Page 8 of Courting Danger
The damage to Danger’s machine appeared to be all cosmetic; there was nothing wrong with the way she ran, nor any hesitation in starting. Ocean stood beside Pope, listening to the bike run for about thirty seconds before Danger turned her off.
“Yeah, I’m good to go,” Danger declared.
“Did you check on Roan?” Pope asked.
“He’s good, kept the wheels on the pavement and was helping out one of the bruthas back there,” Danger replied, pointing in the direction where they’d seen Roan earlier.
It took a moment before Ocean spotted the man again, holding a splint in place around another man’s leg while someone secured it.
“How bad is it up front?” Danger asked.
“The Prez maneuvered around the bastards with Kat and Saint on his heels, which meant Night went for it too; they’re all good. A couple guys behind him veered; a few managed to keep it on the road instead of going off the edge, two didn’t, and three more spun off into the road, then it became a crap shoot. Wreck, Bellamy, and Cody were riding right behind me. They had the good sense to cut the wheel when I did, which is why we’re parked up there by Ocean’s Jeep.”
When Ocean glanced over, it was to see a line of several bikes neatly parked in front of his lopsided vehicle, all having avoided the cluster of falling bikes. He’d been so focused on those license plates that when the bikes had skimmed past the vehicles, he’d thought he’d hallucinated them. That the moment had been real was a testament to the skill and experience of the riders who’d pulled off such a dangerous maneuver.
“How badly did you get gashed up?” Pope asked Danger, lowering his shades enough to stare at the shredded leg of Danger’s jeans, concern etched into his features.
“Meh,” Danger grumbled. “I’m sure Doc will have to throw a few stitches in when we get back to Joker’s Wild, but Ocean did a good job of patching me up.”
Pope nodded before clasping Ocean’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze, a look of approval in his gaze when their eyes met. “Must have sucked getting stuck here, but I’m glad you did.”
“Me too,” Ocean admitted.
“Let’s go see how badly those wheels are wedged,” Pope said.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to move,” Ocean said, scanning the collection of bikers clustered together, some of them gesturing adamantly, seeking Mark out among them.
“Like you said, you can’t go anywhere,” Pope said, jerking his head in the direction of Ocean’s Jeep.
He followed Pope over as another car appeared, creeping along, eyeing the collection of people and machines along both sides of the road.
“Everything okay?” a man asked, rolling down his window.
“All good, thanks,” Pope replied. “Just watch yourself on this stretch; there are some idiots out here.”
“Thanks,” the guy said, rolling the window back up before cruising along at the same slow pace until he disappeared around the bend.
When they reached the far side of the Jeep, Pope made a whistling sound. “Yeah, you’re sunk in there good; it looks like the runoff from the last rain undercut the edge, making the whole thing fragile. The county needs to get someone up here to look at this before more of the road erodes. We’ve got enough guys here to get you out, though. We just need to regroup for a moment and get the injured home.”
“No worries,” Ocean replied, just as Mark bellowed for them and waved for them to come back across the road.
Whether it was luck, fate, or just a chaotic bit of irony that had put them all on this collision course, Ocean didn’t know, but as he followed Pope to where Mark and a bunch of other men in kuttes stood waiting for them, he was grateful that the edge had crumbled when it had. Feeling like he was on the verge of finally getting the answers he’d craved for most of his life, he met the gaze of every man who introduced himself, clasped hands with them like the warrior his father had raised him to be, and felt, for the first time in years, like he’d found his family.
