Framed (20 page)

“And exactly what did you see?”

“I saw Jer standing over Jay, wielding that ungodly looking thing,” she said, affirming what Jay had said earlier. “We battled with each other until you showed up. Your arrival should have been a far more positive experience than it has been so far, might I add. I expected slightly better treatment for attempting to save those who belong to you. Instead, I get the blame yet again. It's tiresome, really, especially when I didn't even
kill
Jer. I just toyed with him until you could get here and see him for what he really is.”

“You think I'd kill my own fucking brother?” Jer spat, putting on an Oscar winning performance.

“You already have, haven't you?” she asked, her voice thick with honey. “Several of them, actually. First Cass, then Raife, then Stavros, and then the young one...I forget his name. Then you attacked your true flesh and blood, didn't he Jay?”

“What she says is true, Sean,” Jay whispered. “He said I sickened him. All the sympathizers did. We deserved to die, and we would until Ruby paid the price for it.”

“Liar!” Jer roared as he charged Jay. Sean was on him in an instant. “He's lying! They're in on this together somehow.”

“And
why
would that be, Jer? What would Jay have to gain from such a union?” Sean asked, his eyes nearly blackened with rage. “I think the answer you're looking for is
nothing
. I do think, however, that
you
stood to gain much from all of this. You're forgetting a little detail, Jer...if Ruby gets put down, so do I. And you were just chomping at the bit to get my job, remember? I think the only thing you'll be getting is death...a death for each one of us that you murdered.”

Jer smiled, showing his true psychotic nature to everyone in the room. He knew he was caught. There was no way to talk his way out of this one. His fatal mistake was not mortally wounding Jay in the time he had, allowing him to confirm my story, which nobody would have believed without that confirmation. Jer was sunk.

“It was a beautiful plan, wasn't it?” he asked Sean, his voice laughing, but his gaze hard and menacing as he stood toe to toe with him. “It was working so well too. Even you were starting to think she did it...your
precious
little Ruby. Don't you see that they had to die? They were weak, like you. It was only a matter of time before they infested the rest of the brothers with their warm hearts and gentle nature. The thought of it made me sick, so
I
did something about it. Something you'd never have the balls to do. It's no wonder he's always liked me more...I'm so much more like him than you. He
despises
you—always has.”

I was feeling a little lost, unsure of who Jer was talking about, but, judging by the look on Sean's face, Jer had struck a major nerve. He was going to hurt for that one.

“He does prefer you, Jer,” Sean confirmed, cornering him back against the wall. “He always has favored you far more than me. You're his favorite, his prize pupil, the prodigal son. But he doesn't despise me, Jer; he despises weakness, or any human emotion for that matter. I
love
that I disappoint him because it means I'm capable of things that he never will be, and I know that deep down inside, in parts he wants to pretend don't exist, he envies me. He loathes me because he'll never be able to feel the way that I can. But he
does
know loss, Jer, and he will feel yours.”

With that, Sean drove a long dagger up into Jer's ribs, penetrating deep into his chest cavity. He withdrew the blade, then placed it up to Jer's throat. “Anything you want to say before I end your existence?”

Jer turned his eyes to meet Scarlet's from across the room.

“I'll see you soon,” he said, before his head was nearly severed from his body. Sean had a lot of pent up rage in him.

The body slumped to the floor, and Sean immediately came to Jay's aid.

“Where is Sophie?” Sean yelled to the others in the room. “Get her here now!”

“Maybe he killed her too,” Scarlet proposed nonchalantly. All eyes fell on her in the most unfriendly of ways. “It would make sense, wouldn't it? It would have insured that Jay couldn't have been rescued.”

“Get her on the phone, now!” Sean yelled, tossing his cell phone to Scarlet. She dialed as he tended to Jay. He had used some rudimentary healing abilities on me once, but I knew they had limits. He himself had admitted as much. However, it seemed as though he was able to seal the neck wound and do something to his arm that made it look less gruesome overall.

“There's no answer, Sean.”

“Leave a message then. Tell her to meet us at Peyta's house. Jay needs this healed soon or he'll lose the usage of it forever,” he said, sounding concerned. “And Scarlet...it's time for you to disappear. Now.”

His point was well taken. After some deep breathing and centering, she was able to calm down enough to relinquish control. It left me pretty shaken and a little shell shocked.

Sean's face softened slightly at my appearance. “Good to see you're back.”

I smiled at him silently; I was completely uncomfortable in the room full of men, the majority of whom were glaring at me as though I was still responsible for the situation somehow. Their hostility was palpable, and I once again found myself wondering if there was ever going to be anything I could do to win them over. If saving their own from a raving lunatic wasn't going to be enough, I was pretty certain I was fucked.

“Are you okay, Jay?” I asked softly.

“I'm going to be,” he said, looking up at me from amongst the rubble, “Thanks, Ruby.”

“You're welcome, Jay,” I said, giving him my kindest eyes. He was a good guy; he didn't deserve what that evening had unleashed upon him.

The nameless brother who'd come to Jay's aid from the beginning helped him out of the apartment slowly. I watched them struggle past, and I prayed that Jay was going to pull through unharmed. I also worried that Scarlet's observation about Sophie being murdered was true. Peyta was still learning how to cope with her abilities and being forced to use them on someone so brutally injured seemed a steep learning curve.

I started to leave without saying anything, walking toward the PC guarding the door.

“Ruby, wait,” Sean called after me. The guy by the door put himself between me and the exit. “Relax, Jon...I just need to see her wounds before she goes. Ruby, let me see your face.”

I turned my chin up to him, catching the light with my face. He winced at the gash over my right eye, which I thought was from the accident. He sucked in hard when he saw the grated mess on my back from where Jer had struck me with his nightmare creation. It was numbed by adrenaline at that point.

