“You on the other hand, wouldn’t think twice about giving your own life,” he declared, turning to look at me again. “You’ve sacrificed a lot being one of Vic’s henchmen which makes me wonder if there isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for him.”
I glanced at Jack out of the corner of my eye pondering his words for a moment. “I don’t know if that’s true.” After all, I was technically going against him at that moment knowing he expected the Fed to be a casualty when in reality we were only going to silence him.
“So if Victor told you to choose between the love you have for his daughter and the oath you took to be his soldier would you choose your oath again?”
“No,” I huffed automatically. I assumed that since I didn’t have to think about my answer it spoke volumes about me and the soldier I had become.
“Why didn’t you choose her?”
“Because I didn’t I believe I had a choice,” I grumbled.
“You did your homework huh?” I questioned.
“There was a lot of talk when you went away,” he probed before waiting a beat to continue. “You still love her?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Nothing, nothing at all,” he shook his head as he continued to stare out the window. We both remained silent for a moment and I suppose Jack took my words as a hint to end the discussion.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’ll never stop.”
“So that’s it? You live your life loving her but don’t do a damn thing about it? Seems wrong to me, no?”
“Never pegged a biker to be a matchmaker.”
A grin worked its way across Jack’s face. “Ah, come on now, didn’t you hear that I’ve been called the biker with the soft heart?”
“That’s almost comical,” I replied, my lips twitching threatening to form a smile. Jack Parrish was okay in my book. “So tell me more about this brother of yours.”
“He fucking hates me for one,” he snarled, running the back of his hand along the scruff that lined his jaw.
“Even after all you did for him after your parent’s passed?”
“You have to remember my parents wouldn’t have died that night if I hadn’t of been the fuck up they needed to bail out,” he grimaced while rolling his shoulders. “He blamed my criminal tendencies on all that was wrong in his life. A part of me believes he became a Fed to fuck me in the ass,” he laughed, cupping the back of his neck. “You know how it goes Bianci I’m sure you sister wanted a better life for you too.”
“Probably,” I agreed, even though Lauren never busted my balls I’m sure she didn’t like that I worked for the mob. My mother hated it and Adrianna fucking despised the fact so yeah, I understood what Jack was saying.
The rest of the way we drove in a comfortable silence, neither of us speaking until we veered off the exit and closer to our destination. The GPS sounded telling me where to turn and I could tell Jack was becoming anxious as we approached the end of the route.
“I haven’t seen him in three years,” he whispered.
“What makes you so sure he’s going to go along with what you have planned?” I asked cautiously.
“Nobody wants to be murdered do they?” He said solemnly.
I didn’t even know what to say to him so I didn’t say anything. I made a right turn as the navigation instructed only to slam on my breaks before I crashed into the car in front of me. The police roped off the street; the five cars that had tried turning onto the street just like I had, remained at a standstill. Sirens and lights flashed as far as I could see down the block and to the right a house stood engulfed by flames where firefighters were trying to tame it.
“No, no, no,” Jack said frantically, slamming the palm of his hand against the dashboard before I could ask him what was going on. He reached for the handle of the door and hurried out of my truck. I turned the car off and jumped out to follow him, a sickening feeling churned in the pit of my stomach. I watched his motorcycle boots skid to a halt against the pavement in front of the police officer that barricaded him from going towards the burning house.
“Get the fuck off of me!” He screamed while pushing his weight against the cop and trying to charge passed him.
“Jack!” I hollered, hooking my arms through his and pulling him off the cop.
“Danny’s in there!” He shouted.
“You don’t know that, maybe he’s not home,” I tried to reason, blinded by the flames that would soon be flashes of ember.
“That’s his car!” He pointed to the sedan in the driveway.
“That don’t mean a thing,” I yelled, glancing at the cop. “Boss, do you know if there was anyone inside the house when the fire started?”
“There are two people trapped inside,” he said, looking over his shoulder as a fireman shouted something before parts of the house began to crumble.
Jack kneeled to the ground taking me with him as he leaned back on his haunches covering his face with his hands.