Twenty minutes later, a bing jolted me upright. I skimmed the information and a smile spread across my face. Quickly, I hit the print button. I raced across the room and snatched the paper up when it came out.
This was it. Time to finish this.
18
Reese
“The Dead Sea? Really?” I spat out, barely able to think clearly. This was the last thing I wanted to hear. Traveling across the world was not on my to-do list at the moment, but Dax’s new discovery it had now wiggled its way to the top. My head dropped back as a sliver of anger rolled over my spine.
“You can send a team over there to take care of it,” Fuzz said. It was a solid idea. It was also one that he knew I would never go for. “This entire thing doesn’t have to just fall on your shoulders, you know. There are others that are fully capable of taking something like this on in your place.”
I snorted. “Don’t you think I know that? I trained beside most everyone here.” My throat pinched as emotion clogged my insides. “The thing is, I know I’m supposed to be the one to do all this. A few can go with me to help, but it has to be me.” I had no regret saying those words. I had come to grips with what I needed to do and how hard it was going to be a while back.
“Fine. Have it your way.” He gave me a knowing smirk. “Who do you need to go with you? Anyone you want by your side, even if it’s me.” Fuzz in action. That would be a tempting offer, but I needed him to stay here.
“Umm,” I stroked my chin, trying to decide the best ones for the job. “Dax…”
From the corner of the room, he shot up from his seat. “Excuse me? Did I just hear Dax come from your mouth? I know you’ve got to be joking, right? Please say I’m right. I like being here… in a nice little hole.”
I rolled my eyes. “You discovered this shit. You also built the machine that helped us find the portal here. It makes the most sense that you go so we know we’re in the right spot.”
For a moment, he sat in silence and stared at me. From the pained expression he was giving me, he was trying to come up with a plausible reason why I was wrong. When he couldn’t think of one, he went limp and cursed.
“Who else?”
“Savannah. She can fly us there if you can get us a plane…”
He blew out an exasperated breath. “Really? How long have you known me?” He motioned around us. “I was able to put this place together in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Payne and—” Before I could get the last name out Shayla burst through the door with Hollywood on her heels like a love sick puppy dog. I had taken special precautions to avoid them because I couldn’t stand the sight of him, and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing to piss her off.
“I know you aren’t thinking of going anywhere without me.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.
“And if she goes, I go,” Hollywood added.
Ugh. That was what I’d thought I would get from him if she came along. He could just nope the fuck up out of here. It wasn’t happening today. “Sorry, my last person is Jace. I need you guys to stay here and follow Fuzz and Harley’s instructions until I get back.”
Her misty eyes fixed on me in a hard stare. “Really? You’re going to take him over me? We’ve fought side by side more than you and any of the people you named.”
A twinge of guilt squeezed my chest. She had a point. Before there was no other person I would rather have my back, but now things were different. It wasn’t her fault; it totally fell on me. Now I was being more cautious with the way I was handling things, instead of balls to the wall, guns blazing, not giving two shits about what or who got hurt as long as we felt badass doing something. No. If anything, I wanted to handle things with as little confrontation as possible.
“Fine,” she hissed when I didn’t respond. “I see how it’s going to be.” She spun around and stomped toward the door.
“Shayla, wait.”
She stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“This was a decision based on what I thought best for this particular mission. It means nothing else.”
She twisted the knob and darted out. Hollywood followed and slammed the door behind them.
My shoulders bunched with tension. That was just what I needed to put even more stress in my life, like I even needed it.
Dax let a low whistle go. “Man, I’m glad that wasn’t me having to deal with that. She’s been having anger issues for months now. Maybe we should start slipping some meds into her drinks.”
Screams erupted from the hallway and seeped through the cracks. Everyone went silent and stared at each other. At once, I recognized the voices. Jace, Shayla, and Hollywood.
I growled through clenched teeth and stomped toward the growing noise.
“Reese, don’t. You shouldn’t get involved,” Fuzz said, putting a hand on my arm. He was right. It wasn’t my place. But I was inserting myself anyway. In any normal situation, I would have Shayla’s back against the world, but this was something I couldn’t get behind. She was too blind to realize the chance she had. Jace was here, ready to pick up things where he’d left them. She needed to get her head out of her ass.
Shoving my hand through my hair, I focused on the door separating me from the people on the other side. My fingertips glided softly over Fuzz’s hand and removed his grip from my arm. “Too bad. I’m involving myself, so step aside.”
He raised his hands, palms facing me, and stepped back. I practically ripped the door off the hinges. No one noticed. They continued to berate one another. Shayla was an inch from Jace’s face with her finger wagging dramatically, slicing the air. Behind her, Hollywood bounced on the balls of his feet as if he were waiting for a chance to pounce in Jace’s direction.
“Hey!” No one turned toward me. “Hey!” I screamed even louder. Both stopped midsentence and focused on me.
“What? He’s the one that started it,” Shayla said with wide eyes.
“Seriously, I don’t care who started. You two have been grating on everyone’s nerves. This shit is getting old.” I struggled to keep my expression blank. There were so many things I wanted to scream at her. So, so many things. The words were on the tip of my tongue, and they tasted disgusting.
