Chapter 30

JULY 5 – WEDNESDAY 7:08 PM

T heo

I hadn't laughed this hard in forever. Glancing in my side mirror, I watched Ren as she lifted her hands in the air and cheered. The only thing that would've made this moment sweeter was if I could see the smile on her face.

"Better hang on. I need to get on the freeway," I said, and she immediately wrapped her arms around my waist. There wasn't anything quite like the feeling as she pressed herself against me tight as we sailed along on my bike. Signaling, we turned onto the ramp, and I opened the bike up to merge with traffic and then sailed along in the passing lane. She always tucked her head in, and even though I couldn't see her, I knew Ren's eyes were closed. I wanted to take her to a race here where I knew the streets and the racers, and showing her off would be for real this time.

"Why are you not scared going so fast," she asked, making me smile.

"I don't know. There is something special about being out here with the world flying by."

"It's like you have an alter ego," she said, making me laugh.

"I guess that was how Murk was born," I said.

"Do I want to know how you came up with the name?"

"Probably not," I teased, knowing she would picture far worse than anything I could tell her.

We'd been out since one this afternoon and had already completed a large loop. Dinner was at a local pub, and now I was taking her to one of my favorite spots. Peeling off the freeway again, I was surprised when Ren didn't resume her freedom cheer, but I didn't mind and laid my arm over hers. How had she captured me? I still couldn't wrap my head around what happened. One minute, she was a stranger, and then a threat I didn't want anywhere near my boys. Now, here she was on the back of my bike, and I wanted and willingly put her there. Nash had one thing right: she was infectious.

"Are you okay," she asked, startling me.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You just sighed like something was wrong."

I hadn't even realized that I did. "I was just thinking about how I want you to stay with me and Liam one night soon. If you want to, that is?"

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," she said as I pulled out to pass a car on the two-lane road and then slipped back over.

"Why?"

"For starters, Myles may lose his mind if I don't stay at the cabin. But even if I could get him to stop worrying, I hardly know Liam. I may like sex, but I don't know about jumping into bed with him. He doesn't seem interested either, which makes the whole thing really weird."

She had a point. I was pushing for something that might never work with the way that Liam was acting. He seemed totally put out by Ren, and I didn't understand. I genuinely thought we got it sorted out, but Liam had been distant, canceling our dates and hardly answering my texts. He flat-out refused to pick up my phone calls, and at the picnic yesterday, he didn't speak to me at all unless we were together in a group. He was great at pretending all was fine in front of everyone else. Maybe I was desperate to fix us, and as much as I wanted to add Ren, trying to push the angle was making things worse. Shit. I just didn't know.

"Are you mad that I said that?"

"No, I'm just thinking." A cop car whizzed by going in the opposite direction, but I recognized the driver as Deputy Ellis when he looked over at us. He wouldn't be able to tell who we were, and yet, a moment later, a black SUV caught my attention behind us.

"So where are we going?"

That was a good question now. I turned onto a boulevard, and sure enough, it followed. It was keeping a fair distance, but it still stood out with its blackened windshield. Fuck.

"I was going to take you to one of my favorite places to sit and enjoy a view. I was also hoping to take advantage of our time alone, but we may have an issue."

"There is no issue with that. I'm game," Ren said, making me smirk.

"Good to know, but that's not what I meant. Don't look. I don't want to let them know that I see them, but I'm pretty positive we've picked up a tail."

Ren's arms tightened around my waist. "Do you think it's the same people who tried to kill me in Canada?"

"I don't know yet. I don't even know how they would know it's us unless…shit…they have all of us under surveillance. Son of a bitch, that has to be it. We're going to need to switch up vehicles more often."

Had they already followed us to the cabin? Did they know where we were keeping her? No, that didn't make sense. They wouldn't show themselves like this if they did. I turned off the boulevard, and another fucking cop passed me. Weaving my way through the street's curves, I spotted another cop car. Were they driving in circles? "Hang on."

I veered down a side street and twisted my way through the busy subdivision before pulling out onto the main drag. The cops were nowhere to be seen, but the SUV was still with me. As soon as we got back on the freeway, I went full throttle, and within seconds, they became dots in my mirror and then disappeared completely.

"Oh shit," I growled as we passed the next on-ramp, and two cop cars, with lights and sirens, pulled on and began chasing us.

"What's happening," Ren asked, her nervousness coming through the speaker.

"I don't know, but I need to cut off communication to use the phone. It's going to be fine, Ren. I promise."

I tried calling Liam, but the phone just rang before going to voicemail. My teeth ground together as I tried a second time. Fuck. Hitting end as his voicemail came on again, I speed dialed another number instead.

"Murk, I didn't expect to hear from you."

"Hey, Daze. I didn't expect to be home so soon or to have heat on my ass. I need a favor."

"For you, anything."

A few minutes later, I hung up with Daze and switched back to Ren. "You still good back there?"

"Yeah, but should we just pull over?"

"Hell no. I have a plan. You trust me?"

"Yeah."

"Then hang on."

I veered off the freeway at the next ramp, and our police escort followed. We hit a red, but I blew through it and kept going until we reached the industrial section of town. One by one, bikes came from every direction, surrounding us.

"Theo, who are all these people?"

"Friends," I said and held out my fist as Daze pulled up on his bright green bike. We hit knuckles, and he nodded that they were ready.

Soon, I couldn't see any cars behind me. I smirked as we reached the next intersection. The group seamlessly divided into three units, and we all took off. Only one vehicle followed us, but we divided again, and when we did, the cop followed the other bikes.

The phone rang, and I answered it.

"You're good to go, man. We have the cops chasing their damn tails out here. Woo, take that copper," Daze yelled.

"Thanks, man, I owe you."

"No way, this is the most fun I've had in weeks. I should be paying you." He maniacally laughed before he cut the line. Daze was as crazy as they came but also super loyal to the racers in this area. They were like one big family, and if I wasn't so entrenched in my own fucked up world, I'd be more involved. They didn't deserve the kind of shit that followed me or our mafia families around.

Getting Ren back to the cabin was tricky, and I had to pull into the odd driveway and take all back roads, but we made it. "Are you going to come in?"

I shook my head. "I have some things to look into. But don't worry about them finding you. If they knew where we were, they'd already be here." Ren nodded, and I kissed her before making sure she was safely inside. As soon as she was, I called Nash and gave him the rundown of what happened. Then I tried Liam for the third time, but as usual, it went straight to voicemail. Anger bubbled up with the frustration. Whatever the hell was wrong with him, we were getting it sorted tonight because I was sick of this shit.