Chapter 28
Jax
We fucking did it.
That’s the only thought that keeps circling my head since Elias texted the group.
Elias:
Emil said “it’s done”, whatever that means.
We know what that means.
He fucked around and found out.
Fucker is dead.
I should probably feel some kind of way about it, something more than just this giddy happiness that’s bubbling in my chest. It’s concerning that I don’t. Am I some kind of psychopath? Who the fuck knows. Who really cares right now?
All I want is her. I want to see her smile, to see her shoulders not constantly by her ears in stress. The thought of her maybe—finally—letting go and letting us all in fully has me vibrating more than my bike under me.
Theo, Elias, and I all woke up with a need to see her. So, here we are, Elias in the lead on the way to the Iron Wheel garage. I can already picture her focus face, elbow-deep in a bike frame, wrench in hand, fingers smeared in grease. She’s going to be pouting. We missed her fight last night.
Sorry, Sunshine. We had to take care of your nightmare.
We pull up together, engines cutting off in sync. I swing my leg off the side, rolling my shoulders before I take my helmet off and hang it on the handle. Theo, oddly, leads us in, being the first off his bike and practically sprinting to the door.
Not fair.
As imagined, Raine is bent over a bike like she needs to work the universe off her shoulders.
Her hair is tied up in a bun with cyan strands dangling loosely around her face, and her jaw set in that way she gets when she’s pissed at something she refuses to admit.
There’s a faint bruise blooming on her arm, nothing dangerous, but Elias notices it instantly.
There’s daddy dearest to the rescue.
He’s already moving before I can make a joke, hands gentle and efficient, eyes sharp as he checks her over without making a big deal out of it. Raine mutters something under her breath, annoyance clear, but she doesn’t pull away.
She’s getting better about that.
Such a good girl.
I hang back a second, watching her. Watching the way she doesn’t look at us right away.
Watching the way her shoulders tense when she realizes all three of us are here.
I can tell something is bothering her by the way she throws her wrench down harder than necessary and reaches for another tool she doesn’t actually need.
Okay. Yeah. She’s definitely pissed.
“So,” I sing, leaning against the counter like it doesn’t hurt to do so, grinning wide and cocky like always. “Did you win your fight last night or just scare your opponent into retirement?”
She snorts, not looking up as she focuses on her hands and the bike before her. “Won, duh.”
“That’s my girl,” I shoot back, bumping her hip with mine. “Sorry we missed it.”
“It’s fine.” She grabs a rag and wipes her hands with more force than required. Again, still not looking at us. “Doesn’t matter.”
It matters, Sunshine. I know it does.
She keeps working anyway, keeping her movements intentional and focused, like if she stops for even a second, she might actually admit how she’s really feeling.
Theo steps closer, nerves written all over him, flexing his hands at his sides like he wants to grab her but doesn’t know if it’s a good idea right now.
He doesn’t get a chance as Elias beats him to it, always more sure.
“Take a break,” he commands, taking her hands gently but firmly, stilling them. “You’re shaking.”
“No I’m not,” she snaps, because Raine could be on fire and she’d still argue she was fine. But then her eyes drop to Elias’ hands and her whole face changes.
“What the hell? What the actual hell!” Her eyes lock on Elias’ scuffed knuckles, the scraped skin and red marks
Leave it to the fighter to clock what those marks mean.
Elias, genius that he is, doesn’t even try to hide them. He just flips her palms up like her hands are the only ones that matter and starts checking the raw spots and scrapes on her like he didn’t just walk in looking like he got personal with concrete.
“You are,” he says, calm as ever. “You’ve been pushing yourself too hard.”
“That’s not what I asked.” Raine yanks her gaze back up to his face, and now she’s actually looking at him. Really looking. Her eyes narrow at the way he’s holding himself a little too carefully.
“Are you hurt?” she demands.
“I’m fine.”
She gives him the kind of look that would make a priest confess. “You’re not.”
And then she turns that look on Theo.
Theo goes statue-still, which is honestly adorable in a tragic way. He’s trying to stand normal, act normal, be normal, like Raine won’t notice his shoulder sitting weird or the way his hand keeps wanting to drift toward his collarbone like it’s magnetic. She totally notices it all.
“Theo.” Her voice drops. Dangerous. “What happened?”
Theo opens his mouth. Closes it. Looks like he’s debating whether lying is going to get him killed faster than the truth.
