Page 124 of Jax

Ronnie

Deep rumbling thunder ran through the earth as dark clouds swarmed above. My breath hitched with each throb of my lungs, my stomach turning and twisting, the contents already spewed out to the side of me when Jacob threw me down onto the floor. His swift kick to my stomach had my throat retching and body burning with feverish pain.

I heard the voices of the Russian men, followed by Jacob, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

I knew my consciousness was dancing on the edge of the darkness, fluttering shadows passing over my vision. But I was aware.

I was aware that I was helpless on the floor. I was aware that Jacob was sending off his Russian allies. And I was aware of the Zippo flicking open and closed in his hands.

Jax was going to burn.

Dirt and stones dug beneath my nails in a desperate attempt to drag myself toward the house, toward the man chained up inside, toward my most important person. The blurred image of him chained to that radiator, body soaked in gasoline, eyes burning with frustration… it was haunting me.

I couldn’t let this happen, I could—

“Get up, you adultering bitch,” Jacob growled, hot pain radiating down my back as he hoisted me from the dirt. My knees were dragged beneath me, but I no longer had the strength to prop myself up, only helped by Jacob’s thick hand around my neck. My body protested in pain, but even screams were beyond me as a weak whimper slipped from my lips.

“I want you to look,” Jacob growled, shoving my head toward the house. It was blurred, swaying with my vision in front of me, but even beyond my incapability to see, I could tell that beautiful old farm house apart from any other. The homely, cherished home that had stood for half a century was facing me.

“Jacob…,” I groaned. “…don’t… please….”

Jacob let out a harrowing laugh, the thing crisp and crackling like a rabid hyena. “I think I’ve had enough of your begging. It’s gotten old.”

I heard the heavy clink of the lighter flipping open and the whispering breath of the flame.

“Say goodbye.”

He tossed the lighter.

The heavy clunk of the thing landing on the porch was but a pebble on the surface of a lake. Such a small, tiny sound, but the effect stretching on for eons.

I couldn’t say how much I wanted that moment to freeze. To stop. Even if it was forever, never moving forward. Never letting this kind of future happen.

But that idea went up in the flames. They surged like a titanic wave bursting up the side of the house and capturing the entire outside frame within seconds. The old farm house was coated in bright amber light, the windows bursting glass shards and the wooden panels blackening to ash.

“No…,” I moaned, shaking my body loose from Jacob’s grasp. His hand released me, and I fell onto my stomach. Pain wasn’t even on my radar as my hands lunged forward, nails digging into the hard dirt and with strength I didn’t have left, I pulled myself forward, the hot heat searing into my skin. “No!” I cried, my eyes dried and burning as I stared at the bonfire. “NO! JAX! JAX!”

Another window smashed, and I felt the spray of glass shards splintering across my back. “JAX! PLEASE! JAX!”

Too wrapped in my desperation, I didn’t even notice the boots coming up on my sides. It wasn’t until the thick hand clamped down hard on my shoulder, and with a heavy shove, flipped me onto my back. My breath was thrown from my lungs on a choking sob, as I looked up to see Jacob standing above me, gun aimed to my head.

I didn’t care.

I couldn’t.

“Let me go, Jacob!” I cried. “Let me save him.”

Disgust. That was the only emotion on Jacob’s face. Not pity or even an ounce of sympathy.

“He’ll be burnt to a crisp soon,” Jacob taunted. “I’m just putting a squealing pig out of its misery.”

He cocked back the gun.

“You’re a monster.” I sobbed, the cold hard truth hitting me in the chest. I knew Jacob was nasty. Knew he was corrupt. Knew he was cruel. But I hadn’t realized how little humanity he had in him. If he could even be considered human any longer. “I always thought I was the weak… the pathetic one. That’s who you made me out to be.” I coughed, black smoke seeping into my lungs. “But I’m not. I’m not weak. I’m strong. You’re the pathetic one, Jacob. I was just like you at first. I thought everything was Jackson’s fault. I blamed him for all my problems. But that’s not right. It was my own life. They were my own problems. Sure, Jackson had a part to play, but I can’t blame him because I was too much of a coward to get out of your shadow. Too much of a coward to fight for what I truly wanted. Too much of a coward to risk what I had for something worth so much more… That’s on me.”

“And this.” I stared my eyes down the barrel of the gun. “This is you just casting yourself into the dark. You’re not stepping out from Jackson’s shadow. You’re thriving in it. And you’ll never change. You’ll be the pathetic, second-rate man you’ve always made yourself to be.”

If what I had thought on Jacob’s face before was madness, then what I was looking at now must have been pure evil. The darkness in his eyes, the burning torch of the house against his dull skin and the curved snarl on his lips… it was the devil himself.

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