Hard Roads (29 page)

“Maybe so.” I could hear the couch creaking as he straightened out his legs to get more comfortable. “Wouldn’t be a bad idea, I guess. I’ve got nothing left around here and I can always come visit the cabin whenever I need to get away from your dumb ass. Besides, someone with half a brain needs to watch over the two of you.”

Nodding, I attempted to take another swig from the bottle, damn near missing my mouth. The liquor dripped heavily over my cheek and when I reached to wipe it away I couldn’t help but remember what it tasted like on Holly’s skin. “You don’t really think I’m dumb, do you? ‘Cause if that’s the case, I need to beat your ass right after I’m done getting drunk.”

“Boy, you ain’t dumb. In fact, I think you have the potential to learn a thing or two. So, no, I don’t think you’re dumb. I just think you’re not yet smart.” His head rolled on the pillow so he could eye me. “I’m sure that girl will help you get there. Women have a way of teaching men things whether we want to learn them or not.”

Chuckling, I asked, “So why do you keep calling me dumbass?”

“Oh, well that’s simple. Because you look like one.” He looked away when the door to the bedroom pulled open.

Craning my neck, I glanced over to see that Holly woke up.

“Mornin’ Munch.” She attempted to walk past me, but I let go of the bottle, quickly catching her ankle to pull her down on top of me. “Damn, woman, you are looking fine today.”

She laughed, the sound like music breezing throughout the room. When she smiled, I smiled in return, the whiskey in my blood warming my body, but the happiness I could see in her face was warming my heart.

Slapping at me, she said, “You’re drunk, asshole. You two men couldn’t wait until the sun set at least?”

“Nope,” Henry answered from the couch. “In fact, it’s about time we get up and get the bikes down from the trailer. Because if I drink any more, I won’t trust myself not to drop the damn thing down on top of me.” He pushed to sit up on the couch and groaned, grabbing his head. “Sonofabitch. Jack Daniels is never a nice man when you get older. Give me a second to let the room stop spinning and then you’re going to be helping me, JD.”

Glancing over at him, I couldn’t help the surprise that was written across my face. “I didn’t see a trailer last night. You brought my bike?”

“Yep. Hope you have the keys on you because it’s going to be difficult for you to ride off without ‘em.” Standing up, he stretched out his body before walking to the door. “I’ll head out and unchain them and give you two some time to yourselves.”

He was gone without another word and I was left on the floor with Holly straddling my stomach. “Hey beautiful.”

“Hey.” Her tired eyes looked down at me, but she still smiled like a woman in love. “Did he tell you anything else? What’s going to happen tomorrow?”

She didn’t beat around the bush, choosing instead to tackle the situation head on. It was one of the things I was learning to love about her.

“We’re going to be fine.” I didn’t know if that was the truth, but I didn’t want her worrying about it. “We’ll go meet up with your dad. He’ll see that you’re alright and then we’ll ride out like we planned. Henry even agreed to go with us. We’ll be one little dysfunctional family.”

Her laughter rang out again and I smiled to hear it. “I guess I can live with that.”

Pulling her down by the front of her shirt, I placed a quick kiss on her lips. “Damn straight you’re going to live with it. You’re stuck with me now.”

She bent down, kissing me long and hard before pulling away to say, “You better earn it then, ‘cause I won’t stick around with a man who doesn’t deserve me.”

Grabbing her hips, I pulled her tighter against me. “No worries there, Munch. I’ll be sure to earn it everyday.”

A loud bang happened outside and both our faces shot to look out the window.

Goddamned, sonofabitch, piece of shit motherfucker!

Henry’s voice echoed outside as he cussed out whatever had fallen. Holly looked down at me and smiled. “Guess you should go help him before he gets himself killed.”

I hated to let her go, but I pushed myself up and off the floor, heading in the direction of the loud, angry man outside.

After pulling the bikes down and under cover where the storm that was rolling in wouldn’t open up on top of them, we all moved back into the house to cook dinner and keep drinking. Hours passed as we told stories and talked about anything from people we’d known to the things we hoped to gain once all of this was over. Holly beat Henry in several hands of poker throughout the course of the night and I laughed every time his face turned red with disbelief and shame.

