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Scared and alone.
“You don’t have to go back in for us to take them down.” Zander pleads with her.
She doesn’t look up at him, but she shakes her head.
“If we can't find a way to shut them down, it will be the only option.” She tells him, her voice quiet but firm. It’s clear that she’s already made her choice here, and nothing we say will change it. I can see the determination written all over her face.
“No!” Zander yells, “I won’t let you put yourself back into that shit Jade.” He tells her as he looks down at her, where she sits next to him. She looks up at him, and I can see the emotions in her eyes as she sees how this affects Zander.
Maybe she really does have feelings for him.
“I wasn’t asking.” She tells him.
Zander screams, raking his hands through his hair in frustration before he turns away from her to address Kratos again.
“There has to be another way!” He demands as his emotions get the best of him. Zander has always had an unhealthy fear of Kratos, but he seems to forget that right now.
I expect Kratos to put him back in his place, but he doesn't.
Instead, he shakes his head, his eyes returning to Jade as he once again defaults to her. She meets his eyes before looking back down at the table.
“The only way we can ensure she doesn’t go is if we handle this before then.” He takes a deep breath and collects himself. “Which means we need to do just that. I expect business to run as usual, but this is your top priority in your downtime, and it will be mine as well.”
It’s not a solution, not even close. We have been after this ring for the last few years and haven’t gotten anything worth a damn, but it’s enough to pull Zander back from the edge.
He grips up his chair, setting it back down with far too much force before he collapses into it again, his earlier happy mood long gone.
A knock at the door has all of our heads turning toward it. Kratos calls out for whoever is there to enter, and a second later, Dom pops his head in.
“The food you ordered is here, boss.” He says, holding up bags of takeout for us to see. Kratos nods to the table for him to bring them in.
Dom looks around at each of us before he dips his head and exits just as quickly as he came in. Dom is one of our higher-ups and has been around for a while. Usually, he would stick around to talk or even just say hi, but not today, and I can’t say I blame him; the tension in the room is almost suffocating.
Jade opens up the bags and starts passing food around to everyone. The tension in the room doesn’t go away, but as we eat, we discuss other orders of business, and it at least distracts from it. We go over all our monthly drop-offs, what's working and what's not, and even the profit margin on the two lower clubs we manage along with the garage. Overall, everything appears to be running smoothly.
By the end of the meeting, the tension has dissolved for the most part. While nobody seems to be happy exactly, nobody looks as upset either. Instead, there is a determination that has settled over all of us. Hell, even I want this shit done. None of us want her to go back there, I may not like her, but I’m not a fucking monster.
Jade packs up everyone’s food and cleans up the mess as we finish our meeting. She hasn’t said a word since she told Zander she wasn’t asking permission. She might not have been around long, but over the last week, she has been a part of most of our days, and having her so quiet is kind of off-putting.
“Before we head out, I wanted to have everyone down to the range for a few. Rick mentioned that Jade has never used a gun, and I would like to set up a training schedule between us after assessing how much help she needs.” He says before we can leave.
We each nod as we head out towards the stairs to one of the lower floors of the club with the training rooms.
Rick and Zander head out with Jade a few steps behind them. I’m almost shocked that Zander isn’t plastered to her side for a second, but when I catch a glimpse of his face, it makes sense. He’s inside his head now and probably isn’t even fully aware that he’s headed down to the range, just following Rick on autopilot.
Everyone always thinks Zander is a slacker or the pretty face of the group, and while they aren’t wrong, that’s not all he is. Zander is great with details. I’ll be shocked if he hasn’t gone over everything we’ve learned about the Sin ring in the last year in his head at least three times in hopes of seeing something he missed.
When we first started, he was a bit obsessive with missions, and as we got more comfortable in our roles here, he’s calmed down a bit because he no longer needs to be like that and no longer feels like he has to work so hard to prove his worth. However, this mission has him right back to those old ways.
Before I hit the steps, I realize that Jade is no longer in front of me. I stop dead and quickly look around. I don’t think she’s in danger here with all of us, but between the threat that could be after her and the unsettling feeling she gives me, I would rather not have her unattended here.
I look back to see her standing with her face all but pushed up against the glass, watching the party down below.
She has a look of wonder on her face that's so genuine that it has a frown pulling at my lips. She’s probably never seen a party like this. Yeah, she went to that one with us, but this is different. Hoppers has lights and a DJ with an actual dance floor. This is a proper club with a bar and servers and the whole nine yards, not just some house with people crammed in it.
Kratos walks up behind her, and I watch as he gently puts his hand on her lower back to steer her back on track. She shoots him a smile before she nods at him and keeps going. Her smile is sad, and I feel like I can almost hear her brain as she wonders what it would be like to be down there, to be normal.
I pull my eyes away from her and head down the steps quicker than necessary to put distance between us. Kratos can watch her just fine, and I can’t stand to see her look like that and not lose sight of the fact that she could be here to tear us all apart.
