Page 50 of Stubborn as a Shadow

He looked over his shoulder at me with a weird expression on his face. Oops. Was he starting to think he’d be better off leaving me to the wolves and the hunters?

“Sorry,” I said, and pasted one of my biggest smiles on my face. It was the one that always got me out of trouble. And occasionally, it had landed me with extra pudding for dessert.

Nelson shook his head. “Get closer. Wrap your arms around me and hold on tight.”

I glanced at the few inches between us. “But that’ll put my rainbow tight against your pot of gold.”

“Just do it.”

He almost sounded like he was trying to keep from laughing at me.

“Kinky.” I slid closer to him and slipped my hands around him.

Oh. This was kind of nice. I liked feeling his solid muscular body against mine. It was also a relief knowing I’d be leaving Rudy Tada behind for now. I didn’t have to make any decisions or worry about being found out because I wiggled when I should have scowled. Everything was in Nelson’s hands now.Iwas in his hands.

For the first time since I’d escaped that cage all those months ago, I didn’t have to be the one coming up with a plan or deciding the next move. I sagged against him and turned my head to rest it against his back. I wasn’t good at planning and making decisions like that. I’d done it out of necessity.

I wiggled closer. It would have been better without the helmet so I could feel the soft wool of his jacket against theside of my face, but Nelson was convinced I needed to wear the contraption.

“Ready?”

I was still trying to figure out the answer to that question when the engine roared and the seat under my ass started vibrating.

“Oh!” And I was laughing again.

“Hang on,” he said. I tightened my arms around him as we took off.

At least with me sitting behind him, he couldn’t see all the bubbles.

18

B AND E AND OTHER ROMANTIC GESTURES

NELSON

When we arrived at the village at the bottom of the mountain without incident, I was optimistic our escape had gone unnoticed. I didn’t stop at the motel to check on Carter. My only priority was getting Morgan to Willow Lake. Besides, Gage would already be working on extracting Carter.

Once we were on the highway, however, I regretted my decision.

Heavy snowfall obscured the road. But hey, at least on a bike and without a helmet, I didn’t have to worry about windshield wipers icing up like I would have in a car, so that was good, right?

I huffed.

Looking on the bright side was not my forte, obviously. But right now, I needed some sign I hadn’t doomed us. Morgan was counting on me to get him to safety. I couldn’t let him down. But bikes weren’t meant for this weather.

Fuck, I hoped we didn’t crash. I wasn’t so worried about me, but Morgan…

I swallowed hard and gripped the handles tighter. At least no one else was out in this storm, so I didn’t have to worry about a bunch of assholes in cars passing us. The draft would have sent us skidding across the icy asphalt. Hell, the wind alone might do it anyway. It blasted down the open road as if eager to toss us out of its way. It almost worked too.

What the fuck had I been thinking?

I wasneverso ill-prepared. I should have borrowed someone’s truck—half of Willow Lake liked the things, so I’d have had my choice. But the meteorologist had been sure the blizzard would hit north of us, and I’d believed them.

At least my tires had nice deep treads, but those could only do so much. It’d only take one tire to catch some ice for us to hurtle into the ditch or a tree or some oncoming vehicle. It’d never happened before, but I’d never worried about crashing before either.

I wouldn’t be worried now, except for Morgan.

This wasn’t working. We needed a place for us to crash—figuratively, not literally—until the storm let up, and plows cleared the roads. At least I’d planned for the possibility of needing to hide out for a few days.