“This wasn’t the fucking plan.”
“She wasn’t ever supposed to be a part of this. We took her on a whim, in hopes that her father would give up the drive sooner.”
“I don’t trust her.” I can hear the anguish in Declan’s voice, and see the sadness in his eyes. He hates her father, probably more than Wes and I combined. Which is understandable, with Declan being the oldest, he always felt responsible for everything. He blames himself for not being able to protect our family, especially our little sister. But I can’t let him head down that dark road where he destroys innocent people. We’re better than her father, and if our sister was still alive, she would be ashamed of what we’ve done to Jessa.
“Well I’m sure she doesn’t trust you now either,” Wes growls at him.
“If we want to do this the easiest way, we win her over, we show her that we aren’t monsters, and instead, show her who the real monster is in all of this. Sever the love she has for her father and she’ll be ours.”
“I’m not going to be any part of this. You both are making a mistake,” Declan yells before stomping to the elevator, going who knows where. Watching him leave sucks, but it’s clear he needs space right now.
“He’ll come around, right?” I question, directed more toward myself than Wes.
“I’m making something to eat for when she wakes up. After everything that happened today, she needs a warm bath, and a good meal,” Wes announces, ignoring my question and heading into the kitchen, while I walk back to his room.
As I cross the threshold, I find she is still sleeping, and in the same position she was when I left her. Her blonde hair is in disarray, her pink lips swollen and her features so peaceful she looks like a damn angel. If there is one thing her father did right in life it was creating her, that’s about fucking it.
I can’t imagine how tired she is, how worn out her body is. I slide into bed next to her careful not to wake her up. I want to hold her in my arms, cuddle her into my side. It’s such a strange thing to want something I’ve never done with a woman before. Then again, I’ve never been with a virgin, not before today, so maybe that’s what got me hooked. Watching her sleep for a while, I listen to her even breathing, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest all while wondering if there is a chance our new plan could work. Does she even know anything that we could use against her father? And if she does, would she ever trust us enough to actually help us, especially now? We’ve hurt her. I know it without even having to ask her, but are the wounds deep? Too deep to be forgiven?
Can my brothers and I convince her to help us, after treating her the way we did?
Questions bombard me at every angle, and I have no answers, at least not right at this second. Time seems to tick by, and after a while, Wes comes walking back into the room.
“She’s still asleep?”
“Yes, and I don’t foresee her waking up anytime soon. I think we should let her sleep, and when she wakes up, we give her a bath, feed her, and show her the emails, maybe even the video of her father hurting our sister.”
He nods his head and asks, “Do you think Declan is right? Are we dumb to trust her? Maybe she has been acting this whole time and even if not, it’s still her father we’re going to try and turn her against. What happens if she doesn’t believe us or leads us into a trap?”
I shrug, keeping my eyes on the blonde angel beside me.
“I don’t think she would be able to outsmart us like that. I do think we need to earn her trust, show her proof, and let her decide on her own. If she doesn’t want to help us then…” I trail off, emotion lodging in my throat. If she doesn’t help us or refuses, then the only option will be death and the thought of killing her disgusts me. My insides knot and my stomach churns at the mere thought. I lift my gaze from Jessa and turn to Wes, seeing the same painful disgust appear in his eyes.
“Are you getting feelings for her?” he asks a second later.
“I don’t know. All I know is that I can’t hurt her like we planned to do. She doesn’t deserve this. I still want the revenge for our family, but I can’t hurt her again.”
“Me too, brother…” Wes announces, and I can see the adoration he has for her. At first, I thought he was being soft on her, but I see it now, probably because I feel it too.
“The only thing we need to do now is win Jessa over and convince Declan that we’ve made the right choice. Then we attack and hit the bastard right where it hurts.”
Silence settles over us, and then Wes asks me the one question I have no answer to.
“And what about after that? What do we do with her once we get the drive? Once we have our revenge?”
It takes me a good two minutes to answer. The silence stretching as I run different scenarios through my head, but keep coming to the same answer.
Finally I answer, “I don’t know. I just don’t fucking know.”