“Maybe.” He let out a breath, and it drifted through his hair. “But I think we could all use some rest. We won’t have room for error when we go after my old man.”

“You got a plan?”

“Possibly. Actually,” he said, opening the driver’s side door, “you gave me an idea back there, when you wanted to go all Carrie on the old man’s estate.”

He never referred to him as his father or dad. Always old man. Considering what Perrone was capable of, I guess I didn’t blame him. I shoved my door open before sliding the back door to the side so I could reach Alex. She stirred but didn’t wake.

Wedging my arms underneath her body, I lifted and cradled her against my chest. She wound her arms around my neck, mumbling something incoherent in her sleep. The fact that she felt safe enough to let her guard down blew my mind.

She trusted me with her life. But was she wise in trusting me with her heart?

Fuck, I hoped so.

Jax climbed the steps to the front porch of the small house nestled deep in the woods. The nearest highway was at least twenty miles away. We’d come in on a county road, then a long dirt driveway that seemed to go on forever. I wasn’t sure I could find my way out of here, if I needed to, and that made me nervous. But at least it wouldn’t be easy for others to find us…unless this was a trap.

Knock it off.

They’d had us right where they wanted us. If not for Jax busting us out, we’d still be locked in that dark underground hole, practically buried alive. Fuck, it sure had felt like it. I shivered at the thought, my pulse racing upon remembering the blackness, the dripping faucet…wait. There hadn’t been a dripping faucet in that room. The pipes in the tunnel, yes, but not in that cell.

I hated this—the absence of memory. A piece of my identity was missing, hiding underneath the layers of my fucked up mind. Every now and again, a small nugget escaped and confused the heck out of me.

Jax handed me a key. “That’s your copy. The place is already stocked, and the money’s in the safe. Most of it is yours. I contributed what I could from working for your brother.”

I shook my head as he jammed his key into the lock and turned the handle. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

“I know.”

Alex clutched my hair, and her warm breath breezed across my neck. “We here?” Her voice was heavy with sleep.

“Yeah, baby. We’re here.”

“I need a shower.”