Chapter Twenty Six
Adam~
As she closes her eyes, I watch every emotion play over her face.
Beautiful is such an insufficient word for the way she looks right now. I get so caught up in watching her that everything else fades away.
Slowly, she starts to lean forward, and the second our lips touch, she flinches. It’s not the reaction I expected. She doesn’t pull back but instead keeps still again.
I close my eyes and focusing on her, I start to feel what she feels. Her lips tremble against mine. I taste her tears as they fall silently. I feel her breaths as they come faster.
And then she smiles, and it’s like the sun shining through the rain.
She places her hands on my chest and starts to kiss me. I have to force myself to keep from taking over. She needs to lead. Her hands creep up to my jaw, then her kiss starts to grow urgent. When her tongue brushes over my bottom lip, I open for her.
I open a part of me I’ve never opened to anyone. I’m a control freak, but she’s the only one I’ll ever submit to. It’s not a matter of being an alpha. It’s a matter of allowing her to be free.
When her tongue slips inside my mouth, my cock hardens. She has to feel it, but she doesn’t pull back.
We get lost in a kiss that’s better than any sex I’ve ever had.
***
We’ve decided to have a barbeque so everyone can just be together in a fun environment, especially after Beverly accosted Jack.
We all just need to chill.
Tristan is helping me grill the steaks. He flips them over and then says, “The meat should be ready soon,”
His eyes dart over River’s head. I see Diane and Lizzie walking towards us.
“Be careful with Diane, she’s fragile,” River says.
He frowns at her and then huffs, “There’s nothing going on between us. Besides, she’s way too young for me.” I frown at him and if we weren’t surrounded by people I’d punch the shit out of him.
River chuckles. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”
I wait for River to be out of hearing distance, then I punch Tristan against his arm. “Fucker! You told me to get my head out of my ass, but look at you. You still haven’t talked with her have you?”
“It’s not that easy,” he snaps, his eyes darting to where Diane is. “She’s so withdrawn. How do I even know that she wants to be with me?”
I give him a dark look. “You fucking talk to her. That’s how you find out. Go over to her and say, ‘Hey, I like you. Any chance you feel the same?’ The worst thing that will happen is her saying no.”
Tristan laughs at my words of wisdom. “You think it’s that easy?”
“Pretty much.” I pat him on the back. “Just tell her how you feel, man. It’s a starting point.”
“Yeah, a starting point. I’ll do it later.”
***
I’m sitting with Sophia pressed tightly to my chest, just where she belongs.
Everyone is having a great time. River and Jack are dancing. The good news of Christopher and Maddie getting married made today perfect.
“Fire!” Someone screams. I jump up and Sophia almost falls, but I catch her in time. Making sure she’s standing, I run in the direction of the stables.
“No!” I hear Sophia scream.
Glancing over my shoulder I see her after me. “No, Sophia. Stay back.”
She doesn’t seem to hear me. She’s just about to pass me when I grab hold of her. Her eyes dart wildly between the stables and me.
“Sophia, I need to get the horses. Stay here so I know you’re safe.”
It looks like she wants to argue, but when I let her go she doesn’t try to run again. When I’m sure she’s going to listen, I run for the stables.
I run into the stables which are already thick with smoke. Covering my mouth with my shirt, I start to lead the panicked horses out. Christopher and Tristan are right behind me, and we work fast to get the horses to safety.
I hear a loud crash from the other side of the stables and then a scream. Minutes later Colby comes stumbling past me, coughing and covered in soot.
“Adam!” I hear River scream, her voice hoarse from the smoke. “Get Colby. He’s got something to do with this.”
She points in Colby’s direction and I see he’s heading for the trucks. Running, I catch him before he can get away.
“It wasn’t me! I swear!” He starts to defend himself and that only tells me he did have something to do with the fire. Colby is a guard. Why the fuck would he burn the stables down?
Seconds later Jack comes walking towards us. He’s carrying a woman. Is that Beverly? She was banned from the sanctuary when she made unwelcome sexual advances on Jack.
“What the fuck is she doing back here?”
“Take her,” Jack hisses, then he just drops her on the ground. He runs back towards River and that’s when I see Nanna lying on the ground.
