Page 65 of Dragon Strife
“I’ve killed twice already,” I admit. “I don’t feel any burden, to be honest. One was the reason I almost died and the other would’ve killed me if I didn’t.”
“It’ll come,” he assures me with a nod. “Be prepared.”
I turn back around and pull the keys from the pocket of my cut. The ring feels so much lighter with my keychain and another key missing. I slip the key into the lock and take a deep breath. I don’t know how far I’m prepared to go, but I do know Jaeger will have no reservations about killing me if that’s what he wants.
I push open the door and wait. With Laith at my back, I’m not as worried about his escaping. When I hear nothing, I step inside and look around. Laith stays by the door, giving us our space, but making sure I know I’m not alone. I find Jaeger still sitting against the wall I left him at, his thumb and forefinger rubbing into the bridge of his nose.
“You keep disturbing my peace, little sister.” His voice is hoarse but filled with taunting.
“Stop calling me that. You and I both know you never regarded me as your little sister. If you had, I wouldn’t have been handed over like I was nothing. The family you claimed to love was only there to further your agenda.” My words are soaked in pain and I refuse to let the fear of appearing weak stop what I need to say to him. I take a few more steps into the room and notice his bruised eyes are closed. He still has blood caked all over his face and his hands are stained with it.
“Perhaps you’re right,” he agrees and cracks an eye, only to hiss at the light’s attack. “You were never my little sister, but Vic? He was my father for a long while.” He runs a finger along his nose once more and winces.
“How does your face feel?” I can’t help the snicker that escapes.
“Like shit,” he admits. “I had to reset it myself.”
“So you’ve hated me our entire childhood?” I don’t know why I feel nauseous, as if I’m losing my family all over again.
“Hated? Nah.” He shakes his head and opens his eyes again, squinting to get used to the light. “Not until you took everything from me. You talk like I betrayed this family, that I ruined our lives, but when do you begin to take a bit of that blame? What little sister goes behind her big brother’s back willingly? The same big brother whose mother treated you as her own? Do you ever look back on that night and remember her? The pool of blood she was laying in, or the way her throat was cut so deep she was almost decapitated?” His voice catches on the last word and I nearly fall to my knees with the memory of it.
“Don’t…” I croak out.
“I saw your boot prints in the drying blood and your handprints all around her. Tell me, can you look at me and admit you were just as deceitful? Maybe you had your priorities set andDaddycame first, but what about Ma and me? Were we so easily forgotten?” His voice is lacking empathy, almost as though he were questioning someone he doesn’t know, and every word is a personal attack on my soul. He knows just how much Ma meant to me.
“Ma was everything to me and you know it. She raised me and loved me, filling any void I could potentially feel. I was never put out or longing for my biological mother because I felt like I had her in Claire, and you?” The dreaded tears hit my cheeks as he finally opens his eyes fully to look at me. Ebony clashing with indigo. “I loved you as my brother, as my protector, and as the person I knew would do anything for me. At least I thought that.”
“Sounds pretty one-sided to me,” he sneers. “Yourprotector. Do anything foryou.” I’m taken aback by what he says, and not because they’re cruel, but because it’s true. “But when it came time to take care of me, do something for me, you took what was mine and did it without thinking of how I would feel, but that’s because it was only supposed to bemewho took care ofyou,right?”
My heart is crashing against my ribs as I look at him, his words crushing me with their weight. He shrugs when any sort of reply escapes me. What can I say to that? I refuse to forgive him for shooting my father and for orchestrating my kidnapping, but now I have an added burden of how much my actions contributed to it all. He’s right, my hands are stained with our parents’ blood too. “Why don’t you go to the bathroom to clean up? I wouldn’t want to leave you here to piss yourself or anything.” My voice wavers and I want to kick myself for sounding so fucking weak.