Later in the evening when music was blaring through the house, I danced with Holly, completely absorbed in the feel of the small woman in my arms. Henry was snoring away on the couch. Eventually, Holly and I decided to call it a night. We were both apprehensive about the following day, but we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying the little bit of time we still had together in Oregon.

After stripping down naked and climbing in bed, we made love to each other like it was the last time we’d have the chance. I worshipped every inch of her body and in turn she worshipped mine. We were two people born to be together, shaped by miserable lives and now attempting to escape the unfortunate circumstances that had given us the chance to know each other.

When we’d exhausted ourselves and were laying in bed barely fighting sleep as we both refused to let the moment end, she traced her finger over my chest, her head resting on my shoulder and her leg thrown over my stomach.

“You think everything’s going to work out, JD?”

“Yeah, babe, I do.” I didn’t, but she didn’t need to know that. Dread gripped onto my head and stomach when I thought about riding out the following day.

“Will you do me a favor? Will you promise to stay with me…to stay alive? No matter what happens, just promise me that we’ll leave together, that you won’t leave me behind and that we’ll be free of all of this after tomorrow.” Her words were followed by her yawn and I brushed my hand over her hair.

After a few seconds, I opened my mouth to lie again, because when it came right down to it, there was no way of knowing what would happen when we faced her father. But I didn’t want my girl waking up from nightmares, especially when I couldn’t be in her head to fight whatever scared her.

“I promise, Munch. No matter what, I won’t leave without you.”

Soft and slurred from the sleep that was taking her, she snuggled into my side when she said, “That’s all I can ask.”

I didn’t fall asleep with her and I spent most of the night staring up at a dark ceiling. The dread that had gripped me before felt like it would drown me, but I eventually had to push it away in order to get to sleep.

Our lives were on a crash course towards something that none of us could possibly know the outcome and I shut my eyes, finally sleeping before the first bits of morning light reached up above the horizon.

. . .

Turning the key, I let out a sigh of relief to hear my bike roar to life beneath me. She vibrated as she idled and I threw some shades over my eyes looking out into the forest that I knew I would miss once we rolled out. Henry was taking his dear sweet time tending to shit in the house and Holly was walking around in the driveway wearing her nervous energy like a second skin. Ever since we’d woken up that morning, she’d been pacing around, not really talking much or making eye contact with anybody.

I didn’t know what to say or do to help her, so I made sure to stay in sight in case there was anything she needed from me. As I looked over her body, I grimaced at the crap clothes she had on and I swore to myself that if we made it through this, the first thing I was going to do was take her shopping. She was a beautiful girl in so many ways and it was a shame to hide her beneath loose fitting clothes.

Walking back to me, she made sure to slowly look me over. “Mind if I ride on your bike, big man? It’s a long way to Arizona and a girl can get herself hurt hitchhiking.” She winked and I was happy to see that she’d turned playful. It could have been a front to hide her fear, but that was Holly. The fighter inside her might grow quiet every once in a while, but she would never die or give up.

“Don’t know, babe.” I leaned back to pat the seat behind me. “A man just might ask for payment for being so generous.”

Placing her hands on my cheeks, she smiled and the light danced in her grey eyes. “I think I have something that might be of value to you.”

Cutting off my resulting laughter, she kissed me. I was winded by the time she pulled away. Her eyes locked to mine, but then I noticed her expression grew serious. Speaking softly she asked, “You got another gun on you besides the one in the back of your pants?”

“Why?” I didn’t like her question and my eyebrow rose when she asked it.

“In case things go bad. Anything could happen, JD, so I might as well prepare myself for it. Don’t leave me helpless again. Please.”

She could have stabbed me through the heart and it would have been less painful. My first instinct was to tell her no, to tell her that I would protect her from anything that could hurt her. However, I knew that wasn’t the case. Deciding not to repeat the same mistakes that failed her before, I relented when I told her, “There’s one in my left saddlebag. Let it stay there for now, but if shit hits the fan, you can go for it.”

