Jase (Kings of Korruption MC Book 3) (23 page)

I say nothing,
because I can’t. There’s a filthy rag tied across my mouth. Colt’s
body shakes, causing the gun to vibrate against my skin.
Discreetly, I struggle with the bindings on my wrist, but they’re
so tight, I can’t move them, not even a little.

Sweat drips
from my brow, trickling into my eyes as I survey the room,
desperate to find a way out of this. My heart races as Colt’s thumb
moves to the hammer and slowly draws it back with a click.

Visions float
through my mind, my gut twisting in despair. Ellen blinking up at
me, her eyes full of emotion the night that I got rid of Paul.
Bryce laughing over at me while I curse at the TV when I get
slaughtered, yet again, in Call of Duty. Those two have come to
mean so much to me in such a short amount of time. I can’t let this
fucker steal my family from me. I haven’t even had the chance to
love them yet.

Colt’s finger
tightens on the trigger. I squeeze my eyes closed, my breathing
laboured and fast. Knowing that this is my only hope, I pull back
my foot as fast as I can, and drive it up into Colt’s chin. The gun
in his hand never goes off.

I climb to my
knees, trying like hell to get to my feet. But just as I do, Colt
raises his gun. “Fuck you, asshole.” He pulls the trigger.

Just as the
gun goes off, the door to the apartment bursts open, and there they
are. If I was a movie producer, I couldn’t have staged it better
myself. Colt swings around with his gun, ready to shoot again, but
Tease beats him to it, placing a bullet directly between his
eyes.

My body sways
before I fall to my knees. “Jesus Christ,” Reaper shouts. “Get me
my bag!”

Reaper rushes
over, lowering me to the ground, his face tense and his eyes wild
as he yanks the gag from my mouth. “‘Bout time you fuckers showed
up.” My voice is slurred, and I don’t know why. “Hey, what’s
wrong?”

“
You got a bullet in your belly, asshole. Would you just lay
back and let me fuckin’ fix it?”

I do as he
says. The room spins as I lift my head from the floor, trying to
see my stomach, but all I see are spots. Spots everywhere. “Hey
Reap?”

Reaper presses
something down against my stomach. “Yeah?”

“
You gonna admit I got shot this time?”

Reaper curses
and wraps his hand around the back of my neck, his face set in
stone as he stares down at me. “You live through this, buddy, and
I’ll admit anything you want.”

I close my
eyes and let sleep carry me away.

Ellen

The guys have
been gone for over two hours now, and nobody’s heard from them at
all. Bryce’s fear had gotten the better of him since they’d left,
and Laynie had found him crying in the bathroom a little while ago.
He didn’t want me to see him upset, so she’d distracted him with
Dexter, asking him to keep the dog company. It’s seemed to help so
far, but every time someone walks in that door, I see the look of
hope on his face and know that it likely mirrors my own.

An endless
flow of people have been trickling into the common room of the
clubhouse. Family members, old ladies, and even a few kids, all of
them worried about Jase. They’ve been a wonderful support, and as I
look around, I finally see the family dynamic that Charlie has told
me so much about.

I’m refilling
my coffee cup when the door swings open, banging loudly against the
wall. I turn to see who it is, and my coffee cup falls from my
hand, spilling coffee everywhere as the cup shatters when it hits
the tile floor. Reaper and Tease enter the room, their arms both
wrapped around Jase, who’s walking between them, his feet dragging
across the floor. Blood stains their hands and clothes, and Jase
seems barely conscious.

They’re moving
fast, barreling through the room, and straight for the hall that
leads upstairs. I stare in horror as one by one, the men file
inside, all of their faces set in grim masks. “Wait!” I cry,
running to catch up. Nobody stops. “Jase!”

Just as I
enter the hallway, Ryker grabs me from behind. “Ellen, you need to
wait out here.”

I blink up at
him, my heart sinking. “Is he okay?”

Ryker gives a
single shake of his head, and for the first time, I notice the fear
in his eyes. “But he will be. I’ll let you know when I know more.”
With that, he turns and stalks off down the hall and up the stairs,
leaving me staring after him. My entire world feels like it’s
crumbling down around me.

My eyes swing
to Bryce, who’s standing across the room, staring at me with his
fists scrunched up into tiny balls at his sides. A tear slides down
my cheek. Bryce breaks from his stance and runs full out, his body
crashing into mine and knocking me back a step.

My heart
breaks when I wrap my arms around his trembling shoulders as he
lets out an agonized sob. “Please let Jase be okay,” he cries.

Tease appears
at the door. “Charlie?”

I watch as
Charlie gives me a sad smile and disappears down the hall with
Tease. I hold my son close, trying to soothe him. I move to the
couch, where Bryce curls up against me, and I stare off into space,
toying with his hair as we wait. We wait for over an hour before
Charlie places a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back to the
present.

“
You can come up now,” she says. “He’s asking for
you.”

Bryce pops up
beside me. “Can I see him, too?”

Charlie
smiles. “He’s asking for you too.”

We follow
Charlie up the stairs and enter, what I’m assuming, is Jase’s room.
He’s lying shirtless in the centre of the bed, a large bandage on
his side. His skin is pale, and I can smell the blood in the air.
The door closes quietly, leaving me, Bryce, and Jase alone in the
room.

Jase looks up
at us and doesn’t say a word. He just holds out both arms,
motioning for us to come to him. As one, Bryce and I move to the
bed, carefully climbing on each side of Jase and nestling up
against him. I feel him press a kiss against the top of my head,
then look up to see him do the same to Bryce.

