Hunter (Sons of Rebellion Book 2) (8 page)

"What the hell do you mean, 'we can't?'' He yelled.

Tyson was Nadia's brother. I'd already done enough, but I couldn't hurt her like that. Of course, those weren't exactly the words that Jase wanted to hear.

"Look, I
said
we can't! We're not ready."

Jase started to laugh. He pointed at me and turned to Brent.

"Did you hear that? Not ready.
He
says were not ready," he said. Then the laughter was gone. "What the fuck do you mean not ready? We
came
here ready! We were ready on day one."

"Did you go soft on us?" Brent asked.

I expected those kinds of words from Jase, but not Brent. He
normally
knew when not to talk shit. Maybe I needed to remind him.

I pulled back my fist.

"Call me soft again. I
dare
you," I said.

Brent didn't flinch. "Or what? You'll punch me, but keep making excuses not to go after this guy?"

I dropped my fist.

"Come on, man. You're the head of this mission. You are more ruthless than anybody else in this gang. Hell, you went on a kill
completely
alone! What's up?"

What was I supposed to say? That I was sleeping with the enemy?

"We have to think about-"

"What is there to think about?" Jase yelled. "These guys sit around in these town, acting all high and mighty like fake royalty in their big, fancy, house. They act like their shit don't stink, meanwhile they send their club to destroy other towns. They take the money and anything they can get their grimy hands on.

"You know what they leave behind?
Nothing
. I heard they even sell kids to pimps. They-"
 

Suddenly, Jase stopped his rant. He picked up an empty beer bottle from the table and smashed it on the floor.

"You know what?
Fuck this.
I shouldn't have to explain this shit to
you
."

He walked outside, slamming the door behind him. Brent and I just stood there, looking at the mess he left behind.

"He's right, you know," Brent said.

He bent over to pick up the large pieces of glass, and cut his finger in the process. The blood oozed on the floor.

"
You
know that more than anyone. You saw it with your sister," he said. "If we don't stop them, who will?"

Images from that night flooded back into my mind. A town on fire. Smoke in the air. I couldn't even have been more than 3 foot tall with Julia standing in front of me, arms all stretched out. She told me she was my big sis, so she
had
to protect me.

Of course, she didn't stand a chance. That bastard Slick slit her neck right in front of me. Must've been busy that night, because the next slice was meant for me, but it didn't finish the job.

It took her so long to die … and he didn't even remember her…

But
I
remembered him.

"You're right, we have to do this. If we don't, they'll just keep going," I said. "But not tonight.
Tomorrow
. Lay low until then, and maybe it will give that hot head over there a chance to cool down."

Tomorrow
. It wasn't much, but it should give me enough time. Maybe. Was there a way I could do what I needed to do
and
not hurt Nadia? Which came first? After all, even I knew that there was no good way to say, "Sorry, I had to kill your brother."

FIFTEEN

THE WIND WAS KNOCKED out of my lungs. I dropped the glass and fell to my knees, clutching at my stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Nadia!" My mom yelled. She came to my side and held me. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"She's just worried about the club, like she
should
be," Dad said.
 

He took my hand and picked me off the carpet.

 
"Go rest. Dad's gonna take care of this," he said and patted my head. "Don't worry."

I made my way upstairs, dragging my feet behind me. It felt like climbing a mountain, but finally I made it to my room and collapsed on my bed.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

How was everything going so wrong so quickly? How does this keep
happening
?

Five people dead. Was it
my
fault? If the body count kept rising, would it be because of
me
?

I curled into a ball, clutching my knees. Tears fell from my face. They soaked the sheets beneath me.

And the worst part,
the worst part
, was that my club wasn't why I was crying. It was because of him.
Hunter
. Because, despite everything else, I didn't want him to die.
 

Even though I
should
. Even though that was the right thing!

My throat felt like it was squeezing shut, closing up so that I couldn't breathe. My head pounded, aching. This wasn't what I was
supposed
to be feeling.

If I had seen myself in this state just a few days ago, I would've been disgusted. I would've told myself to stop crying like a child and deal with the fucking problem. But now, I couldn't force myself to do anything.

Whose side was I supposed to be on, anyway? My family? They want to force me to marry Palmer. Fuck, they were willing to cut me out of the family entirely if I refused. And Dad, he started to hit Mom again. How long before I was next?

It wasn't as if Slayer was any better. He lied to me. He's killing members of my club. My extended family. The family that I couldn't choose, that I was
born
into, that's taken care of me for my entire life.

Are you supposed to forgive someone like that?

The tears came harder. Even without a mirror, I could tell that my eyes and my face were puffy. I wiped my eyes with my shirt until I could see again.

And what if the worst thing happened? What if
both
sides ended up dead?

There was a knock on the door, and then the door knob started to turn.

"Sis?"

Oh. It was just Tyson.
 

He peeked his head in, and then stepped inside. As if anybody invited
him
.

"You okay?"

For a second, I considered lying, but what was the point? I was tired of the lies anyway.

"No."

