arbitrate (daynight)

by Thomason, Megan

  Jax quietly answered. I couldn’t hear due to Alexa’s high-pitched shriek. “Adam!” She yanked her hand from mine and ran to him. “I thought you were dead.” She jabbered on and on about watching him burn to death.

  Adam listened to her tale before responding. “What you saw, happened. I died. And now I’m here. In Hell…I mean Thera.”

  Present

  “Oh Cleave-dear, give me my son. I think you owe me a few months with him.” I find Kira with Zander in his nursery. She completely ignores me, keeps her back to me. Zander is dressed in nothing but a diaper, lying on a blanket on the floor. He’s batting at some plastic grapes that used to be decor in my office. “What on Thera are you letting him play with?”

  She makes a face at Zander and says to him, “Why are we playing with daddy’s plastic grapes? Because this is the most child unfriendly place ever, and there are no toys here, of course.” Then she leans over and blows on his belly button, making a funny noise. This gets Zander laughing. It’s adorable. Kira, however, is pissing me off.

  I get down on the floor and lean over Zander and make a face at him. He bursts into tears. “Great. My own kid’s scared of me. He doesn’t even know me. And that is your fault.”

  Kira gives me a hard, cruel look. “Well, you scare me and I know you. So…” She turns her attention back to Zander. “Maybe you should try being less of…whatever you are now…and people might warm up to you.”

  I scare her? That’s ridiculous. I’ve never been anything but nice to her. She’s the one who deceived me. How dare she try to pin this on me. “You are a piece of work.”

  “How’s your piece of meat back on Earth? Heading back there soon, I hope? You going to tell her she’s gone from girlfriend to mistress or just keep me your dirty little secret?”

  I close my eyes and try to count to ten. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do to avoid saying something you’ll regret? One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Screw the counting. I’m pissed. “At least I dated Alexa not knowing I was cheating. You knew and were sleeping with my brother—which makes you quite the slut.” Even though she claims nothing has happened with Jax, I have no reason to believe her. If she could lie about her death, she’s capable of lying about anything.

  Her hand shoots out so fast that I can’t stop the slap. I feel the burn on my cheek. Tears are pooled in her eyes. She kisses Zander on the nose. “My sweet boy, I’m going to let you get to know your daddy for a bit. I’ll be back to feed you in an hour.”

  I can feel the rage boiling under my skin. Why did I ever want to be Cleaved to her? Right now I wish I could have every second, minute, hour, day, week, and month back that I spent thinking about her over the last year. She sure wasn’t thinking about me. I should have known better than to ever get involved with Kira. Anyone who could fall for two guys is selfish. And now she has a third one. Alexa on the other hand…she seems to be a one-guy kind of gal. Maybe I should take Zander back to Earth with me for three months. See how Kira likes being away from her son.

  Kira gets up to leave. I don’t even wait to make sure she’s out of the room before I tell Zander, “I’m going to make sure Uncle Jax and Mommy regret keeping you away from me. Really regret it.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Blake

  One week prior to Ethan finding Kira and Jax.

  Am I prepared to kill this man? I’m on my stomach, eye pressed to the telescopic sight, finger on the trigger. Gads knows the bastard deserves it for killing Kira. For stealing her child—potentially my child.

  I’m lying on my stomach atop a building adjacent to the Los Angeles Clean Slate Complex run by my favorite charitable organization, The Second Chance Institute. Joshua Black—a cousin I only recently met through Jax Christo—is next to me with a pair of binoculars. We’ve been watching for hours and my back is stiff. At least it is overcast and cool today. I’d hate to be doing this on Thera. Sweaty fingers don’t make good trigger fingers.

  Joshua is humming a tune with the chorus, “Let him bleed. Make him pay. If thou hast sinned you’ll die today.” Surprisingly I find his singing calming, preferring it to silence or awkward chatter. Makes the time go faster.

  Finally Kira’s killer shifts into view, and I’ve got his forehead in my crosshairs. He’s sitting on a chair in a plush suite on the top floor of the complex. He appears to be talking to someone just out of my view.

