Chương 5
“What happens now?”
Emma looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
That answer was the most frightening one.
Because for years, Jax had believed every problem had an enemy.
Someone to fight.
Something to fix.
A road to take.
But this was different.
There was no enemy sitting across from him.
Just a woman he had hurt.
A child who existed because of choices he never knew he made.
And a future that had arrived before he was ready for it.
Lily looked up.
“Can he come with us?”
Emma’s eyes moved to Jax.
Nobody answered immediately.
Outside, the afternoon sunlight started fading across the diner windows.
Jax looked at the motorcycle jacket hanging beside him.
The jacket represented the life he knew.
The road.
The distance.
The freedom he had protected for years.
Then he looked at Lily.
And for the first time, freedom did not feel like the thing he had been chasing.
Emma watched the change in his face.
She had seen Jax angry before.
She had seen him stubborn.
She had seen him disappear behind silence when something mattered too much.
This was different.
This was the first time she had seen him look like he was considering staying.
“I’m not asking you to come with us,” Emma said.
Jax looked at her.
“That is what people say when they want someone to choose the thing they hope they choose.”
A small tired smile appeared on her face.
“You always did hear the parts people didn’t say.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
He looked at the table.
“Because people usually didn’t say the important parts.”
Emma looked down at Lily.
“That has not changed.”
The words were quiet.
Not an accusation.
Just a fact.
Jax felt that more than anger would have hurt.
He had spent years telling himself that leaving had protected people.
That distance was better than disappointing someone.
That disappearing was kinder than staying and failing.
But standing there with Lily beside him, he had to face something he avoided.
Sometimes leaving was not protection.
Sometimes it was just easier.
“I need to think,” he said.
Emma nodded.
“I expected that.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I know you.”
The answer irritated him.
Not because it was wrong.
Because it was true.
Lily slid out of the booth.
“Can I go outside?”
Emma looked at her.
“With me.”
Lily nodded and walked toward the door.
Before leaving, she turned back toward Jax.
“Don’t leave.”
The words were simple.
Almost casual.
But Jax felt them settle somewhere deep.
He wanted to promise.
He wanted to say he would not.
But promises had become dangerous things in his life.
So he only nodded.
“I’ll be here.”
Lily accepted that.
Children sometimes accepted small truths better than adults accepted big ones.
She walked outside with Emma.
Through the window, Jax watched them stand beside the silver sedan.
Emma rested a hand on Lily’s shoulder.
Lily looked back at him once.
Then she started talking about something that made Emma laugh softly.
The sound barely reached inside.
But Jax heard it.
Riley leaned back.
“You know she’s right.”
Jax did not look at him.
“About what?”
“You leaving.”
Jax rubbed his hand across his beard.
“You all decided today was the day to tell me everything I don’t want to hear?”
“Seems like a good day for it.”
Cole looked at him.
“You have a kid.”
“I noticed.”
“And you found out twenty minutes ago.”
“I also noticed that.”
Riley nodded.
“Then maybe don’t make the decision you always make.”
Jax looked over.
“What decision is that?”
“The one where you convince yourself you are saving everyone by walking away.”
The words annoyed him because they sounded too much like something Emma would say.
“You two been talking?”
“No.”
“Then why does everyone suddenly think they know me?”
Riley laughed quietly.
“Because you’re not as complicated as you think.”
Jax stared at him.
“That might be the most insulting thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Maybe you needed to hear it.”
Jax looked out the window again.
The afternoon had changed.
The same diner.
The same booths.
The same old Route 66 sign.
But nothing about the place felt familiar anymore.
He reached for his coffee.
It was cold.
He drank it anyway.
Cole watched him.
“You know that’s disgusting, right?”
“What?”
“Cold coffee.”
Jax shrugged.
“I’ve had worse.”
“That is exactly the kind of answer I mean.”
Jax almost smiled.
Almost.
Then the diner door opened.
Emma stepped inside.
Lily followed behind her carrying a small bag.
The girl walked back to the booth.
“My mom said we should go soon.”
Jax looked at Emma.
Soon.
The word bothered him.
It sounded like another chance disappearing.
“Where are you staying?”
Emma hesitated.
“About thirty minutes away.”
“Hotel?”
“No.”
She looked uncomfortable.
“A small house.”
“Your house?”
“Yes.”
Jax nodded.
He did not know why that information mattered.
Maybe because he was trying to imagine a life that existed without him.
A house.
A kitchen.
School mornings.
Birthday parties.
A child growing up while he was somewhere else riding highways and pretending he had no regrets.
“I want to see where you live.”
Emma looked surprised.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Jax looked at Lily.
“Because I don’t know anything.”
That answer changed something.
Emma did not smile.
She did not forgive him.
But something in her shoulders relaxed.
“Okay.”
The three bikers stood.
Riley grabbed his jacket.
“We’ll head out.”
Jax looked at him.
“You sure?”
Riley looked confused.
“About what?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a problem you have.”
“What?”
“You ask questions when you already know the answer.”
Jax stared at him.
Then he shook his head.
“You and Emma would get along too well.”
“Probably why I like her.”
The comment earned a small laugh from Cole.
Jax looked at his friends.
For years, they had been the closest thing he had to a family.
Now the word felt bigger.
May you like
More complicated.
Riley stepped closer.
