Page 117 of Malice and Surrender
Jace
The plane’s engine roared, and I sat back as the jet took off down the runway. I was able to get the pilot to come in early. I would’ve been too tempted to stay if I had to spend the night on the plane.
As the plane rose, I stared at the water and the state I called home. Even though I knew I was too far away, it didn’t stop me from looking for Avro’s house. My chest tightened with the thought of him. Then the memories of Raine and our time at the cemetery was like a movie behind my eyes.
“Fuck,” I grumbled as we reached cruising altitude. The little light for the seatbelt turned off, and I connected my phone to the plane Wi-Fi. As soon as I did, it began to ding with notifications and messages.
I was going to ignore them, but I couldn’t resist when I saw Avro as one of the callers. The first message was from Allen.
“Hey, I hear you’re flying in early. That is great news. I’m going to set up an interview with the EN broadcast. They’ve been bugging me for months to have you come for an interview.” I rubbed my forehead, not wanting to deal with all of this right now. “Also, things are too quiet lately. We need to stir up the hornet’s nest, so think about what you want to do. All right, that’s all I’ve got. See you in a few hours.” Oh, I could give him a scandal.
I moved on to the next message.
“Jace, it’s me. Look, I’m sorry. I know we said we would talk soon, but I just… Fuck, I love you. Call me back.”
The phone beeped, and I saved the message. I saved as many messages as I could from Avro. It was silly, but I loved listening to his voice when we couldn’t talk.
The next message clicked on.
“Jace…Shit, she’s gone. Raine left. I couldn’t resist and went to see her, and she was gone. This is all that guy Kai’s fault. I need to go see him.” The line clicked, and my heart pounded hard as I pulled the phone away from my ear. I stared at the screen expecting another message, but there wasn’t one.
He couldn’t see Kai alone. What the hell was he thinking? Did he have a death wish? I quickly hit redial on the phone, but it just rang and rang before clicking over to voicemail.
It’s Avro. Leave a message unless you’re selling something. Beep.
“Hey, it’s me. What the hell are you doing going to see a motorcycle gang member on your own? Call me back.” I tapped the phone off my bouncing knee. “Shit, shit, shit!” I tried Avro again, and it went straight to voicemail. Karma. It was fucking karma for turning off my phone.
Unable to sit still, I stood and paced. Raine was gone and probably in danger, since Avro was going to go tell Kai that she was missing. Avro would probably get himself shot in the head before Kai took off after Raine to finish killing her. All the worst scenarios raced around in my brain like a merry-go-round with no off switch. Meanwhile, the fear over them getting injured, or worse, gripped my throat.
Stop it. You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing.
But it wasn’t nothing. This was the same feeling I had when I left home and my family ended up dead. That wasn’t happening again.
“Fuck this,” I grumbled, and marched for the front of the plane and knocked on the door. “Marco?”
The door opened, and the co-pilot stared out at me.
“We need to turn around.”
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SURRENDER
Raine
The bus station was surprisingly quiet when I walked in, but it seemed all the strange shit wanted to follow me around lately.
“Penis,” someone yelled, and I turned to look along with everyone else, quickly wishing I hadn’t.
“Penis,” the man yelled again. He looked like he might be drunk, but it was hard to tell. His hair was a mess standing in all directions, and the glasses were askew on his face. He wore a business suit that looked expensive, but the shirt was wrinkled and partially untucked, and there were no shoes on his feet. That wasn’t the strangest part…. The open zipper with this dick hanging out had me pressing my lips together to keep from laughing.
It wasn’t funny. He could’ve taken a party drug that went sideways. Might’ve even drunk too much or lost a bet. But he kept yelling penis like he was calling a dog and pointed at his dick like he was shocked to find he had one, and I couldn’t stop the giggle.
“Penis!” He screamed again, and a woman exiting the bathroom with her two children turned them around and went back inside.
“Security, we have a 10-56. I repeat a 10-56.” The person on the PA said. A few guards walked out of a door not far away and immediately went to surround the guy. The man had other ideas and wasn’t interested in going quietly with the guards.
