Chapter Two
As the truck rolls to a stop, I open my eyes. Nothing around me looks familiar, and it puts me on edge.
Where am I?
Everything hits me at once.
We’re in Florida. I left Evan, and we’ve been on the run ever since.
It’s the same feeling every time I wake up. You’d think I would get used to it, but I haven’t.
I don’t even know how to describe the level of exhaustion I’m feeling. I’m tired to the bone. My body and mind both feel sluggish, yet I feel like I’m on high alert.
Does he know where I am? Is he on the way? When he finally finds me, will it only be me he kills or our babies as well?
Make no mistake, it’s not an if he finds me but a when.
Men like Evan don’t stop when they lose what they think they own.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Bertha says quietly.
I look over at her and offer her a weak smile.
“How long was I out?” I rasp.
“About an hour. The kids passed out shortly after you did,” she says, offering me a kind smile.
Tears build behind my eyes, and I force myself to look away from her. She doesn’t need to see me cry anymore.
“So this is Florida, huh?” I say, looking out the window.
It doesn’t really look much different from other places. The only real difference is that the temperature outside the truck is reading seventy-eight degrees. Much warmer than anywhere else in the fall.
“Yeah,” she responds, drawing my attention back to her.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask hesitantly.
She blows out a deep breath and nods. “I do. Trust me, there is no place in the world safer than with my brother. He’s a good guy—a little intimidating—but he’s solid. He won’t let anything happen to you or the kids.”
“Where are we?” my son groans from the bunk.
Bertha turns and smiles at him. “We’re at my brother’s house. Come on. Grab your sister, and I’ll introduce you to him.”
Before he can respond, she jumps out of her rig and shuts the door.
“Mom, are you sure this is a good idea?” he asks hesitantly.
I offer him a brittle smile and lie. “Yes, now come on.”
I push open the heavy door and jump down.
My legs shake with the impact of my landing, making me whimper.
My body hurts, not just from sitting in one spot for so long, but from the beating I took before I ran.
I’m pretty sure something was broken that should have been fixed.
It’s been too long now, though. Whatever it was has likely healed wrong.
At least my bruises have faded, though.
I help the kids out of the truck and shut the door.
As I round the hood with their hands in mine, the front door opens, and a man steps out.
Instinctively, I take a step back. The man isn’t massive.
In fact, he’s on the slimmer side, but there’s no denying that he’s fit.
He’s got on a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans with motorcycle boots.
His hair is light brown and cut short on the sides.
He looks nothing like his sister.
“Colin!” she squeals.
It’s so unlike her that it catches me off guard.
I watch as she rushes across his yard and throws herself into his arms. Envy rolls through me as I watch the siblings interact.
Even though I’m a little jealous that she has someone in her life like that, I can’t help but feel a little hopeful that maybe one day, years from now, Emily will rush to Tanner like that.
I hope they will always have a solid relationship with each other.
When Bertha steps back, she waves us over.
Reluctantly, the kids and I approach.
“Jane, this is my brother, Colin. Colin, this is my friend, Jane,” she says.
Colin holds out his hand. “Hi, Jane. Please call me Mac.”
I place my hand in his much larger one and offer him a weak shake.
For some reason, I can’t help but notice that his eyes are light blue. So different from his sister’s hazel ones.
“Mac?” I ask.
“It’s what my friends call me.” He smiles before he kneels in front of me and looks at my son. “What’s your name, bud?”
My son looks up at me and waits for approval before he responds. It kills me how withdrawn he’s become. Tanner was my child who used to talk to anyone without any hesitation. When he was Emily’s age, I used to say he was the type of person who had never met a stranger a day in his life.
Now, though, he’s subdued. He doesn’t shine the way he used to, and it’s my fault. I tried to shield them, I really did, but there was no stopping them from seeing everything. I should have left him sooner.
“Mom…” Tanner says, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts.
I offer him a brittle smile, silently telling him it’s okay. He stares at me for a moment before he looks back at the man in front of us.
