Page 104 of The Eleventh Hour

Rafael doesn’t say anything, but both of them put on their seatbelts, and soon, the car is driving smoothly away from the building. I feel like I can breathe better the further we get away, but now, my paranoia is up, and my scalp is prickling. It would make sense for Sparrow to be the copycat. He has details, lots of them. He’s got me under his thumb, just like Louis did.

But, no, why wait all this time, and why focus on the details that don’t matter? Plus, I lied. I lied a lot. And I’m good at lying.

“Jax? Talk to us.”

With a jolt, I come back and blink twice before I swivel my head around to look at Rafe. “My shrink is telling someone everything I say in my appointments, and I don’t know if it's someone who works for Louis or a Louis copycat or the cops or someone else, and I’m scared.” I don’t say anything about River because I can’t. I don’t even believe it. I don’t want to.

The streets pass in a blur, and finally, we pull up outside their warehouse. Dane opens the door and helps me in, and then flicks the lights off.

I let out a relieved breath as Gideon embraces me.

“This is never going to not be strange,” Rafe murmurs.

I ignore him and snuggle into G’s arms. Dane heads to the kitchen and turns on a very low light that doesn’t reach into the dark. He pulls out a bottle of scotch and lines up four shot glasses. He throws his back and brings two over to us.

I don’t know what he thinks Gideon will do with it, but I take mine and sip it, while G and Dane stare at each other.

“His eyes are green,” Dane says in a strangled voice.

I cock my head to the side and watch as Dane backs away. “I know.”

He exhales harshly. “I need to go somewhere tomorrow. Rafe needs to come with me. Will you be all right here on your own?”

“Sure. I have some things I need to do. I’ll be fine.”

Dane nods. “Well, uh, goodnight.”

Rafe doesn’t leave. He sits on the couch and watches me. “You’re hurting.”

“No, I’m just scared.”

“Betrayal is betrayal, and it hurts. He’s supposed to protect you. Be on your side, and he’s not. It’s okay to feel bitter and sad.”

I release Gideon and crawl into Rafe’s lap. He hugs me as I bury my face in his neck. I don’t cry, but my body trembles, and no matter what I do, I can’t chase them away. After a while, I realise that Dane has returned, silently guarding us, and Gideon is stroking my back. Silent and comforting, as always.

In my mind, I hear a clock start to tick, time is counting down, and I get the distinct impression that my time is running short.

Jax

The knock takes me by surprise. There’s too much light in here for Gideon to stay, and Dane and Rafe left early this morning. No one should be here. I study the door with trepidation, finally walk over to it, and pull it open.

Detective Descario leans on the side of the frame and smiles at me like a cat that got the cream. My stomach flips violently. No visit from these detectives left me unscathed.

“Well, well, well, look what we uncovered, Wayland. It’s our missing suspect.”

“Not missing, staying with friends. I didn’t even leave the state,” I say faintly. All my instincts are screaming at me that this isn’t good, but there’s no way I can get away from them.

“Friends. You have a few of those. I’m impressed; for someone who’s friendship comes with the, uh, what shall we call it, an unlucky gamble of ending up as a victim of a serial killer. I, personally, might be more discerning, but people do love to take risks with their lives.” Descario smiles up at Wayland like she’s said the funniest thing ever.

“Did you have a reason for searching for me, Detective?” I say in a flat tone and pull the sleeves of my t-shirt down.

“Well, Way and I, we’ve been looking for poor Martha Keylore. As far as we can work out…there is no connection. Or so we believed, but then when we did our due diligence, what did we see?”

Way grins and folds his arms over his chest. “Saw our friend here with Pastor Keylore. Getting cozy, spreading the love.”

“Our friend, Jackie ‘The Fuck’ Blackwell, aka Jax Shade. What the fuck were you doing, cozying up to the pastor?” Descario all but purrs. Why are her teeth so white? It’s unnerving.

I wince. “I wanted to confess.”

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