Page 99 of Holy Sinner

I let out a breath of relief. “Oh thank god. I was–I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You ladies okay?” Jax calls out to us. He starts walking towards us and I nod, even though he probably can’t tell.

I shine my flashlight towards him when I answer. “Yeah, we’re good. Just shook up some.”

Jax raises his arm to shield his eyes from the light and I swing it away from him. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to blind you.”

“It’s all right. Glad you two made it down those stairs. It wouldn’t do for you to fall and break your neck.”

I go still at his words. It’s an odd choice of words, but I don’t know how he talks. Alana is the one that spends time with him and she doesn’t seem to have noticed anything strange. “I-uh, yeah, it wouldn’t be great.”

“Where’s Scott?” Alana asks.

“By the generator,” Jax tells us and gestures for us to follow him with a flick of his gun. “Let’s go.”

It’s then that I notice he still has his gun out. “What do you need that for? It’s just us, right?” I look around nervously. “Is there-is something wrong?” The energy feels wrong. It feels like it did when we were coming down the stairs, like someone was watching me—someone that wanted to hurt me.

Jax looks down at the gun like he just realized he was holding it and shakes his head. “Nothing at the moment but you can’t be too prepared. Your safety is the most important thing to me.”

“Always thinking of everyone else,” Alana says and smiles at Jax. “Lead the way to the generator.” She falls in line right behind Jax and when he starts walking, I do too. I slow my steps though, letting a little distance build between me and Alana because it means space from Jax. What could be going on? Was there a threat that he isn’t telling us about? Is someone here now and that’s why there’s no power?

What if it wasn’t the storm? What if it was someone who did something to our power?

A cold sweat breaks out over my body and it makes the rainwater soaking me feel warm. I pull out my phone to see if I have any texts from Rafe. He would tell me if something was going on. There’s no texts from them other than the one they sent saying they would be home soon and the instructions from Rafe about the generator. That was nearly two hours ago.

They have to be home soon. Maybe half an hour max.

God, I want them here. I’m not scared of anything when I’m with them. It’s like the world stands still and kneels when they’re with me.

I start to text Rafe, asking when he’ll be home and that the power is out but the most I get out is “Generator out, trying to-” before Jax speaks.

“Put that phone away, Kit.”

“What?” I look up at him in surprise. He’s standing with Alana right beside the generator. Alana’s flashlight is on the floor and it lights up enough of the space that I see Scott is there too, just like Jax said he would be. He’s leaning up against something with his arms crossed.

Jax snaps his fingers. “Phone. Put it down on the ground now.”

My breath catches because the voice I hear him use isn’t his normal tone. That’s respectful, always professional but now…now he sounds so much closer to the way Rafe and Grant do when I’ve seen them flip the switch that lives inside of them. He’s angry.

“Why?”

He looks like he wants to fucking kill me.

“Put the fucking phone down, Kit.”

I try to swipe my phone to the call button but before I can, Jax sighs and grabs Alana. “Put the phone on the goddamn ground!” He yells at me and brings the barrel of his gun up to Alana’s temple.

“Leave her alone!” I stop moving and Alana screams.

“Get off of me!” She swings at him but it doesn’t do anything. He’s a trained professional and she’s just pissed off that he’s got a gun on her. “You asshole!”

Scott clears his throat and slaps his hand against the thing he’s leaning against. I thought it was a box, maybe a desk a minute ago but I was wrong. I see that now when he hops up to sit on it.

It’s a freezer.

“What the fuck is going on here?” I ask. I look between Jax and Scott but neither man answers me. They look to the other before Scott gives Jax a slight head tilt.

“The phone, Kit.” Jax gives Alana a shake. “Or your friend here gets one in the head, which I gotta say would be a waste because she’s beautiful. I’d hate to ruin her pretty face on account of blowing the back of her head off.”

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