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Chapter One
Stopping by the roadside diner to get out of the cold, eather had seeood idea at the tiht have been one of the worst decisions of his entire life
They were still so-tired and al beside him without complaint, but Jax needed to stop soon and let hiet some food in him too
After the trucker they’d hitched a ride with in Birham the day before left them on the side of the road outside of Bay St Louis, he’d found a door left open on a bathrooht on the floor, with Mason’s head on his lap All Jax knew for sure, or at least according to the trucker, was that if they kept going on this road, they’d wind up eventually in New Orleans, a little over fifty-fivethey could do what the trucker told hi-distance truckers and hang around long enough to catch a ride farther west
Jax had never been to the western part of the United States He’d never been much of anywhere outside of Piedmont, Alabama, the small tohere he was born and raised He didn’t know anybody out west either, but he’d decided on it as a kind of general destination that last, desperate night before they left He and Mason had shaken the dust of the little town off their feet,and Jax hoped he’d never have to see it again Jax would have left Alabao if it hadn’t been for his little brother
Staying in Alabama obviously wasn’t an option, and they had no other close relatives to speak of Mason said he’d always kind of wanted to see soht be nice to see some of the places Jax had only read about or seen on TV, like the Grand Canyon Maybe he could get a job soet Mason back in school If any of the towns he traveled through looked pro, he could find the as a place to go, and he needed soh to be on his oith no ht-year-old brother who had to be fed and cared for Throw in no place to hide, and the terror he felt threatened to choke the breath out of him
This ry, but Jax wanted to try to wait until supperti and save his h The last time he’d checked, he had seventeen dollars left, plus sobreakfast But when he’d seen the diner on the side of the road, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to go inside, use the rest roolass of milk—ive them a chance to rest for a while and warm up
It was only October, but even in the south, rainy days in the fall could be cold and miserable Jax found them a booth near ain the back and waited while a nice older lady took their order All around thee Mason never said a word, but Jax saw his eyes stray toward a big plate of pancakes the waitress carried by, and for the hundredth ti
The suns and ordered only a biscuit and a glass of milk for Mason and coffee for himself Coffee really wasn’t his favorite drink, but it was hot, and he loaded it up with creaar packets was a little basket with crackers When Jax figured nobody was looking, he ate a couple packs of those and took aswith the little packs of jelly sitting in their littlethat someone had left the waitress a five-dollar tip and stuck it up under the basket The whole ti Mason wolf down the biscuit, his eyes kept straying back to the cash
It hen he was on his third cup of coffee, and the waitress was beginning to look at the into the parking lot outside the sroup of about fifteen people ca the same kind of black leather jacket On the backs of the jackets was a na wolf Jax allowed himself a little smirk at the name
The ones with the jackets were big, tough-looking guys, all of the to be somewhere in their twenties or thirties There werethe jackets, but who had been riding on the backs of the motorcycles
The ered over to a table in theroom to sit down He was tall and y black hair partially covered by a blue bandana When he ca for sohted on Jax with a surprised expression, alh Jax was sure he’d never seen the guy before in his life— he would definitely have re that made Jax most uneasy was how the surprise on the er
The guy was joined at his table by two of the others, while the rest spread out wherever they could crowd around a table or a booth, and the aze away fro in particular, not causing any trouble, but the room see over the café like a pall of s before the other patrons felt it too, finished their ot up to leave
Jax continued to sit there, fiddling with his coffee cup, knowing they needed to leave, but dreading going back out in the rain Mason had begun to doze in the warrabbed a warht they’d left He’d been in such a panic he hadn’t been thinking straight He thought longingly of the heavier jackets hanging in their closets at home As it was, both of them had only the clothes on their backs
Feeling uneasy, he glanced back up and saw an intense gaze directed at hi hole in hi he needed to do was attract the attention of souy probably didn’t like the way Jax looked, with his piercings, eyeliner and shaggy hair When he’d washed his hands in the café bathrooes his eyeliner had left under his eyes, and had tried to wash it off his face Had he missed so to a tough guy like that Then again, what the hell did he care what soht about him?