Chapter 21 Roderick #2
“I’m dangerous, and wherever I go, that danger will follow.” Her voice cracks with emotion, and with it, more of my anger fizzles out.
“I tried to stay away, but you guys pushed, and I let you in. I let you all in on secrets that could get you killed. Because of me, you're all in more danger now, since I’ve accepted your help on what could very well be a suicide mission.” Her words come out in a rush, chest heaving, but she’s not done.
“I know what I am, Roderick. I’ve never pretended that I’m not a monster.
A demon just like Spence claims, but I never intended to put anyone in harm's way.” The raw emotion in her eyes lets me know she’s telling the truth, but I don’t need to see it to know that.
Jade is probably the most selfless person I’ve ever met.
She’s given up everything, including herself, to help girls she isn’t responsible for, taking out the trash along the way, and she’s done it mostly alone.
“I can go,” she says, cutting her gaze away from me to look at something over my shoulder. “Everyone will be safer if I’m gone.” Her voice is so low I almost miss what she said.
“No.”
Her eyes snap back to meet my own when she hears the command in my tone, just like I knew they would. Jade might not be on top of her game right now, but I know enough about her to know she isn’t the type to back down. How could I not? I’m the same way.
Stubborn to a fault.
“You really don’t get it, do you, Jade?” I ask, and she squirms but doesn’t pull away. When it comes to pure force, I know I can overpower her, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t get free if she wanted. Which means she doesn’t want to, at least not yet.
“None of what I said back there was about you being an issue,” I tell her, taking a step closer, crowding into her space as she continues to watch me.
“Yes, I’m concerned for my parents, Hazel, and hell, even Trent, but that’s not why I’ve been keeping my distance from you.”
Her brow pinches as confusion settles over her face.
Just like I thought, she didn’t understand what I was trying to tell her at all, and judging by the look on her face, she still hasn’t figured it out.
“I’m worried about you.” I keep my voice low. Even though nobody is awake this early, it doesn’t matter. What I have to say is just for her, and with how close we are right now, there's no way she can miss them.
“You’re the head of a gang that runs one of the most dangerous cities on the East Coast. They whisper your name and tell horror stories about you, about what you do to people who cross you.
The only other person who has a reputation even close to yours is Kratos, and he answers to you.
Do you know what someone could do with that information?
” I ask her because there will be no miscommunications this time. No, I’ll make sure she understands.
She shakes her head, still looking confused.
“We could be used against you. Just as someone might use our friends and family against us. We are the only ones in the whole damn world who know the identity of the infamous Froggie. Do you know how valuable that information is? Not to mention all the enemies you have as just Jade.” I don’t even give her time to answer because I can see she still doesn’t get it.
“You’ve worked your whole life with one goal in mind, and we could destroy it. We could destroy you.”
And that’s the truth. When she was just Jade, the target on our backs was fine, something that none of us minded because she deserved to be safe.
But now it’s different. The target on our backs would just be part of a larger target that's meant for her, for Froggie, and none of us should be taking that risk.
We talked about it on Monday after we questioned Jake about his father.
He didn't have anything useful for us, but we were able to see that Jade was correct about Jake hating him. He was more than happy to agree to help take his father down and keep an eye on Jade if she ended up with him. We might not like Jake, but he was good for his word, and he’s been our man on the streets for years now.
Being an asshole doesn’t change the fact that he’s good at what he does, and so far, he’s been reliable in our line of work that matters.
Our discussion about keeping Jade away for her own safety didn't go over well.
Spencer, of course, agreed with me. He already makes a habit of staying away from her for his own reasons, so I doubted he would be an issue.
Kratos and Zander, on the other hand, did not agree, not even a little.
They both pushed that if I thought we were a danger to her, then I was looking at the wrong side of this, and how much more vulnerable she would be without us around to protect her.
But I wasn’t looking to leave her alone; I was just looking for us to keep a low profile.
Do more watching from afar when we can and not be plastered to her side, like Zander is every time she walks into the room.
Neither of them would hear it, though, and I have a feeling it has more to do with how they feel about her than they were letting on.
I have no doubt that they want to keep her safe.
That was never a question in my mind. I just don’t think the reason is so cut and dry, as she needs protection or that she’s the head of Vengeance.
Both might be true, but I think their feelings really made that decision for them.
I watch her as my words sink in, and I know the moment she understands what I’m saying. It’s as if a lightbulb goes off and everything clicks into place.
“You don’t need to worry about me. All I need is for you guys to worry about the girls. That was the deal,” she says with a little more of her usual fire in her words, and I can’t stop the smirk that curls my lips.
“No, it wasn’t. That deal was fake. You and Kratos might’ve agreed to those terms that night at Hopper’s, but we all know that was all for show. You had the girls handled from the moment they were free.” Her eyes narrow at my words, but she doesn’t say anything in response.
How could she? What I’m saying is true, and she knows it.
