chapter 45
Jaxon
IF IT’S MORE THAN a sedative, Sharon, you’re going to regret your life choices,” Arrow throws at her. The man is the scariest out of the whole MC, according to Demon, and I wouldn’t want to be in her place right now.
“It’s just a sedative, I promise,” she tells us. “She wouldn’t stop yelling.”
“Being kidnapped might make someone do that,” he tells her gruffly, unamused.
I don’t know what the rest of the plan is—we never really spoke about what would happen now. We can’t just leave them here, right? The cops would be at all our doors within the hour, I’m sure that Gilmore bastard will concoct some kind of story and try to put us all behind bars. With me and Faye on our side though, good luck to him.
Three gunshots are fired upstairs, and Arrow and I share a look.
Fuck.
Did Demon kill the cop? I thought we were trying to avoid that.
“Oh God, Brendan!” Sharon cries, plump tears dripping down her cheeks. “Why did you kill him? I love him!”
Fuck me.
When I hear some scuffling from above, I feel like something isn’t quite right.
“Arrow,” I say, warning in my tone.
He’s got Sharon, and I have Scarlett in my arms, so I’m not sure which one of us can go check, but one of us needs to.
“Sit there,” he tells Sharon, pushing her onto the couch, then turns to me. “Watch her. I need to see what the fuck is going on up there.”
Sharon decides to get up and tries to run, but Arrow quickly grabs her. “Fuck.”
“I’ll go,” I tell him.
“Give me Scarlett,” he tells me.
I reluctantly hand her over and watch as he throws her over his shoulder, then turns the gun back on Sharon. I run up the stairs, pointing my gun in front of me, wondering what the fuck is happening up here.
What I see makes me still.
No.
Fucking no.
No, no, no.
I drop to my knees. I just drop, unable to hold my own weight.
Unable to function.
No.
I throw the gun on the floor and crawl over to my childhood best friend, the one lying on the floor with blood pouring out of his chest. I try and find his pulse, but there’s nothing.
“Demon?” I whisper, shaking him. “Demon, wake up. Come on, man. I need you.”
Arrow comes up the stairs, still holding Scarlett, then looks at Demon on the floor. Arrow looks down at Demon with such pain in his eyes, such grief, and I know when he looks into mine he would see the same.
There was another person up here, and we missed it.
We fucking missed it.
Across from Demon’s body, lay two cops.
Both dead.
Demon must’ve shot them both but got hit anyway. Fuck. Why wasn’t I here with him?
I try to stop the bleeding with my hand, and then I take off my T-shirt and try to use that.
“Jaxon,” Arrow says, touching my shoulder. “He’s gone. He’s gone.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head.
Demon is dead, he died for me, saving Scarlett. No one knew he was undercover. He can take that with him to the grave. No one will know this, ever. I owe it to him.
“Fuck, Jaxon,” Arrow growls. “We need to get out of here. How the fuck are we going to explain the deaths of these two cops?”
I block Arrow out.
I cup Demon’s face with my hand.
I can literally feel my heart ripping into pieces. It’s like Olivia all over again.
A tear falls down my cheek, and I let it.
I don’t care.
I lost my sister, and now I’ve lost my brother.
I don’t know how much this world expects me to take, I don’t know what else they can possibly throw at me. I pick Demon up in my arms, and carry him down the stairs. He’s heavy, but I don’t care. I don’t want anyone else to touch him.
My tears are now pouring, and I can’t control them. I don’t want to live in a world without my best friend.
We walk down the stairs, Demon in my arms, Scarlett in Arrow’s.
I see Arrow got creative and tied Sharon to one of the pillars in the house.
He looks to her and yells. “If you were sorry, you would have mentioned the other cop, wouldn’t you? Fuck!”
“They’re dead now,” I tell her.
Arrow studies me, and then the man in my arms. “Go put him in the car. I have an idea.”
I look down at Scarlett.
“I won’t leave her side, Jaxon. Go.”
I head outside in the dark and put Demon’s body in the backseat of the car. I kiss his cheek and say, “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry, Demon. I love you like my brother. I would have rather died instead of you. It should have been me.”
If Olivia is watching from heaven right now, she probably hates me.
I saved the love of my life, but I lost my best friend in the process.
Life is a fucking bitch.
ARROW CARRIES SCARLETT OUT and puts her on my lap. “I’m going to sort this out. A few of my men are on the way.”
“You shouldn’t have to clean up my mess, Arrow,” I tell him. “Just tell me what needs to be done, and I’ll handle it. We should call the cops. There’s no other way to handle this.”
He touches my shoulder. “I’ve got this covered. You just need to get Demon and Scarlett out of here. I know about Demon, Jaxon. He was a cop, and we won’t get in trouble for this because of that. He came to me a while back and after everything that happened with Irish and Scarlett, we started working on finding the dirty cops. How do you think he got that knife wound?”
I stare at him in shock. He knew?
“I’ve got a cop friend. Demon introduced us. I’ll call him and get his help.”
I don’t have time to process this right now.
Someone is going to pay for all of this. The dirty cops in Darren’s unit—I’m going to see to it that they each go to prison, one by one.
“Okay,” I whisper, looking down at them, sitting in the backseat with me.
This is not how I thought tonight would be ending.
I feel numb, and there’s a pain in my chest that won’t ebb.
What the fuck have I done?
I bring Scarlett’s fingers to my lips and kiss them. I would have done anything to save Scarlett, even given up my own life, but I never expected for Demon to be the one to pay the price.
Never.
I squeeze both of their hands, and pray that this is all just a really bad, fucked-up dream.
Then I get in the front seat and drive the two most important people in the world to me home.
NEVER IN MY LIFE will I forget the sound of Scarlett’s shrill scream when she found out Demon was gone.
Never.
“No,” she cries, shaking her head, looking down at his body. “No, Jaxon! You should have just left me there!”
The men all stand around, with their heads down, watching and listening to Scarlett cry and wail over the death of one of their men.
My best friend.
“Demon?” she says in name like she’s begging for him to wake up. “Demon? Please wake up, please. No, this can’t be happening. Jaxon needs you. You have no idea how much he needs you.”
Fuck.
I look down at my feet, unable to watch anymore.
“Scarlett,” I say, my voice raspy and cracked. I lift my head, and my eyes connect with hers. Hers hold so much pain and suffering, and I think mine hold nothing.
They feel empty.
I don’t know which one is worse.
“Jaxon,” she says, glancing down at Demon once more, then removing her hand from his shirt. She runs over to me and I hold her, console her. I rock her back and forth, and I tell her everything will be fine.
I lie.
Because I don’t know if everything will be fine.