  “You don’t want to do that.” I don’t need to take my eye off the prize to know who has decided to show up and be my conscience.

  “Go away, Jax.”

  Unfortunately Jax doesn’t respond to orders. He inches up on his belly until he’s right next to me and can talk into my ear. “The whole eye for an eye thing went out of style a long time ago. Besides, you’d be mucking up the equation. A death for a death only helps if there was a death in the first place.” Now that has my attention.

  I keep my eye glued to the sight. It takes effort to keep my breathing even. “Speak fast and plainly or you’ll be too late to save my soul.”

  “Kira’s alive. Plain enough for you?”

  My chest heaves and the rifle shudders. I loosen my grip on the trigger to prevent a misfire. Feelings of relief and horror rush through me. She’s alive? How could anyone survive what I saw? I want to see for myself. But the thought of facing Kira again after failing her is unbearable.

  “The other baby?”

  “Alive as well.”

  I sigh in relief. My baby’s alive. Which is mine? I wonder but don’t ask. “How?”

  “You didn’t really think I’d let her die, did you?”

  No, I suppose not. Even though I never saw anything to indicate that Kira and Jax had anything going on romantically, they seemed very close, and Jax was obsessively protective of her. “Does Ethan know?”

  “No.” I want to be a fly on the wall after Ethan finds out and confronts Jax. I can’t believe Jax didn’t tell us sooner.

  “Where is she?”

  Jax responds in a low voice. “Somewhere safe. So let’s end this. You’ve identified the hired…knife. Tied him to the SCI. He’s speaking to his employer. That’s who you should be angry at. You’re a father now. I don’t think you want to waste the opportunity to find your son because you’re spending twenty to life behind bars.”

  He answered my unasked question, but knowing the bastard in my crosshairs stole my son does nothing to calm me down. “I’m angry at all of them. Every SCI leader. In fact, Joshua gave me a list of those who are Earth-side. It makes for a great to-do list.” They all deserve to pay.

  I’m done talking. It’s time for some action.

  One thousand one.

  One thousand two.

  One thousand three.

  That’s all it takes to even out my breathing and steady my hand.

  I shift the crosshairs on my target ever so slightly—from his heart to his hand—and pull the trigger.

  My father would be proud that all his training paid off. Oh, who am I kidding? He would find something to criticize about my work here. Sad that even though he’s gone I can hear him saying, “If you’d hit a little to the left you’d have taken out a higher concentration of nerves.”

  Joshua claps a hand on my shoulder. “Nice shot. I can’t wait to see my mom’s reaction to having blood all over her precious carpet. Maybe her secret guest will have to be moved, and I can figure out who the surgeon’s benefactor is.”

  At the scene of the crime, lights are flashing indicating that the complex has gone into lockdown.

  “I suppose you’re expecting me to get you out of this mess,” Jax says in a gruff tone. He grabs on to both me and Joshua, and the sight of chaos at the Clean Slate Complex fades out, and Joshua’s room, on the same floor as the shooting, fades in. I’m still holding the rifle.

  “Like daddy, like son. Nice Arbiter trick,” I whisper to Jax. He doesn’t look much like his white-haired father. He’s all tall and blond and angles and fiery-gold eyes, and what I have to assume to be a might
y big temptation to one miraculously alive Kira Donovan. Unless she doesn’t like control freaks with weird abilities, or is still hung up on Ethan, despite not having seen him in a year.

  Jax relieves me of the weaponry and he’s a little rough about it. Once he has my gun, he takes Joshua’s binoculars.

  “Idiots. You both owe me. And you will keep…my preferred method of travel…quiet. The SCI doesn’t know. And can’t yet.” And with that, Jax vanishes into thin air before I can find out where he has Kira stashed.

  He can’t keep Kira from me forever.

  Right now, though, only one thing matters.

  That evil man who stole my son will never perform surgery again. Even with reconstructive surgery, his hand will be useless.

  Sometimes living with a constant reminder of your sins is way worse than dying.

