Page 17 of Deadly Ruck
I couldn't bring myself to glance at Atlas or Jay.
The feeling of betrayal by Atlas was something I experienced before, right after he found out about my previous life. He'd turned his back on me and walked away. I thought that was it, we were done.
Then, I thought he'd accepted it. He’d responded by killing Bruce Fergus, the team's former GM. He explained everything and we'd moved on. I barely gave it a second thought.
But this? This was a whole other level of betrayal. We'd faked working for these people, but he hadn’t. All along, he was playing us.
Where Jay stood, I didn't know. Presumably wherever Atlas did. He seemed unhappy with the situation, but he hadn't fought it. Hadn't seemed to surprised. Of course he wouldn't. Except, Atlas hadn't told him Max Stanley was alive. Unless he had and Jay faked his annoyance. That could have been another part ofthe act. If that was the case, he was an excellent actor. He had me fooled.
Now, we were stuck in the back of a car heading to fuck only knew where. With them.
If either of them thought they could touch me, they'd have to think again. Right now, I felt like I was held together by sticky tape and string, but when the shock was over, I'd have a few things to say to both of them. Starting with the words 'get fucked.'
"It'll be okay," Dallas whispered. "I won't let anything happen to you."
"I know you won't," I whispered back. "I won't let anything happen to you either." I hoped like hell I could keep that promise.
Jones wouldn’t hesitate to kill Dallas if he got in his way. I should have insisted he stay back with the others. Why hadn't I? Because, selfishly, I wanted him with me. I didn't want to be alone with these people, and now I might get him killed.
Am I the asshole? Yes, yes, I am.
I'd have to try to find a way to get him out of this. Maybe they'd let him walk away. He didn't have to do get any deeper involved in this. He might not do it willingly, but it was for his own good. Dallas should be focusing on playing football, not being distracted by me. He should be off living his best life. He should be?—
I glanced out the rear window as a flare of light blossomed in the night sky. The flames burst out above the treetops like they were trying to singe the moon.
"Bloody hell!" I gaped at the sight in absolute shock. I couldn't be seeing what I thought I was seeing. Could I? My blood turned to ice.
"Is that…" Dallas' voice wavered.
"The cottage," I said reluctantly. I tore my gaze away from the sight to glare accusingly at Jay, who sat on the other side of me, with a side eye at Atlas who sat in the front passenger seat.
They were both staring, behind us, mouths open.
Jay's face was pale. His horror looked genuine. So did Atlas', but I knew by now how good an actor he was.
"Did you do that?" I demanded. I couldn't hold back the tears that poured down my cheeks. "You killed them."
Storm, Frost and Ramsey. And Max Stanley. If they were anywhere near the cottage, if they were inside it, they would have been incinerated. If they were lucky, they wouldn't have felt a thing. But me, I felt everything. The pieces of my broken heart shattered into a million shards. My whole beautiful world with my sexy guys was nothing more than ashes.
Atlas blinked at me a couple of times. "I did not. I had no idea." He looked ahead to the car that held Carlos Jones, then back at me. "I swear, I had nothing to do with it."
I shook my head at him in disbelief and looked away, nestling into Dallas. For a short while there, I'd almost let myself fantasise that Storm, Frost and Ramsey would come for me. They'd contact my brother and his partners and friends and find me. They'd come in, proverbial guns blazing, destroying anyone who stood in their path.
But now… It could take days for my brother to work out I was missing, much less where I'd gone. By the time he knew, I could be on the other side of the planet. I could be dead.
Or worse.
"This is bullshit," Jay whispered. "Chels, I swear I had nothing to do with this. I promise you. You saw how Atlas kept me out of the loop. I didn't even know there was a loop."
I looked over to him resentfully. "I didn't see you doing anything to stop any of this. You seemed perfectly happy to go along with it."
"I wanted to be with you and Atlas." He looked like someone kicked his basket of kittens. "That was all. I didn't want…" He glanced back out the window.
"Sure you didn't," I said sarcastically. Part of me wanted to believe him, but the rest of me was hurting too badly to throw him a lifeline. Right now, I didn't care if he and Atlas drowned.
I hated myself for loving both of them, even now. They might as well have torn my heart out and stomped all over it with footy boots. Crushed it into the grass.
Jay looked back at me, hurt in his brown eyes. "You're right, I should have stayed back with them. Then I'd be dead too." He turned away to look out the window.
