Page 47 of Steadfast

“I’ll pee on the side of the road,” Ronan chimed in excitedly.

“No one is peeing on the side of the road,” I replied, shaking my head.

We pulled into the station, and I gave Cian cash and sent him in to pay for gas and get the restroom key if they had one while I helped the kids out of the car. While we were standing there, waiting for him to come back out, the roar of motorcycles filled the small parking lot, and a group of five or six of them pulled in behind me.

“Cool,” Ronan whispered, leaning around me. “Look how long that guy’s beard is.”

“Stop staring,” I snapped, pushing his head back.

“Mornin’,” one of the men called as he climbed off his bike.

I just nodded in reply. Dealing with a strange group of men was exactly what Ididn’tneed.

“Got it,” Cian called out, striding out of the little store with a key dangling from his hand.

I let out a breath of relief as he got near, his shoulders thrown back as he eyeballed the men parked behind us at the pumps.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the key from him.

“You take the girls and Ro to the bathroom,” he said quietly, still keeping an eye on the men. “I’ll stay here.”

“I don’t wanna go with the girls,” Ronan complained.

“Tough.”

“Let’s go, Ronan,” I ordered, gripping Aisling’s hand as we headed toward the building. “Or I’ll hold your hand, too.”

He huffed, but followed along, the threat of holding my hand too serious to ignore.

I cleaned the restroom as best I could—it was every bit as bad as I’d imagined—and each of us used it quickly. When we walked back out to the car, we found Cian leaning against my car, nodding along to whatever the biker closest to him was saying.

“You’re up,” I called out, tossing him the key.

“Gas is pumped,” he replied. “Get in.”

He waited until we were all safely inside the car before jogging around to the bathroom.

“Turn around, Ronan,” Saoirse hissed. “God, you’re so embarrassing!”

“That motorcycle has three wheels,” he said excitedly, his face practically plastered to the back window. “Did you know they had those?”

“I didn’t,” I replied, starting the car. “Turn around and put your seat belt on.”

He spun and dropped into his seat, his neck still craning to look out the window. A few minutes later, Cian climbed back into the car.

“Go,” he ordered as he buckled his seat belt.

“What did they say to you?” I asked as we pulled back onto the road.

“Nothin’, really,” he said, looking in the side mirror. “Just small talk.”

I focused on the road and kept going.

“We’re gonna take the right at that intersection up there,” Cian said, pointing to a four-way up the road. “Near that—”

His words cut off as we ran over something big in the road that I hadn’t even noticed.

“What was that?” Saoirse yelped, turning to look out the back. “I think it was a tree branch.”

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