Chapter 30 Spencer #2
She pulls her eyes away from me to look up at Ant, exposing her neck to him more. To anyone else, it would seem like a simple move out of curiosity and maybe even stupidity, but the slight tilt of her lips tells me she knows exactly what she’s doing.
Ant smiles down at her, and as far as lower ranks go, Ant and Jamerson are some of our guys with the most potential. I’ve seen many men cower before them, men bigger and scarier than Jade.
I almost feel bad for bringing them into this without a hint of what they are up against, but they’ll learn, I’m sure of that.
“Let’s not make this harder than it has to be, huh, beautiful,” he says, his voice soft but condescending, nonetheless. I see her eyes harden, but he doesn’t seem to notice as he continues signing his death warrant, and I can’t bring myself to step in, too curious to see what she does.
“Just tell us what we need to know, and you can be on your way.” He trails the knife along her throat before stopping and lightly applying pressure. Not enough to break the skin but enough to show he could. “Or you could stay and get acquainted here.”
The clear implication in his tone has me clenching my jaw so hard I worry I might chip a tooth. I take a step toward them to step in, but Jade’s voice has me pulling up short.
“Sorry, but I don't waste time getting acquainted with nobodies.” Her words come out dripping with false sweetness, and I have to bite back a smile. With a smile of her own, she pushes forward enough that the knife pierces her skin, and I watch as a single drop of blood runs down her neck.
I watch Ant for his reaction and get the satisfaction of seeing his face screw up in confusion for a moment before Jade slams her head backward, smashing it into his face.
He’s completely caught off guard, and I hear the crack of bone that lets me know she broke his nose.
He rears back from her, holding his face as blood pours from his nose, and he lets out a howl of pain and probably a bit of shock.
The smile on her face is all satisfaction as she meets my gaze.
Jamerson is in front of her before I even register that he’s moved from my side. I was clearly too focused on her and not what was happening around me.
Rookie mistake.
He hauls off and smacks her right across the face so hard that the chair rocks, her head whipping violently to the side.
“FUCK!” I scream, running up to Jamerson and shoving him away from her. “You can’t put your hands on her!” I shout, looking from Jamerson to Ant and back again to ensure I’ve been completely understood.
“So we're just going to let her take hits at us and do nothing?” Ant spits the question at me as he wipes the blood from his face on the back of his arm. The outrage in his voice is clear, but I don’t give a flying fuck.
They have no idea I’m saying this to save their asses, but no matter why, they don’t get to question me.
“You’re going to do whatever the fuck I tell you to do, and if you have a problem with that, we can take it to the boss! Is that understood?” I tell him, daring him to say otherwise. Let him try me. Right now is not the time.
For a moment, they both look like they want to argue, but like I knew they would, they both back down and give a simple ‘yes, sir' in the way of an acknowledgment.
“Tsk tsk, Spence. Can’t even keep your men in line.
” Jade says with a smile, pulling my attention back to her.
“What would your boss think?” she asks in a mocking tone that pisses me off.
I clench my jaw and focus on that anger as I stalk toward her, trying to ignore the fact that she just used my nickname.
I hate her. She doesn't get to call me that.
Damn it.
I do hate it, right?
“Just tell me what I need to know so we can be done with this shit.”
“What? You want to be done? Already? And here I thought we were just getting to the fun part.” Her eyes sparkle, and somehow, I don’t think she's being sarcastic right now.
“Just tell me, damn it!” I scream at her. I know I need to calm down. Letting her see how much she’s getting under my skin isn’t doing me any favors right now.
Easier said than done with her, though.
I take a deep breath and try again.
“Listen, I don’t want to hurt you,” I tell her, trying to appeal to her with reason. “But I will if I have to. I’ll do anything to keep my guys safe, and whatever this shit is with you, it's dangerous.” I stare her down, hoping she sees how serious I am about this.
She searches my face for a moment, her own set in a mask I can’t read. A mask that’s been missing for over a week now. I hate that I’m the reason it’s back, but I wasn’t joking. I won’t let her hurt them.
She leans forward as much as her restraints allow, bringing herself closer to me.
