by Shannon West
Logan glanced over at Luke. “Did you feel that way too?”
“Maybe a little,” Luke said. “Mostly I just remember it was exciting. Even fun. I can’t think why I thought so now.”
“Were we drugged?” Jake asked, leaning forward.
“No, we thought of that, but they gave us cans of unopened beer. I only took a sip or two of mine and so did most of you.”
Jake nodded. “Okay, this is farfetched, but was it some kind of hypnotism or something?”
Perry shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I wasn’t hypnotized. I was just mad. Mad at the world.”
Luke leaned forward eagerly. “I felt like that too. What was that? Could it have something to do with what happened to us in the explosion?” he asked softly. Logan whipped his head around to stare at him.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that I never felt like that before, and a lot has happened to us since that explosion. We’ve all been enhanced in some ways and we’ve…changed. I know I have. Could this be some new facet to our personalities? Are we starting to like violence? To want to be violent ourselves?”
“No,” Logan said firmly, “because I sure didn’t like it. I wanted nothing to do with it, and I was totally disgusted by what happened to that woman in the ring, not to mention those kids there at the end. None of them could have been much over eighteen. Where did they come from anyway? None of them seemed to have any beef with anybody there. It was like they were only there to get beaten up for the pleasure of the crowd.”
“They got beat up pretty bad, didn’t they?” Perry said. “Even the one Jackson fought with. We need to talk to Jackson and see what the hell is going on.”
Logan nodded. “I’d love to, but I didn’t get his phone number because I thought we’d see him afterward. Maybe he’ll come by and see us. If not, we have to go back to that club again tonight, I guess.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Luke said, nodding toward the front desk. “Look. Here comes Jackson now.”
“What?” Logan twisted in his seat to look behind him. “Well, speak of the devil…”
From where they sat, they had a good view of the lobby and the front desk and Jackson had just come into the lobby and was waiting by the desk for a clerk to be free. Logan immediately got up and went over to greet him.
“Jackson, it’s good to see you here. Jake and Perry said you might come by.”
“Hi, Logan. I can’t stay long.”
“Then let’s go somewhere we can talk right away. Up to my room?”
“Sounds good,” he said, nodding.
“Let me just get everybody.” Logan turned and waved at Luke and the others, who were already on their feet. Slinging an arm around Jackson’s shoulders, Logan began to walk with him toward the elevators. “We can talk more privately upstairs.”
Jackson nodded, seeming distracted and uneasy. He nodded to the others as they came up to stand beside them, but didn’t really meet their gazes, looking down at his feet or impatiently up at the elevator lights, or anywhere but direct eye contact with any of the group. Logan, who still had his hand on Jackson’s shoulder, could feel a slight tremble in his body and wondered again what the hell could possibly be going on with him and that club.
Nobody said much and silence rode up in the elevator with them and followed them down to Luke and Logan’s room. Logan used his key and all the men filed into the room, with Rio running to greet them. Logan saw Luke giving him some food from a plate he’d carried up for him. Jake and Jackson took seats on Rio’s bed, with Luke and Logan opposite them on their bed and Perry choosing to sit in a desk chair by the window.
“Okay, Jackson. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t take you down to my truck, load you and everybody else up and haul ass out of this town.” Jackson looked up at him in surprise, but with a hint of a smile on his lips.
“You would try to do that too, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, I would. And I wouldn’t just try. In fact, now that I say it out loud, I think it’s our best option.”
Jackson shook his head. “No, it’s not an option. Dread is outside with some of his men, waiting on me.”
Logan snorted. “And you think that scares me?”
“No, but I also don’t think you can afford to have some kind of big, splashy incident here in the middle of downtown. Not only would you alert The Institute as to where you are, but all kinds of government officials would be interested too and they’d get involved. I can’t see it ending well for any of us.”
“He’s right about that,” Luke said. He turned his gaze back to Jackson. “Why are you even here, then?”
“To try to explain why I can’t leave with you. You won’t leave unless you know I want this. I’m happy here.”
“Bullshit, Jackson. When we first met you, you looked me right in the eye and said you were in trouble and no one could help you.”
“I did. And I still think that’s right. But it’s not a trouble I want to run away from. It’s what I was meant to do.” He nodded over at Luke. “You’re in trouble in your situation with Logan too, but you don’t want to leave it, now, do you?”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Logan said, bristling. “Leave me and Luke out of this. Damn it, you’re not making any sense. Trouble from what? Last night you said Dread influenced you. So how does he do that?”
Jackson blew out a breath and again couldn’t meet any of their gazes. He dropped his head and sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” Logan said, his tone harsh.
“Ease up a little, Logan,” Perry said from his place by the door “This is Jackson, not the enemy.”
Perry came closer and sat down on the other side of Jackson on the bed. “Just tell us. Or if you can’t, then tell us about the fight last night. Who were those kids there at the end? Your fight with the last one was pretty brutal—do you know if he’s all right?”
Jackson nodded, looking relieved to be talking about something else. “He’s going to be all right. His…” He glanced over at Logan and flushed. “His jaw is broken, but they took him to the hospital and he’ll be fine.”
