Page 137 of Boy of Ruin
I want to scream at the top of my lungs and punch him in the face all at once, but instead I try to think.
It seems Jeremiah didn’t do it, unless he’s playing us all.
But why run? And why run without her, unless he’s running from something?
I can think of one thing.
One connection between Ezra and Jeremiah. One that he’s tried to deny over the years, but now that I think about it, him attacking Jeremiah first that night Lilith found out who really hurt her…I can think of why that might all make fucking sense.
“Step back, Luce,” Mav says softly, shifting closer to both of us.
I ignore him, getting in Ezra’s face. His nostrils flare, the green flecks of his eyes visible in the light from the lampposts around the parking lot of Sanctum.
“Is this your bullshit?” I accuse him. “You were fucking that Forgues girl, weren’t you. And we never did find her body—”
“Shut the fuck up. If you could stop your wife from sucking her brother’s dick, maybe none of this —”
My fist connects with his face before I can even draw a breath. I grip his shirt tight in my fist, slam his ass back against the fucking Range.
His hand is over his nose, blood pouring down his fingers, and I lift my fist to hit him again but someone shoulder checks me, hard, and I stumble away from him, his shirt slipping through my fingers.
When I round on Mav, he backs me up against my car, his hands planted on the roof of it, on either side of me. We’re the same height, and we’re nose-to-fucking-nose, my hands going to his arms, trying to throw them out from around me as Ezra swears under his breath at Mav’s back.
“Watch yourself,” Mav says quietly, his mouth close to mine. “You’re not doing yourself any fucking favors in her eyes—”
I step closer to him, my hands still around his arms. I feel his muscles flex, coiled with tension. “I don’t want to do myself any fucking favors!” I shout at him. “I don’t give a fuck what she thinks about me. I don’t give a fuck about her. I’m fucking done with her. She fucking…” I close my eyes, my grip on Mav’s arms loosening.
I stumble back against my car, dropping my head, eyes still closed.
“She fucking ran to him, Mav, she…she left me.” My voice breaks, a lump in my throat. “She left me and she…” I pick my head up, drop my arms, run one hand over my face as I stare at my brother. “She fucking let him…touch her and use her and—”
“And what did you do?” Mav’s voice is low, soft, but his words…he might as well have punched me in the face. “What did you do, Luce? You try to get yourself straight, bro?” He cocks his head, his hands coming to my shoulders, his touch not gentle. “You stayed away from women, too? Don’t you think Jeremiah Rain has been keeping tabs on us, just like we’ve done with him?”
I blink at him, shaking my head, confused, but before I can say anything, he keeps talking. And as he does, I remember Sid’s words. About Julie. I didn’t listen to her then. I wasn’t paying attention.
I was so fucking hurt, I didn’t bother to see the pain beneath her own anger.
“You think she didn’t know you were at Julie’s? Maybe she even knew O was with your ass.” His eyes narrow. I hear Ezra muttering something under his breath, but I can’t see him, and I’m locked on to Mav’s words, my heart sinking.
“You could’ve killed her, Luce.” Maverick swallows, drops his arms from the car and steps back, running a hand over his blond hair as he chews on his bottom lip. “You could’ve killed her,” he says again, then turns to look at me. “Your dad might be dead,” he shakes his head as my mouth goes dry, “but he’s still haunting you. Just like he did when you were alive.”
He bites his tongue, looking at the pavement.
“We need to go in,” Ezra grits out, and without another word, his hand still over his nose, he turns from us, swaggering up to the heavy black door of Sanctum.
I watch him go, that familiar anger under my skin, hearing his words in my head about my fucking wife.
But he wasn’t wrong.
Whoever is after us, after Jeremiah, maybe Sid was a catalyst. Maybe by dividing herself from us, she started this fucking war.
Fuck her.
I start to follow Ezra inside, ready to get this shit over with, but Mav wraps his hand around the back of my neck, yanking me back.
I spin around to face him, my hands fisted by my sides. I’ll fucking deck him, too, if he doesn’t get out of my face.
I don’t want to think about my father.