“I’m Tanner. This is my sister, Emily,” my son tells him.
“Nice to meet you. I know you traveled a long way. Do you want to see where you’ll be living now?” Colin asks him.
“Can we?” Emily asks hopefully.
Colin looks up at me, and I nod, giving him my silent approval.
He stands. “Come with me.”
Colin, I mean Mac, walks us across his yard and to the house next door. He pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door. He moves to the side to let us walk in first. I can’t help but suck in a breath as I take the place in. This place is nice. So much nicer than I was expecting.
“Go look around,” I say to the kids.
Tanner looks at me and frowns. My heart aches at the way he hesitates to leave me alone.
“It’s okay,” I say to him.
Tanner takes Emily’s hand in his, and they take off, Emily a bit more excited than her brother.
“It’s not much, but it’s the best I could do. I hope it’s okay,” Mac says.
“It’s too much…” I say quietly as I take in the living room.
When Bertha said her brother had a place, I imagined a run-down house that was empty.
This place isn’t that. It has fresh paint and newer-looking floors.
There’s not even a scuff on the walls. What is more surprising, though, is all the furniture.
Not only is there a couch, but there are end tables, a coffee table, and even a flat screen on the wall.
It is way more than I expected, and I haven’t even seen the rest of the house yet.
“It’s really not.” He takes the key off his keyring and hands it to me. “Here. I’ll leave you to get settled. If you need anything, let me know. I’m just next door.”
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“You’re welcome.” He looks over at his sister. “Stop by before you take off.”
“I will,” she says to him.
He steps out and shuts the door behind him.
“So what do you think? Will this work?” Bertha asks me.
I let out a shaky breath. “Are you sure it’s a good idea? Won’t I be putting your brother in danger? He will eventually find me.”
Bertha smiles. “Trust me, my brother isn’t afraid of danger.” She steps toward me and begins to rub my arms. “This is all going to work out. Everything will be okay. I know it. Have a little faith.”
Faith.
I want to laugh at the idea of having any. It’s been too long since I’ve felt that feeling.
“I hope you’re right,” I murmur softly as my son calls out for me from down the hall.
Arms crossed, I stare out the kitchen window at the house next door. Questions swirl around my mind like a whirlpool, all of them centered around the family next door.
What’s the situation? Did my sister pick up a stray who just needs a fresh start, or is there more to it?
Shit, the way the boy Tanner was standing tall but trembling slightly nearly killed me. The girl—she’s too young to really know what they were living through, thank God. Tanner, though, whatever he saw is going to stick with him.
Poor kid.
My front door opens and closes, but I don’t bother turning around.
“Staring is creepy,” my sister says as she walks into the kitchen.
I hear her open the fridge and pull something out, but I don’t turn around.
“How serious is this?” I ask.
Bertha comes and leans against the counter next to me and sighs. “It’s bad.”
“Tell me,” I bark out.
I hear Bertha sigh. “Long story short, she was picked up by a trucker. When he picked her up, she was black and blue. He coaxed it out of her that her husband beat her damn near to death. The boy had a bruise on his stomach too. It was so bad that he called upon the oath.”
“The oath?” I ask, frowning.
“The trucker oath. Think of it like calling in a favor, no questions asked.”
“You guys have an oath? How cute,” I tease.
“Hey, don’t hate. I know for a fact that your little club has oaths as well,” she quips, making me chuckle.
“Roberta, we both know there is nothing little about my club and what we do. Bringing her here puts her adjacent to that. Did you even warn her?”
She rolls her eyes. “I told her that you weren’t on the right side of the law, but you were a good man.
That you would protect her, so don’t make me a liar.
” She gives me a hard look. “Anyway, I answered the call. Originally, I was going to drop her at my next stop, but I couldn’t.
Something about them…I just had to help.
She didn’t want to stop because she swears he will find her no matter what.
Those kids need stability, and she needs safety. You can provide both.”