“It’s not my secret to tell,” she whispers before sinking back into the chair with a shrug, as if this is all some fucking game to her, no big deal.
Fine, if that’s what she wants, I can play her fucked up game too.
I can make her talk.
I’m no Kratos. He’s our best when it comes to interrogations. Shit, I’m not even as good as Zander. I like to think it's because I don’t have as many screws loose as they do, but right now, I feel unhinged enough that I’m willing to try.
My phone buzzes in my pocket before it stops, only to start up again. I don’t even need to look at it to know who it is.
Rick.
Which means they know, and I’m running out of time.
I push off the ground from where I had been kneeling in front of her and hold my hand out to Ant. “Knife.”
He places the knife in my hand, and I stare at it for a moment.
Is this really worth it?
I’m not sure the guys will ever forgive me if I keep going now. It’s one thing to go behind their backs like this, another to cause her intentional harm at my hand on a chance that she’s not been telling us the truth.
I swallow past the lump in my throat that threatens to choke me and turn my gaze back to Jade.
With her mask firmly in place, it’s hard not to think she's here to destroy everything we worked for, but I also remember who she is below that mask.
I remember the way her smile lights up her eyes.
The happy dance she does when she learns something new, like when she cooked that damn egg with Rick.
I remember the look of terror in her eyes when she told us of her past and the determination that shone through her when she told us about keeping the girls safe all these years.
The way Charlotte screamed for her and ran to her at the restaurant just last week.
Would a monster be willing to give up so much for strangers just because she didn’t want others to suffer the same way she did?
No.
The answer is so simple and easy, and it's been there all along. I feel my shoulders sag in defeat at the thought because no matter what I find about her; I know it won’t point to her being the problem.
Which means I can’t do this.
It was one thing when I was worried she was a threat to us, but looking back on these few weeks with her, I can’t think of a single time she couldn’t have taken us out.
Either in school, when we slept, or when we sparred.
Anytime she could have made a move, but she didn’t.
She let us in instead, and I’ve treated her like shit the whole time.
Fucking fuck…
I can’t hurt her for information just because I want to know, no matter how much I want to know.
I let my arm drop to hang at my side before turning away from her and tossing the knife back on the table.
“Awe, Spence, don’t go soft on me now,” she calls as I walk away, trying to goad me, but I ignore her.
“Weren’t you just telling me you would have to hurt me if I didn’t cooperate?
What could have possibly changed that at the last minute?
” She’s confused; I can hear it in her voice, but I also hear a bit of frustration.
I wouldn’t be happy to have to go through all this shit for nothing either, but maybe since I didn’t go further, I’ll be able to get past this with the guys.
Damn it. Zander’s going to want my nuts as a trophy for this.
A shout behind me has me turning around, but I don’t get far before something knocks into me, damn near sending me to the ground.
I steady myself at the last second, and my too-slow brain registers that the shout was the guys calling out a warning.
I look over to try and figure out what the fuck is going on, and I’m shocked to see Jade standing where I just was at the table with the knife I just set down in her hand.
She tilts her head, watching as if I’m acting oddly here.
Jamerson and Ant stand just a few paces away from her, having moved forward when she lunged, not getting too close, but there if I need them. Not that it did any good for us when she was within their reach moments ago.
Somehow, she not only got to me, but she busted her restraints and got to me without them having time to intervene.
She might be even better than I feared.
I hold my hands out to the guys to tell them to stay back. They both look unsure but stay back all the same.
Jade steps towards me, and everything in my body screams for me to move. I don't. Instead, I stand my ground, keeping my hands raised in the air as she approaches me, knife still in her hand.
She twists it around in her hand with such skill and precision that I’m sure Zander would fucking bust a nut if he ever saw her do that.
I knew Jade was dangerous, and I’ve been careful to treat her as such, but I’m worried that even knowing that didn’t do justice to just how dangerous she really is.
I keep my eyes trained on her face. She looks menacing in the most insane kind of way. Like a horror movie killer, her delicate features are such a sharp contrast from one another that they almost make her seem fake. It shouldn’t be possible for such stark differences to coexist, yet they do.
