Chapter Seventeen
W rath rolled over and slapped at the mattress searching for Rogue’s warmth.
Finding none, he rolled to sit up on the edge of the bed and glanced around the hotel room.
He knew without calling out that Rogue was gone.
A note lay on the nightstand, and he picked it up.
I had to take care of something urgent. Go to the dinner tonight and see if you can talk Rebel into coming in. Here is the address I wanted to take you to in Nevada. Go there and I’ll meet you in three days. I’ll call you if I can.
-R
Wrath smiled, gazing at the out-of-state address.
Rogue would meet him in Nevada. That right there took the anger of being deserted right out of him. Rogue was worried he would be mad, that was why the note had been written with Rogue assuring him that they would meet up.
They would meet in Nevada.
Happily, Wrath launched from the bed, showered, and got ready for the day.
Now, he just had to convince Rebel to give Erebus a chance.
Mrs. Jackson greeted him when he rang the doorbell later that evening.
“Your friend couldn’t make it?” She gazed around Wrath curiously.
“He was unexpectedly called away.”
A commotion in the dining room had Wrath glancing that way to see a dark, curly-haired teenager dart back out of the dining room and slam out the back door.
“Excuse me,” Wrath said calmly and then raced out the front door. He cut around the side of the house and flew toward the backyard.
Scaling the six-foot-high wooden fence, Wrath leaped over it and dropped to the lawn below.
The teenager was already halfway across the backyard, but Wrath was fucking fast and caught ahold of the boy’s jacket.
They had reached the back fence when the kid was pulled to a stop, and Wrath spun the teen and shoved him up against the tall back fence.
When Wrath stepped back, the kid pulled a knife and lunged. Wrath knocked the blade away. It toppled to the grass.
Gasping, the boy clutched at his wrist and Wrath knew it had to be throbbing. Next, the teen kicked out at him. Wrath blocked the kick and planted his hand into the kid’s chest.
“Rebel?”
The boy’s pupils expanded when his name was called, and panting, Rebel stared up at him. The boy reminded him of Echo. All dark hair and slender build with maybe one of his parents being of Asian descent—like all of Tanis’ boys, Rebel was gorgeous.
“I won’t go back to Tanis!” Rebel snarled. “I’ll kill myself first!”
The words were filled with anger that bordered on rage and so much fear and pain that a knot grew in Wrath’s throat. His voice was gruff when he spoke.
“Tanis and Solomon are dead.”
“You’re lying,” Rebel spat, distrust clear in the boy’s eyes.
“I’m not. Azrael killed Solomon and another man killed Tanis.”
“You know Azrael?” Rebel tipped his chin up, dark fire spewing from his angry brown gaze, but there was hope in there.
The boy was all bravado, but Wrath knew that attitude had served him well on the streets.
“Yes, I do. And I know his twin brother, Apollo, and their friend, Cash.”
“Do you know Rogue?”
“I do.”
Rebel crossed his arms, tipped his head slightly to the side to measure him with an untrusting gaze.
“Rogue is busy at the moment, but I can take you to see Azrael, Apollo, and Cash. They have a place with plenty of room for you.”
The boy’s expression was indecisive as if he wanted to stay and believe him on one hand and run and disappear on the other. The war was clearly written on his face.
Wrath had to search his brain for all the boys who were about Rebel’s age, but he wanted to give Rebel names he would recognize.
“Do you know Boston and Beck?” he said.
“Yeah, I know them and Mouse,” Rebel whispered.
Wrath sighed and let his hand fall away from where he had a grip on Rebel’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Mouse was killed.”
“Who killed him?” A sheen of resignation hit the teen’s eyes—as if he was no longer surprised that the ones closest to him were dying.
“Blue did. Blue’s now dead.”
“Good! I hated that fucker.” Rebel squeezed his hands into fists.
“Are you two coming in to eat?” Mrs. Jackson called from the back porch.
Wrath glanced from Rebel to her and then back to Rebel. “How about we eat and then I’ll take you to your friends.”
Rebel searched his gaze. “I hope you aren’t lying to me.”
“I’m not,” Wrath murmured softly. “You’ve got to start trusting somewhere. You can start with me and if I ever break your trust, I’ll hand you back this knife,” Wrath said and picked up the knife in question to tuck it away beneath his shirt in the back of his pants.
