Page 30 of Resurrection
“Shhhhh!” Jax scolds him. “They’re still fucking close, you idiot!”
Hawk puts his hands up in apology while donning his signatureGives-No-Fuckssmile. “Ok. Ok. I promise I won’t be careless. I’ll whisper.”
I smile at the awful joke and shake my head but Jax seems to just let it fly past him, getting right on with the matter at hand as he lifts his blanket in front of him.
“Ok, let me know when you want it.”
He begins draping one part of the blanket overGeorge Michaelbefore feeding the remaining fabric between the front seat and the door. Hawk grabs his side and cracks the passenger-side window slightly, stuffing the top part of the blanket through and securing it by rolling the window back up again. He does the same with his blanket, filling in the cracks the first one might have missed. Satisfied with its hold and the coverage it provides, he moves on, unfolding a large map and situating it against the windshield—the visors holding the flimsy paper in place. Between Hawk and Jax, they manage to create a decent barrier between us andthem, preventing the undead from seeing any movement in the car.
Cole nods in affirmation and scoots out from his place on the floor, pulling me with him and placing me in his lap. “Nice. I like it. Good idea, Hawk.”
“Yeah, I agree. Good thinking, bro,” Jax adds.
“And now we can talk and keep each other awake for the next however long without having to deal with ass cramps from our sad attempt at being contortionists.” Hawk smiles at his accomplishment.
Satisfied with our makeshift invisibility cloak, Jax reaches back again and pulls out a large cardboard box, the lettersM.R.E.displayed in large font on the side of it.
“Might as well get comfortable. I have a feeling we’re going to be here for a while, and I can’t imagine we’re going to be able to bring all this stuff with us when we’re actually able to leave. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to dig into some dinner while we wait,” Jax says as he pulls out a brown plastic package, then another, and another, handing them to each of us.
Moving off Cole, I sit on the bench seat next to him. When Jax holds his hand out with my package, I grab it and take a peek inside, surprised to see how much is packed in such a small bag. After having meager rations these past few weeks, this feels like a verifiable buffet.
“Why weren’t we eating these the whole time?!”
“Because we knew we still had a long way to go and needed the dense stuff to get us through the more difficult times,” Jax says quietly in return to myinvoluntary outburst, his one eyebrow lifting as if daring me to argue about him hoarding these.
I purse my lips and nod back since that does actually make sense. Even though I’m a little peeved that he kept food away from me this whole time, I need to remember that if I ate it all then, I’d have none now.“Perceptionisnine-tenths of the law, after all.”
“Possession...”
I turn my head to Jax, confused. “What?”
“Possessionis nine-tenths of the law.”
Yeah... exactly. Iperceivemyself to be inpossessionof some freaking awesome, kick-ass goodies and now they’re all mine! I mean, look at this shit!
Crackers, peanut butter, pretzels, chocolate protein shake mix, and a bunch of add-ons like salt, pepper, and hot sauce fill my pouch. There’s even a spoon, moist towelette and freaking mints!
My particularmeal that is ready to eathascreamy spinach fettucciniwritten on it and, looking around at the guys, each of theirs is a different selection. Cole hasspaghetti with beef sauce,Hawk hascheese tortellini—I almost ask to switch because his apparently came with M&M’s but I restrain myself—and Jax haschicken with egg noodles and vegetables in sauce.The three of ours look halfway normal, but looking at Jax’s… I’m kind of glad I got the one I did. The wordshlupcomes to mind.
I pull out another bag that seems to have a rock in it and hold it up, confused as to what I’m supposed to do with it.
“Ah, that’s for heating it up,” Jax interjects, pointing to my rock. “See, you put the main meal in the pouch, fill it to the line with water, and then lean it against something to keep it upright. After a little bit, a chemical reaction takes place and heats up the food. It takes a few minutes, but it does the trick. Do you want to heat yours up?”
I take a look at the three of them already diving into their meals and the decision is easy. “Nah, I’m ok.” I’m not some dainty debutante. If they can eat theirs at room temperature, so can I. Besides, they seem to be enjoying themselves. How bad could it be?
???
I take it back… It’s fucking disgusting. There’s too much spinach and not enough… anything else. Hawk takes pity on me and gives me his cheese tortellini which is world’s away from the nastiness I was attempting to eat. He doesn’t seem to mind though, downing the entire pouch in seconds after smothering it with every single one of our hot sauce packets.
We finish our meals and, for the first time in weeks, I actually feel full. Like really full. Like I want to roll over and pass out because that’s about as far as I can move at the moment, full. “Oh God.... Too much. Much too much. Maybe I need to...” I groan heavily as I move left and right, trying and failing to find a comfortable position in this cramped vehicle. “Oh, God no. Ooh, I’m gonna die. Can you die from eating too much? How are you guys not bursting at the seams right now?” I place my forehead on the back of one of the front seats, spread my legs out wide, and mimic labor breathing. That’s what helps pregnant ladies get through contraction pains, right? Yeah... That should work. Fucking food baby, coming right up. “Oh, shit, it hurts.... I can’t breathe.”
“Come here, beautiful.” Cole smiles, laughing under his breath, along with Jax and Hawk, before he pulls me down, laying my head on his lap at the same time Jax brings my feet up to settle on his.
“Ooh.... Fuck yes. That’s the stuff.” I moan, stretching out between the two of them, comfortable and satiated. After the day we’ve had and, now, with an overly full belly, I drift off within a minute or two, happy and safely surrounded by all my guys inside the car. To Hell with what’s currently surrounding us outside.
Chapter Sixteen
Cole
