Chapter 14 - The Weight of Freedom
The roar of the motorcycle engines faded into a low, steady rumble as they tore down the highway, leaving the glittering lights of the upscale hotel behind in the dust. The cool night air rushed past Ethan’s face, whipping his light brown hair around his temples, but he didn't care about the cold. For the first time in his life, he felt light—completely unburdened by the heavy expectations and whispered anxieties of the adults who had tried to use him as a pawn.
Jax kept his eyes fixed on the ribbon of asphalt stretching out ahead of them under the pale moonlight. His left hand gripped the handlebar firmly, while his right hand periodically reached back to make sure the edge of the oversized leather jacket was securely wrapped around his son.
""You okay back there, kid?"" Jax called out over the roar of the engine, his voice rough but laced with a profound, aching tenderness.
""I'm better than okay,"" Ethan shouted back into the wind, a wide, genuine smile spreading across his pale face. He reached out, his small fingers wrapping securely around the thick leather of Jax’s belt loop. ""Are we going back to the diner?""
May you like
""We're going wherever the road takes us, partner,"" Jax replied, a rare, genuine grin cutting through his heavy beard as he twisted the throttle, accelerating smoothly into the dark, open horizon.
Behind them, miles away in the sterile, shattered luxury of the ballroom, the last candle flickered out. The lies had been told, the debts had been collected, and the high-society world was left to pick through the ash. But out here on the highway, under a sky full of stars that couldn't be bought or sold, a father and a son were finally starting over from scratch.
