Race the Storm

Chapter 11

While Willa was out of the room, Jax grabbed a couple of the burgers from the fridge. There were four in there, and he didn't think Willa was going to want to eat all of them. Diego and Wes would know he'd need calories after what had happened at the gas station.

"I didn't know," Jax told Wes as he sat down on the edge of the bed, "I wouldn't have gone without you if I had..."

"Hey, I didn't know either," Wes said with a shrug. He attempted a smile. "And I don't think it would've worked with two. We would've had to kidnap the whole bus."

"Still. I'm sorry for making things more difficult," Jax said honestly.

"Like I said, what's done is done," Diego said, "We have to move forward from here."

"I couldn't let them keep her and the kid," Jax mumbled. He couldn't have continued to go on missions knowing that his kid was being trained for the exact same thing if he or she ended up having powers. And if Willa did have a powered kid, he doubted they would just let her go.

"We know," Wes said. He picked up a ketchup packet and lobbed it at Jax's head. "You're just lucky we're good at solving problems."

Yeah, they were all trained for exactly that.

Once Willa rejoined them, Wes held one of the hamburgers out to her, his smile apologetic. "I hope you like McDonalds."

"I'd like almost anything right now," she said, taking the burger from him. There wasn't a microwave in the room, so the burger was chilly but Jax doubted she would complain.

Sitting down next to Jax, she set the cheeseburger on the bedstand and took off her hiking boots.

"Wes, get her a water bottle," Diego said, "You need to stay hydrated."

"Aye, aye, captain," she said, unwrapping the burger.

The teasing didn't seem to faze him, but Wes and Jax shared a look. Teasing Diego was dangerous territory, but he wasn't snapping at Willa to cut it out. Maybe he was scared to mess with a pregnant woman. Wes threw the water bottle, which Jax snatched one-handed out of the air, not even pausing his mission to devour the burger. He handed it over to Willa.

"Thanks," she said quietly. Pulling her legs up onto the bed, she sat cross-legged, watching Wes and Diego. He hoped that to Willa they seemed...decent. Not terrible. Jax trusted them, and it would probably be good for her to trust them as well. But he also wasn't happy that they were there.

"So what's the plan?" Jax asked in between bites.

Damn McDonalds tasted so good when all you'd been surviving on was chips and cookies.

Willa hadn't really seemed to stick to propriety so far when it came to food consumption, so Jax wasn't going to start worrying about talking with his mouth full now. He looked up when the silence seemed to stretch out and swallowed. "You just chewed me out for acting impulsively," he reminded them. Sure, he knew they didn't have all the details worked, but they had to have a few ideas if they'd come out here to fetch him. Might as well start with those.

"Our main plan was to cover your tracks first and rendezvous with you two," Wes said, sitting down on the honey-colored wooden dresser-desk thing the mini fridge was stored under. "We figured if that was successful, we'd plan step two from there."

"Good to know you had so much confidence in your first plan," Willa muttered, cheeks flushing red when the guys looked at her in surprise. "Um, sorry, uh...no offense or anything."

Jax snorted. "Feel free to offend them. They need to be humbled occasionally."

"Speak for yourself," Wes said, crossing his arms as he eyed Jax curiously. Jax ignored the look–he knew what it was about. And no, Jax was not going to explain why he was okay with talking to Willa. Force proximity, a desperate need to earn her trust and a possible lifetime of joint decision making regarding their baby and all that...