Chapter 34 Jonah - Past
thirty-four
Jonah - Past
REALLY FUCKING BAD IDEA.
Since Dex had taken me to the forest a couple of days ago and revealed to me that part of himself, I was absolutely sure of two things. The first being that I would never let anyone hurt him again. The second was that I was getting him that lighter back even if it killed me.
Of course, if I’d told him what I was planning, he wouldn’t have allowed it.
Dex had taken a couple of days off work, and we’d spent the time around the house, cloud gazing while lying in the field, on the rock seat at the beach.
We’d even gone to the Cozy Cow. Amanda had seemed way too amused at seeing us together, so different from the last time we’d both been there.
Mostly, though, we’d chosen to be alone, to block out the world and be together.
Just existing in our own bubble for a while.
It meant we’d had a lot of sex too. Dex had opened up to me more about the things he couldn’t do, and I got the sense he was waiting for me to be disappointed.
I wasn’t. It didn’t matter what he couldn’t do.
What mattered was that nothing we did hurt him.
He still fucked me like he was trying to make up for it.
It meant I had to wait until today to do what I was planning, though, and I just hoped like fuck things worked out. Because if they didn’t, then I was about to cause some major fucking problems I may or may not live to see the consequences of.
“JJ, it’s too fucking early. I know I told you not to avoid me for your hot new boyfriend, but please avoid me before nine a.m. at the earliest,” Becca said with a yawn, her hands resting on the aged ledge of her bedroom window.
I rolled my eyes. “There’s just no pleasing you,” I teased.
“Come in, then,” she sighed, reaching for my hand and basically dragging me up through the window until I stumbled to my feet inside her room. “If you’re gonna wake me up early, the least you can do is come cuddle me. Didn’t even bring coffee.”
Bee shook her head at me before flopping back onto her bed, pulling the plush covers back up over her shoulders until she was just a pile of neon hair in a sea of black bedding.
I shifted from foot to foot, because this was not what I was here for, and I didn’t know how long what I needed to do would take. With a sigh, I kicked off my shoes, trudging over to join my best friend.
The bed was warm and so soft as I slipped in beside her.
Becca’s hand reached back to grab mine and yank it around her.
Affection came so easily to her; even on that first day we’d been reunited she had hugged me.
Whenever we met up or parted, she would hug me in greeting or goodbye, and then there were just the random hugs that happened for no reason but because she wanted to.
I wondered at first whether this was normal—if this was what other friends did, what other families did—or maybe it was just her.
Either way, I was used to her now, and it wasn’t the first time she’d made me hug her like this.
The feeling of it was entirely different from anything I felt when I was touching Dex, but it was just as warm.
“I need to ask you something.” I spoke up after a couple of minutes, not wanting her to fall back to sleep again.
She groaned, “Ask me later.”
“It’s important. I need to know now. I can’t stay very long.”
She was silent for a few minutes before turning around to look at me. “What’s up, bub?”
“So, I’ve seen you like, around Henrik a couple of times.”
Her brow furrowed, clearly not expecting this to be the direction I took the conversation.
“Okay?” she said slowly, prompting me to proceed.
“Do you like… have his contact details or anything?”
“Why?”
“I just need to talk to him about something.”
“About what?”
“Just something with Dex. Please, Bee.”
She watched me for a long moment, her eyes seeking answers I was determined not to give her, because then she wouldn’t help me.
“You haven’t got yourself mixed up in Strays’ business, have you?”
“No, it’s just something personal about Dex.”
“You aren’t in any trouble?”
“No.” Not yet.
Bee sighed. “Okay fine, hand me my phone from the nightstand.”
I turned to grab it and give it to her. She unlocked it and passed it to me a few moments later, open to a contact screen with the name “Really Fucking BAD Idea.”
I smiled. “He is.”
“I know.”
“So’s Raven.”
“Mmm, but she liked my boots.”
I rolled my eyes, pulling my phone from my pocket and copying the number across before handing hers back to her. “I need to go.”
“What’s so urgent you can’t even stay for ten minutes of cuddles?” She pouted.
“Will it only be ten minutes, though?”
“Promise. I miss my JJ time. Let me soak you up a little like the needy sponge I am.”
I sighed, giving in, because she was right. I hadn’t been hanging out with her as much, and I did feel bad about that.
Becca was asleep within five minutes, but I stayed the full ten anyway, just in case she woke up while I was leaving and got moody with me.