My heart clenches at the sight of Nanna unconscious. Jack picks her up, and I’m torn between going to her and staying with Colby and Beverly. My eyes follow Jack and River as they take Nanna into the house. They’ll get Doc. There’s not much I can do for her.
I glare down at the two by my feet. “What the fuck did you do?”
“I swear man, it was all her idea!” Colby starts to ramble.
“As if!” Beverly says hoarsely. She shoves at him and I watch the two get into a full blown argument over whose fault it was.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Christopher and Tristan handling everything. I open the truck nearest to us and take some cable ties from the glove compartment. It’s a struggle but I get their hands tied. The last thing I need right now is a fight.
Doc pulls up to the house.
“Ella!” he shouts as he rushes into the house.
I yank Colby up by the front of his shirt, and throw a punch. His head snaps back from the force and fear flickers over his face. He better be scared.
“Fucker, you could’ve killed someone,” I spit the words at him, then I drop him like the sack of shit he is.
“How did she know where the plantation was?” I demand. “You were supposed to make sure she got on a bus. You fucking betrayed us.”
“It wasn’t like that!” Colby shouts. “Things just happened between us. You know how it is, man. You like a girl and she likes you. We’ve been dating for a couple of months and I just wanted to show her a good time. I took her out a few times, but that’s all. I swear. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“What’s going on here?” River suddenly asks behind me.
I point to the two on the floor.
“From what I understand, Beverly and Colby are in some sort of relationship. Apparently, he’d been sneaking her off the property whenever she felt like she wanted to go to town. It’s been going on for months.” I can’t believe I didn’t notice any of this. “I’m sorry, River, I should have known.”
I shove my hands through my hair, feeling that all too familiar rage burning inside of my chest. I feel like shit for not noticing Colby and Beverly sneaking out. If I was doing my job, none of this would’ve happened.
“Just let us go,” Beverly moans. “We won’t tell a soul where you are.”
I lean closer to River, and whisper, “You know what we have to do. They can’t talk. We have too many lives that depend on us.”
She shakes her head which only makes me glare at her. If it’s between us and the two on the floor, it’s a pretty easy decision to make.
“No, I won’t have any part in murder. There has to be another way.”
“You can’t just off us,” Colby screams. “River, please! I swear we never wanted to hurt anyone. Just let us go. We won’t talk. We’ll disappear. I swear.”
“We gave you the choice. This is all on you,” I growl. “You knew what would happen if you turned on us. I told you that the day you started working here.”
“Adam, just let them go,” River whispers.
“Just let me handle it, River. Go check on my grandmother,” I say with finality. “Trust me,” I whisper.
She nods, giving me one last look before she walks away.
I turn back to Colby and Beverly. She’s crying and for once, I feel nothing at the sight of a woman crying.
“Get up and into the truck,” I order them. Beverly moves quickly, but Colby is another story. I have to shove him into the truck before I get in, too.
Beverly is a blubbering mess and Colby keeps pleading. I drive them away from the sanctuary before I say, “Would you calm the fuck down. I’m not going to kill you.”
They both shut up, except for the sniffling coming from Beverly.
“I’m going to drop you in the next town over. I’ll deposit money into your account as soon as I get back to the sanctuary.” I give them each a hard look. “You will fucking disappear. The next time I see you, I won’t ask questions. I’ll just put a bullet in you and dump you in the river. Do you understand me?”
Beverly nods quickly and Colby looks like he’s about to piss his pants from relief. I hope the scare is enough to keep them away for good.
“Thanks, man,” Colby starts to ramble. “We’ll disappear. I promise, man.”
“Just shut up” I growl at him.
I just want to get this done and get my ass back to the plantation.
***
When I get back to the sanctuary, I first go check on Nanna. She’s lying on the couch, fighting with Doc. It’s clear she’s fine.
“Nanna,” I kneel down next to her and take her hand. “How are you feeling?” I look up at Doc. “She’s gonna be fine, right?”
Doc makes a snorting sound through his nose. “She just needs to rest for a couple of days, but the old woman is too stubborn to listen to me.”
“Old woman,” Nanna shrieks. “I’ll show you who’s old!” She looks at me. “Adam, go fetch me a pan so I can knock some sense into the old fart.”
I start to laugh. Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with my gran. “I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of Doc.” I kiss her forehead, then go look for Sophia.
