19. Chapter 19
Chapter nineteen
Ashton
I didn’t think we would get her back after all that went down. I watch Jinx lean on Atticus. Despite her dark hair tangled in knots and dirt-smudged across her face, she remains undeniably beautiful. I can tell she’s exhausted, but she refuses to sleep. I can’t blame her; she’s been through hell these last couple of days, and her body is in fight or flight still. We’re lucky that she’s letting us touch her. I can only hope it doesn’t hit her out of nowhere when she doesn’t expect it.
The drive seems longer this time around. I have questions for Jinx, but I’m afraid to ask them. Will she be open and answer them? I know for a fact that once she asks about Unknown, I’ll break down and tell her everything, but I can’t. I need to keep that information away from her until we all tell her together.
We pull into RWA, and Jinx sits upright and leans forward. “Nothing’s changed.”
“Same old rich dirtbags, baby.”
“How’s Spence? He must be losing his mind.” She looks at me.
I run my hands through my hair, trying to think of how to answer that question without sounding like an asshole.
“He’s been ignoring us,” Atticus pipes up.
“Why?”
“Because he blames us and wouldn’t listen when we tried to explain anything. He wants his best friend back, and we took her from him, not just now, but when we moved here. We haven’t let you guys have any time together.”
She faces the front without saying anything. “I’ll call him.”
I hate to break it to her, but she doesn’t have a phone. That’s one thing we never found at the house, and it’s another burning question. Where the fuck did he take her from? Maddox drives around back, parking in his usual spot. He looks over at Wilde, and Wilde just nods. Then they both get out. I’m glad that Wilde is here because we wouldn’t be able to handle Jinx and the asshole that’s in the trunk. I open the door and hear a bunch of people yelling.
“I take it Cam is having another party?”
“When isn’t he? We’ll take the backway to the dorms, so no one sees you.” I slide out of the car and spot a few dickheads in the parking lot watching us. Before Jinx gets out of the car, I slip off my hoodie and lean back in. “Put this on; I don’t need anyone looking and spreading rumors about you.”
Atticus exits the car and starts yelling at the assholes.
“He only makes things worse, you know that.” She takes the hoodie and tries to slip it on but groans in pain when she raises her arms.
I grab it from her and pull it over her head. “I know this, but the dipshit doesn’t get it and never will. Are you sure you’re okay?” She works her arms into the sleeves.
“My chest hurts.”
I lift the hoodie and her shirt carefully, and a dark purple bruise forms in the center of her chest. I gently touch it, and she grabs my wrist.
“Don’t. He hit me with something hard, and everything hurts from it.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” I gazed into her eyes, feeling her holding back her emotions from me. Yet, it’s clear as day that she’s going through intense pain.
“Because I can’t afford to be broken. I need to be strong.”
I pull her shirt down and cup her cheek. “Jinx. You don’t need to be strong when you have all three of us. Scream, cry, or yell. Do what you need to; just let it out. We don’t expect you to be perfect, and God knows we aren’t, so don’t you do the same.”
She closes her eyes, leaning further into my palm. “I’m so tired. It was all my fault. He texted me, saying he knew where Dad’s heart was, and I was stupid enough to believe him. I should’ve waited or told you.”
“That isn’t your fault. We would never blame you for wanting the remaining piece of your Dad. But believe me when I say this. He never had it and was only feeding on your grief. I think the only person that has it is the one that murdered him.”
A sob lashes from her chest, and I tuck her into my body. Atticus pops his head into the car and gives me a fierce glance. I silently utter Dad to him, and he acknowledges me with a nod of understanding. I wrap Jinx into my arm and slide back out of the car. I nod at the guys to start walking; I’ll let her cry for however long she needs to.
“Wilde is gonna hang back and take care of a few things for us. I told him he could crash at my place for the night.”
“Good, we need to take care of something ourselves.” Atticus looks over at Jinx.
We head down the path, trying to avoid the large crowds that are forming. Leave it to Cam to throw a party midweek. I swear he does it just to piss everyone off. Jinx buries her face into my chest when we walk past the noise.
“I’m glad we don’t live in that house anymore; I would kill that SOB.”
“I still wanna kill him, either way.” Cam has it coming; our hit list is growing longer than we can keep up with.
“I can’t believe he’s back at the school after everything he pulled.”
Jinx’s fingers tense around my neck when Maddox says that. There’s something she isn’t telling us. There are so many secrets she’s hiding, and it’s time for Little Swan to come clean. She needs to understand that we are a team, and even though we get upset, we aren’t upset with her. It’s the situation, and we don’t have control over it. Especially now, without Prescott around to help, things are getting harder for everyone.
“Either way, we’ll take care of him. He can run his mouth all he wants, but it won’t get him far,” I tell Maddox.
Maddox scoffs. “Yeah, until his granddaddy says something. How do you think he got back in. The rich always find a way.”
“Yeah, well. Not this time. It’s time we take control of this school once and for all.”
Something in Atticus’ voice made Jinx crank her head to glance at him. Her eyelashes glistened with tears, and her cheeks were marked by their touch. She fixed her eyes on him, those eyes that seemed to see every thought and feeling.
“I have something to tell you about Cameron and that entire situation.”
“Jesus Christ, Jinx. What don’t you have to tell us.” Maddox shakes his head.
“I wasn’t raped.”
We all come to a stop. The guys glance at me, and I inhale deeply, swallowing the lump that quickly formed. “That’s good.” That’s all I can muster up to say; I didn’t think it would still be a tricky subject to talk about. That prick wouldn’t be breathing still if he did. Her fingers weave into my hair, pulling me out of my thoughts. I look down at her, and she smiles. I try to smile back, but I can’t; the idea of him touching her turns my stomach.
