“What the fuck happened? Where is Jade?” I panic, looking around as I cover Jaxon’s face with his shirt. “Fuck, it’s not safe for Jaxon to be out here breathing this in,” I yell as Ryder assesses the situation, and Jay falls to his knees.Shit, I don’t know what to do. Where do I go as Jaxon coughs? Motherfucker.
Spinning, I go back into the house, pacing the hallway as I hear Jay roar in anger. I try to keep calm, but my heart is racing and I’m not sure what to do or what the hell happened. I couldn't even see what was on fire.
Ryder comes running in and taking Jaxon from my arms with wide eyes.
“Just go, Spade. They need you,” he says, taking Jaxon up the stairs and out of sight. I take a deep breath, not knowing what the hell I’m walking into.
Taking my shirt off, I cover my mouth and nose with the cloth as I walk through the smokey air towards Jay. Once I make it around his truck, I see the Suburban is blown to shit, and Jade lies on the concrete, unmoving.No. This cannot be happening again.
Kneeling down next to Jay as he holds her in his arms, whispering to her so low I can’t make out what he is saying. Feeling her wrist for a pulse, we lock eyes and I nod. He takes out his knife and slices down her arm.Old habits die hard, I see.She jolts awake from the slash, looking around with a panic-stricken expression.
“Easy, babe. Where's Dario?” I ask, and she closes her eyes.Fuck.Looking over at Jay, I raise a brow. “You got her?” I ask and he nods, licking the blood from the wound he gave her.
Getting up, I walk over to the burning car, seeing Ri lying on the concrete next to the hanging door.Fuck.I fall to my knees and roll him onto his back. His face is damn near unrecognizable as I lay my head against his chest trying to find a heartbeat.
“Come on, come on, Ri. You don’t get to leave me,” I spit, reaching down for his wrist. I feel for a pulse, but nothing beats. That vein doesn’t fucking move under my fingers.
“No, Ri. I didn’t give you permission to go,” I growl, pounding on his chest as tears form in my eyes. “Breathe, god dammit. We finally got her back, and you go and die on me. No! I don’t accept that,” I yell into the night sky.
“Reid, tell me what's going on?” Jay yells from across the driveway, but I don’t acknowledge him as I tip Ri’s head back, pinch his barely there nose, and breathe into his half melted mouth, watching as the air I push into him raises his chest. Sitting up, I do the compressions, then listen to his heart. Nothing. NOTHING!
“Please, Dario. Just breathe. Please. Just fucking breathe. You can’t go. I need you. We all need you. Those god damn babies need you. We can’t go through this life without you. Who's going to keep us in line, huh?” I sob as Jay and Jade come to kneel next to me.
“He can’t be gone. He just can’t,” she cries, laying her head right next to mine. Sirens blare in the distance.Someone must’ve called the police and reported the explosion. Fuck.Opening my eyes, they immediately lock on Jade’s.
“I’m sorry, Babygirl. He’s gone and I can’t bring him back,” I whisper as tears pour down her face.
“I know, Babyboy. How the fuck are we going to survive this? We were all just happy. How the fuck did we get here?” she asks, but I don’t have that answer. Jay kneels down, lifting Jade from Ri’s chest.
“Put me down, asshole. I’m not ready to leave him yet,” she spits.
“We have to let the ambulance in. They need to work on him,” he answers softly.
“No, just leave him alone. Give him a minute,” she begs, but I know just as much as he knows, Dario is gone. And right then and there, I lost a piece of my soul.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
Chapter 3
Secrets & Eye Rolling
Jameson
Carrying Jade into the house as she sobs into my chest, breaks my black heart. This can’t be real. It just can’t be. My brother. My best friend can’t truly be gone. We didn’t have enough time. Taking the stairs a few at a time, I get to the third floor and into her bedroom and place her down onto the bed, kissing her forehead.
“Princess, can you please rest for me? For the babies?” I ask, hoping she will, for once, just listen. She doesn’t say anything, just continues to sob into the pillow, inhaling Dario’s pillow. Taking a deep breath, I spin on my heels and leave the room and headdown the hall to Jaxon’s room.
Opening the door, I see Ryder sitting in the chair in the corner of the room, rocking Jaxon to sleep as he reads him a bedtime story.
“You good Ryder?” I ask and he nods, not stopping to even look at me. Stepping backwards, out of the threshold, I close the door quietly and head back downstairs to help Reid. I hang my head as I walk down the stairs, thinking about how the fuck we got here.
“It’s your fault, after all.”
“Little boy blue fucked up this time.”
“Father would be proud.”
Shaking my head, I rid the voices that have been quieted for such a long time that it damn near frightened me when they spoke.What the fuck?I thought I was finally rid of them, but I guess not.Guess nothing will ever rid me of them.
