15. Jet
JET
Ifeel a sensation I’ve managed to keep tamped down for so long, I’d almost thought I was over it. Almost thought it was in the past.
My phone pings with a message again. This time, its Malcom, not Sev whose been texting me nonstop demanding to know my whereabouts. Demanding my return.
Instead of texting, I pick up the phone and call him. “What is it?” I ask because he wouldn’t be disturbing me if it wasn’t important.
Amal picks up her knife and fork and begins to eat, very openly listening.
“It’s your brother. He just tore me a new one.”
“And you care why?”
“Yeah, no, that’s not it. I think you need to call him. Doesn’t sound like his usual shit. I think something’s up.”
Malcom’s right. It’s not like Sev to keep harassing me when I don’t react to his commands. My brother is a prick, no doubt, but I know Sev and he wouldn’t call Malcom if he didn’t absolutely have to.
“I’ll give him a call.” I disconnect with Malcom and push my chair back. “I’ll be right back. Don’t eat my steak,” I say lightly to Amal who is halfway through hers. It’s good to see her eat. She’s lost pounds she couldn’t afford to lose since last time I saw her.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
“I’ll find out in a sec.” I walk out of the restaurant and signal to the soldier loitering in the lobby to keep an eye on Amal. Finding a quiet corner, I dial Sev. He picks up on the first ring.
“Christ. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for days. Where the hell are you?”
“I’m good, thanks, Sev. You?”’
“I’m glad you think this is funny.”
“What’s crawled up your ass?” He’s silent and I hear the clicking of a door closing.
The moment I do, I know it’s bad. “Mom okay?” I ask, although my mother has never been fragile.
I don’t ask about our stepfather, Cassian’s biological father.
I don’t have really anything with him if he can even remember me.
He’s far enough gone Cassian finally moved him to a private care facility.
“She’s fine. It’s not about her.”
“Then what is it about?” I ask, growing anxious after a too long silence.
“It’s grandfather.”
The word lands like a brick in my gut.
The ink on my arm feels like it’s on fire and my body has gone rigid.
“What about him?” I say finally, hearing how I sound. Knowing Sev hears it too.
“Well, not about him, perse. His watch, Jet.”
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end and I’m slipping through time, falling right down. Back in that room again, the tick tick tick of that damned watch deafening. I drop into the nearest seat, cold sweat covering me.
“You weren’t supposed to take it,” Sev says. “You weren’t supposed to take anything. That was the agreement.”
I close my eyes and draw a deep breath in, forcing my heart to slow its frantic pounding. To normalize.
“Jet?”
It takes me a minute more. “What’s happened?” I ask, although I know. I fucking know, don’t I?
“It turned up at a pawn shop in Edinburgh.”
Of course it did. Because why wouldn’t life fuck me yet again?
“Edinburgh, huh? I’d have thought Florida.” But I guess she had funds to buy a plane ticket and pawned it here.
“I was going to ask you how it might have gotten there but sounds like you’re ahead of me.” Sev snorts and I can just see him shaking his head, pulling out a handful of hair in frustration.
“Where’s the shop? I’m here. I’ll pick it up. Handle it,” I say in a calm voice. I will handle it. And Sev’s right. I shouldn’t have taken it. Should never have kept it. I should have let it burn in the fire with the bastard’s body.
“Don’t you think I’d have done that already if I could have? It’s too late, Jet. The owner of the shop must have recognized the inscription and made the call.”
“How?”
“They have eyes and ears everywhere. You fucking know that!” That last part he says with so much fury, it’s completely unlike him. Sev is the embodiment of self-control. He never loses his shit. So, for him to lose it, it’s bad.
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Shit about sums it up. They’ve sent the guard, Jet. They’re buzzing around the club, outside my office. And I’ve received a formal invitation.”
“What invitation?”
“Well, more of a summons, really.”
“What summons then?”
“We’re to appear before The Tribunal. The Councilors have questions we need to answer.”