Val’s P.O.V

The sedan’s interior was a bubble of artificial light and cool air, a stark contrast to the warm, charged atmosphere we’d just left. The image of Jax, frozen and intense in the doorway, his phone pressed to his ear, played on a loop in my mind. The celebratory energy that had propelled me out the door now felt distant, muffled by a sudden, creeping unease.

Who was he calling? But, Reynolds was down there with him? Why did he look like that?

The car hit a bump, jostling ...