Admitting that opened the floodgates. I started to sob, my whole body shaking. Tyson came over to the bed and wrapped his arms around me. He held me tight until I wasn't bawling anymore.

"I haven't seen you like this since you were little," he said. "You were
so
afraid of the monster under the bed. Remember? But once you found out it wasn't real, you weren't afraid of
anything
. I thought fucking Frankenstein could appear in your room and you wouldn't blink."

Tyson pulled the hair out of my face.

"Don't worry," he said, "we'll take care of all of this."

"That's not it!" I yelled.

Shit. Why did I say that?

"What?" Tyson asked. He pulled away from me.

I looked at him, staring him in the eyes. Should I tell him? He
was
my big brother, shouldn't I be able to trust him? I was too tired of lying to keep it back anyway.

"I knew that the Sons of Rebellion were in town," I said. "But I didn't know, why!"

Tyson's mouth dropped open. He stared at me with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe what I was saying.

"Then why didn't you tell us? None of this would've happened!" he said.

"Be – because…" I looked away from him. I didn't want to see his face when I said these words. "I've been seeing their Sergeant at Arms, Slayer."

Tyson jumped off of the bed. He grabbed me, and tried to bend my arm, but I punched him and pushed him away.

"Are you
crazy
? How could you do something like that? Do you know what Dad would do to you if he found out that you betrayed your fucking
family
?" he yelled. "I'm going to take care of this
myself
."

He walked towards my door and reached for the knob, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He snatched it away from me.

"You can't!" I shouted.

"Why not? As if I should listen to you anyway!"

"It's too dangerous for you alone."

Slowly, Tyson turned around. His mouth was twisted and he fixed me with a harsh stare.

"You think I can't take on your little loverboy? I'll show you, and everyone who keeps saying that I can't live up to Dad," he said. "So don't you worry, I'll be
just fine
."

"But, I love him!" I said.

I pulled on his arm, but weaker this time. There, I'd said it. It was out.

Tyson spit on the ground next to me.

"You're disgusting," he said and pointed his finger in my direction. "I'll deal with
you
later. But first, I'm going to find your boyfriend and bring him back in a body bag."

SIXTEEN

"THAT'S ENOUGH FOR TONIGHT," I said.

It was late. I picked up the mission documents and slid them into their folder.

"Time to hit the sack."

Jase stood up from the table and stretched. He reached out his arms, opened his mouth, and gave out a loud yawn.

"You're so annoying," Brent said. "Why do you always have to yawn like you're going to swallow the freaking Grand Canyon?"

Jase put his arms down and shoved Brent with a shoulder.

"At least I don't leave the bathroom smelling like somebody filled it with roadkill every night," he said.

"Hey-!"

Something slammed into the front door like a freight truck. We all stopped, our muscles tensing. After another second, the banging continued.

"What the fuck is that?" Jase asked.

"Maybe it's some kids playing a prank?" Brent said.

It slammed again, harder this time, like someone was trying to break down the door. Jase went over to the peephole and looked out.

"Hey… Isn't that the guy from the files?" he asked. "Tyson, the Secretary?"

"
What
?" Brent shouted.

Shit. What was
he
doing here? Couldn't he just stay at home?

The banging stopped, and then started up again. He really wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. The kid was probably ramming his shoulder into the door the whole time, but now it sounded like he was kicking at the frame near the doorknob. With a flimsy motel door like that, it was only a matter time before it caved in.

I looked around. Crap. None of us were armed. This was the last thing we'd been expecting, so of course we weren't packing. All I had on me was the same knife I always carried, no matter what. Was that enough?

Our guns were in the bedrooms. If the door held out long enough for me to grab them-

Too late.

The wood of the frame shattered and the door dropped, falling on top of Brent. A long shard of wood stuck out of his leg like something out of a horror movie.

"So," Tyson said as he stepped over the heap of wood, "who's the asshole who fucked my sister?"

Jase stepped in front of him, stopping him from going any further.

"Get the fuck out, or I'll
drag
you out in a body bag," he said.

Tyson frowned. "Look, if you're not Slayer, I'm not here for you. Now which one of you is it?"

"I don't know how it works over at that sad excuse of a club that you call the Midnight Stalkers, but we don't work that way. Slayer is my best friend. If you mess with him, you mess with me, and you mess with
all
of us."

"So you want to make this
your
fight?" Tyson asked.
 

"Yeah, I do."

"Then let's do this."

Tyson pulled out a gun and started to shoot. Jase dodged his shots and got up close to rip the gun out of his hands.
 

I wanted to jump in and help, but there wasn't enough space. If I went in now, all I would be was in Jase's way. I clenched my fists. The moment there was an opening, I would take it.

Tyson swung, reaching for Jase's head, but he was too slow. Jase dodged him each time. His fists flung out and caught Tyson right in the face. I could hear his nose cracking under Jase's knuckles. Shit. That
had
to hurt.

Jase swung again, but slipped on a fragment of the wooden door. Tyson grabbed him and threw him against the wall first, and then rammed him through our flimsy little dinner table. The thing didn't stand a chance. It was crushed under the pressure.