Bryce looks up
at him, his head on Jase’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

The dark
circles under Jase’s eyes worry me, and I press my hand to his
cheek, satisfied that he doesn’t seem to have a fever. He looks at
Bryce and pulls him closer. “I am now.”

“
What happened?”

“
I got shot,” Jase says, a small smirk playing on his
lips.

“
For real this time?” Bryce asks, and I shake my head as he
bites back a smile.

“
Yeah, smartass. For real this time.” He looks to me and rolls
his eyes. “Geez. What a man gotta do to get some respect around
here?”

I stare up at
him, my throat burning as I think of how close I came to losing
him. A sob bursts from my lips and I bury my face in his neck.
“Hey,” he soothes. “I’m okay, El. I’m okay.”

“
I’m not,” I cry. Jase holds me close and presses soft kisses
to my face and lips, waiting until the tears start to fade. “It’s
not okay, Jase. You scared the shit out of me. I’ve spent years
keeping people out, and finally you come along, making me fall in
love with you. Then you just disappear. You were gone! And then the
blood, and nobody telling me anything, and me and Bryce, we were
both—”

“
Babe,” Jase cuts in. “Slow down. It’s over now.” I sigh and
my entire body relaxes against him, careful not to touch the place
where his bandage is. “I love you too, El.”

I pop up and
stare at him with wide eyes, just as Bryce lets out a disgusted,
“Gross.”

“
You do?”

“
Baby, I think I’ve loved you from the moment you told me off
that night at the club.”

I blink at him
and feel the bed move as Bryce climbs out. “I’m gonna go get a
drink,” he says as he walks to the door. Just before Bryce pulls
the door closed, Jase calls out, “Hey, B?” Bryce pauses and looks
back in. “I love you too, Bud.”

Bryce grins,
his face lighting up as he shakes his head and walks out.

When Jase’s
eyes move back to mine, my heart flutters in my chest. “You love
me?”

Jase chuckles
softly and pulls me closer. His lips hover above mine when he
whispers, “I love you, El.”

His lips cover
mine in a kiss that warms me to my toes. It’s soft, slow, and
gentle. He kisses me in a way that will never again make me doubt
the way he feels about me. He kisses me in a way that tells me,
right down to my soul, that Jase Matthews loves me.

“
I love you, too.”

EPILOGUE

Jase

“S
upper,” Ellen
calls from the kitchen. I put down the box I’m carrying inside and
move in that direction. The house is filled with the delicious
aromas of her cooking.

I walk into
the kitchen and see Ellen and Bryce, both already seated at the
round table, with an extra place between them that’s meant for me.
Watching Ellen spoon a helping of homemade macaroni and cheese onto
Bryce’s plate, my throat gets thick with emotion. All my life, I’d
never had a home like this, or even many home cooked meals, and
that had never bothered me. Looking back, I realize just how much
I’d missed out on growing up the way I did. I’d never change my
life for anything, but looking at my family, I realize that it only
gets better from here.

“
Come,” Ellen says, reaching for the empty plate that’s meant
for me. “Sit. You must be hungry.”

I shake off my
thoughts and move to the seat between them. “Starved. I have one
more trip to get the last of my stuff, but I think I’m pretty much
moved in.”

Concern
crosses her face, and I don’t miss her glancing down at my stomach.
“Maybe you should leave the rest for tomorrow. You’re still
healing.”

I smile and
reach over, running my thumb across her cheekbone. “Don’t worry,
babe. I already planned to.”

She smiles.
“Good. It’s only been two weeks. You don’t want to overdo it.”

I’d been
lucky. The bullet from Colt’s gun had entered the side of my
abdomen, and gone straight through. It hadn’t hit anything major,
and between Reaper and Charlie, they’d been able to patch me up. It
still hurts like a son of a bitch, but I don’t complain. Every time
I do, Reaper gives me a hard time about taking it like a man. Like
that’s an issue.

I eat my
supper with a smile on my face, listening to Bryce talk a hundred
miles an hour about his basketball tournament he’d gone to on
Friday. I’d been there for it, but his mother hadn’t, so I relive
it again through his words, and love every second of it.

Bryce and I
have become good buddies. He comes to me when he needs something,
and I help him work it out. He teases me and I let it slide,
sometimes getting in a dig or two of my own. Almost every night, we
play a few rounds of Call of Duty, and last night, I’d finally
killed the little shit three times. He tried to pass it off as
beginner’s luck, even though I’ve been playing it with him for
weeks.

Paul hasn’t
made any attempt to contact Ellen or Bryce since our little
conversation on the front lawn. I think Bryce has finally come to
terms with the fact that his father’s absence is for the best,
realizing that the guy is just an asshole, and he’s better off
without him. Luckily for Ellen, she got her second child support
payment, and whether she’ll admit it or not, it’s a huge help to
her financially.

I unpack a few
more boxes after supper, and I’m just finishing up in the bedroom
when Bryce comes in. “You ready to watch a movie?”

“
Yeah, Bud. Let me grab a beer and I’ll be in.”

I follow him
out and grab a beer from the fridge before moving to the couch
beside Ellen. “So, what are we watching?”

“
The new Poltergeist,” Bryce says with a smirk as he flicks
through the Netflix menu, trying to find the movie.

I let my head
fall back on the couch. “Jesus Christ, B. Not you too.”

He giggles and
presses play, coming to sit on the couch on the other side of me.
“I love scary movies.”

I glare at
Ellen and shake my head. “The evil woman has an evil son.”

Ellen throws
her head back and laughs. I watch her face as she does, and my
heart swells. I love the sound of her laugh, and the way her eyes
light up when she does. “Just watch the movie, ya big baby.”

I turn back to
the TV and shake my head. “Evil.”