When she’s not at my place, I start to worry. I run to the stables praying nothing happened to her. I didn’t see her after I told her to stay away from the fire.
My heart clenches painfully with fear. I’ve never felt this kind of worry before.
When I reach the stables, I see her standing close to the smoldering ashes.
“Sweetheart,” I say, rushing to where she is. I take hold of her face and inspect every inch of her. She looks so sad, that it feels like a physical punch to my gut. “It’s okay, no one got hurt.”
“The wood,” she whispers. “It’s all gone.”
Fuck, the stables meant so much to her. It’s where she finally found herself.
I look at the rubble, and spot a few pieces of wood that can be salvaged. Letting go of her, I pick up a piece.
“It’s not all gone. Look, there are few pieces that survived. I’ll come get them tomorrow.”
“It’s not the same, Adam. They’re just pieces of burned wood.”
I drop the piece of wood and close the distance between us. “Hey. I get that it meant a lot to you. Just because it’s burned and no longer offering shelter for the horses, doesn’t mean it can’t become something else. Give me some time and I’ll show you that a piece of debris can be turned into something beautiful.”
“Okay,” she says, nodding.
She takes my hand and we walk home.
***
I get up early to gather the pieces of wood that I’ll be able to use.
I’m just about to leave, when there’s a knock on the door. When I open it, I’m surprised to see Jack.
“Jack?”
It’s clear the man is losing it. He’s shaking and I almost reach out to him, but I don’t know how he will react to my touch.
“I need your help,” he growls.
I make sure Sophia hasn’t come out of her room before I step outside. I close the door behind me.
“Let’s go look at the damage that’s been done to the stables and then we can talk.”
We walk in silence until we reach the stables. I start to pick up some pieces of wood, then ask, “What can I help with?”
Jack starts to help and then he says, “I want to go back to Cameron.”
My head snaps up and I feel the shock hit hard.
Jack quickly carries on, “The past few weeks I’ve been living in a trance. I need to go back and make them pay for what they’ve done to me. It’s the only way I’ll be able to live with myself.”
Fuck, at least he doesn’t want to go back for other reasons. “So you want revenge?” I ask.
“I’m going to go back and kill them. You can come with and help me or I’ll go by myself, but those monsters need to pay for what they have done.”
I can understand where the man is coming from. I’d do exactly the same thing if I was in his shoes. Fuck, I want to kill them for what they did to Sophia and Jack. But what Jack is asking of me is huge. It’s a risk.
“How do you plan on making them pay?”
“That’s why I need you. I want to go when it’s one of Cameron’s busy nights. I want to get as many people as possible. You can take me as your slave. Just get me in and I’ll do the rest.”
There is no way in hell I’m putting Jack at risk like that. River will have my balls on a silver platter.
“You still haven’t told me what you’re planning to do once I get you in.”
He points to the stables. “Did you see how quickly it all burned down?”
I nod and my mind starts to race with ideas of how I can help Jack.
“They burned my mother so I want to make sure every last one of them burns the same way.”
I take a deep breath as another wave of anger hits. My heart goes out to Jack, but I need time to think this through. It doesn’t help if we rush into this and in the process, we get ourselves killed.
We work in silence and when we’ve gathered pretty much all the wood that can be salvaged, I say, “I’ll do it.”
I move close to Jack and whisper, “I’ll do it because I can’t imagine what you and Sophia must have gone through. But you need to understand what you’re going to be doing. You’re going to kill people. I’m doing it to stop them. There is no right reason for killing another human being, but when they are so far above the law, then it’s up to people like us to stop them. I want you to make sure that you can go through with taking another life. I don’t want to get there and you freeze up on me. We’ll be endangering everyone here if someone sees us.”
I can see Jack’s thinking about what I just said. “If we’re going to a party or scheduling a meeting they will see us.”
“We don’t have to attend the party. We just go, set the place alight, and make sure no one leaves alive. Then we get our asses out of there.”
We have to be quick. The longer we take the higher the risk of us getting caught.
“As long as they die.” Jack says with a hard bite to his words.
“They will.” I wipe the sweat from my face and then look towards the manor. “We have to tell River.”
“No.” Jack shakes his head.