Logan glared at him. “What’s the matter with you? How old was that kid anyway? He couldn’t have been over eighteen.”
“I-I don’t know exactly. He was a street kid, that’s all I know. They were all street kids.”
“You mean homeless? Which means they’re probably all runaways. What did Dread offer them to fight? A good meal? Some pocket change? And for that, the kid you fought gets his fucking jaw broken?”
“I-I don’t know exactly how the kids get picked up. I imagine it’s something like that. But it’s the only way Dread can find anyone willing to fight me anymore. They either have to be new to town, like that first guy I fought last night or desperate for money, like those kids were.”
“Jesus, Jackson,” Logan said softly. “You could have killed him. I know how strong you are now. Like the rest of us. Your fists are lethal weapons, damn it.”
“I know…but you don’t understand. I can control it. And I can’t not fight. I’ve tried to resist it but I can’t do it. Something inside of me just takes me over and I have to get in the ring. The only thing I can do is try not to kill them. And so far, I’ve managed to do that.”
“Do you even hear yourself? What’s the matter with you?” Logan was on his feet by this time, and Luke was too, holding onto him like grim death, no matter how hard Logan tried to shake him off.
“Calm down. You wanted the truth, and he’s trying to tell you!”
Logan shook his head but allowed Luke to pull him back down beside him. He was shaking from the effort it took not to wrench his arm out of Luke’s grasp. Luke was ignoring him now, leaning toward Jackson. “What do you mean by saying you can’t not fight in the ring? That’s your idea of an explanation?”
Jackson shook his head again and Logan let out an explosive breath and a
loud “Fuck!”
That’s when Luke grabbed his arm and hauled him off the bed and out of the room. “Be right back! I promise we’ll be quick.”
Chapter Seven
Shoving around an irritated Logan around was like manhandling a grouchy gorilla. It was totally exhausting, really tiresome and not much fun for the gorilla either. It took all Luke’s strength to wrestle him out the door and into the hallway, and Luke was pretty sure Logan wasn’t even trying all that hard to resist. In fact, ever since last night, Logan had been walking on eggshells around him and he couldn’t figure out why. He knew they’d had a fight, but they had lots of fights. It was kind of the nature of their relationship. And they’d made up afterward, so why should this argument have been any different?
Logan rounded on him the second they cleared the door. “Why are you pulling me out of there? I wasn’t going to hit him or anything.”
“Are you sure of that? You were getting a little out of control. I thought you were going to slug me for a minute there.”
Logan sobered immediately and gazed at him soulfully out of those big, beautiful eyes. “I would never hit you, Luke. I just couldn’t do it.”
Luke snorted. “Oh, okay.”
“No, really. I know we fool around a lot and sometimes when we make love, I get a little too rough…”
Luke put a hand up to brush against Logan’s jaw. “No. Don’t do that to yourself. You don’t do anything I don’t like, anything I don’t want, so don’t pay any attention to what Perry and Jake say. And Jackson doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”
“Listen, I’m not going to fly off the handle in there. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Says who?” Luke leaned in to kiss him, lingering a while over his lips before pulling away. “Maybe I like to worry about you, like you do me. Let’s go back in and don’t get mad, no matter what he says. I think he’s confused and not thinking straight right now.”
“All the more reason I need to get him out of that place. Find out what’s wrong with him and if it’s related to all the other things that have happened to us.”
“Let’s just talk to him—see if we can get him to tell us what’s really going on. We need to figure that out and not antagonize him.”
They started back inside and Luke stopped with his hand on the door knob and his eyes searched Logan’s face. “Is everything else all right? Is something else going on with you?”
“I’m fine.” When he saw the look of skepticism on Luke’s face, he smiled. “Okay, I’m not fine, but we can talk about it later. I promise.”
“Okay then. Let’s go back and talk to Jackson. But with less yelling this time.”
Logan nodded and they stepped back inside as Jackson turned toward them with a frown.
“Sorry if I’m frustrating you.” He took a deep breath and let it out again. “I just can’t explain this well, because I don’t completely understand it myself.”
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. Tell us why you’re doing this again. Why are you letting that low-life Dread make you fight if you don’t want to?”
Jackson’s face was a mask of confusion and misery as he tried for a moment to work out his answer. “I never said I didn’t want to. You don’t understand. It’s too hard to explain.”
“Just try,” Logan said, leaning forward to touch his arm. “After what we’ve already been through? Hell, I’ll believe just about anything you tell me.”
Jackson sighed and shook his head. “Not this.”
Blowing out a frustrated breath, Logan leaned toward him. “Come on, Jackson. Surely you aren’t afraid of that son-of-a-bitch?”
“I’m not afraid of him, no.”
“Well, don’t tell me you’re in love with him—I saw the way he looks at you.”
Jackson looked up, startled, but then shook his head. “No, I’m not in love with Dread. I’m not gay, Logan. It’s not anything like that.”