Then her gaze swings to me. Which is rude, honestly, because I would very much like to exist in a world where my split lip isn’t visible from space and my palms don’t burn every time I remember I have hands. I try to smile anyway, immediately regretting it when my mouth stings like it’s tattling.
Raine’s eyes flick down to my hands, then back to my face, and whatever anger she had turns sharp around the edges.
“Why do you all look like you had a fight of your own last night?” she snaps, pointing between the three of us like we’re suspects in a lineup. “What did you do?”
Elias’ grip tightens on her hands for half a second, then loosens like he’s reminding himself she’s not something to hold too hard. “Raine…”
“No.” She pulls one hand free, eyes flashing. “Don’t ‘Raine’ me. You show up here looking like this and you expect me not to ask questions?”
And Theo, sweet, responsible Theo, does exactly what I knew he would.
He breaks first.
“We handled Bash.” His voice is steady, but his eyes flick to her face like he’s bracing for impact.
The garage goes still, like time froze all around us as the news sinks into her.
Her eyes snap toward him in a hot blaze that has even me quaking in my boots. “You what?!”
I open my mouth to smooth it over, joke it away, but it’s too late. The dam’s already broken.
“How?” She sounds so scared, not relieved but frightened.
Elias squeezes her hands as he shakes his head. “You don’t need to know.”
Her eyes go hard, her jaw set to maximum clench as she stares each of us down. “Tell me now.”
It’s silent for a long pause, none of us moving, none of us speaking. Then, because silence is the enemy, I break it. “Elias had someone who owed him a favor.”
“Elaborate,” she demands, so seriously I have to swallow the nerves she’s suddenly making stir inside me. I can see the panic setting into her dark blue eyes, and that’s what kills Elias and finally makes him say the name.
“Emil Ward. He took care of Bash.” This might be the first time I’ve ever heard Elias speak with a hint of nervousness.
“You goddamn idiots. I should have never involved any of you,” she snaps, hard, hands coming up as she backs a step away. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”
Theo swallows, scared, concerned, every emotion under the sun crossing his face. Elias on the other hand, is as still and carved as a statue.
“You think this solves anything?” she continues, that same panic threading through the anger now. “Now someone else owns my debt. Someone worse. You think he’s just going to get rid of Bash and not claim his spoils? My debt doesn’t disappear with Bash. Don’t you get that?”
She’s spiraling, I can see it in the way her breath goes shallow, in the way she starts pacing like she’s trying to outrun her own thoughts.
In a second flat, the three of us are moving, circling around her like a blanket of security.
Elias takes her chin gently, forcing her to look at him.
I press in at her back, arms wrapping around her waist, trying to ground her here.
Theo slides in close, hands warm at her shoulders, forehead resting against her temple.
“You’re still not alone,” Elias says, low and unshakable, stating not just a fact but a goddamn law at this point.
“We don’t care if you hate us for it,” I add softly against her ear. “We’re not sorry. He put his hands on you, Raine.”
Theo’s voice trembles just a little when he speaks. “None of us could stand the thought of him doing anything more to you. We love you.”
She freezes, then melts into the three of us. Her hands curl over my forearms as Elias presses a kiss to her mouth, slow and certain. Theo follows, kissing her neck, reverent, like he’s afraid she might disappear if he presses too hard.
She exhales, a broken sound, body sagging into us like she’s been holding herself upright with sheer willpower alone.
“You knew?” She sounds so small when she asks us, so full of guilt. “You knew he kissed me?”
“Yeah,” I murmur, voice heavy and low. “He came to the bar to rub it in my face. Said you had kissed him, but we know you, Sunshine. I saw that bruise on his cheek. Never been more proud.”
“I was worried you’d do something stupid if I told you. Guess you did it anyway,” she admits, closing her eyes for a second as she lets out a heavy breath.
“We’d do anything for you,” Theo admits, and he doesn’t have to check with us to know it’s true.
“God,” she mutters, leaning her head back against my chest. “You’re all impossibly stupid.”
“Maybe,” Elias whispers into her ear. “But we’re yours all the same.”
At the same time, we all come to some sort of consensus, attuned to her and each other. She’s ours and we’re hers. She may not have said it, but we know. The four of us, we love each other more than anything, and it’s time to show it.
We lock the garage without talking about it, as if all the injuries each of us has don’t exist. Right now, all that matters is us being together. All of us.