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“Jace…”
“I can’t leave,” Jace said, his voice breaking. “You know I can’t.”
“I’ll keep you safe.”
He would never let anyone hurt Jace. He couldn’t fucking bare to see him get hurt.
“If I go with you, he’ll lose his shit. For real.”
“Jace,” Ares said, stepping closer and reaching for him, but Jace backed away.
“I can’t go with you, but I’ll help while you’re still here. In any way I can.”
Jace was breaking his heart, and he didn’t even know it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jace
WHEN ARES and the others walked away from the Henchmen to join the Kings, he’d thought for sure Ronin would kill him. He still might. His brother was paranoid and pissed as all hell. He wanted the Kings and the deserters to pay. With their lives.
Ronin was spiraling more and more with each day and Jace tried his best to stay off his radar. He hadn’t succeeded.
Something had gone wrong. Some plan of Ronin’s. He was angry. So fucking angry that all Jace had to do was breathe for Ronin to take it out on him. He hadn’t fought back and as always, he now regretted it. He was so fucking sick of just taking the abuse. Of cowering in a corner, but he knew fighting back would only mean more pain.
He’d only just managed to hide the phone Ares had given him before Ronin had thrown him in his room and locked the door. That was two days ago.
He was huddled on the floor, his stomach cramping from the lack of food. At least someone had thrown him a bottle of water yesterday.
Gunfire had him jumping and curling up, back pressed against the wall.
Holy shit.
What the fuck was going on?
He put his hands over his ears and made himself as small as possible. It wouldn’t surprise him if Ronin had pissed someone off enough for them to attack. He wasn’t sure if he’d survive this, though he’d known for years that he’d never get away from Ronin alive, so the concept of dying wasn’t as frightening as it would’ve been otherwise. At least he’d be free.
He wouldn’t go without a lot of regrets, though. They mostly surrounded Ares, unsurprisingly. There were a lot of things he wished he could have said and done. He didn’t know if Ares would ever act on his attraction to him, and he would probably never find out now. He hated that he never got to put his hands on Ares’ chest and look up into his eyes, seeing the same need burning in them that he’d felt for so long. He hated that he never got to press his lips to Ares’. That he’d never taste, touch, or feel every inch of Ares.
He jerked, his heart skipping a beat when a loud noise filled the room. He wasn’t breathing as he lifted his head to look. The door to his room had been kicked in, hanging from only the bottom hinge. Two men walked inside, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a King he’d met before.
“Come on,” Hawk said, grabbing Jace by the arm to pull him to his feet. “Let’s go.”
Jace didn’t have to be told twice.
Hawk led him through the house and out into the courtyard where there were way more people than he’d anticipated. He counted quite a few Kings along with the Henchmen who’d followed Ares. There were bodies of the other Henchmen lying on the ground throughout the courtyard. There was so much blood.
He swallowed back the bile that rose in his throat.
There was a group of people standing at one end and as they got closer to them, his gaze landed on his brother. He was on his knees in front of King. Even down there Ronin had that look of superiority. He was fucking nuts.
King crouched down in front of Ronin and said, “That’s the thing you never understood. I was trying to keep everyone alive. All you wanted was to shoot your gun and kill people. I just happened to be the one around when you went too far, and I took it upon myself to stop you.”
Jace’s heart was going crazy in his chest. He hadn’t known about King and Ronin’s past before Ronin had sent him and Steel to kidnap King’s family. They obviously hadn’t done anything to King’s family because they were both on Ares’ side, but while Steel had joined Ares and the others, he’d gone back to Ronin. He’d had to. Ronin was a madman, but he knew Ronin would have completely lost it if he’d gone with the others. If he’d chosen Ares over him.
“You shot me with a shotgun,” Ronin sneered at King.
“And you murdered a whole family.”
