The words“get the fuck away from me”die in my throat as my knees buckle. Before I can make a sound, his hands are on me—one arm wrapping around my back, the other settling at my waist, grounding me. I don’t even realize I’m crying until my face is pressed against his chest.
He doesn’t say anything at all, and he doesn’t have to. His shirt smells like smoke, sweat, beer—and, most dangerously, like home.
Sixty-Five
NOW | JAX
“There’s not a fucking chance I’m letting you go there without me.”
Sisk crosses her arms. “Matt and Viper are coming. Lou’s keeping watch. I’m not going by myself.”
“I don’t trust anyone else protecting you,” I snap. “Not against the tar, not against this city, and definitely not against the drug lords running it.”
“You need to talk to your grandfather,” she says firmly, meeting my glare without flinching. “You can meet us there after you get answers.” She steps closer, lowering her voice so only I can hear. “That matters, Jax. To both of us. You think I’m not losing sleep over this pregnancy thing?”
I shake my head. “I know you are,” I say quietly. “You were crying in your sleep last night.”
She looks away.
“You two done over there or what?” Matt calls from his bike, revving the engine. “We need to leave if we’re making this meeting.”
Sisk swings a leg over the back of his bike.
“Get on or walk,” Viper tells Lou, nodding toward her own machine.
“We should’ve taken the train,” he mutters to Sisk.
Sisk snorts under her breath. “Just get on.”
Lou just sighs, accepting his fate.
Matt looks at me, his grin back in place. “Relax,” he says. “I’ve got your girl covered.”
“I don’t need covering,” Sisk snaps.
Matt ignores her. “Stop hovering, Jax. Handle your business. We’ll handle ours.”
I exhale slowly, watching them. “Fine.”
My eyes find Matt. “A scratch on her,” I say, my voice flat, “and I’ll rip your balls off and make you eat them. We clear?”
Matt just grins, a flash of white in the dark. “Crystal,” he says, before gunning the engine and peeling out onto the street. Viper’s bike follows, Lou clinging to her back like a terrified barnacle.
I stand there watching the red tail lights vanish toward the harbor. I glance toward the docks, where the oil tanks rise behind the port, and behind them, the office tower where my grandfather works, top floor, looking straight over the back hangar, exactly where Danner told Sisk to meet him.No fucking way that’s a coincidence.
Lou’s voice from earlier echoes in my head: “Your grandfather works late for a rich man.”
I remember asking him about it as a kid, getting the same bullshit answer every time:that he thinks better at night.I look up at the building again. “Lying son of a bitch.”
I thought tonight was about the tar, turns out, this is about my fucking family.
I gun the throttle and head for the tower.
* * *
I haven’t been here in years, not since I was young enough to still believe my grandfather’s building was just an office building. Not since I still called him sir without tasting blood in my mouth.
The guards at the front don’t recognize me at first. They’re in black uniforms with earpieces, their eyes trained to look right through you. But then one of them squints, really looks, and his spine straightens like a switch flipped. He doesn’t say Mr. St. Clair, but he steps aside.Guess the family resemblance is still doing its job.
