Page 58 of Traitorous Lies

Now she wished there was help somewhere close.

“I'm going to have to stop,” she said, already easing her foot off the accelerator. What other choice did she have? Ram the other vehicle and hope that she and Jax miraculously survived?

“No!”

Jax’s shout startled her, but it had the desired result as her foot slammed automatically down onto the pedal again.

“Keep driving,” Jax ordered.

“But we’re going to hit them,” she protested, even though she was sure he must understand that already.

“Not if we time this right.”

“What do you mean?” Did Jax suddenly think he was there with one of his former SEAL teammates, or one of his brothers? Maybe there was something they could do to avoid the inevitable crash, but she was just plain old Monique Kerr. Sure, she was good with calming traumatized animals, but that skill wasn't going to help them now.

“If we get this right, we can eliminate both vehicles,” Jax told her.

“Time this right?”

“They assume we’re going to stop. Why wouldn't they? It would be crazy not to.”

“And we’re crazy?”

Jax laughed. “Yeah, princess. We’re crazy. I want you to keep going, fast, don’t stop, and don’t let your fear get the better of you. I know I messed up, and I know I blew what trust you once had in me, but I need you to trust me now. Can you do that?”

Could she?

If this was about just freely handing her heart over once again, she was sure the answer would be no.

But this was their lives they were talking about, and she trusted Jax to know how to get them out of this alive.

“I can do that,” she assured him.

“Thank you. You're going to keep driving, don’t let up on the speed, then when I tell you to, you're going to take a hard right.”

“Into the trees?”

“Do your best to avoid hitting them, but as soon as you turn off the road you're going to let up on the gas and go for the brake. We should lose speed fairly quickly given the terrain, and even if we hit, the slower speed means we shouldn’t be banged up too badly.”

“We hope.”

“We hope,” Jax echoed. “But with perfect timing those two vehicles are going to hit head on at full speed.”

“Which will eliminate our problem.” It was a risky plan but the best they had. “Okay, I can do this,” she assured him. At least she hoped she could. For some reason the slowing down and avoiding trees once they turned seemed like the easier thing to do. Because driving at a high speed, toward an oncoming vehicle, was really putting her desire to trust Jax to the test.

Still, she held firm.

Didn't slow down.

Tried not to flinch as they bared down on the approaching vehicle which was zooming toward them on the quiet country road.

Her grip on the wheel tightened as they got closer and Jax didn't order her to turn.

They were going to hit.

They were too close.

It was unavoidable.