“So what, you're all going to just follow me around and watch my back but pretend like I don’t exist? I don’t need your protection, and I definitely don’t need your pity,” she spits the words at me before wrenching her arm from my grip.
I hadn’t been paying attention to my hold on her since she hadn’t tried to pull away yet, and she easily slips away from me before darting back down the aisle, disappearing around another shelf.
I curse under my breath before I start after her.
“Jade,” I call out, but she ignores me in favor of picking up her pace. Before I know it, she’s darting between shelves and down aisles to lose me.
Fuck this.
I know where she’s headed, so she can run around all she wants. Eventually, she’ll be at the doors, so I’ll just wait for her there.
When I turn the last corner around the shelves that lead out to the entrance seating area, Jade’s already there. Her hands rest on the door handle as she glances back at me over her shoulder.
How the fuck did she get here so quickly?
I guess if I actually used the library, I might know it as well as she does, but I don’t, leaving her with an advantage. I make a mental note to fix that later before I break into a run in her direction.
Our eyes meet for just a moment, and hers flash with mirth. The corner of her lips curls up in a smirk that screams trouble before she pulls the door open and disappears into the hall.
I huff and push myself faster. She’s fast, I’ll give her that, and while she might know the library, I know this house. I helped design it, and as long as I don’t lose her completely, I should be able to catch her.
I yank the door open harder than necessary, moving through it quickly before I run down the long hall that opens up to our living room, catching the slightest bit of movement to my right.
Whipping my head to the side, I see her flying up the stairs.
She looks over the banister before she reaches the top, and her smirk is a full-on smile now.
It’s enough that I almost trip over my own feet, unable to fight the curve of my lips in response as I continue the chase.
If she wants to play this game, fine, but she won’t win.
Taking off toward the stairs, I use my long legs to take them three at a time with ease.
Right before I reach the top, I hear a door down the hall clicking open, but I don’t hear it shut as I turn the corner into the hall.
There are a handful of doors in this wing, and it also just so happens to be where we all sleep.
Looking around, I see that four of the seven doors are open.
I can easily say she’s not in my office or my room.
I left my office door open last night when I went to bed, too tired to care and no longer worried she was out to get us.
I’m also pretty sure I left my bedroom door open when I went down for coffee, too wrapped up in my thoughts to care if I closed it, and Jade’s was open when I passed it as well.
That leaves an empty guest room.
She’s smart.
If I were anyone else, I’m sure they wouldn’t have been paying attention as closely as I do, but she doesn’t know me well enough to know I thrive on the details.
Slowly, I make my way into the guest room on quiet feet so as not to give myself away.
With how quick she is, my best chance of getting her is to catch her off guard and get a hold of her before she can slip away, again.
The room looks empty, but I take care to look around, checking in the closet, under the bed, and lastly, in the bathroom, but she’s nowhere.
Walking out of the bathroom, I sweep the room once more in search of any hiding places I might’ve missed at first glance, only to stop dead when I spot a figure in the doorway.
She stands with ease. Her shoulder leaned against the frame as if this were a regular day and she’s come to hang out. The fact that she got one over on me should piss me off, but it doesn’t. Instead, I feel my grin return.
“And here I thought you were going to come to find me. Didn’t know you needed a bathroom break. You could’ve just called it. No shame in saying I’ve won, you know,” she says, and laughter rings in her words.
“Nah, I was just giving you a head start,” I tell her with a shrug. “If I caught you too quickly, you’d feel terrible about yourself, and I didn’t want that, Firefly,” I say, the damn name slipping out, and I want to punch myself for saying it out loud.
I don’t do nicknames. That’s Zander’s thing.
But the feeling is short-lived when she throws her head back and laughs, a real full laugh, that stops me dead. The sound goes right to my cock, but I ignore it. This isn’t the time for that, but suddenly I’m not so upset with my slip-up.
She takes a deep breath and gets a hold of herself before she levels me with a stern yet somehow still playful look.
“First of all, let's not pretend I’m the one who’s going to end up with a bruised ego here, Ricky.
” She cocks an eyebrow at me with the use of that nickname, and while I usually hate it when Zander calls me that, it's not the same coming from her. Hell, I just gave her a nickname after a bug whose ass lights up, so her adding a y to the end of my name really isn’t that bad when you compare the two. “And second, why a fucking firefly?”
“Why don’t you come over here, and I’ll tell ya?” I say with a wink, and she shakes her head at me. I can see from the determined look on her face that she won’t be doing that. No matter how badly she wants to know, Jade isn’t one to surrender.
She shoves off the doorway with her shoulder, and even before she takes the first step back, I know she’s done here.
“Catch me if you can, Ricky boy!” she says in a rush before she turns and takes off back down the hallway, her laughter ringing out as she goes.
Damn it.
I’m moving even before she’s finished talking, and no matter how quickly I’m moving, my brain still works on overdrive, taking in every detail around me. As I head back toward the stairs, following the direction of her laughter, I notice that Zander’s door is slightly ajar.