“What then?” Logan yelled, knowing he’d just gone back to yelling again and trying to dial it down. “Sorry—but please, give me one good reason why we can’t just leave this town?” He sighed and took a deep breath. “I need an answer. Help me understand.”
Jackson stood up, his eyes flashing with irritation. “Okay, damn it, since you won’t take a simple no for an answer, I’ll give you a reason. You won’t understand, but I’ll try. I don’t want to leave, plain and simple. I’m glad you came to find me and I wanted to see you again—I did. But I don’t need rescuing like you seem to think I do. I’ve found my place and this is where I belong. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like this is what I’ve been searching for my whole life. Sure, there are some bad aspects—some violent ones. But look at the rewards!”
“What fucking rewards? I’m not seeing anything except money and there are better ways to make that.”
“Immortality for one! Power! You know this, Logan. The strength we have and all the other gifts we’ve received.”
“Gifts? And you’re saying…what? That what the Institute did to us is somehow connected to this shit? How do you figure?”
“It is connected. I know it, the same way I know other things. The way I knew about Kowalski and his betrayal. Except I know now that it wasn’t a betrayal. Not really. He just didn’t understand what was really going on. He believed all that bullshit about the Institute creating super soldiers—all that was a bunch of lies. It was never about any of that.”
“And you think you know what it was really about?”
“I do, yes. Most of it, anyway.”
Logan glanced over at Luke. “Then enlighten us, Jackson.”
“I’m not sure if I can. I don’t think you’ll believe me anyway.”
“This again?”
“Yes. Look, it’s not clear or exact, unless I really concentrate, but I can feel things, you know? And I feel things about this. Things I can’t possibly explain. Just believe me when I tell you we were chosen for this. We have a greater purpose and I’m serving that purpose now, and you could too if you just allowed yourself to.” He glared at Logan and shook his head. “You stand in their way, but I came to tell them they can join us. They can come with me now and fulfill their purpose. And the rewards will be even greater.”
Logan put a possessive hand on Luke’s leg. “They’re not going anywhere. You can do as you like, but I’m telling you you’re making a mistake. I don’t know what kind of drugs Dread has been feeding you, but if you’re choosing that shithole over us, you’ve lost your mind. That’s your ‘purpose’ in the world and what you’ve been searching for? An immoral, underground, illegal fight club. You’re crazy as hell.”
Jackson clenched his fists and raised his gaze to the ceiling. “And that’s your takeaway from what I said? I knew you wouldn’t understand. Everything is so black or white to you, isn’t it?”
“I know the difference between right and wrong. Between good and evil.”
“Oh, so do I. That’s the choice I’m making. I told you, Logan, I know what I’m doing.”
“Then why did you tell me you were in trouble and didn’t know how to get out of it when we first saw you yesterday? This makes no sense.”
“I don’t remember saying that.”
“You said it. And I could understand when we saw what you were involved in. It’s not right and you know it.”
“There’s more to it than you could possibly know!”
“Like what? And don’t say I ‘can’t understand’ again. Tell me and I’ll try to keep up.”
Jackson flopped back down, looking frustrated. “I can’t say I know all of it. It’s like a memory that I can’t quite access. I think I’m supposed to know, but I just can’t remember yet.”
Jake spoke up beside him. “I know what you mean. Things about the fights seem familiar and yet I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.”
“This psychic thing you have,” Perry said. “You must have heard Kowalski plotting against you, didn’t you
? When you were on the road with him? We haven’t talked about what you went through with that. It had to be bad.”
“It was.” Jackson turned to him, looking relieved that he’d changed the subject. “I knew when Kowalski started thinking about contacting the Institute. He was tired of running, even though it hadn’t been all that long. Kowalski was lazy and didn’t like to work too hard. And he was tired of going hungry when we ran out of money and food.”
Logan nodded. “He told me the Institute found you after he used his ATM card. Or was that a lie too?”
“No, the mercenaries from the Institute did find us. But he used the card deliberately so they would. I knew it and I knew they’d come. By that time, I was getting really good at knowing things. The men they sent didn’t know what they were doing, really. No more than any of the rest of us. They were only supposed to keep us there until Ben King, the guy who recruited us, got there. He was the only one who knew what was really going on. But I didn’t know that then. All I could see was what was in the mercenaries’ minds. I decided to run so they’d shoot me—I was taking a big chance, but at that point I was pretty sure it wouldn’t kill me no matter what they did, and I wanted them to think I was dead so I could get away before King arrived. I didn’t know exactly what this all was yet, you see. I didn’t know for sure until I got here to Atlanta and met Dread. If I had known, I could have stayed and saved myself the trouble. Anyway, the mercs buried me, and I got out.” He looked at Logan. “The same way you did.”
Nothing surprised Luke much anymore, and it didn’t particularly surprise him that Jackson already seemed to know what happened to Logan at the cabin. Still he was surprised that Logan simply nodded in response. “But you think King had a different agenda in mind.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he send Kowalski after us?”
“He wanted all of us. Kowalski had told him about the rendezvous in Atlanta so he knew where to look for me. All he had to do was round the rest of you up. Then you killed Kowalski and things changed.”