Chapter 52
Chapter Fifty-Two
Jax
Ireally don’t know what’s with these Noland girls, but the younger one seems to think she can barge into my room in my last hour of peace and start barking orders.
“This isn’t going to work,” she says, folding her arms behind me while I try to shave.
“Tell that to my brother.” I shake the cream off the blade and into the sink.
“I did. He won’t listen.” She flips her long, raven hair over her shoulder, as if not getting her way is unheard of. And to be fair, it probably is unheard of when it comes to Caleb. I’m sure he’d get down on his knees and bark like a dog if she told him to.
“It’s only going to make it worse,” she continues. “I don’t know how you, of all people, can’t see that.”
I drag the blade along my jaw and try to ignore her reflection in the mirror and the truth in her words.
Because somewhere in the last few hours, I’ve begun to feel hopeful about going to James.
It’s hard not to when it’s that or despair.
This has to work. If it doesn’t… the alternative is Kira goes to prison.
And that makes me want to stick a gun in my mouth.
I already called James and told him there were matters to discuss about the girls.
He didn’t ask questions, of course. He never does on the phone.
He just gave me a time and a tone that implied I’d better show up grateful for the privilege.
He’s on his way home now, expecting us at dinner again because that went so well last time.
“He isn’t going to help,” Nix says, not letting up.
“Did you see the way he looked at us? Like we’re a scuff on his precious loafers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns us over himself.
I love your brother, but he’s being naive in this.
He’s too forgiving. His heart is too big.
He still calls that scumbag ‘dad’ even when he’s icing a black eye.
You’ve severed that connection, obviously.
You know that man doesn’t have a sympathetic bone in his body.
And yet, you’re willing to do this? Why?
You know how James is. You know he would only help if it benefited him. ”
“We’re going to try,” I snap at her, fed up.
My patience only goes so far, and I use most of it up on the other Noland sister.
Also, she talks like she knows him, but just because Caleb’s told her our entire life stories, that doesn’t mean she knows shit.
She doesn’t think that I, the bastard’s oldest son, knows what he’s like?
That this is futile and probably going to blow up in our faces?
I don’t need her to remind me. I need to keep putting one foot in front of the other and to try like Caleb said, because there are no other options.
She doesn’t even flinch at the rise in my voice, just raises a brow and rolls her eyes.
Fucking Noland girls.
With a sigh, I dig deep for more patience. “I’m out of moves, Nix. James is the only one that can make this go away.” I rinse the blade and pull out my wallet, setting it on the counter next to my gun. “Unless you want your sister to get arrested for your crime, we’re doing this.”
Her jaw tightens at that, a flash of guilt cutting through her attitude for half a second.
I rip a towel off the rack and turn. “Now, if you could get out, I’d like to take a shower.”
“This is dumb,” she hisses with the venom only a teenager could have at not getting her way.
Gritting my teeth, I pivot toward the shower and turn the water on, giving her my back. “Yeah, well, so is not telling me you put Marshal in the truck.”
Kira was dealing with her heart failing, she gets a free pass, but neither Caleb nor Nix bothered to mention anything about transferring the body. I know they’re just kids, but fuck if I expect a little bit more for something so critical.
There’s silence behind me for a moment, and it’s a breath of fresh air. I can only hope she’s realizing just how stupid it was to not tell me about the truck when, suddenly, she screeches.
“Ugh!” She stomps her foot, but I don’t give her the satisfaction of turning around.
A second later, she finally storms out and slams the door.
“Jesus,” I mutter and run my hand under the water. If I somehow manage to keep Kira out of prison, I have a feeling Nix Noland is going to be a thorn in my ass for the next fifty-something years.
Sighing, I pull off my shirt and strip down.
The water is hot, and it cascades against my chest in searing rivulets.
I thought for sure that it would be Kira that I’d have to convince about going to James, not Nix.
But Kira didn’t even try to put up a fight.
She just nodded in resignation. Which means she’s more scared than she’s letting on.
As the steam builds, all I can hear are handcuffs being tightened around her wrists.
All I can think about is her being put into the back of a police car, her tears on the other side of the window glass where I can’t wipe them away, about how for the rest of her life, she’ll be on the other side of some type of glass, some scuffed plexiglass where I’ll be unable to make out the subtle details that make her so beautiful, unable to touch her, unable to smell her.
She’ll be locked away from me. For life.
The fact that preventing that from happening lies with James has me cranking the water hotter until it’s scalding.
When my skin is finally raw, I step out and get dressed, shoving my wallet in my pocket and wondering how I’m going to tell James that Kira’s the reason Marshal Wayne isn’t on the payroll anymore.