  Three months prior: Heart, Thera

  “You are responsible for this. You left her alone? I trusted you to keep watch over Kira and your unborn child. If anything happens to her I will not be accountable for my actions. Do you understand?”

  I glanced over at Kira and then nodded at Jax. His fierce grip felt like it was searing me to the bone. I deserved the pain. Jax was right. I left Kira alone despite knowing her life was in danger. And why? Because Bailey was having another one of her ridiculous temper tantrums. Gads, I’d allowed myself to get lured into her crazy camp while the love of my life got sliced open by a psychopath.

  Jax shook me to regain my attention. “Go after him. Get whatever information you can. Do it now.”

  “Will she live?” I mumbled the words even though in my heart I already knew the answer. Between the coppery scent of blood in the air and seeing Kira filleted open, I wanted to vomit up what little I’d eaten for dinner.

  I knew I was to blame. That my selfish actions killed the only woman who deserved my love.

  There was no time to lose. I rushed out the door. The sun was rising on the horizon, and I saw the white-coated figure well down the beach. I sprinted, knowing the life of Kira’s child depended on it, quickly gaining on the man given he was carrying a baby and his medical gear.

  Once I was within fifty feet, the man turned. He set down his bag and started shooting. I halted and dropped to my stomach. He was a terrible shot—or was purposefully missing as a warning for me to stay clear. The gun had been equipped with a silencer, so I could distinctly hear the baby cry. Reality hit me—that child’s life was in my hands. My stomach clenched and bile scorched my throat. As soon as he felt confident I’d gotten his message, he picked the bag up and shuffled up the beach towards a nondescript cottage.

  I refused to let the man win. Better to be shot trying to retrieve the child and avenge Kira’s death than to not try at all. It took less than a minute to close the distance. The door to the cottage was locked, but there was no deadbolt. I grabbed a nearby rock and smashed in the door handle.

  Crouching down, I pushed open the door—fully expecting a shot to be aimed at where my chest would’ve been if I were standing.

  Nothing.

  The place was empty.

  I quickly and carefully checked each room. No one was here.

  Impossible.

  There wasn’t a back door. No windows were open. How the hell did he disappear? I flew back out of the house and searched the perimeter, but the only footprints were the ones I just created.

  So I headed back into the cottage and scoured the place for trap doors or any clues I could use to trace him. It appeared like someone had been living here. Dishes littered the sink. There were hair fibers and toothpaste residue in the bathroom—but oddly the hairs were long. Likely female. The small bedroom dresser contained a few articles of female clothing. It didn’t make any sense. How did the female resident fit in with the assassin? Who was she? And where the hell did they both go?

  I double and triple-checked the place for more clues. When I was just about to give up, I found a receipt with an address on it—a Los Angeles, CA address. I stuffed the address into my pocket, knowing where I’d be headed in short order.

  I used a clean cup in the kitchen to collect the hair fibers. Despite knowing I needed to get this information back to Jax, I couldn’t face him yet or see Kira lying dead on that table. I sank into the common area sofa and sobbed. Had my dad been alive to see it, he would have beat the crap out of me.

  The tears dried, but the grief remained. I splashed cold water on my face and then left to go face my demons. When I reached Kira and Jax’s place, I took a deep breath and opened the door. Bailey was slouched over the kitchen table scrubbing blood. She didn’t look at me.

  “They’re gone.”

  My voice was hoarse. “She’s dead?”

  “Jax took her. Kira…she wasn’t breathing. They vanished. So much blood.”

  One week prior to Ethan finding Kira and Jax.

  Joshua cranks up the music in his apartment to a near unbearable level. I’m dressed in standard complex-wear—a white Henley and pressed jeans, plus a baseball cap to shield my eyes and identity.

  “You need to go,” Joshua whispers and hands me a piece of paper that has Ethan’s name and an address. The complex is finally off lockdown, ten full hours after the shooting. Joshua’s parents told everyone it was a stray bullet and that there was nothing to be worried about.

  “Ethan’s in LA?” I’m staring at the piece of paper trying to calculate how long it’ll take me to get there.