She nodded her agreement just as Henry stepped out of the house.

“Well kids, let’s get this shit over with, shall we? I’m too fucking old to be pissing around and not moving forward.” Climbing onto his bike, he looked back at us after it roared to life beneath him. Turning back, he slipped his bike into gear and drove slowly down the long driveway that led to the road.

My eyes flicked up to Holly to notice she looked like she would cry. After placing a soft kiss on my forehead, she threw her leg over the bike, climbing on and wrapping her arms around my abdomen.

I breathed out heavily, the fear and trepidation I’d tried to keep at bay finally weighing on me heavily.

Reaching back, I grabbed her leg before letting go to put the bike in gear and ride out in the direction of an unknown future.

Chapter Thirty

~ Holly ~

It didn’t take long for us to leave Oregon and roll out into the unforgiving sunlight of the desert sky in Nevada. The engine of the bike was so loud that I couldn’t really talk to JD, not that I had much to say even if I could. My entire body was tight with nervousness and fear and I gripped around his body while laying my head on his back. Closing my eyes against the wind that folded around him, I breathed in deeply attempting to chase away the anxiety that built inside me with every passing mile.

The sun has just been peeking over the horizon when we’d left the cabin and we were making such good time that we could drive straight through and make it to the abandoned roadhouse in Nevada by one or two the following morning. I wanted to stop, to spend the night in a motel on the way, but Henry was against it, wanting to ride straight through to get the meeting over with so we could all move on with our lives. I didn’t know how JD was able to drink so much the night before and still ride all day without growing tired.

Riding along, the cement buzzed beneath the tires of the bike and I let myself go to the freedom of the wind crashing against my body. It was hours that I got to hold onto JD, to feel him breathe and to hear his heartbeat pound against his back. Holding on as tight as I could, I felt like I could just merge with him, becoming one person so that no force would be powerful enough to come between us or split us apart. But I knew that wasn’t possible and that eventually I would have to let him go.

My mind crept back through everything that I thought I knew about my life: my mother, the years growing up in Dominion, the events of the past couple months. Mixed within the memories were the things that Henry had told me in the cabin, the revelations of my mom and my dad, the fact that I couldn’t remember JD or Henry from when I was young.

I was saddened by the cycle that seemed ever present in all of our lives. Pain, anger, regret – all of the emotions that most people worked so hard to avoid even though they come crashing down like a wave that you can’t outrun. I still found it hard to believe that my mother had been truly happy in the life my father had given her, but I couldn’t deny that Henry’s words had softened my heart towards the bastard who’d raised me. I didn’t remember him ever being protective of me, but I didn’t see why Henry would lie about it either.

After everything had run through my head a thousand times, JD turned onto a road that had few streetlights and we rode out onto the grim black darkness with only the headlights of the bikes for illumination. Glancing up at the sky, I noticed that the moon didn’t shine brightly above us and the stars were noticeably missing from the wide open sky. I didn’t know if it was an omen for the night to be so dark, but it felt like one when we rode up the road to see the flickering haze of bonfires in the distance. The engines seemed to sigh with relief when Henry and JD both slowed their pace and my body tightened to a point of pain when I realized we’d reached our destination.

Music could be heard blasting as we approached and I squinted to see how many bikes were parked in front of the house. It only looked like five from what I could tell and it made me feel a little bit better to know that my dad hadn’t brought all the brothers out with him.

When we pulled up, rocks kicked out from beneath the tires of the bike and I peeked around JD’s shoulder and shuddered at the sight. Memories flooded me and I gripped onto him tighter when I remembered this place from when they’d taken me from Hector. The images weren’t clear, but I remembered the blood on the ground and the fear that had coursed through my body during the exchange. JD must have noticed a change in me because he reached behind himself to wrap his arm over me in a sign of protection and support.

Killing the engine, JD stayed on the bike and we watched Henry climb off his to walk in the direction of the house. Bonfires rose up into the sky on each side and I figured from the location of the small sparks and bits of fire that escaped the main flames that my father and his men were around back. Henry looked back at us, nodding in our direction before setting off to look around.