“They did this time.”
I could see the anger in her, hear it in her voice. I wasn’t trying to piss the girl off, but she needed to be prepared for all this shit to fall apart.
“Sit back down,” I said. “We can talk.”
“Forget it. I’m not interested in hearing it. I’m marrying that creepy asshole and making sure the Rebels get patched over, and that’s the fucking end of it.”
Before I could answer, she stormed out of the room. I heard her bedroom door slam shut.
The girl was a fucking spitfire, I knew that much, but I hadn’t guessed how pissed off that would make her. I wasn’t trying to push her too far, but I wanted her to realize that this might all come apart.
Still, I understood where she was coming from. She’d come far and seen a few things, shit she probably never wanted to see, death and violence. She probably felt like if it fell apart now, then she just wasted all her time on this, saw a bunch of shit that fucked her up for no good reason.
Maybe she was blind to the good that already came of all this blood and terror. I wasn’t sure I could make her see it, even if I wanted to.
I leaned back farther into the couch. My head was ringing with pain, and I didn’t have the energy to chase the girl down and make her see reason. I had to get my strength back anyway, in case someone tried some more shit.
I let her stew back in her bedroom. At least I had the couch, the wonderful couch that would never storm out on me.
29
Janine
I didn’t know why I’d reacted so strongly to what Clutch said out in the living room, but I was angry with him anyway.
I sprawled out on my bed, legs half covered with a thin sheet, and stewed. What right did he have to tell me that I was making a mistake? Even though he didn’t really say that, I could tell that was what he was thinking. I knew he had my best interests at heart, but it was still tough to hear someone I cared about tell me that my big sacrifice and important plan may not even happen or amount to anything.
I’d already put so much of myself into this. I’d seen and done things I’d never wanted to do, all for the good of the club. It pissed me off that Clutch could be so cavalier and act like all of that was for absolutely nothing.
I sighed and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Truth was, I knew I was getting mad because I was having those same thoughts. It wasn’t like he was telling me something new, something I hadn’t realized already.
But it was hard to hear. I didn’t want to be Jetter’s wife, but I also wanted to do something to help this war.
As I lay there, my phone started ringing. I reached over and picked it up, answering it on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Janine.” It was Larkin.
“Hi, Dad. What’s up?”
“We have to talk.” He sounded pained, like he didn’t want to be having this conversation.
“Okay.” I sat up, worried.
“I heard you met with Jetter this morning.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it first. I figured it would just be easier for everyone if I went.”
He sighed. “It’s fine. Jetter seems very taken with you, though. I can’t tell if he’s lying or not.”
“I have no idea,” I said honestly. “He told me a story, something about you actually.”
There was a pause. “What did he say?”
“There was a girl named Jolene. He said he was dating her, but then she left him for you. One night you brought her on a drug deal and she got shot. Jetter left the Demons because of that.”
Larkin laughed. “That’s true.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but he told it backward. Jolene left me for Jetter, and that fucking bastard was the one who got her killed.”
I blinked, surprised by that. “Why would he tell it to me a different way?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but you have to be careful when you’re around him. I told you Jetter is a crafty son of a bitch.”
I had no clue what the story was meant to prove. He had to have known that I was going to ask Larkin about it sooner or later, and as soon as I did, I’d find out the truth. Of course I believed Larkin over Jetter. I trusted my own adopted father over some stranger who betrayed the club a long time ago.
Whatever half-decent feelings I had for Jetter instantly vanished. He hadn’t been such a bad guy earlier in the morning, but now I realized that the whole thing had been an act. Jetter was still playing games, trying to get into my head, and probably trying to get into Larkin’s head as well.
“That bastard,” I said. “He’s just messing with us, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know where any of this is going. But he stopped by not too long ago, and we had a talk.”
I felt a hollow pit in my stomach. “Just tell me.”
“He wants to move the wedding up. Two days from now.”
I took a short breath and slowly let it out. He wanted to move the wedding up. It was still happening.