Deserted - Cara Dee Page 0,115
his phone showing he had service. He wanted a report from Ryan. He wanted… He wanted to get home to the boys.
Thankfully, Darius didn’t linger. The second he got in behind the wheel, it was clear he was on a mission. It would be a race against time itself to get home as soon as possible.
“Are you gonna miss Hank?”
Darius snorted and turned onto the main road leading out of the national park. “When he wrapped up one story and began another in the same breath, I thought I was gonna crush my molars.”
A surprised laugh burst out between Gray’s lips. “You’re a great actor. I couldn’t tell.”
Darius hummed and placed his phone on his thigh. He was distracted too. “Ry should be in place now.”
Gray tried to get comfortable but knew it wouldn’t happen. Not yet. The discomfort was hardly in the seat. Instead, he watched the road ahead of them. He felt Darius’s impatience with each vehicle that drove too slowly, even though it was they who drove too fast.
Come on, come on, come on.
It felt like half a lifetime before Darius’s phone vibrated with a message, and he instantly tossed it to Gray. “Read it before I lose service. It’s gonna be spotty for a while.”
Gray brought the screen to life and checked the preview.
In position. SOPS reading. Hourly reports starting now.
“What does SOPS mean?” Gray spelled out the abbreviation. “SOPS reading. Ryan’s in place. He’s gonna report every hour.”
“Good,” Darius replied. “Jackie is the SOPS. Subject of protective surveillance.”
Oh. Good. Okay, good. Things were going okay.
“I’m glad.” Gray set the phone in one of the wells between them. “You’re my SOPS, by the way.”
Darius grinned quickly, concentrating on passing cars on the road, and gave Gray’s knee a squeeze. “You’re mine.”
On every level.
Gray woke up slowly, first registering the faint sound of the radio, then the movement of the truck, Darius’s humming… They were on the road, and Jackie—
“Jackie!” He sat straight up in the seat and warred against the cobwebs of sleep and disorientation. “Is he okay? How long was I out?”
“Easy, baby. Everything’s going well.” Darius unlocked his phone and extended it to Gray. “Read for yourself.”
Gray scrubbed at his face first, and he couldn’t help but cringe. He didn’t smell great, to put it mildly. They hadn’t showered since they’d left Washington. Then, with the phone in his hand, his eyebrows went higher and higher when he saw the list of updates from Ryan.
“You were asleep for eight hours,” Darius said.
“Jesus.”
SOPS resting.
SOPS eating.
SOPS sweet as fuck. He gives a thumbs-up every now and then.
SOPS upset but giving thumbs-up.
SOPS resting.
SOPS ok.
Talked to a friend on the base at 29. Call me.
SOPS eating. Giving thumbs-up.
SOPS reading.
Gray exhaled in relief and dragged a hand through his hair. Be strong, Jackie. You can do this. “What, uh, what was the call about?”
“Ry just wanted to make sure the first face Jackie encounters in Twentynine is a friendly one,” Darius replied. “He’ll wait on the outskirts before taking Jackie to the nearest police station. No questions asked.”
“Oh. That’s kind.” Gray relaxed a bit more and wrung his hands in his lap. He felt unsettled because he’d slept for so long. “I should’ve set an alarm. I was supposed to check in with the boys.”
“I did that already.” Darius reached over and rubbed Gray’s neck affectionately. It felt a little too nice. The sleep was still clinging to his senses. “I stopped for gas and called Adeline. Said we’re feeling better and that the fever’s broken.”
“Thank you.” Gray closed his eyes and succumbed to the sensations. Goose bumps rose across his arms, and it would be so easy to fall back to sleep. His stomach grumbling in hunger was the one thing that kept him awake. “How am I still tired? I usually never sleep in the car either. But this is the second time this trip.”
“Is that so weird? We’ve been on high alert for days. I always sleep more after an extraction.”
True…
And Gray hadn’t slept last night, nor had he gotten many hours the night before.
“Where are we? I’m starving.”
“Just north of San Francisco,” Darius answered. “We can hit up the next diner.”
Oh, fuck yeah. The vision of a greasy cheeseburger appeared in Gray’s mind.
“Anything?” Gray asked as soon as he exited the restrooms.
A few hours north of San Francisco, they’d stopped at a truck stop that had shower amenities, which was definitely worth ten bucks.
Darius had showered too, and he was waiting by the truck, deliberately