It’s too much forme. The past few months have torn my entire world apart in so many different ways, and I feel so close to breaking.
But I want to break the people responsible for all of this instead.
“Alright.” I take one last look in the mirror, and then back at Mia. “Let’s go, before I lose my nerve.”
3
CAYDE
I’m almost shaking with anger as Dean, Jaxon and I wait in the living room for Athena. I’ve been on the verge of exploding for days now, my anger carefully held in to protect Athena until I could get to the gym and blow off some steam. I haven’t wanted to let Athena see how affected I am by this—none of us have. She has enough on her mind.
But with the funeral being today, I’m having a hard time keeping it together. I know that’s selfish—this is the hardest day of Athena’s life, other than maybe the day her father died. But the same thoughts keep running through my head, over and over.
Someone murdered Athena’s mother.
Someone hurt our girl. Again.
Someone is going to fucking pay.
“I want to know who fucking did this,” I growl, looking at the other two. Dean is sitting stiffly on one side of the couch, his face set in hard lines, and Jaxon is slumped characteristically against one side, his expression bitter.
“You know who fucking did it,” Jaxon snaps. He’s been more surly than usual, probably because all of this happened the night he finally gave in and fucked Athena. Which—there’s still a conversation that needs to be had about that, if he’s going to become part of what we’ve got going on here, or whether he’s going to try to still keep himself separate. The last won’t fly—we’re either all together on this, or Jaxon is going to have to keep his hands off.
“You don’t know that,” Dean says sharply. “That’s a dangerous accusation to make, considering what’s been happening.”
“Am I missing something?” I glare between the two of them. Clearly they’ve been talking when I haven’t been around. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Jaxon has a theory.” Dean sounds tired, leaning his head back against the couch. “He thinks the Sons are behind all of this.”
“Our family dogs?” I narrow my eyes. “We already looked into that, when Athena was abducted. They swore they had nothing to do with it—”
“They fucking lied,” Jaxon snarls. “When Athena and I went to that fight, she recognized a girl there. She said it was the girl who’s been stalking her, the one she remembers being there when she was abducted. That girl was with the fucking Sons. I’ve seen her at the fights before, she took me back to her place after one of them. Tried to fuck me.”
“And did she?” Dean’s smirking now, as if he’s caught Jaxon out doing something wrong. “I bet Athena would love to hear about that.”
“No, I didn’t fuck her,” Jaxon snaps. “And I told Athena everything, so wipe that fucking smile off your face. Fucking focus. Don’t you see what this means?”
“I see that you’re treading dangerous ground,” Dean sys quietly, his voice dropping several octaves. “These aren’t accusations you make lightly.”
“Lay it out for me.” I grit my teeth, glaring at them both. “What exactly is it that you think is happening, Jaxon?”
“Our family’s guard dogs, the biker gang that answers to our fathers, were the ones who abducted Athena, if I’m right. And if I’m right, they’re also the ones who set that fire and murdered her mother. Athena is under our protection—she’sourpet. Which means if they did that—they did it with our fathers’ authorization.”
It takes a second for it to really sink in, what he’s saying. “So you think—”
“Our fathers want Athena dead.”
“That’s insane. Why would they—”
“Whywouldn’tthey?” Jaxon shoves himself to his feet, shaking his head. “Open your fucking eyes, both of you! Dean was supposed to win this game. He took Athena’s virginity. It should have been over. But Athena refused to give in. She got Cayde to fight back. Dean refused his betrothal to Winter. Our fathers aren’t fucking stupid. They know things are being shaken up, and they know it’s because of her. They tried to kill her, and they failed. So they went after her mother instead. They’re hoping it’ll scare her into stopping, or maybe that it’ll just break her until she gives in. But what they don’t realize is that you guys are fed up with it too. And so am I.”
It’s the longest speech I think I’ve ever heard Jaxon make. And he’s angry too, I can see it in his eyes. As angry as I am—as angry as I’m sure Dean is, though he’s doing a good job of not showing it.
The question is, do I think it has any merit?
I let myself think about a memory that I hardly ever allow myself to remember. The memory of my father in that attic with the man responsible for my brother’s death, with the burly Son there who would do the dirty work of stringing the man up. I remember my father’s face, the cold anger in it. The face of a man who could watch another man die in front of him because he’d been wronged, and be glad about it.
I remember something else, too—our fathers’ faces the day that Jaxon, Dean and I went through the rite of passage, the day we shot those men in the warehouse. How little they cared for the lives of those men. Why would Athena, or her mother, matter any more to them?