I left the same way I’d entered, out the bedroom window, pulling it slowly closed behind me.
When I was what I deemed a reasonable distance away, I made the call.
He wasn’t expecting me, and I didn’t know what kind of life he had. Maybe he had a job or something, but I had to try.
“Igen?” came the deep voice on the other end of the line after only the second ring.
I stalled. “Um… what?”
“Who is this?”
“Uh… It’s um, it’s Jonah. Hargreaves.”
There was a pause. “The rabbit,” he said, and his voice sounded amused. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I was hoping you might, um, help me. With something. Without telling Dex? Uh, I mean, Coyote?”
Henrik laughed. “Alright.”
“Alright?”
“Yes. I’m interested. What are we doing?”
That was… much easier than I’d expected it to be. It took a minute for me to get past all the planned convincing I’d been prepared to offer him to find the reason I’d called. “I want to find someone. Bates.”
Henrik made a pensive noise. “And what will you do when you find him?”
“I need to get something back. Something he stole.”
“And if he doesn’t want to give it back. What will you do?”
“I’ll get it back,” I said, knowing it wasn’t exactly a plan, but I didn’t have one of those yet. “Can you take me to him or not?”
“I can.”
I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t. “When?” I prompted.
“One hour. I’ll pick you up. Where are you?”
“I’m um… I’ll be at the diner,” I told him, because I didn’t want him to know where I lived. I might have been asking him for help, but that didn’t mean I trusted the guy. As Becca’s contact name had aptly referred to him: Really Fucking BAD Idea.
“Okay. Anything else?”
“Um…” I honestly hadn’t thought I’d even get this far. “No?”
The line cut out as he hung up on me. I had nothing else to say to him, but it still pissed me off.
I turned and made the short trip back to my dad’s house, knowing he’d already be at work. There was something I had to get first.
It was exactly one hour after the call that I heard the roar of a bike pulling into the Cozy Cow parking lot. I was leaning against the bricks outside, smoking from a pack of cigarettes I’d bought with money I found on Dad’s kitchen table. They didn’t taste as good as the ones Dex rolled.
I knew little about bikes, but Henrik’s suited him. He was a big, intimidating man, and his bike was no different. It was all black and much bigger than the bike Dex rode. Still, I hadn’t expected he’d come here on that. Not when he was supposed to take me to Bates.
He left the engine running as he pulled his helmet off, spotting me and staring. Assuming he was waiting for me to come over to him, I stomped out the cigarette before doing just that. “You don’t have a car?”
“I do.”
“Why didn’t you bring it?”
“Bike’s faster.”
I was already regretting this entire idea. “But there’s… two of us?”
“Wow, nothing gets past you, does it?” he said, sounding overly impressed. I scowled, not appreciating the sarcasm. He seemed amused by it, and that just pissed me off more. “Show me your weapon.”
That snapped me out of the indignant tirade building in my throat. “My what?”
“Weapon, Einstein. You want me to take you to Bates, no? You’re not planning on just talking to him, I assume. So show me what you have.”
Heat crept up my neck. The weight in my pocket felt like it was burning a hole through the leather as I looked around us to make sure no one was nearby.
When I was satisfied, I pulled out my father’s pistol.
The thing was old, and to my knowledge had never been used, but it was loaded, and I just hoped I didn’t have to find out whether it worked or not.
Henrik glanced at it, his lips twitching as he tried not to smile. “Are we going to shoot him?”
“What? No, I mean, I don’t know. Maybe. If he doesn’t give back what he took.”
Henrik nodded slowly. “Okay, Rabbit.”
“Don’t call me that.”
He put his hand up to quiet me. “Just making sure we’re on the same page.
You want to find him, talk to him, threaten him maybe with that toy, get back what he took, and then just walk away?
Is that the plan? You think any of the Drakes will just hand something over because you have a very small gun, and then let you leave with no consequences? ”
Embarrassment and rage bubbled in my core.
“You’ve never even shot a gun before,” he continued.
“How would you know that?”
“The way you hold it. They’ll know too.”
My eyes cast down to the ground, my breathing faster as my chest ached. “I need to get it back for him. No matter what.”
Henrik was silent for a moment before holding his hand out. “Give me the gun.”
I did. He shrugged his backpack off and unzipped it. There was a second helmet attached to the side that he took off and handed to me. Then he disarmed the gun and tucked it away, digging around before retrieving a switchblade and handing that to me too.
“You think I have a better chance with this than the gun?” I asked as I took it.