Knuckles (Dragon Riders MC #4) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,38

protected. No one owns it.”

“Nice.”

I peeked over at her. “You okay?”

She sighed. “I’m worried about the guys. Worried about you.”

I kissed the back of her hand. “No need. There weren’t any other trucks and campers when we got to the meadow, so that means they all got out. I’m just keeping my eyes peeled for trucks on the side of the road now, case one of them broke down.”

“I take it you guys have been in this situation before?”

I was uncertain of how much to share. But I figured since she was wrapped up in the middle of it now, I owed her the full explanation.

So, I drew in a deep breath. “A few years ago, we had the Feds’ eye on us for a while. Unmarked cars, random drop-ins to the bars. The whole nine.”

“Wait, that’s what we’re running from? The Feds? I thought it was something that was Skeleton-related.”

“That’s what I thought as well, until the bartender gave me that code slogan at the bar.”

She paused. “So, that’s what that was. I thought he was just being disrespectful.”

I grinned. “No one’s ever disrespectful to me, beautiful.”

“And what if I am?”

I growled lowly. “You’ll get punished. That’s what.”

She smiled. “Sounds like a good time.”

I chuckled. “Anyway, when they got too close to our operations, this is what we did. We got trucks with camper trailers and we went scoping for a place to lay low. That’s when we found this camp site we’re headed to, and it quickly became our ‘oh, shit’ place.”

She giggled. “An ‘oh, shit’ place. I like it.”

“It has everything we need. A stocked pond for fishing. Great hunting woods, if someone managed to grab a silencer or some shit. But if all else fails, we’re stocked with food we can ration and share until further notice. Plus, we keep the campers stuffed with canned goods and things that don’t expire easily.”

“What about water? I didn’t see any back at that house or anything.”

I smiled. “You’ll see once we get there. It really is a nice place to lay low for a bit.”

“Right. I’ll just take your word for it.”

I saw our dirt road we needed to take. “All right, hang on. It’s going to be slow and bumpy for a bit.”

She scooted closer to me. “Ready when you are.”

I looked over at her, smiling. “You’re something else, you know that?”

She kissed my shoulder. “Let’s do this.”

I had a sick feeling in the pit of my gut that the Feds weren’t going anywhere for a while. And I worried that staying low for a week or two just wouldn’t cut it this time. Still, I traveled further and further into the woods. Trying to stay away from potholes, spiked branches, and anything that might blow the bald tires on this fucking thing. Every once in a while, we slid in a mud puddle and I had to take a breather. I hated the precautions we had to take just getting out to this place. But if I wanted to protect my guys as well as Simone, it had to happen.

I had to make it work.

“How much longer?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Thirty minutes? Maybe more? Why?”

She peeked over her shoulder. “How far away are we from the world?”

“Once we get to the camp, we’ll be about an hour away from civilization. And that’s in a car with decent tires.”

She looked up at me. “Are we in a truck that doesn’t have decent tires, Justin?”

I paused. “So, I’ve been thinking.”

“I see you dodged my question just fine.”

I chuckled. “Through all of this craziness you’ve gotten launched into, I’ve been wondering what brought you to my doorstep in the first place.”

I felt her eyes staring at me. “The reason why I tracked you down.”

I looked over at her. “Yes. That. Because I gotta tell you, you’ve been rolling with these punches with the finesse of someone that’s been through this shit before. Either that or you’re dealing with something scarier, and this is like a vacation.”

She blinked. “Maybe it’s a mixture of both.”

My back stiffened. “This would be a good time to talk about it. It’s just you and me. This is an old truck, so no GPS or any shit someone can hack to listen. Just an old ass radio on an old ass truck with an old ass camper trailer attached to it.”

“And bald tires.”

I grinned. “Supposedly. You haven’t actually checked them yet.”

She snickered, shaking her head. “You’re something else, JayJay.”

I shrugged. “I do my best.”

“You’ve always