Page 70 of Justice For Me

“Seriously, Justice, I don’t want you involved with this. It’s going to be ugly because there’s no other way for it to be. Malachi would kill me if something happened to you.”

“Yea, yea, Susannah will beat my ass if something happens to you,” Justice countered. “So, let’s just make sure we nail the son o f a bitch and come back alive…more than ready to accept our punishments.”

“You really are a pain whore, aren’t you?”

“You really do look like Goldilocks, don’t you,” Justice countered. “Now, get your phone out and get me a ticket to wherever you are going because I am going with. If you try to ditch me at the airport, so help me God, I will scream a bomb threat loud enough to shut down the entire airport before you get to the end of the tarmac.”

Jasper snorted. “They say you look like me, Goldie Jr.” He pulled out his cell and started punching numbers. Justice had to believe he was purchasing the ticket like he’d demanded. With his luck, he was probably paying somebody to ice him at the airport. The kid was just that spooky.

“Nope, I’m older. You look like me.” He said when he was satisfied Jasper was indeed purchasing him a ticket.

At the airport, he followed Jasper straight to their international flight and held his breath until they were both on board. Goldilocks wasn’t happy, not at all, but he hadn’t really left him any other options. They both knew Malachi would be on their asses the second anybody realized they were missing. Clearly Jasper didn’t want him but wasn’t willing to take the risk of trying to ditch him.

He smiled sweetly at Jasper as they taxied down the runway. Jasper flipped him off.

Two hours later, Justice was fairly certain he was going to die from boredom. Hell, even Malachi was gracious enough to tie him up if he wanted him to be in one place this long. While Goldilocks pecked away at his computer, talking to himself like a fucking genius, Justice had busied himself doing…not a damned thing. He was going to go nuts. Sure, he knew Jasper was the brains of their dynamic duo and he was definitely going to be the brawn, but the kid could throw him a crumb every now and then, try to make him feel useful.

“At least tell me where we are headed? You haven’t shared a damned thing with me. We’re in this together.” Justice complained.

“You’ll know when we get there. Shit, do you ever stop moving? Some damn part of your body has been twitching the entire flight. Sit the fuck still and keep quiet. I’m thinking.”

In his defense, he was perfectly quiet and somewhat still for a full forty minutes before he tried again. He knew it was forty minutes, he’d timed it, going fucking nuts with each passing second.

“Can you at least give me a hint as to what your plan is?” Justice asked. “I know I’m on a need-to-know-basis, but I really think I need to know. You do realize Malachi is going to beat my ass for this, right?”

“Probably,” Jasper conceded as he continued to type into his laptop computer…which was probably against every airline rule known to man.

“Why are you doing this?” Justice asked. “I know why I’m doing it but I’m still confused about why you are willing to risk everything to try and capture Nicholas.”

Jasper leaned his head against his seat. “What they just did to you, that happened because of me. The way Malachi and Dante are worried sick right now, that’s because of me. The possibility that Susannah might be in danger if Nicholas decides to come after her, that’s damned fucking well because of me. Because I was so fucking weak before, Nicholas has been given the opportunity to hurt people all over again.”

“Weak? What the shit are you talking about? I’m pretty sure you’re on the opposite end of the weak scale, dude. Malachi told me he thought you were the strongest person he’s ever met in his life.”

“Malachi gave me the option on whether to let Nicholas, Victor, and Tyler live or die that night. I let them live.” He turned and locked eyes with Justice. “And the rest is history.”

“Uh, Jasper, I’m pretty sure not giving the green light to kill someone doesn’t make you weak…it makes you a good person.”

Jasper made a very un-like Jasper snort. “I’m not the innocent everyone, including you, believes me to be. We may not come out of this alive, Justice. Sometimes we are forced to become somebody we aren’t, forced to forfeit a part of our soul in exchange for what we want most. If you want to leave me with it, I understand. Hell, I want you to leave me with it. Please.”

It was Justice’s turn to snort. “Whatever. Just tell me the plan. Are we busting in…guns blazing?”

When Jasper didn’t say anything, Justice asked, “You do have a gun, don’t you?”

“Well shit, I knew I forgot something,” Jasper answered drily. “I promise I have a plan, Justice. It might not be something either of us would prefer, but desperate times often call for desperate measures.” He said sadly. “I told you not to get involved if you couldn’t handle it…couldn’t do whatever is necessary to protect our family.”

“Don’t you dare!” Justice warned angrily. “You damn well know I’m in all the way…willing to die, more than willing to kill, if necessary. I love them.”

“Remember those words later on, Justice. Please remember those words.”

Justice pictured them killing Nicholas, blowing his brains in every direction…slitting his throat for ear to ear…gutting him while he was still alive.

He couldn’t wait.

“Are you seriously not going to tell me anything? How about you at least tell me why you took the picture? What does that guy have to do with anything? Do you think he can help us? I seriously doubt it since his face was mixed in with the group of fuckers that Malachi’s dad refers to as his besties.”

Jasper massaged his temple like he was fighting off a killer headache. Yea, he had that effect on people sometimes, he supposed. In all honesty, he didn’t care, he needed to know Jasper had some sort of plan bouncing around in his brainy head.

“According to what I could fine on the computer, he goes by the name of Emilio but his real name is Jameson Bentley. I’ve seen him before…he was at several of Victor’sparties.” He shrugged…or shivered from the horrible memories this ordeal was probably dredging up for him. “I think he might be able to help us.”

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