“This might hurt a bit,” he said before placing his hands heavily on the wounds. They felt warm at first, before they got blindingly hot.

“Ouch!” I shouted, pulling away from him. He looked disgruntled with me, but let it be.

“That should work well enough for now. Scarlet healed the worst of the damage.”

“Glad to see she did something right tonight,” I said sarcastically.

“She did a lot of things right tonight, Ruby. Don't sell her short on that,” he said with a weighty tone. I smiled in response while Scarlet rumbled with approval.

“OK then...if we're all done here, I need to get back to the accident scene I bolted from earlier. Fingers crossed that I won't end up getting arrested.”

“Accident?” he asked curiously. “That was
your
car I saw interestingly double parked outside of the club.”

“If by 'interestingly double parked' you mean embedded into the side of a line of cars, then yes, it was interestingly double parked. I don't know if there's much car left at all now.”

“Don't doubt the power of the Audi's steel reinforced frame. It's a life saver.”

“So it would seem. I guess I'll go find out how she's doing—poor girl.”

“Don't bother. Jon will take care of the authorities," he said, throwing a set of keys at me. “The BMW is downstairs. Take it home. I'll get it from you once you replace the TT.” He paused briefly, his expression faltering for a split second. “I think you’ll find a key on there that unlocks your apartment.” Before I could reply, he removed a cell phone from his coat pocket and tossed it to me. “So I can reach you if necessary,” he said sternly, “and go straight home. I don’t want you driving around anymore than need be. You might have a concussion, and you can barely drive at the best of times.”

I wasn’t surprised about the key—it actually cleared up a few matters. However, I did want to refute his claim about my driving, but, since my car was the one gnarled up a few blocks away and his was in pristine condition downstairs, I kept my mouth shut and headed for the exit. Smiling down at the keys, I felt like a kid on Christmas day. I'd only been in the car once before, but it was an amazing piece of machinery, even more so than mine. I smiled a thank you at him as I crossed through the apartment threshold, and was already part way down the hall before he called after me.

“Get even one scratch on it, and I'll kill you,” he said, wearing the smile I loved to hate. I didn’t need to see him to know it was plastered across his face; I could hear it in his voice.

“You'd kill me for less,” I retorted as I made my way out to my new ride. Things may have hit rock bottom, but they were starting to look up, rapidly.

19

I roared down the highway at speeds that would have made an autobahn enthusiast sweat. The odds were looking good for a BMW to be replacing my car if they all drove like that one.

I got home in record time, which wasn't exactly surprising given my lead foot tendencies. My body revolted as I got out of the car and schlepped my way to the apartment, which I easily unlocked thanks to the spare key in Sean’s set. My neck, though better, was throbbing terribly and oozing slightly, judging by the dewy texture of the skin around it. My forehead wasn't nearly as bad, but it didn't feel all that fantastic either. I needed to do a quick patch up of both, but it was late and I was both mentally and physically exhausted. All I wanted to do was head straight to bed and sleep off yet another drama filled evening, courtesy of all the men in my life. Unfortunately, a little voice in the back of my head told me that, once again, that wasn't going to be the case.

Don't think I've forgotten, Ruby.

“
Aw, fuck,” I groaned as I turned the knob to enter the apartment. I was super relieved not to see any sign of Cooper anywhere. “Looks like Cooper is off the menu too. Maybe we should just wait till next month when we can—”

Like opening the Hoover Dam, Scarlet flooded me with the feeling of need she had, and likely had for the past four days. I choked on it, gasping like a fish out of water, and my attempts to fill my lungs were to no avail. My entire body shook, like the low level tremor addicts have when they're a little overdue for a fix. I crashed into the wall to steady myself, my outstretched arm stiff but shaky against it. I bent down slowly to the floor, pressing my back to the wall in hopes that a solid object may stifle the convulsing. Tucking my knees up tightly to my chest, I buried my tear-stained face against them. Air was coming, but it was painfully slow, and the sensation that coursed through my body left me rethinking my views on death; it was starting to look better and better every minute.

You can make this go away...

“I...can't...move...,” I told her through gritted teeth. “There's nobody...to...screw here...anyway.”

Then let's go out and find someone, shall we?

“Can't go...out...like this.”

Well, I can't very well take it away, Ruby. It's the only leverage I have on you. You're a resourceful girl
—
figure it out.

I was in a no win situation. Getting out of my deal was clearly not an option any more than finding some random at a bar and having a one night stand was. I was going to have to call for reinforcements, and I was not happy about it. Once I managed to get Sean’s phone out of my pocket, I dialed an SOS text. If my message was clear, help would be on the way soon—I hoped.

Scarlet was silent, but I knew she was gloating. She was about to get what she wanted and couldn't have been more pleased about it, though she had the good sense to keep it to herself. My phone beeped to let me know a return text had just come in. It read, “be there in five”.

By that point the sweat was rolling off of me so profusely that my shirt and pants clung to me in the most uncomfortable way, and there were drips on the floor from my forehead. My back stung as the sweat dripped into my wound that was still raw. I wondered how my life had gotten to this point.

As I awaited his arrival, I mindlessly shook, sweat, and occasionally cried; this wasn't how I wanted it to be. I didn't want to have to screw anybody ever again, and I loathed Scarlet for making me. I prayed for a day that I would get to leverage unpleasant things against her and see how she liked it. I doubted I ever would; how could someone like me ever have a hold over someone like that? Part of me or not, we were not equals. I may have been slightly more in charge, but she had all the power and I knew it. It made me rich with fury and envy.

When the door opened, I was met with a look of overwhelming concern.