After the Crux Read Online Free PDF Page A

first.”
    “Okay, okay.” Jake grinned. “I’d planned to as soon as I forced you to lie down.”
    “I’m doing it. Now.” Ross lay on his stomach on the back seat. “Hurts like a son of a bitch.”
    “Not gonna lie.” Jake grabbed a T-shirt off the floor and pressed it to the back of Ross’s leg. “It looks bad, Ross.”
    “I’ll be okay. And we’re in luck. There was a tire shop around the corner.”
    “Only you would say we were in luck right now.” Jake smiled, but his amusement didn’t reach his eyes. “Finding food on the way back will be a bitch.”
    “Remember that pack of wild dogs we passed?”
    Jake shuddered. “You’re kidding, right?”
    Ross chuckled. “Go get the kid so you can wrap up my leg.” The pack of dogs had looked healthy, so there were other creatures to be found. But if worse came to worse, he wouldn’t hesitate with the dogs. He’d eaten worse and was pretty sure Jake had, too.
     
     
    Ross drove in near reckless fashion the last twenty miles up the mountain, his sweaty hands slipping on the steering wheel despite the freezing air slipping through the loose right side window. The trip was so much easier since he and Jenna had installed the new snow plow blade he’d found on the last supply run, but it was still a rough drive.
    Ross swallowed, noted his throat had started to hurt. They hadn’t been able to find the teenager, and it was driving him crazy. The kid had said only Spade had hurt him, but the others had to be angry about him setting Ross free.
    “I bet Jenna is fit to be tied about now with us taking so long,” Jake said, breaking into Ross’s thoughts. “God, I miss Lynn and…” He broke off.
    Ross shot him a questioning look. “And?”
    “The kids.”
    Ross had a feeling that wasn’t what was supposed to have come out of his mouth. But he didn’t dwell on it. It took all he had to keep his shaking hands still. He was sure a fever was setting in.
    “You don’t have to hide how you’re feeling. I’m more observant than you think.” Jake frowned at him. “We really should have stayed longer for you to recuperate. Want me to take the wheel again?”
    “I’ve only been driving two hours,” Ross pointed out.
    “Yeah and like a maniac.” Jake smiled. “But I didn’t get stabbed in the back of the leg. I’m really worried you have an infection.”
    “Dorian will know what to do. That’s why I’m driving so fast.”
    “Yeah, like I believe that.”
    A fierce gust of wind threw snow across their path. Ross’s fingers tightened on the wheel. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    Jake held up his hands. “Okay, whatever. But I think you should let me drive. You look like shit.”
    “Thanks.” A tremor ran through Ross, his throat growing worse. “I wish we’d found the other kid.”
    Jake’s frown was fierce and full of regret and disgust. “You know those other two men probably hurt him once we got away. He couldn’t have been out of his teens.”
    Ross glanced in the back seat at the sleeping teenager. The other one, the kid who’d freed him, had made the boy sound younger than he actually was. Ross was guessing he was thirteen and he had a sick feeling about the boy’s former life, because the hell in his eyes reminded Ross of Georgia. Thirteen goddamn years old and nowhere near the size Ross had been at that age. He gritted his teeth, but the pain in his head forced him to relax his jaw. “Hope he likes his new home.”
    “You kidding? It’s the coolest home ever.” Jake grinned, his smile soon fading as he leaned closer to peer at Ross. “Man, you’re starting to look really rough, Ross.”
    Ross blinked as the snowy road in front of him suddenly blurred. He quickly stopped the truck as wooziness scrambled his head. “We’re going to have to go back out. Find the other boy.”
    “He could be anywhere by now, Ross. I hate this, too, but we have to get you home. I’m worrying here.”
    Ross dropped his forehead on the