Page 58 of Jack

Chapter 25

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Jack

Those roses almost ruined the best morning I’ve had in a long time. Lily’s excitement over riding was like a kid on Christmas morning. I love Christmas, and I knew she'd be hooked once she got on my bike. The roses caused a setback for us. Things will be back on track by the end of the day. I’ll make the ride home as magical as possible for her. We’ll get an order from Angie’s and ride out to the river for a picnic. I wanna hold her in my arms as we watch the sunset. It sounds romantic. I glance at Jay from the corner of my eye. Thank goodness he can’t hear my thoughts. I’d never live this down.

“What we got?”

“A wreck between here and Dades Creek. A truck, motorcycle, and a car. The truck’s already been picked up by Dades Creek. Afamily member for the car asked me to get it. The Sheriff’s Office asked if we’d get the bike, too.”

A multi-car accident with a motorcycle involved. The day’s going further off track. Jay keeps his eyes on the road. He’s not okay. His back is too straight, and his hands grip the steering wheel tightly. I’ll ask Dad to call the Sheriff’s Office and remind them not to send Jay to accidents like this. He owns a garage, so he’s going to see plenty of accidents. It’s the ones involving motorcycles that get to him.

“Everybody okay? The rider? He anybody we know?”

“The guy in the truck is okay, but his family convinced him to get checked out. The Dodge is totaled, though.” Jay makes a left onto the main road to Dades Creek.

Of the three vehicles, the truck was the safest unless it was one of the smaller models. Jay rolls one shoulder, still keeping his eyes on the road.

“Who owns the car?” If the family called Jay, they may live in Willow Creek.

“Laura Westbrook. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Her son called.”

“Grayson?”

Jay nods.

The Westbrooks live in Dades Creek. I’ve met their whole family. Grayson and I hung out for a while until he ran off to California to make it big. When he did, he moved right back to Tennessee. His family lived in Alabama for a while when he was younger. I don’t know that story. Gray never talked much about it.

Now, for the question I hate asking the most. “And the biker?”

Jay snaps his head in my direction. His eyes are dark, and his lips are pressed together. This isn’t good. He quickly faces forward again.

“Don’t know the biker’s condition. Mrs. Westbrook and the guy in the truck said a car pulled up shortly after the accident. The biker limped his way to the backseat. The cops are watching the hospitals and clinics to see if he shows up.”

That’s weird. So weird, in fact, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Maybe the accident was his fault and he’s running. That doesn’t feel right. There’s more to it. I feel it.

“Cops run the plates and VIN number?” If the guy caused the accident, both of those would lead the cops straight to his door.

“No plates.” He glances at me from the corner of his eye. “And the bike was reported stolen from Murfreesboro yesterday.”

I want to believe this was just a punk kid who stole a motorcycle and took a joy ride. Maybe that’s what it’ll turn out to be, but this weird feeling won’t go away. With the Mavericks showing up and strange flower deliveries at the bakery, we can’t overlook this. Nick’s gonna be a happy man later. He loves surfing the internet for information. Nick does more than just surf the web. He’s one of the best hackers in the business.

By the time we get to the accident, it’s mostly cleared up, and everyone’s gone. The only things here are the car and motorcycle. The accident is closer to us than Dades Creek. Jay backs the rollback up to the car. We step out and inspect the car before loading her up. I let Jay handle hooking up Mrs. Westbrook’s Ford Taurus while I get some photos of the skid marks and the bike.

Once the car’s loaded, I step between Jay and the bike in the ditch. “You get in. I’ll load up the bike.”

“Stop it.” He shoves me aside. “I can handle seeing a wrecked motorcycle.”

No, he can’t. It messes him up every time. I rub the back of my neck and let him proceed. I want to save him from the pain and torment that will follow soon, but I don’t want to fight mycousin. We’ve come to blows a few times when he’s off the deep end. Jay’s not easy to take down.

He stares at the broken, twisted pieces that were once a nice bike. It’s not a custom design as Jay prefers, but there are enough accessories to know the owner wasn’t a beginner. Jay looks at every wrecked vehicle that comes through the shop for ways to restore them. The bike might have some used parts he can salvage, but that’s it.

Jay runs a hand over his face and motions for me to follow him into the ditch. “Let’s load it up.”

It takes both of us to load the Harley onto the rollback behind the car. I would have seriously struggled to do it by myself. We cover it with a tarp and strap it down.

Jay’s quieter than normal on the ride back to town. Not that he’s a big talker when others are around, but with me, he will. I send a quick message to Cloudy and a few more brothers. We need eyes on Jay all night. I also messaged Nick and have him looking into the accident.

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