“She’s my business partner and best friend, Jack. I will not go behind her back. Secrets only destroy trust.”
“Let’s go now and get it over with,” I say, not waiting to see if Jack is coming.
We walk into the kitchen and I shake my head when I see Nanna is already back to work.
River gets up and I can see she’s going to make a run for it so I quickly say, “We need to talk.”
She stops and looks nervous when she asks, “We do?”
I just nod, then we follow her to the study. I don’t want anyone else hearing about this.
She leans against the desk. “Don’t you both want to go clean up first?” She’s trying to buy time, but there is no way. I want to get this all over and done with.
“Jack wants to go back.” I just spit it out.
Her mouth drops open and she looks at Jack. I see the flash of worry and pain in her eyes. “You can’t go back, Jack.” One emotion after the other plays off on her face. “Cameron will kill you.”
She pushes away from the desk and I quickly hold up my hand. “Hear the man out before you jump to conclusions.”
Jack’s eyes are hard when he says, “I’m going back so I can kill every last one of them.”
River’s eyes snap back to his and she shakes her head slowly. “You … what?”
I feel the tension roll off of Jack. His breathing quickens and pain tightens his features. River reaches for him but he slaps her hand away from him.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” he hisses. “Don’t ever fucking touch me.”
I watch his movements carefully, readying myself should he lose his shit. He throws both his hands behind his neck and he starts to pace the floor. His body is wound so tightly with the emotions that are clearly overwhelming him right now.
He stops and takes a shuddering breath and then he hisses, “They are going to fucking pay. I want them all dead. That’s the only way I’ll be able to live with myself.”
River starts to cry and I feel my own heart breaking for this man. I can’t blame him for losing it. I would too if I had to go through half the shit he went through.
“Why now?” River asks. “What changed?”
“The fire,” he snaps. “I want them to burn the same way they burned my mother.”
She covers her mouth, the words clearly hitting her hard. “It won’t bring her back, Jack.”
He stalks right at her and I move fast. We all end up standing in a close circle. The tension in the room can be cut with a knife. I know the man is in a world of pain, but I won’t let him take it out on River. I send up a silent prayer that Jack can control himself.
“I watched them burn her,” Jack hisses. He slaps his fist hard over his chest. “I was beaten. I was raped. I was fucking used and abused for any sick fantasy they had!” His voice keeps climbing with the rage that’s busy consuming him. I know that feeling all too well. This man is close to exploding.
“I was degraded and betrayed. Not you.” He turns away from us and snaps, “They will pay. They have to fucking pay.”
River chokes the words out, “Your brother too?”
I open my mouth to give my piece of mind on that piece of shit, but Jack beats me to it. “Especially him!” he roars.
He takes a step back and sucks in a breath. Then he whispers, “Especially David and Cameron. To them, I was nothing but a way to fill their bank balances. I want it all to burn down around them, and then I want them to die.”
“Jack,” River whispers hoarsely. “Killing people, it’s not just flipping a switch and they’re gone. You’re killing humans, taking another’s life.”
I look at River frowning. I really didn’t expect her to say that, to defend those fuckers.
“They’re not human. No human will have a nine year old boy gang raped. They are monsters and they deserve to die like monsters.”
The emotion in this room is thick and pulsing with Jack’s pain. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
River starts to cry and as much as I want to hold her, it’s not my place right now – not while Jack is standing here spilling his heart out to us.
She doubles over as her emotions tear through her.
“I’m doing it. Nothing you can say or do will change my mind.” Jack says vehemently.
“What about the other slaves that live there?” she cries out. “They are innocent. You can’t just kill people!”
Jack shakes his head hard. “I would rather have died a thousand deaths than remain a slave. The slaves are just as bad as Cameron and David. I’ve seen them hurt each other. They killed the weaker ones! I’ve been raped and beaten by them so many times. They tried to kill me every time a guest would favor me instead of one of them. That house is filled with demons. They all deserve to die. I will do this with or without your help.”
Jack storms from the room and I let him go so he can calm down.
I pull River into my arms, holding her as she cries. We’re both upset but this is about Jack, not us.
“Let the man have his revenge. It’s what he needs to feel that he did something to fight back. It’s the only way he’ll be able to have some self-respect.”
I pray to God that I’m right as I tell River this.