Page 80 of The Secret's Out

Chapter Nineteen

Josie

Caden moving in bed registered before the sound of ringing from his phone. “Hello,” he answered, his voice sleepy. In the next second, he sat up. “Yeah, we’re on our way.” He threw the sheet from his body and got out of bed.

“Caden?” I questioned, sitting up. My hands gripped the sheets because from the way his body tensed, I knew something was wrong.

“Eli,” Caden yelled and then turned to me after donning a tee and jeans. “Get up, precious, we gotta get going.”

I rose to my knees on the bed. “What’s going on, Caden?”

“Please, baby. Please just get up and get dressed.” His tone was gentle, but his jaw was clenched tightly.

God, no. It was something bad.

“Eli,” Caden yelled again.

The bedroom door banged open and Eli stumbled in from sleeping in Parker’s room wearing only boxers. “What’s all the yelling about?”

“Get dressed, wake Simone and get her ready. She’s coming with us. We gotta get back to Ballarat, now.” Caden faced me. “Precious, move. Get dressed, something warm. We’re ridin’ out in five.”

“Pick?” Eli queried.

Caden shook his head and barked, “Now!” Eli disappeared from the doorway. I heard him open Simone’s door with a bang, next her scream of surprise and then Eli ordering her up and dressed.

“Josie. Get up, woman.”

“It’s something bad, isn’t it?”

“Baby, come on. I need you focused for the ride. Please just trust me.” He reached out his hand toward me. I looked from his face to it. He needed me to stay focused for the ride. He didn’t want me a mess on the bike in case it caused an accident. Which meant it was heartbreaking news.

Oh, God. Who’s hurt?

Be strong.

Get there and stay strong.

For now.

“Right,” I uttered and placed my hand in Caden’s. He pulled me from the bed and helped me get dressed in jeans, a tee, then a thermal long-sleeved top as well as a hooded jumper. Looking to the clock it said two in the morning, no wonder he was dressing me warm. But if I didn’t get outside soon, I would pass out with the amount of clothing I had on.

We walked from the bedroom, with Caden behind me leading me with his hand on my lower back, down the hall to the living room where Simone was already waiting with a panicked look upon her face. Her hands restlessly played with her hair and she gnawed on her bottom lip.

“Josie?” she asked.

Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t know, honey. Something’s happened in our hometown.” I felt Caden’s heat from his hand on my back disappear. He walked back down the hall to, no doubt Parker’s room, where Eli was, to fill him in on what was going on.

Stepping up closer to Simone, I whispered, “Whatever it is, it’s bad, Simmy.”

Before my eyes, Simone took a deep breath. Her hands went to my shoulders and her eyes hardened. She was preparing herself for whatever it was because she knew she’d have to be there for me. It was why Caden chose to wake her to come with us and also the fact that Cameron was still out there somewhere. “Whatever it is, we’ll deal, yeah?”

“Let’s move,” Eli ordered as he strolled into the living room dressed in jeans, his biker boots and a leather jacket zipped all the way up. He didn’t need to turn for me to know the back of his jacket held the logo to the Hawks MC.

“Where’s Caden?” I asked.

“He’s coming, sweetheart. Just had to make a call.” As he passed Simone and myself, he bent and lightly touched his lips to mine. “We’ll meet him outside.”

“Okay,” I mumbled and started for the door after him.

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