Something in his voice must have convinced Rebel to take a chance on him and when Wrath stepped toward the house, Rebel dropped into step with him.
The dinner was strained, and it had Wrath’s senses on high alert.
Rebel sat with his head bent, barely eating a bite while Mrs. Jackson chatted the whole time to the two other boarders.
One blond man, who Mrs. Jackson had called Bill, ate without glancing up, but the man did answer the woman after a few calculating glances at him and Rebel.
The other man, who they called Jeff, had dark brown hair with gray in it, a weathered face, and a tall, wiry frame. Wrath didn’t like the look in the man’s hard stare when they’d met twenty minutes ago.
“Rick?” Mrs. Jackson said, bringing Wrath’s eyes back to her.
“Yes?” Wrath said, answering to the name he’d given himself.
“I have your room ready.”
“Ah. Thanks, but I think I’ll crash in Rebel’s room and catch up on old times.” Wrath dabbed at his mouth with the napkin.
“Oh, you know each other?”
“Yeah, we go back a few years.”
Mrs. Jackson glanced at Jeff and then Bill before smiling at him. “Well, it’s nice that you found a friend.”
Why did he get the feeling that she didn’t really mean that?
“You going to eat?” Wrath asked Rebel, and the boy shook his head.
It was pizza for fuck’s sake, who in their right mind didn’t like pizza? He, on the other hand, had not eaten one bite after sitting down, but to the three across the table, they wouldn’t know that.
Wrath was a master at manipulation, and he had five pieces of uneaten pizza tucked away on his person.
“I’m done,” Rebel whispered and shoved back from the table.
“Rebel, I didn’t pay for food just so you can waste it,” Mrs. Jackson reprimanded the boy.
“I’ll have him finish up,” Wrath said and snatched up a plate with two pieces. He stumbled and grabbed for the table.
“Get some rest,” Mrs. Jackson smiled widely.
“I will.” Wrath purposely slightly slurred the words. “Let’s go.”
He urged Rebel up the stairs and into the room the boy pointed to. Once inside, Wrath wedged a chair beneath the doorknob and placed the plate on the tall dresser next to the door.
He marched the boy into the bathroom and turned on the water full blast to drown out their talk.
“Did you eat the fucking pizza?” Rebel hissed with fear in his eyes.
Wrath plucked out all five pieces and tossed them in the corner of the bathroom floor.
“No. How long have they been drugging your food?” he asked quietly, walking over to look out the small window.
He hadn’t noticed the bars on the outside because this room was facing the back of the house. He’d bet money there were bars on the window in the bedroom too.
“They don’t do it all the time, just when new people come.”
“So they can do what? Rob me?”
Rebel nodded. “Rob you, and if you’re young like me, they keep you.”
“Wait…you’re a fucking assassin. How the hell can they keep you?”
The boy had just been outside in the backyard. Rebel could have leaped the fence and disappeared.
“I can’t leave.”
The words were whispered with so much agony that Wrath paused while casing the bathroom. He led Rebel over to sit on the edge of the bathtub and Wrath put the lid down on the toilet to take a seat there.
“Talk to me. What do they have on you?”
Rebel pulled out a picture from his pocket and handed it to him.
It was of Rebel, a lot younger, but clearly discernible along with a slender dark-haired woman who looked just like him.
“Your mother?”
“Yes. She lives in Northridge. They know her address and I can’t afford to move her. She’s blind and has lived in that house her whole life.”
“Well, fuck,” Wrath snarled under his breath. “So, they what? Keep you here to do jobs?”
“Yeah, That Jeff guy knew Solomon and Tanis, so he’s making me do jobs for money,” Rebel said, ducking his head.
“And you don’t see a fucking dime.”
With resignation in his eyes, Rebel gazed up at him.
If Jeff had previously worked with Solomon and Tanis, then that meant that Rebel was being used as an assassin and probably for sex.
Those motherfuckers.
“What are we going to do?”
“Don’t worry,” Wrath smiled evilly and then winked. “I have a plan.”
He caressed his weapon before tucking it beneath his shirt.
Turning toward Rebel, he detailed exactly what they were going to do.