Her brows pulled in as she straightened her spine. “Not sure what you’re saying.” Her tone was clipped.
Uh oh. I had the uneasy feeling this was going to be Zane all over again after she blatantly told me that wouldn’t happen. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that she would put herself in this situation. Hollywood hadn’t poisoned her the way that Zane did. He broke her spirit. Made her think she needed him when she didn’t.
“You’re one of my best friends, so please keep that in mind before I say this.” A moment passed. Her expression remained irritated. Like she already knew what I was going to say and it was the stupidest thing ever. I ignored it and sighed. “Why are you being such a dumbass? Hollywood is absolutely toxic for you.”
The muscles in her neck jumped. “No offense, but you’re not the best person to be giving relationship advice.” Her gaze hardened. “Why do you keep dangling Harley along like a lovesick puppy? Huh, Reese? Steele is gone. He isn’t coming back. There’s a man here who adores the ground you walk on, but you can’t get over the thought of a dead guy!”
Her words stung. But they stung so badly because they were true.
I swallowed. My mouth had suddenly become dry. “You’re right,” I said in a small voice. My arms fell to my sides. I took a step back, fighting the need to have another emotional breakdown.
Her eyes narrowed until there were only two tiny blue slits. “Excuse me?”
“What do you want me to say? Everything you said is one hundred percent fucking true.”
Her expression seemed full of conflict. With parted lips, her breath sucked in. Despite her showing every emotion, every curse word, every bit of rage on her face, she remained quiet. That worried me. This might be one fight that the two of us couldn’t overcome.
>
I struggled to control the need to cross the room, grab her shoulders, and shake her until she saw what I did. The huge mistake she was burying herself in. Hollywood wasn’t the man for her. Anyone with two eyes could see that, so why couldn’t she?
“Choose.”
I eyed her sharply, unsure if I’d heard what I thought I had. “What?”
“Right now. I want you to choose between me, the person who’s had your back since day one, or Jace. You can’t keep going between us. You’re either on my side, and with that you accept that I’m going to be with Hollywood, or you side with him. If you decide on the latter, well, I’ll still fight by your side but you can pretty much hang our friendship up.”
My insides boiled. How could she put me in this situation? Both of them were friends whom I would die for. Sure, one of them I had known longer, but things changed. People changed. Hollywood had turned her into someone who wasn’t the same person as my ride or die. I was staring into the ice-cold eyes of a stranger.
“Jace,” I finally spat out.
She held up both hands in a motion of surrender, and a cocky smirk graced her glossy mouth. “Kinda thought you’d decide that way. Nice knowing you, Reese.” She tossed her hair back and pivoted on her heels. Stopping with her hand firmly on the hip, she turned and flipped me off before leaving me to stare after her.
I closed my mouth, not aware it was slack until that second. I couldn’t believe how quick she was deciding to through everything we had, all the memories, all the things we had been through out the window.
“Reese, I’m sure she didn’t mean that. Really, you can side with her on this. I’ll understand completely.” Jace’s voice sounded far away. I was in a place filled with rage at the moment.
I shook my head and backed into the room behind me. No one talked. Without a doubt, they had heard every single word.
I paced the room. The tiny black hands on the wall clock seemed to grow louder the longer I remained lost in thought. Tick. Tick. Tick. I wrenched my gaze from the floor to the unnecessary wall decoration as my hands yanked at the hair along my temples. Hasty rage imploded within the captivity of my chest. In a blur of hostility, my fingers locked around the frame of the clock and hurled it across the room. Glass and wood showered the room, and rained across the floor. I wanted to find Hollywood and kill him with my bare hands. See the life slip from the egotistical jerk that thought he was immortal. He wasn’t. And I damn sure wanted to be the one who let him know that. This was his doing. He had taken my friend away. He was robbing her of a life with Jace.
I charged forward only to run face first into Harley appearing in the doorway. He grasped my shoulders, holding me firmly in place. “Don’t.”
I darted to the right and so did he.
“Get out of my way, Harley. Just because this has nothing to do with you won’t stop me from beating the hell out of you.”
He shook his head. “I’m not letting you damage your friendship even more than what it already has been.” He leaned forward and placed a calming hand on my forearm. “You need to cool down. Think about how to approach this. Honestly, right now, what’s the plan? Bust in there and beat the shit out of him in front of her? How do you think that’s going to play out?”
“I don’t care how it plays out. It’ll make me feel better to do it.”
Placing both hands on my shoulders, he shoved me back into the room and closed the door behind him with a swift kick. “I can’t let you do that. Believe me, I know you’re mad, but doing that isn’t going to help anything. You need to calm down before you leave this room.”
My brows slashed together as my chest heaved. “Arrange the trip, Fuzz. I need to get the fuck out of here before I kill someone else.” My words earned a few gasps, but no one questioned it. Partly because at the moment they seemed too terrified to know the truth.
Instead of answering me, Fuzz focused on Harley. “Make sure she stays clear of the two of them. I’ll have everything ready for them to leave within the hour.”