  “Yeah. He got assigned as legal counsel for the complex. He used to come up once a week, but he got a place close by recently. To have easier access…to my parents and his girlfriend.”

  I whip my head up. “Girlfriend?”

  Joshua’s eyes narrow, and he runs his fingers through his dark, curly locks. “He’s been seeing Alexa Knight. You know, the pretty girl that my parents are using for the Clean Slate Campaign?”

  “You’re kidding me.” How could Ethan move on from Kira so quickly? Bastard. Part of me is happy he screwed up so royally. Kira has been alive all this time, and he has been dating another girl. She’ll never want him back now. Granted, I’d been with Bailey…before. But not since. I have been one hundred percent committed to my quest. I haven’t been back to see Bailey or even tried to get her word. She must be furious with me, though, honestly I don’t care.

  Joshua grunts and starts to drum an angry beat on his coffee table. “I wish I was. Ethan’s a tool.”

  I chuckle. “Ethan’s your cousin. Should you be trash talking family?”

  He raises his eyebrows but doesn’t respond. We both know it was a rhetorical question. Our families are seriously screwed up. Joshua hands me a key card. “Use this to get down the elevator.”

  It takes me a half hour in traffic to get to Ethan’s condo and another twenty to find parking. The building requires a key for entry or a resident to buzz you in. I scroll through the “D”s and select “Darcton” and push.

  “Who is it?” a tired sounding Ethan responds.

  “It’s your long lost brother come to ruin your day.”

  “Blake?”

  “You got any other brothers I should know about?”

  I don’t get a response, but he does hit the requisite buttons to unlock the door. Ethan’s on the fifth floor, so I take the elevator and knock on his door. I’m surprised when none other than Alexa Knight answers, dressed in Clean Slate Complex standard issue attire. She’s just as pretty in person as she is in pictures but pales in comparison to Kira as far as I’m concerned.

  “You must be Alexa. I’m so pleased to finally meet Ethan’s girlfriend.” I wink at Ethan who is glaring at me in the background. I note that dinner’s on the table and candles are lit just past where Ethan’s standing. It smells delicious—lasagna? My mouth waters, and I realize I’m starving. “I’ve heard so much about you from Joshua. I just hate to interrupt your romantic evening, but I need a few minutes of my dear brother’s time…alone…if you don’t mind.”

  “Brother?” Alexa looks at E
than with a bewildered expression.

  “Oh, don’t worry. Ethan can get you all caught up later. I’m kind of the dark sheep of the family. Name’s Blake Sundry.” I put my hand out, and she tentatively shakes it.

  “Nice to meet you?” It comes out as a question, and she moves closer to Ethan and grabs hold of his arm. Do I look scary or something? Sure I just shot a guy, but she doesn’t know that.

  Ethan gives a reassuring pat on Alexa’s shoulder, then shoves his hands in his pockets. “Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of Alexa, Blake. I’m in no mood for games today. You stopped being family a while back when you failed to do a simple task Jax had given you.”

  I clench my teeth. Maybe he should have to suffer in ignorance a while longer. Nah. Why wait and miss the opportunity to see him suffer right here in front of me? “I don’t think you’re going to want to discuss this particular thing in front of your girlfriend. Maybe I should come back another time? It’s not every day I come bearing news of the dead being resurrected, but maybe you just don’t care anymore…” I let my words hang out there for a moment, waiting for Ethan to catch up. He looks pale as a ghost. Maybe he’s not so stupid after all.

  He puts his hands on Alexa’s shoulders. “How about you go get us some dessert down at the corner bakery? This should only take a few minutes.”

  “Fine.” She gives him a light peck on the lips before grabbing her purse and leaving, closing the door behind her with more force than necessary. Yikes. She’s pissed.

  Ethan’s still staring at the door when he mutters, “Say what you came to say.”

  I pause. How do I best tell him? Ethan turns and narrows his eyes at me. I suspect he’s unhappy that I’m taking up his precious time.

  “Jax paid me a visit.” Ethan’s face contorts at the mention of Jax. Clearly he holds Jax just as responsible for what he thinks happened to Kira.