in your life, and he respected that, but once you turned eighteen, he wanted to give you the choice of whether to meet him or not. When you both packed up and left, he was going to let you go.”
“But then you came.”
I gave her a grin. “Yep, the Storm came and the Storm stayed.”
She rolled her eyes, never a fan of me calling myself that. That’s what the crew called me; it wasn’t my real last name, but then again, my real last name didn’t mean shit anymore. I’d long since forgotten my biological family, out of necessity.
“And then the Storm was forbidden from coming back with his girl,” I added, leaning closer to her before whispering, “because you were, you know. Skull’s been grooming me for years as his second in command. If Piper never took you, you and I would be joined at the hip right now.” Hmm. I could think of a few other places we could be joined…
“Why didn’t he want you to come back with me?” Jaz asked, utterly unaware of the turn my mind had taken. Hint: I was imagining her in black, lacy lingerie.
I had to get my mind off that image, otherwise my dick would start to get hard. I’d already felt the familiar first twitches of a dick that wanted to see some action. Bad mini-Storm, bad. “He wanted it to be your choice,” I said, shrugging as I continued to fight my aching dick. “It’s the same reason he let your mother go. He knew where Piper was the whole time, and even though it hurt him to see her go, he didn’t want to force her to do anything.”
Jaz thought on this. “He doesn’t sound that bad.”
“He’s not, unless you hurt him or one of the crew,” I said. “Sometimes you have to get your hands bloody to protect the ones you love. Skull’s never been afraid to do that.” I pictured her mother, pregnant and scared, running away from him all those years ago because she saw something that frightened her. “Some people, I guess, just aren’t meant for that kind of life.”
She quieted, thinking on this. It was a while before she whispered, “And you think I am?”
I looked at her hard, wondering if she didn’t think she was strong enough, or if this place’s machinations had gotten to her. Midpark was not the same as my hometown, not even close. The ways of the rich and the ways of the poor were two totally different things. Everything that was going on here was a bit crazy, although maybe I was just saying that because I was used to things back home.
“I think you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for,” I told her, causing her to inhale sharply and those tan cheeks of hers to blush.
Jaz looked away. “I’m glad you think I am, but…” She let out a sigh before giving me a gentle smile, a smile that made heat creep up my spine and my hands to itch. I wanted to touch her so fucking bad, it was unreal. “Thank you for telling me, Dante.”
Her thanks was sincere, and yet I was still stuck on what she’d said first. Jaz clearly didn’t think she was strong enough to handle it, and I wondered if she’d ever want to meet her father now that she knew who he was, that he wasn’t a squeaky-clean law-abiding citizen. Who the hell was? She knew what I did to Ryan and his friends, and I bet, sooner or later, she’d find out that Vaughn had ended Ryan.
She was surrounded by psychos, and she seemed fine with it. The thing Jaz was having the most trouble with was Brittany’s murder and the fact that her body was gone—and how she was somehow being accused of it.
I would never force her to go with me to meet Skull, but I really hoped she would change her mind eventually.
Eventually, you know, once all this shit was taken care of.
The end of the day arrived, and I didn’t bother swinging by my locker. I headed straight outside, moving not to my bike, but to another car. The parking lot, where the rich students would park their fancy Mercedes Benz and other sports cars, was mostly empty. The car I wanted was still there.
Archer Vega didn’t go to Ryan’s funeral; why would he? He caught Ryan and his friends about to do something unspeakable to Jaz.