Laith steps farther into the room and Jaeger finally notices him. He shakes his head and laughs as he pushes to standing. “I knew it would be you. I really hoped her fucking your brother would be a deterrent, but obviously you’re into that.”
“Shut up, Jaeger,” I snap. “Maybe I will leave you in here to piss yourself.”
“Let’s go, Jaeger,” Laith says with a jerk of his head. “She’s doing more for you than was done for her both times she was locked up.”
I step aside as Jaeger pushes himself away from the wall, and when he winces with the motion, I feel guilt instead of pride. Was this his plan all along? To guilt me into thinking everything that happened was my doing? He walks by me, his eyes staying trained on mine and the connection severs when he leaves the room behind Laith. I refuse to take all the blame for what happened to our family. He had choices, and he made the wrong ones.
I stand out in the hallway with Laith as he leans against the wall beside the cell door. “Are you okay?”
“Do you agree with him? Am I to blame for all of this?” I fall against the wall and bury my face in my hands.
“All of it? God, no, but he makes a few points. You speak of family and looking out for each other, but I think it was lacking in Vic’s decision to make you President. Unfortunately, I can’t ask him why, but there is a video in Jaeger’s possession. You should ask him to see it. Your father has his reasons, but none of them were enough to go behind his heir’s back. I don’t know why he was so worried about you and felt like he had to betray his son and second-in-command to keep you safe. We would’ve done that just because you were his daughter. There was a reason why that wouldn’t have been enough. I don’t know if Jaeger has the answers to that, and I don’t know if we’ll ever find out. Why did you take that position so eagerly? You knew nothing about being a Dragon, you barely came around the club.” His fingers tap along his arm as he speaks, and not once does he sound accusing or judgmental.
“I cherished my father because I knew what it was to lose a parent and to only have one. When Claire came into my life with Jaeger, she gave me back the peace of having both parents, but it never really erased how fragile life is. One minute they’re here and the next they’re dead. I had nothing going on in my life to be proud of. I deferred college for two years straight. I dated losers. I even wasted time riding my Skittle of a motorcycle around town. None of those things were worthy of greatness, and then this opportunity was presented to me, a chance to show him I could be great.” Admitting it all is like lifting a weight off my chest I had no idea was there to begin with. “I wanted him to believe in me, and he did.”
“I get that.” He nods slowly as he straightens up against the wall. “I, too, understand how short life can be. If I piece together exactly how you’re both feeling, I truly believe it comes down to lack of communication. Jaeger shouldn’t have been so quick to blame you and he shouldn’t have taken it all out on you. You should’ve asked your father more questions and maybe spoken to Jaeger. It’s a little harsh, but you both are partially at fault for the demise of your family. Fighting each other isn’t going to fix it, and he has a long road to redemption, but I would have to agree with him when he says Vic isn’t who you thought he was.”
“Thank you,” I whisper as the bathroom door opens. Jaeger steps out with his face washed of blood and his hair slicked back over his head. His eyes are rimmed with bruises and his nose is swollen, but it does nothing to lessen the smug look on his face. “Back in the room,” I tell him as I point to the pitch-black space.
“Sounds good.” He nods. “I’m enjoying my time for reflection. Beats doing it at home in the kitchen, imagining the pool of my mother’s blood.” Without much of a fight, he heads for the room but stops when I call his name.
“Jaeger, why are you being so compliant?” It feels like a trap, and I can’t deny how fucking nervous it makes me.
He takes a few steps back to stand in front of me, his eyes slowly flicking over my face before stopping at my mouth. He reaches up and grips my chin in his fingers as he runs his thumb over my bottom lip. The air sucks out of my lungs and I’m suddenly back there against the wall with Jaeger between my legs. He can see the reaction because his mouth quirks up in the corners in an arrogant smirk.
Then everything is shattered when he puts his other hand to my temple in the shape of a mock gun and pretends to pull the trigger. I stagger back as Laith guides him back to the Slaughter Room, my heart pounding out a quick staccato.