“I know you want to know things, Spencer. It’s just who you are, after all.
In fact, I applaud your dedication to trying to find the answers.
The long nights of research, countless hours of missed sleep, snooping through my things.
” She lists everything off on her fingers like they are common knowledge.
I have to work hard to keep the shock from showing on my face.
I wasn’t aware that she knew all of this, the research, sure, but not the rest.
“But there is one big problem with all of this.” She waves her hands around the room, using the knife as a pointer of sorts.
“None of this is scary. No, this is a walk in the park compared to what I’ve done.
The things I’ve seen.” Her voice cracks at the end, and for a moment, I saw the terror in her eyes at whatever memory just worked its way into her brain.
As quickly as it's there, it's gone again as she gets a hold of herself, slipping her mask back into place.
The only other emotion on her face is one that I could only describe as psychotic.
“You want to threaten me? Fine, but know this won't do it,” she says, holding up the knife between us. “You think I’ve never been hurt before? Never been stabbed?” she laughs, and the sound is dark, not a drop of humor. It’s enough to raise the hairs on my arms.
I watch in horror as she twirls the knife one last time before slamming it down into her thigh. I couldn’t have stopped her if I wanted to, having not realized what she was doing until it was too late, but I find myself moving forward, anyway.
“What the fuck?” One of the guys says from behind her, but neither of us pays him a second's notice.
She doesn't so much as flinch as the knife cuts through the skin all the way to the hilt before she pulls it out again, letting the blood flow down her leg without a care in the world.
“You see, physical pain isn’t really an issue for me anymore. So I can’t think of anything you can do to me that will hurt enough for me to give you what you want.” I can’t help but cling to the verbiage of what she just said to me.
Without using so many words, she just let me know she was never afraid for herself.
Flashes of Charlotte and the other girls fill my mind, quickly followed by Zander, Rick, and Kratos.
I would never use any of them for this, and judging by the look on her face, she knows that.
She gave me an answer, I realize as an afterthought. Although it might not have been a question I asked, it still feels good to learn more about her.
Too bad I can hardly focus on that right now as her leg continues to bleed at a rate that could become a problem if not handled soon.
“Jade, you need to wrap that before you pass out,” I tell her, trying to sound in control, but there's a hint of desperation in my words that I’m sure she didn’t miss.
She ignores it and my words of warning, instead taking her fingers through the blood and pushing it around like finger paint.
She slowly brings her hand to her face before she uses the blood to streak her face, giving the appearance that she has war paint on. After she’s done, she pops those same fingers in her mouth before sucking them clean like she was licking her fingers after eating a treat.
“So I’m going to tell you this one last time, Spencer.” She waits until I look up from her stab wound and back to her face, now covered in blood but no less beautiful.
Fuck.
Control yourself, Spencer. Now is not the time to be sporting a stiff cock. I mentally berate myself.
Jade’s voice pulls me from my very inappropriate thoughts.
“These are not my secrets to tell,” she repeats her earlier answer, and I nod because, yeah, I got it.
“If you have an issue with not knowing, take it up with Kratos,” she says before turning back to the table to drop the now blood-covered knife. It bounces, splatting her blood everywhere, and for some reason, I can’t take my eyes off it.
“Now, if that was all you needed, I had a study date that I seriously needed to get to so I don’t flunk out of my first semester of college, and you guys so very rudely pulled me away from it.
” Gone are all traces of her crazy ass, and just like that, she's the same girl I have been dealing with for a couple of weeks.
I don’t know how she does that with her emotions, but I swear it’s enough to give me whiplash.
She turns to move away from the table, making it all of two steps before movement sounds from upstairs, causing us to look toward the ceiling.
The booming of the hatch lets me know that the guys have finally caught up with us.
Well, shit. Now I get to worry about them trying to kill me before I can explain that I wasn’t the one who stabbed her.
A smile curls her lips just before the door flies open, slamming into the wall so hard that I’m sure it won’t ever close properly again. But, judging by the smile on her face, she knows I’m in for shit too.
Great.