Page 88 of Raze
Jack’s the first problem we need to solve before we can re-focus on GE.
I haven’t told Raegan yet, but he’s completely lost it. He may say that he’s on Raegan’s side, but all I’ve seen is him killing people left and right with no rhyme or reason. He’s leaving nothing but blood and terror in his wake. He must have become so consumed by bloodlust that he’s forgotten his original goal.
The last time I saw him was when he’d been in her room the other week. There’s been no sign of him coming back to see her since.
Yahaira places a glass of bourbon before me with a smile. “I’d ask if you wanted someone to talk to, but seeing as you’re here and not at my bar, I’ll assume that’s not what you want.” She places a hand on her hip and tucks her brunette hair behind her ear. “But I can kick everyone else out if you change your mind and need some privacy for it.”
My hand wraps around the glass, and I raise it in a salute to her. “I appreciate it, Yaya. But I need to work this out on my own.”
She nods. “Understood, Ma—Aiden,” she finishes after the look I give her, then leaves to return to her post at the bar.
I never wanted to be master of some Guild. I wanted to keep my brothers safe and take down the organization that took our lives from us. It had always been about us. It still is. But, I’ll admit, it’s become more than that.
While I never planned on this, I don’t hate it. I like looking out for the others. And now I’m not just taking down Gifted Enterprise for myself and my brothers, but for them, too. And for the non-Gifted,who don’t know that this shadow organization plans to rule the world without them even realizing it.
“You’ll go out of your way to giveeverything you haveto complete strangers at your Guild, but when I needed help, you abandoned me!”
She’s wrong, I remind myself. I’m not choosing the Guild over her, if that’s what she thinks. She’s choosing herself over depending on us. On me. She would have everything, too, if she would just talk to me.
“You stopped deserving any explanation the second you knocked me out on that island and left me for dead.”
I take a long drink of my bourbon as her voice, full of pain and sorrow, rings in my ears. The sound carves a hole in my chest, shredding my heart to ribbons as I remember the day that’s burned in my mind.
I catch her with one arm before she falls, dropping the debris I’d used to knock her unconscious and then swinging her legs up. A trickle of blood escapes the scrape I’ve inflicted on her temple. Tightening my hold, I draw our foreheads together and force myself to take a calming breath. To remind myself why I’m doing this.
I try to breathe in her vanilla scent, but it’s nowhere to be found. Maybe it’s the copper and sulfur in the air that’s hiding it from me, and I tell myself it’s for the best. That it’ll somehow make what comes next easier.
The ground rumbles, another aftershock jarring the island and reminding me that I have to hurry. The adults were busy trying to save their equipment and their own lives at first, thinking the kidswouldn’t see a way off the island. The idiots had a book on boating in the library, and I made sure to read it. I wonder how many others had the same idea. It won’t be long before the adults realize some of us are escaping and they come after us.
There’s another pier close to here, so I break into a run, seeking out any other brave prisoners trying to leave. I catch a small group of students on a boat and angle toward it, stopping in front of it with gasping breaths. “Tara!” I shout when I see Raegan’s roommate. The one who always covered for her when she’d slip into our room.
The red head turns, the frown on her face changing to surprise when she sees Raegan in my arms. “Shit, is she okay?”
The boat jerks as I step onto it, and I turn so my back hits the cabin to catch us. My teeth clench as I brace myself against it through the strong rocking motion. “I need you to take her with you,” I manage once she’s standing in front of me.
“Are you not coming?”
“I’ve got another boat to catch.”
Tara’s brow pinches. She knows how close we all were, but I don’t have the time to explain everything to her.
“Her Grams is in Alaska. I need to know that you’ll help get her home.”
“Why can’t you—”
“Can you help her?”
“Uh, yeah. We’re all trying to find our homes anyway. We can do it together.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I’ll put her in the bed below, if you can check on her injuries once you’re out atsea.”
“Sure.”
I’m not thrilled by Tara’s answers, but there’s no time to find anyone else. I’m lucky enough that another group is trying to escape like us.
Carrying Raegan below deck to the tiny captain’s quarters, I lay her carefully on the bed.
“I hope you lied,” I whisper, stroking the hair from her face. “I hope you don’t work for GE and you didn’t kill Vera. I hope you go home to your Grams in Alaska and live a happy, quiet life away from all this.” Leaning forward, I press a kiss to her uninjured temple, holding it there with eyes closed as I say goodbye. Because this should be the last time I ever see her again.