Atticus comes up behind me, leaning his forehead on my head. “She’s alright, brother.”
“She’s not.”
Maddox approaches and gently takes Jinx away. And then Atticus gently embraces me, offering comfort and support. I’m forever grateful to have him as my brother. Jinx lovingly embraces me, and Maddox joins in, enveloping me in a sea of love, expressing their affection through their comforting presence.
“I’m not the one that needs all the attention.”
“You are, Ash.”
“Shut up and accept it.”
“We’ll always be here for you.” Jinx hugs me tighter.
“Thanks. Can we get her back now?” I can’t handle all this touchy-feely shit sometimes, especially when my emotions are heightened.
Maddox lifts Jinx back up, and we move along; the dorm comes into view, and a bunch of students roam around the entrance. The one time it’s busy as fuck. Maddox hustles while Atticus and I run ahead and push our way through the group.
“Hey, watch it, asshole,” someone says to Atticus.
He doesn’t think twice; he turns around and punches him in the face. “You fuckin’ watch it. You think you own this fuckin’ spot?”
As his friend stands to swing, I quickly step in and deliver a punch to his stomach. He lets out a groan as he doubles over in pain. “I’d watch your back if I were you.” I spit beside him. Everyone backs away when Maddox comes close, and Atticus opens the door.
“You don’t own this spot either, you prick,” the asshole says to Atticus.
Atticus turns and looks at everyone and laughs. “You’ll see.” He waits for me to enter before following.
“You guys can’t fight everyone you come across. You know that, right?” Jinx scolds us as we walk up the stairs.
“We can, and we will, Little Grim. Don’t make me beat your ass to prove my point.”
She peers over Maddox’s shoulder and raises a brow. If she weren’t in pain, I would say Atticus would be testing out that theory on her. But I swear if he touches her until she’s healed, I’ll be beating the shit out of him.
We reach our dorm, and I punch in our code, letting everyone in. I feel so relaxed being back with everyone. If only we had time to relax; when Maddox places Jinx on the couch, she flinches from the pain. Atticus heads to the bathroom for the first-aid kit.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty? You know what, you don’t have a choice.” I move to the kitchen and look through the cupboards. We don’t have much, but I guess it’s better than nothing. I find a box of crackers and fill a glass of water.
I set the glass on the table and turn and almost drop the box of crackers. Jinx looks worse than she led on. The cut on her stomach looks red and enraged. That’s a hospital trip, for sure.
“Jinx, what the fuck.”
“I’m fine, Ashton. It looks worse than it is.”
Maddox helps slip her shirt off, and I hear Atticus take a deep intake. The bruise looks worse than earlier.
“That doesn’t look good. Are you sure he didn’t break anything?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t hurt when I breathe; it's just when I lift my arms, like when you do a heavy workout, I swear.”
“And I swear if you are lying.” Atticus starts.
“I’m not.”
Maddox kneels next to her with the antibacterial and gauze. “Remind me again how Wilde did this to you?” He socks a piece of gauze with the antibac as she tells her story.
“I was locked in a room and broke the window with a broken chair. I was going to jump—” she hisses when Maddox starts dabbing the cut. He stops waiting for her to continue. “—jump out the window when Wilde came crashing into the room. That's when I got scared, slipped, and started falling, and he grabbed me. Needless to say, when he pulled me up, a shard of glass did this.”
“So, he didn’t do it on purpose?” Maddox confirms.
“No, he apologized but never did answer my questions.”
He finishes up, and Atticus passes him new gauze and tape. “What questions?”
“Where the fuck did he come from?”
Maddox finishes, then stands, moving away from her. “He came from rehab. He helped me escape.”
She tries to sit up but gives up. “Escape? What the fuck, Maddox. You were supposed to be in there for two weeks. Did they get a hold of you when I went missing? Is that why?”
“Don’t blame them. I didn’t know anything until I came back. That place wasn’t for me. It wasn’t right leaving you behind. I knew something was gonna happen. I shouldn’t have left.”
“You can’t blame yourself, Mad,” I tell him. I hate how he’s always so hard on himself.
“You went there to get better, not to feel guilty,” Atticus adds, squeezing his shoulder.
He shrugs Atticus off. “I know that, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. I have a problem and will forever be struggling with it. You think a few weeks in rehab will magically heal me? I have to heal myself when I’m ready, and no offense, Jinx, this isn’t helping me.”
“Maddox, you do what you need to, but always come back to me.”
“I can’t do that to you again. What if I don’t come back next time? I won’t risk it.”
“Then we take it one day at a time; it’s been five, and we can do five more.”
He falls to his knees, holding his face in his hands. Jinx casts a worried glance in my direction, conveying her desire to comfort him, yet unable to rise from her position. I move to Maddox’s side, kneeling before him and embracing him.
He wraps his arms around my back. “I don’t know if I can be strong, Ashton.”
“You can. We all believe in you. You’ve been doing such a good job, and you have no idea how proud we are. Don’t ever give up.”
“I shouldn’t be so worried about me when she’s been through hell.”
“It’s okay to be selfish sometimes. You can’t take care of others unless you are taken care of.” I pull away, looking him in the face. “Are you gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, eventually, maybe.”
“That’s all I ask for. Now let’s get some rest, and tomorrow we’ll drill the shit out of Jinx.”
I look back at Jinx and see that she has already fallen asleep. It's a relief to see her resting. I only hope her sleep is a peaceful one.