I cracked him one good time on the jaw as he looked over my shoulder, distracted.
“Wyatt! No!” Clean roared, and I turned to see the man I had thrown against the building holding a gun to me.
Did he just stop him from shooting me? I turned to look at the man who was already squared up and ready to go another round, even though I could tell by the way he was breathing that he would lose. What the fuck?
Why would he do that?
I pushed him off me and backed up to the truck.
“I don’t know what the fuck you are playing at, but I’m warning you, next time you better fucking shoot me. Shoot me, or I will kill every last one of you where you stand.” I jumped into the van and backed up quickly, not even caring if I hit them or their bikes.
I raced back to Jazmine’s house, my head even more fucking screwed up then it had been hours before.
She was waiting for me on the porch. She jumped up when she saw me skid to a stop in her driveway. I jumped out of the truck and tried to walk past her into the house.
“Hey! Ink! Wait!” She hurried behind me and grabbed me by my arm. I ripped it out of her grip.
“Don’t fucking grab me!” I yelled, louder than I should have. She looked at me in shock, not sure what to do. I glared at her for a second before I turned and stormed into the back room.
She followed, I rolled my eyes, “The fuck are you doing? I want to be alone.” The sarcasm dripping off my words.
“No, I’m not going to leave you alone. No matter how deep you fall, I’ll be here to help you back up.”
“What the fuck, do I look like a charity case to you?” I took two big steps in her direction. I couldn’t deal with this right now, not after everything that happened with Clean.
“No, you look lost, Ink.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but I could think of nothing. She was right. I was lost.
“Talk to me, I may not have the answers, but I can listen and be here for you. You’ve spent so much time scared and alone; you don’t have to be either anymore.” She softly ran her hands up my midsection, laying them directly on my pectoral muscles. Here I was filled with anger and mania, but it only took one touch from her for it all to drain away.
My head fell, defeated. “I don’t understand. I should be dead. They should’ve killed me.” I spoke my voice low.
“What do you mean? Are you talking about the people that kidnapped you?”
“No, Clean. Today.”
She shook her head, still unclear about what I was talking about.
“Some of the men from the clubhouse I used to belong to found me coming out of your shop.”
Jazmine put a hand up to her mouth, the other rising to my face examining the damage. There was some, but not much. She didn’t say anything, just listened.
“I should have checked, but I wasn’t thinking. I was so focused on how I could get back at them. So focused on my plan, I didn’t even hear them ride up.” I put my arms around her waist and closed my eyes, the playback of the events still fresh in my mind.
“There were three of them, but none of them looked angry. Clean, the big blond one from the other day, he embraced me like I was still his brother. I fought him, and I was going to kill him. He knew it too. I could tell by the way he was fighting back like his life was on the line.” I let out a sigh, “One of the men I don’t know, Clean called him Wyatt pulled a gun, but instead of letting him take me out, Clean stopped him. There was more fear in his eyes in those two seconds than there had been when I was trying to beat him to death. Why would he stop him, Jazmine? Why would he let me kill him? Why are they so hard-pressed now to look for me? I don’t understand, and I feel like it is a trap. I just can’t figure out what they’re playing at.”
The ball of her tongue ring popped out of her mouth as she played with it, her nervous tick.
“What?” I asked, wanting to know what she had to say, maybe she saw something I didn’t.
“Ink, did you ever think that maybe they were looking for you? It sounds like they just want you to come home.”
I shook my head, “Didn’t you hear me earlier? They have too much pull, all-around the world to have not found me.”
“Ink, my father hid the body of a state senator in our basement for months. No one found him. The FBI, CIA, State Police were all looking for him. Sometimes it's not about how much reach someone has.”
“A fucking senator?” My eyes popped open in disbelief. I knew her pops used to be into some crazy shit, but fuck. I hadn’t expected that.
“Yes, and he has never been charged, so if you could keep that bit of information to yourself?” She reached up and scratched the back of my head.
“What if I was wrong?”
“Then, you get your family back.” She smiled brightly at me.
I had no choice but to smile back; she was fucking contagious.
I let out a long breath, “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to let it go. I’ve spent all this time hating them, wishing them dead. I can’t just turn some shit like that off.”
“That’s 'cause you’re so focused on the bad of your past you’re not letting yourself create anything new. You have