Harley gave him a curt nod.
Right now, an hour seemed too long.
19
Jace
I replayed the fight with Shayla the entire flight to Jerusalem. There were so many things I could have said differently, so many things I could have done to keep it from escalating the way it had. But I had done the complete opposite. I was a dick. There was no denying it.
Things just happened so fast. One minute I was minding my own business, coming to check in with Fuzz, and the next she was in my face. She blindsided me with that beast of a prick next to her. My fists balled. Up until I came back here, I hadn’t thought I could ever hate someone as much as I did Hollywood. Mostly that was because he was with my woman, but another reason was because the guy grated on my nerves.
I glanced up at Reese. She stared out the window, the same position she had been in for the last several hours. I knew without asking her she felt the same way I did. Shayla was important to both of us. Shocked was an understatement when she’d sided with me instead of her best friend. I still couldn’t wrap my head around why she did it. Was it because she thought if she did, Shayla would buckle? Nah. We both knew that would never happen. Shayla’s stubborn nature was one of the things I both loved and hated about her. To think I was the reason they might not ever be the same again bothered me. I wasn’t worth throwing away all those years. Both of them should get over their selves and talk the shit out.
“Landing in thirty minutes, ladies and gents. Thank you for flying Savannah Air. It’s been a pleasure serving you on this part of the journey.” Savannah ended the announcement with a burst of laughter clearly amused by her own joke. There was an eruption of static and a curse before the intercom went silent. Wonder how bad Lance’s sanity was going to be while she was away from him. My guess was off the charts.
I shifted to the edge of my seat and raised my arms above my head. Until then, I hadn’t realized how stiff my body was, but I guess sitting in the same tensed position for so long would do that to a person. My muscles bunched, sending a pleasurable shiver along my spine.
“Yo, Tommy and Brandon meeting us at the landing spot?” Payne asked.
“Last I heard that was the plan. Not sure if it’s changed or not.” That was the only good thing about this sudden trip. I hadn’t seen the two of them in a long time. It would be nice to catch up even if it wasn’t a friendly visit.
“Sweet.” He pursed his lips together and stared at me.
There were so many times I had caught his gaze during the flight. I could see the internal battle dwelling behind his torn features. He wanted to approach the subject of what went down, no doubt, but didn’t know how to do it without coming off sounding girly. No matter how close our friendship was, the two of us didn’t really talk about things like this. Now if Steele were here, it would be a different story. No matter what was going on, we had no problem sharing our feelings. Even if you didn’t want to talk about it, he would find a way to wrench the truth out. Sometimes I even talked about things I didn’t know were bothering me until I opened up. Right about now, it would be nice to have one of those talks. But never again. My best friend was dead.
I reached down and grabbed my duffle bag. Payne’s mouth opened, but closed immediately after. I sighed, realizing that he wasn’t going to give up any time soon. “No need to bring it up. I’m fine.” I shoved my ear buds in a side compartment without looking up at him. “I’ve come to realize we aren’t getting back together. And I already know I’m the one to blame for that.” My fingers curled around the strap. “If I wouldn’t have left her, then we’d still be together.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Dude, you were pretty fucked up after things went down the way they did with Ollie. I’m not so sure you were in the right place to be around her.”
He had a point. She would probably hate me for a completely different reason right now if I had stayed. I wasn’t the same person she had fallen for at that party. There was no joy in my
life. She deserved more. She deserved everything.
“Buckle up. Not promising a smooth landing,” Savannah barked over the loud speaker.
I sat back and clicked the belt into place, grateful for the interruption. No matter how much I didn’t want to think about her, she always found her way back into my thoughts. When did I get like this? For so many years, I darted from girl to girl with none of them meaning a thing to me. Then she came along and ruined everything.
We hit the ground and bounced back into the air. Air rushed from my lungs at the impact. The body of the plane swayed from side to side before hitting again. Shit. She wasn’t playing around about the rough landing. No matter how many times I had flown, every time we landed my asshole still clenched something furious. The brakes ground as we finally made a solid landing. After a few minutes, we slowed to a gentle roll and came to a stop. The door opened, and I was the first one on the stairs. Yeah, I guess one could say I was ready to get off this thing.
“Look at that piece of shit. Still ugly, just like I remembered,” Tommy said from the foot of the steps. Beside him, Brandon laughed.
I took two steps at a time and completely jumped the last few to land me directly in front of him. “Still jealous, I see.” I fought to keep my manner neutral.
“You wish.”
A smile pulled at my mouth as I scooped him in a hug. “It’s good to see you guys, man.”
When I pulled away, his expression dropped. “Look, we heard about Steele. I just can’t — don’t know what to say about it.” His voice dropped as he looked over my head. I turned to find Reese staring at the three of us. She smiled although it didn’t reach her eyes.
“You boys have us a way to where we need to be?”
“I can’t believe you would ever doubt us, Reese,” Brandon said.
She gripped the handrail and slowly made her way closer to us. “Nah. Not you two. Now if it would’ve been up to these other two assholes, then yeah.” With her finger, she motioned toward me and behind her in Payne’s direction.
War Page 12
