7. Unhinged #3
Jax’s eyes darted from Shantell to the basement floor, stained with significantly more blood than he had seen from Shantell. His brows narrowed angrily. “What… is going… on?” he repeated impatiently. The three men exchanged apprehensive looks.
The basement door slammed open as Jax stormed outside, a crowbar in one hand and a hammer in the other.
“Jax, we are handling it,” Ian insisted. “There are too many for you to find without-”
“I don’t need a fucking detector,” Jax growled, storming down the block.
“Is he seriously about to do this in broad daylight?” Caleb muttered.
Jax abruptly stopped walking and listened before swinging his crowbar into a nearby bush. There was a loud groan before Jax yanked out a hooded Reaper. The crowbar piercing his cheek had hooked into his jaw, nearly ripping off his face.
“Yup,” Keith said.
Jax dragged the Reaper onto the sidewalk before violently smashing the hammer into his skull, splattering the sidewalk with blood. Caleb looked around. “We need to clean up after him before people see,” he said, opening a car door.
Ian sighed as he pulled on a pair of gloves. “Grab the garbage bags. Toss him in the trunk with the others.”
“At least it’s dark out,” Keith smirked.
Blinded by rage, Jax stalked the block like a madman, swinging his crowbar to find Reapers that he mutilated with his hammer.
A man stepped outside to take out the trash when he spotted Jax, splattered with blood, standing a few feet from his house.
“Man, I ain’t see shit…” he said, quickly walking back into his house.
Jax scanned the street before spotting a large white van.
His nostrils flared, and his cheeks rippled as he stormed towards it.
The van’s engine started, but before it could pull away, Jax pulled back his arm and catapulted the crowbar straight through the back of the van’s window, impaling the driver through the back of the head.
He could hear men shouting frantically from inside the van as they scrambled to escape.
Jax picked up a rock from the ground and threw it, pelting a Reaper in the back until he collapsed.
Before the Reaper could crawl away, Jax violently stomped the Reaper’s head with the heel of his boot until his skull exploded against the pavement.
“He can’t even be a little discreet?” Caleb groaned, picking up a dead body. Grabbing the van’s backdoor handle, Jax nearly ripped it off the hinges from sheer force. He looked into the van, crowded with Reapers, and hopped inside, slamming the door shut behind him.
“You picked the Wrong. Fucking. Day,” Jax growled.
As they loaded more bodies into the truck, Keith looked around. “Fuck, where’d he go?”
Keith stopped short when he noticed the large white van down the block jostling from side to side as the windows splattered with copious amounts of blood.
He could hear screaming and shouting before a body smashed out of the window, hanging over the edge.
A bloodied Reaper with half of his face hanging off, cried hysterically, trying to get out of the car before Jax’s bloody hand reached out and grabbed him by his severed scalp, yanking him back into the van.
“Never mind. Found him,” Keith snorted. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Keith approached the van as it stopped jostling.
He went to open the door when it swung open.
Tilting his head, Keith smiled, impressed as his eyes took in the gore.
Mutilated body parts, entrails, and smashed heads lay strewn about.
He looked at his brother, coated in so much blood he was unrecognizable. “Goddamn, Jax…” Keith smirked.
Hopping out of the van, Jax handed Keith the crowbar that was caked with blood and flesh. “Get rid of it,” Jax ordered.
“Wait,” Keith said, grabbing Jax’s shoulder. Jax stepped back and glared at his brother. “Look, I know you’re pissed, but fucking shit, Jax, are you even human anymore?”
Jax sucked his teeth and went to walk away when Keith pushed him back again.
“Fanaibh, brother, dìreach feitheamh…?*” Keith spoke in Gaelic.
“As much as I’d like to be bumped to the top of Deja’s favorite Donovan list, you can’t go back in there looking like…
this. You look like you fucked a whale with a chainsaw. You’ll freak her out.”
“I am not leaving her alone with her ex-”
“If you go back in there, you’ll kill him. And then, she’ll really hate you,” Keith warned. “We’ll clean up here. Go back to the hotel. Shower and get this nasty shit off of you. I’ll bring her and Chloe back to you. Tha mi a' gealltainn?*,” Keith promised. Jax’s jaw clicked with rage.
Deja worriedly searched the backyard for Jax, who had disappeared over half an hour ago. In fact… all of them had disappeared. And that seriously worried her.
“Mom?” she said, approaching Debra, who was holding Chloe. “Have you seen any of the guys?”
“Not out here. Have you checked in the house? Maybe they’re watching the game with your uncles,” Debra said.
Deja worried her bottom lip as she searched for her men when she nearly tripped over Shantell sitting on the ground with a few other children, who were drawing on the pavement with chalk. “Oh! Sorry, sweetie- Oh no! What happened to your knee?”
“I fell,” Shantell said. “But Ian fixed it.”
Deja looked at her, surprised. “Ian? Do you know where he is?”
Shantell shrugged. “Probably fighting bad guys-” she started before slapping her hand over her mouth.
“Fighting bad guys?” Deja asked. “What do you mean?”
Shantell shook her head. “Nothing! He’s a superhero!”
Deja smiled at her awkwardly. But her face fell as she looked up. “Where the hell are they?” She rushed towards the door when Keith and Caleb stepped outside. “There you are!” she said, relieved. “Where have you guys been? Where’s Jax and Ian?”
“Jax is not feeling too hot,” Keith said. “He’s a bit out of it. We made him go back to the hotel. Ian took him.”
Deja looked at them, confused. “Wait, what? Is he okay? Is he sick?”
“Something like that,” Caleb said, looking around. “Where’s Chloe? We should head out…”
Deja sharply exhaled. “Yes, of course. Let me just tell my parents.” As Deja said her goodbyes, Keith played with Chloe’s tiny hands while Caleb changed her diaper. Dabbing her with baby powder, Caleb grinned at the way Chloe giggled as Keith made silly faces.
“Where’s my Little Killer? There she is!” Keith grinned as Chloe squealed with laughter.
“She’s infatuated with you.”
Caleb and Keith glanced at Ari as she approached them, smiling at Chloe. “Not common to see a guy so good with babies,” she teased.
“Babies are easy,” Caleb grinned, slipping Chloe’s dress back on. “They’re much easier to deal with than adults.”
“True,” Ari chuckled, leaning back against the table. Keith’s gaze averted from Chloe for a split second to catch the way Ari was looking at Caleb. A knowing grin cracked his face before he went back to amusing Chloe.
“I know they’ve been through a lot, but Deja is my sister. Is she really safe with Jax?” Ari asked.
Caleb paused. “...yeah… she is…” he admitted.
Ari nodded. “Does that mean you two are no longer together?”
Keith smirked as he affectionately kissed Chloe’s forehead while she playfully grabbed his hair. “It’s… complicated…” Caleb said.
“That’s what she said,” Ari chuckled. “Okay, well, as long as my girl is taken care of, I won’t harass you like Kristin’s been harassing Jax.”
Caleb and Keith suddenly looked at Ari. “About that,” Keith said, approaching her. Ari’s heart skipped several beats as the tattooed, blond Adonis towered over her. His attractiveness was distracting. “Word of warning to your friend,” Keith smiled. “...tell her to back off.”
Ari was startled by his bluntness. “She’s just looking out for-”
“That’s fine,” Keith said with raised hands. “But she needs to fix her approach. Jax is polite out of respect for Deja. He’s not a sleeping bear, he’s just… temporarily tame.”
Ari raised a brow. “...is that a threat?”
Keith smiled charmingly. “Babe… It’s called self-preservation.”
*?Wait, brother, just wait
*?I promise