So they are on the run. Not only that, but it was a domestic situation.
My jaw clenches. Nothing pisses me off more than someone who harms someone they are supposed to love—someone they are supposed to cherish and treat with nothing but respect. There’s a special place in hell for people who do shit like this.
Not only did he hurt her, but their kids…
I push the thought away and clear my throat. “I will protect them. Any info on the asshole?”
“She won’t tell me anything about him. Even the kids haven’t spoken about him. I think they are scared that if they say his name, he will show up like he’s Bloody Mary or some shit.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get the club on it. We need to know who he is so we can keep an eye out.” I rub my hand down my face.
“I knew you would take this seriously. You have a good heart.” She pats my arm, looking out the window I finally turned my back on.
“Yeah, yeah. How long was she with you?”
“Two weeks. If you think they are skittish now, you should have seen them when I got them.” She shakes her head. “It’s been about two months since she has been on the road. She had no plans to stop. She’s got some money, but that will run out.”
“I fucking hate shit like this,” I mutter.
“You and me both. Jane is just so nice. The kids too. They tried so hard to stay out of my way, to stay small and not ask for anything. It’s been heartbreaking. She’s a good person, Colin. She deserves better than the hand she was dealt.”
“No one deserves what they went through. Does she have a new ID or anything yet?”
Bertha shakes her head. “No, not yet. I’m sure you can handle that, though?”
“Yeah, I’ll get them squared away. The last thing we need is for him to find them because of something like that. Did she use cards or anything when she was with you?”
“No, all cash. It seems she thought this through.”
“Good.”
“Thank you for doing this,” she says softly.
“Stop thanking me.”
“Never. It’s not every day my brother does something nice,” she teases, making us laugh.
“Don’t let anyone else know. They might get the wrong impression,” I quip.
“The horror.”
“Enough about this shit. Tell me how you are,” I tell her, changing the subject.
“I’m good. Staying busy,” she says as she breaks eye contact.
Bertha knows I hate her job. It’s not that I don’t think she should do it, or that she can’t. I just hate that she’s out there on the road all on her own for days—hell, months—on end.
“That’s good.”
“What about you? How are things with the club?”
“Good. Feels like we are finally getting our feet under us. Shop is doing well and all that shit.”
When I left Boston with Smoke, Gunner, and the rest of the guys, we had no idea where we were going to end up. We had nothing planned. All we knew was that we didn’t want to stay in Boston anymore.
I didn’t think we would escape to the Sunshine State, but we did. It’s not a bad place. We get hot summers and cool winters. It’s much better in the Panhandle than in the southern part of the state.
“Good, I’m glad.”
Bertha’s eyes drift to the clock on the stove.
“Is that the time?” she asks.
“Yeah.”
“Shit. I need to get back on the road. I stayed longer than I intended.”
“Are you sure you can’t stay for dinner?”
She offers me a weak smile. “Next time. I had to take a detour to bring Jane and the kids here. I need to get back on the road before I get off schedule. If I deliver my next load late, I’ll have to pay a fine.”
“Fine, get back to your mistress.” I sigh dramatically.
Bertha rolls her eyes. “Please, we both know the road is your mistress too.”
“Yeah, but you see more of it these days than I do,” I joke.
“True. It will always be my first love. Now if only I can find a man that’s as good to me as the road is.”
“You have to stay in one place long enough to find a guy for that to happen,” I remind her.
“Touché.” She pushes off the counter and steps forward, wrapping her arms around me.
I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.
“It was good to see you. Even if it wasn’t for long,” I tell her.
“It was good to see you too.”
“Don’t be a stranger. Come back soon,” I tell her as she steps back.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I walk my sister to the door and step out onto the porch.
“Love you,” she calls over her shoulder as she stomps down the stairs.
“Love you too. Stay safe out there.”
“Always!”
I watch as she jumps into her big rig and starts it up. Before she even pulls out of the neighborhood, I miss her.