. Hell, we’ll take our chances with you, if you’ll give us a ride. ”
Cadestepped close enough to touch him, but simply stared into his face. “You’re not on your own anymore, Jax. I can promise you that, but I’m not going to tell you there’s not any danger. I’m not that big a fucking hypocrite. ”
Jax nodded, not sure what to make of what he said, but honestly too tired to care much. He’d found someone to take them in, at least temporarily, and if there was danger in this man, he’d soon find out. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to sleeping with one eye open.
In another minute or so, two of the others came roaring up on their bikes. Jax remembered one of them as Rayce, the nice one who’d brought them breakfast, and the other one was the man who had watched cartoons with Mason. After only a few words spoken between Rayce and Cade in that other language that Jax thought was French or maybe Cajun, Rayce turned and held a hand out to Mason, who went surprisingly willingly to climb up behind him. Rayce handed him a helmet and helped him fasten it on.
Pulling on his own helmet then, Cade swung up onto the motorcycle, handed Jax another helmet and made sure Jax was holding on tightly to his waist. In minutes, they sped off down the road, back east, the way Jax and Mason had come that morning. Within a few miles, they rejoined the rest of the group, parked in a fast food parking lot on the side of the road. Cade and the others pulled up beside them and switched off their engines. Right away Jax noticed the big biker from the truck stop—the one who’d been on his cell phone. So that was how Cade managed to arrive in the nick of time. Jax nodded at him, and he waved back cheerfully.
Jax could hear all of them talking to each other in that other language. Cade must have told them something about their destination, because a few of them pulled out maps from their bikes and studied them carefully.
Jax sat quietly as all the bikers bustled around, getting on their bikes, preparing to pull out again. They all seemed anxious, even happy to get on the road, even though the rain was still drizzling down. Jax was happy too. At least they were moving somewhere, and he and Mason needed to be on the move. He had to admit something about Cade made him feel safe, against all reason. As they were making their preparations, Cade came to stand next to him. He had a heavy jacket in his hands. “Here—put this on. ”
Gratefully, Jax pulled it over the thin one he had on and fastened it up. He glanced over at Mason and saw he was wearing a similar one. Cade watched Jax broodingly. “One thing I need to know. How did you get away from me so damn easy at the motel?”