Chapter 18 Jace #2
“I played hockey for five years,” he says, a ghost of a smile on his full lips. “I’m no stranger to head injuries. It’s just a bruise.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to see someone?” Felix asks. “You breathed in a lot of smoke.”
“I’m fine,” he repeats and takes a big gulp of the water. “I inhale more smoke than that on a typical Friday. I just needed to get into the fresh air. It’s not a big deal.”
He’s putting on a good show of being okay, but I can tell by how tightly he’s gripping the bottle and the faint tremor in his hand that he isn’t.
The sirens are louder now, and Shane swings his gaze back to mine as everyone looks toward the gate and the firetrucks rapidly approaching it.
The corner of his mouth tips up in a barely there smile, and he gives me a little nod of thanks.
I nod back, but can’t keep from checking out the bruise on his temple again when he shifts his attention to the campus firefighters as they jump down from their trucks and hurry to get their equipment ready.
“Is anyone still inside?” An older guy in a white helmet and full gear asks loudly as he makes his way through the crowd.
Several of the guys tell him no, and he pulls out a walkie and starts talking into it.
“Fire’s out,” I say as I stand. “Or at least it was a few minutes ago.”
The firefighter, who’s a chief by his insignia, lowers his walkie. “Were you the last one in there?”
“Yup.” I push my hair back from where it’s fallen into my eyes.
“I’m going to need everyone who was in the room before, and after, to come with me,” the chief says loudly and points to the far end of the quad.
“What happened?” Jordan demands, coming up to the group with Nico and Axel right behind him.
Shane gets to his feet as the chief turns to Jordan, and I lean in so my lips are next to his ear.
“Get behind me and Jax, and we’ll get you out of here,” I say just loud enough for him to hear me over the din of voices surrounding us.
He shoots me a surprised look.
“Unless you’d rather stay and answer a million questions,” I add.
He looks around, then quickly slips behind us.
We move closer together so our arms are touching and we’re mostly shielding Shane. Killian notices what we’re doing, and he casually steps in front of us, then pulls Felix into his arms to help give us more cover.
Everyone around us is so focused on the leaders squaring off with the fire chief that no one pays us any attention as Jax and I move off to the side with Shane behind us as we skirt along the building and slip around the corner so we’re out of view.
“Over there.” I point to the window closest to the side entrance.
Shane follows us, and we have to step behind a large ornamental bush to get to the window, giving us extra cover in case someone comes looking for us.
“What are you doing?” he whispers when I pull a switchblade out of my pocket and release the blade with a press of the button.
“Opening the window,” I tell him and fit the tip of my knife under the seam of the window and jiggle it to search out the lock.
“What about the door?” he asks.
“The building’s been put on lockdown,” I tell him as my blade catches on the mechanism. “The external doors won’t open again until they lift it.” I hold my hand out to my brother.
He slaps his switchblade into my palm, and I flip it open so I can slide it under the seam next to mine.
“Is carrying those on you part of the whole knife throwing and dodging hobby you guys have?” Shane asks, eyeing the knives as I find the second pin and pop the mechanism open.
“Nope.” I grin and pull the blades out from under the window. “Knives are like condoms. It’s better to have one and not need it than it is to need one and not have it.” I snap the blades closed and hand Jax back his. “I never leave home without one.”
“A knife, or a condom?” Shane asks, a hint of a smile ghosting his lips.
“Both.” I shoot him a quick wink and shove the window open.
Shane glances around, a worried look crossing his features. “Are we going to get in trouble?” he asks. “We’re supposed to stay out of the house until the fire crew clears it.”
“Some rules are made to be broken.” I wave at the window. “The fire is out, and if by some miracle it flashes back up or is still in the walls, the firefighters are already here, so the risk is basically non-existent.”
He glances between me and the open window and chews his lip.
“It’ll probably take an hour to clear the place,” I add. “But they won’t bother searching the upper rooms if there’s no immediate danger. No one will know.” Leaning down, I put my hands in a cradle. “Come on, I’ll give you a boost.”
He slaps my hands away and grabs the edge of the sill. “Asshole,” he mutters as he pulls himself through the window and disappears inside the house.
Once he’s clear, I peer into the window and watch Shane sneak across the room like he’s expecting someone to jump out from behind one of the chairs and shout “Boo” at him.
Chuckling softly, I pull the window down, and I can already feel Jax’s eyes on me as I turn to look at him.
“What?”
“No elephant in the room, huh?” he asks mildly.
“No.”
“Is that really the story you’re sticking with?”
I roll my eyes and step out from behind the bush. “You’re reaching, bro.”
“Am I?” he asks as he steps out after me.
“Yes.”
“Why did you go in after him?”
“Because he was in a room that was on fire,” I say slowly, like Jax is a dumbass who needs me to explain it to him like he’s five.
“And?” He pins me with a hard look. “Would you have gone after anyone else if it weren’t me or Killer or Felix in there?”
I give him my own hard look. “You’re reaching.”
“Answer the question.”
“No,” I admit grudgingly.
He shoots me a knowing half smile.
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything,” he says innocently.
