Page 56 of Ruthless Rebel

“I’m going to send you a location to meet me, okay?” I reply, not wanting to give him more information than he needs.

“Send it and I’ll be there,” he replies, and I hear the opening and closing of a door on his side of the phone.

“Thanks, brother,” I say softly before I add, “And Jace?”

I hear another door and then the soft whistle of the wind, and I know he is outside on his way to his car. “Yeah, brother?”

My eyes flick back down to the photograph and I take a deep breath as I explain, “Something needs to burn.”

There is a slight pause before he replies, “Understood.”

Then he is gone, and I am on my feet and heading out to erase the only place that has brought the monster inside of me any truepeace. A monster that now recognizes it has a new enemy to hunt, and it isn’t going to stop until it’s feasting on their dead corpse.

Looks like it’s time for another battle.

27

JACE

Most people would find it strange if their best friend called them in the middle of the night, asking them to meet in the middle of nowhere to set something on fire, but those people don’t know Lincoln Blackwell. My brother never asks for anything, so when he does, I know it’s serious. It’s why I was already sitting up in bed when I saw his name flashing across my phone screen, it’s why my jeans were already half on before he even asked for my help, and it’s why I left the warm bed of my beautiful girlfriend, because I know if he is the one who is asking for help, then it means he really needs it.

Plus, I really fucking love setting shit on fire.

It didn’t take me long to quickly rush back to the mansion and grab some supplies before heading off to the location that Lincoln sent me, and I’m not surprised to find him already waiting by the time I pull up. That’s just who my brother is. The silent and unwavering member of our family, who saves everyone without question. He kept Marcus and I from going off the rails for years, he killed a man for Elle, multiple men really, he took a knife in the back for Cassie, and he tried to stay in a burning warehouse the day Donovan was shot. He goes out of his way to put everyone’s lives above his own, and I know it’s because he thinks he is expendable. He sees everyone else’s lives as more important than his own. It’s both his nicest strength and biggest flaw.

When I climb out, he greets me with a gentle nod and a smile. “You came,” he says by way of greeting, and I can’t help but frown.

“You called, of course I came,” I reply with a shake of my head, heading to the trunk of my car and pulling out the supplies I’m going to need.

Then I follow my best friend into the woods.

We walk in silence for a couple of miles, Lincoln somehow knowing exactly where we are going even in the dead of night, and I can’t help but smile, he always was a little strange. It’s why I decided to be his friend, he was just so quiet and brooding all the time, that I just felt like he needed a little Jace in his life to make it better.

“Are we really not going to talk about where we are going?” I finally ask, searching his blank expression in the dark, and as usual coming up with nothing.

“No,” he replies blankly, just like I knew he would, picking up his pace.

“You’re impossible,” I groan, following him, but suddenly he halts, and I almost slam right into him.

“Do you know why I called you?” He asks, and despite our lengthy friendship, and the fact we both see one another as family, I shake my head no, because I don’t know. “I called you because I know out of everyone you won’t ask questions, that you won’t push me on this when I am asking you not to.”

His words hit me right in the gut, because I know he is right. Marcus would be his usual, insufferable self and ask a thousand questions, wanting to pick apart any answer he would give, and Elle would come in all blades blazing ready to end any threat, and thenthere is Donovan. Donovan would erase the person from existence with the snap of his fingers, which just leaves me, his brother. The one he knows will always have his back without question.

When I don’t say anything he just carries on walking, and of course I follow, yet still I find myself saying, “Just because I don’t ask the questions, doesn’t mean I don’t want the answers.”

My brother sighs, slowing down until he once again stops and turns toward me. “I can’t give them to you.”

I think over what I want to say, before I ask, “Can you tell me why you can’t give them to me?”

“No,” he tells me plainly, and I almost smirk. My silent brother certainly has a way with words.

“Well, okay then,” I sigh, pushing past him and carrying on in the direction we were walking, hoping I am going the right way.

“Okay then,” he repeats, following after me. “Just like that?” I don’t know why he is questioning me about this, isn’t this what he wanted? Isn’t this why he called me?

“Yes, just like that,” I confirm, still struggling to find my way in the dark.

“Why?” He asks, grabbing my arm and pulling me to stop, and I see it then, the uncertainty. I still don’t know everything he went through as a child, but I know like me, the trauma still haunts him, even out here in the dark.

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