So we told them that Cash had run over a landslide of rocks in the road, and it almost made us crash, and the men were helping him throw them off the side.
As if that were a sufficient explanation for the terrible sounds that were coming from outside the car.
But it’d given them a sliver of peace. The outright fear that had gripped them so harrowing I couldn’t fathom leaving them in the clutches of it.
Not until I was sure what we were facing.
The forest broke open to the clearing that surrounded Cash’s home. A bare light glowed from the porch, as well as a few from within. The cozy warmth was at odds with the chill that had taken me over.
Cash put the SUV into park, but he waited, his eyes scanning before he looked at his phone.
“They’re almost here.” The words were stones.
A moment later, the distinct rumble of motorcycles came up the lane.
Three of them.
Their single headlights filed into the clearing one by one, coming to a stop behind the SUV, each separated by about five feet to create a barrier at its back.
A hedge of protection.
My spirit trembled and squeezed.
Cash shared a few texts back and forth, and he looked around again, before he glanced at me. “It’s safe.”
It’s safe.
It’s safe.
I wanted to crumble into the promise. Let him hold me within the net of it. In those arms and those eyes and that beautiful, hardened heart.
Gulping, I unbuckled myself, clicked open my door, and slipped out. My legs almost gave, the adrenaline that had pumped through me now draining into weakness.
I paused at the back door of the SUV, gaping back at the intimidating men swinging off their bikes.
Cloaked in menace and mayhem. Violence radiating from their flesh.
River.
Otto.
Another man I didn’t recognize, one who wore a black leather cut like the others who often watched over us while Cash was away.
As if they were a part of some vicious motorcycle gang.
I could barely swallow around the knot in my throat.
Forcing myself to look away, I opened the back passenger door.
Eva peered up at me, and from the middle seat, Addy’s eyes were wide and uncertain.
I was sure of all the children, she was the one who would recognize the fabrication that had come from my mouth. Sure that she could feel the alarm and affliction that oozed from both Cash and me.
The man a ferocious beast who had lumbered back to the SUV. Wounded and still looking like he was about to go on a murder spree.
He would have.
He would have.