“Oh, you did.” I point to his face. “That said everything your mouth didn’t.”
I’m saved from having to continue the conversation as Felix and Killian come up to us.
“Where’s Shane?” Felix asks, looking around.
“Inside.” I tick my chin at the house.
“Should he be alone right now?” Felix looks at the house apprehensively. “He said he was okay, but is he?”
“Probably,” Jax says.
I nod, but a heavy feeling settles in my stomach.
He was trapped in the fire for about five minutes. That’s a lot of time to be inhaling smoke, but not necessarily enough time to be dangerous.
But then again, smoke inhalation wasn’t the reason he was practically catatonic when I found him.
“I’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he’s fine,” I say, not missing the look my brother gives me.
“What happened in there?” Killian asks. “When you went in to get him?”
“Not sure,” I tell them. “But the door was locked.”
Jax and Killian exchange a look.
“Could it be because of the fire?” Felix asks. “Like, could the heat or flames have fucked with it, and it locked by accident?”
“It’s possible, but the fire was on the other side of the room. It never got even remotely close to the door. And it was nowhere near hot enough in there for it to affect the wiring.”
“It’s possible someone else in the house has access to one of the master keys,” Jax says thoughtfully.
“Which means someone either stole one of the master keys, or I’m not the only one with an unauthorized copy anymore,” I say.
“Do you think it was set?” Felix asks.
“The fire definitely started in the electrical outlet, but I can’t be sure if it was electrical or just made to look like it was.
Either way, something is going on. I just don’t know if it’s arson or if it was a bunch of unrelated technical errors, but I’ll bet anything I have, including his life,” I hook my thumb at Jax, “that someone fucked up and depending who it is, there’s going to be a cover up. ”
“So noble of you to offer up my life for your theory,” Jax says dryly.
“Hey, I’m putting my stash of spare body parts on the line to prove my point,” I tell him. “Put a little respect on my sacrifice.”
“What about Shane?” Killian asks before Jax can say anything. “How did he get locked in? And if you were able to put out the fire, why couldn’t he?”
“No clue, but he was pretty disoriented when I found him. And he was definitely in shock, so I don’t think he was thinking all that clearly.”
I still haven’t told anyone about the fire that killed Shane’s siblings, and I have no idea why not.
“Here.” Jax pulls off his sweater and t-shirt in one go. “Trade with me. I’ll pretend to be you and talk to whoever wants your side of the story.”
“Hashtag twinning,” I say as I pull off my t-shirt.
“Really? I haven’t heard that in like, a decade,” Felix says as Jax and I trade clothes.
“What can I say? Busting through doors to put out fires is making me nostalgic.” I shoot Felix a grin and pull Jax’s shirts on.
Jax uses his hand to mess up his hair a bit, then pushes it back from his face the way I usually wear it.
“That never gets any less crazy,” Felix says, looking between us. “It’s like looking at two Jaces.”
I shoot him a quick smile and sweep my hair to the side like Jax usually wears his. Then, I let the smile fall from my face and give him my best “Jax” look.
“Jesus Tapdancing Christ,” he mutters. “Ten years of watching you do the twin switch thing, and I still wouldn’t be able to tell you apart if I didn’t see the transformation happen in real time.”
“It comes in handy,” I tell him.
“We should probably head back out there before someone comes looking for us,” Jax says.
Wordlessly, the four of us slip out from the side of the building and stand near the edge of the small crowd still lingering around the window we escaped out of.
“Incoming,” I say to Jax and tick my chin at Jordan, who’s walking toward us with Axel on his heels.
“Roger that,” Jax says quietly as we wait for them to reach us.
“Jace,” Jordan says to my brother. “We need to get your version of what happened. Have you guys seen Shane?” He looks around.
“Not since the chief came,” I say in Jax’s flat voice.
“If you see him, tell him we need to talk to him,” Axel says distractedly.
“Will do,” Jax says in a perfect imitation of me.
“Come on,” Jordan waves for Jax to follow him.
I watch as my brother follows Jordan and Axel back toward the main part of the quad.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” I say to Killian and Felix when they’re out of earshot.
They exchange a quick look.
“You sure you’re okay?” Felix asks.
“Peachy keen, jellybean.”
Felix rolls his eyes. “I will murder you in your sleep if you start calling me jellybean.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, jellybean,” I say with a wink.
He chuckles, an affectionate smile on his lips. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“See you later for dinner?” Felix asks.
“Yup,” I pretend to tip my hat at them. “Hopefully you got your afternoon delight in before the drama unfolded.”
Felix’s cheeks go red with a blush as Killian smirks. “You could say we got it twice.”
Felix elbows Killian in the side. “You’re as bad as he is.”
Killian throws his arm over Felix’s shoulders in a possessive hold. “Yeah, but you love me.”
Felix smiles up at him, and I take that as my cue to get the fuck out of there before they start making moon eyes at each other.
Shooting them a peace sign, I slip back around the building and head toward the window I unlocked.
I really do need to take a shower, but I also need to start digging so I can figure out what the fuck happened and if Shane’s in danger.