Chapter 12 Julian #2
Eventually, the whiskey runs out and Bam crashes on the couch, boots still on. Rhett takes the guest bed, muttering about legacy and loyalty as he disappears down the hall. Colton is already outside, heading back to his cabin, a drunk and giggling Eve exiting Bam’s.
Caius lingers, staring at the Board roster one last time. He looks up, and for a second, the mask slips. I see a man who would burn down the world just to see his kid safe.
“We’ll win,” he says, but it’s not a question.
I nod.
He claps me on the shoulder, then heads to the empty cabin at the end of the row that would have been his.
I sit alone at the table, staring at the maps, the names, the future. My hand is steady. My heart is not.
This isn’t about legacy anymore.
It’s about protection.
It’s about making sure no one ever touches her, or any of them, ever again.
I trace the path on the blueprint, finger running from the front gates to the ritual ground at the heart of the campus before putting it on the table and heading out.
It’s not a plan.
It’s a promise.
Outside, the woods are silent as I walk to my cabin. Doors unlocked, it’s musty as fuck, but the couch will do.
Tonight, we planned.
Tomorrow, we will fill a graveyard.
I close my eyes, and for the first time in months, I dream of something other than violence.
I dream of her, standing in the ruins, alive and unbroken.
The next morning, I head back to Rhett’s. Bam is stomping around the kitchen making eggs in a skillet so black it could absorb light. He hands me a mug of burnt coffee and a nod, then disappears outside to smoke and punch the heavy bag hanging from the porch rafters.
Colton and Rhett are already back at the table, reviewing the plan, revising what doesn’t feel perfect. It’s not nerves. It’s the opposite: a hunger for the moment when the planning stops and the violence starts.
Caius is on the phone, pacing the length of the main room with the exact precision of a man who has measured the space down to the inch. He’s wearing casual clothes, because sleeping in a suit would suck dick. When he hangs up, he pours four fingers of whiskey into a glass and holds it up.
Rhett looks at the bottle, then at me. “Breakfast of champions?”
I take it, the bite familiar, the burn almost pleasant. Bam drifts in, pours his own, and the five of us stand in a loose circle around the fireplace.
No one says a word. This is ritual, not a toast. The last time we did this, it was graduation, and the world was still a place we could shape by force of will.
Today, it’s a place that needs to be razed and rebuilt from the inside out.
I swallow the whiskey, wipe my mouth, and set the glass down.
“Time to meet Slade.”
“Roger that, Cai. We’ll follow you.” Bam says.
Cai is the first to leave. He moves with the silent certainty of a man who knows exactly what he’s going to do, and is already halfway done with it.
Bam follows, pulling on a jacket and strapping a blade to his thigh.
He nods once, then walks out to the truck. Colt takes one last shot and heads out.
Rhett lingers. He lights a cigarette, then offers the pack to me. I decline.
He takes a drag, exhales, and says, “You ever wonder if maybe we’re just the next version of them?”
I don’t answer.
He laughs, shakes his head. “I do. Every fucking day.”
He flicks the ash into the sink and walks out, the screen door snapping behind him.
I’m almost to the truck when I hear, “Jules.”
Caius stands by the back door. He gestures with his head, and I follow him around the back, leaning against the truck bumper.
“What about your runner? Are you willing to die for her?”
I freeze. It’s not an accusation. It’s not even curiosity. It’s the kind of question only a man who’s lost everything can ask another who’s about to lose the same.
I look out at the trees, at the silver slice of moon still visible in the morning sky.
“She’s not a runner anymore,” I say.
Caius waits.
“She’s the fuse,” I admit. “None of this works without her. I’m in love with her man. Never thought I’d love anyone but myself, and yet here we are. All of us. Captured by the wild beauty they forced on us and honestly, she’s the one that forced me to be the man I need to be.”
Caius nods, slow. “And if they take her?”
“They won’t,” I say. “I’ll kill every one of them first.”
There’s a silence, the kind that says everything.
Caius nods. “She’s worth it?”
I don’t blink. “She’s the only thing that ever was.”
Caius smiles, and for a second, the cold is gone from his eyes.
“Then don’t fuck it up.” He gets in the drivers seat, as I walk to my car.
Hearing the purr as she comes to life, I ponder on what the next 24 hours will hold for us.
Death. Maybe.
Redemption. Not a chance.
Protecting those we love? Without a fucking doubt.
For the first time in my life, I don’t want to win.
I want to protect.
I want to burn the world down just to see her walk through the ashes, untouched, rising like the fucking phoenix she is.
Cai’s headlights cut a path through the trees.
I follow.
The time for Boys is over.