Page 45 of Oakheart

I gota phone and we found a shitty motel to hole up in, but it turned out, Evie wasn’t the only one nervous about how Jax would react to me reaching out after all this time.

Now that I had everything I needed, all I could think about was the stark betrayal on his face when I said I wasn’t leaving with them. We were tight, and I’d let him go without me.

Sometimes, I wondered if it would’ve been better for me to go—if Reeve would’ve let Pa get off clean and everybody would be whole.

But Evie fixed that, and it was having her there that gave me the strength to reach out to him. She needed me, and I needed him.

Maybe he needed me too. I didn’t think Grant stood much of a chance at dismantling what the Crescent pack had built on his own, but he was clever, and if he got the drop on them, he could do some damage.

I hoped helping Jax now would make up for letting him down back when we were kids.

I kept my message simple:Hey, it’s Cash. I need to see you.

Then I sent him the address of the motel.

I didn’t know if it’d be better for us to stay here or go out and spread our trail around so it was harder to track. That might just lead Grant or his lackeys right to us if we weren’t careful. And, well... even running the short way across the rest of California, we were both exhausted.

I needed sleep, and the first thing Evie did was get in the shower.

I laid on top of the motel bedding and I must’ve drifted off, because I came to with a loud knocking on the door.

Evie sat upright in the double bed beside mine, her wide eyes reflecting the blue of the television she’d put on quietly while I’d been asleep.

For a split second, I thought it was Jax, but the knock was angry. Even if he was pissed at me?—

No. An inhale, and I knew exactly who’d come to our door, and Evie did too.

She was shaking as she stared at me, but I knew that chain we’d latched on the motel door wouldn’t hold werewolves out for long.

“There’s a window in the bathroom,” she breathed. “It’s little, but I think we could make it.”

And then what? We wouldn’t make it around the motel if Grant had brought his loyalists with him. He wasn’t stupid enough to leave the place unguarded, was he?

If Evie was going to get out, she needed a distraction. And I was?—

Fuck, I wasn’t up to being half of what she needed, but I could do this.

“No, baby,” I whispered back. “I need you to go. Run fast and don’t look back. You find the Crescent building and tell them where you came from, okay? I’ll meet you there later, I promise.”

Another harsh bang shook the door. I picked up her bag and shoved it into her arms. “You’ve got to go.”

“But—” Her eyes were watery, and I couldn’t—I couldn’t think about that.

I shook my head. “You remember how to run, don’t you? So stop standing here and get on with it.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, and I drew her in and kissed her forehead firmly before shoving her back. “Go.”

I shut the bathroom door behind her and heard her lock it. It wouldn’t be much, but every second counted if she was going to get away. And whatever they were going to do to me... I wasn’t letting them get their hands on her.

“Just a second,” I called out toward the door to outside, hoping to buy her a little more time.

I was stunned they didn’t just knock it down, but given that I was making noise, obviously headed that way, maybe they didn’t want to risk drawing attention.

I opened the door on Grant, flanked by Marcus, John, and Adam.

“Well, hey there, boys,” I said, forcing a grin as I held up my hands.

Grant sneered, but it was Marcus who shoved his way into the room first, snarling. “You piece of shit.”