My phone buzzed and I reached for it, ready to silence it. I wasn’t in the position to talk to anyone while I needed answers from Braddox. I glanced at the screen, wincing as I read the incoming caller-id. Olivia. I’d missed three calls from her and two from my dad.
I swiped the screen and pressed the cell to my ear while holding up a finger at Braddox as if to tell him to hold on. Please, hold while you tell me about ordering my death. “Olivia? What’s wrong?” I didn’t look away from Braddox as I spoke, noting the way his eyes shifted at her name and how he dropped his gaze to the ground while I spoke.
“Donnie shot up the house. Trenton’s house, Jaxon. I don’t know what role Braddox has in this, but the black SUV had Donnie in it. I saw him. He shot up the house.” Hysteria mingled with pure fury and Olivia’s voice shook.
“Are you okay? Did you get hit?” First and foremost, was she okay? That’s all that mattered to me. I couldn’t think straight, if she was injured. Once I got that answer, I’d focus on the rest of it.
Braddox snapped his eyes up, piercing me with his gaze. He moved closer to me, leaning forward as if seeking the answer to the question I’d asked Olivia.
Wind whipped at the rain coming down, shoving it sideways and under my hood. Braddox ignored the weather, letting the water drip from the angles of his face as if he were in some kind of shower modeling commercial.
“I’m fine. I wasn’t hit. Jaxon, I’m fuming. Where are you?” Her demands came from worry and I responded to the concern in her voice.
“I’m at the cemetery with Braddox. Everything is fine. I’ll let you know when I’m headed back.” But did I really think I was going home? Why would Braddox bring me out to the cemetery when he’d ordered a hit on me? Unless of course it was to enable the hit to be completed. He was telling me right then because he wanted me ready to face my death.
I hung up with Olivia, tucking the phone in my back pocket. Folding my arms, I heaved a sigh. “Donnie shot up the house. Olivia was inside. He was in a black SUV. I’m not sure if there were other people with him, but I don’t doubt it. You said he ran with hard guys.” Would Braddox hear what had happened? Would he hear the role he was playing?
Braddox’s face paled.
“What do you know? Why would Donnie shoot up the house, Braddox?” I stepped closer to my brother; my eyes narrowed as I sought the truth. What wasn’t he telling me? “There’s nothing worse you could’ve done. You’ve already admitted to the hit. There is nothing worse than that. Tell me what you’re holding back, Braddox.”
Braddox walked around me, coming to stand beside me with his back to Mom’s grave as he watched over the scenery of the cemetery and beyond. “Look, I took some money from Dad. I ordered the hit on you and… I also ordered a hit on Donnie.” He ignored my murmured expletive and continued. “The thing is, I went through the Stablers for Donnie’s hit. I was testing to see just how connected they are. If he hit up the house, he knows. The problem though is… I got confirmation that payment was accepted and the job will be completed. Donnie knows, but I’m not sure how much he knows.” Braddox’s voice was resigned.
“You’re fine with this? The fact that you so blithely ordered people in your life to be killed? This is a problem. The fact that you don’t care, is a problem, Braddox.” I couldn’t believe my brother was so cold-hearted. Every extra chance I’d ever given him mocked me.
Braddox whirled toward me, his eyes wide. He flung his hands out to his sides. “What do you want me to say? I know it’s a mistake. I know you don’t deserve this, but I ordered it. We’re stuck. There is no way out. Do you understand?”
Movement at the front of the cemetery about five hundred yards from where we stood caught my eye. A black SUV rolled through the gates; the dark windows reflected the roiling clouds overhead.
Olivia had said Donnie was in a black SUV when he’d shot up the house.
Braddox didn’t move as he raised his gaze to light on the SUV coming up the winding roadway. Not only resignation shadowed the lines of his face. Was that acceptance as he folded his arms and slumped forward? Was he willing to watch me die in a plot he’d created?
“You know what’s hardest about being your twin?” Braddox glanced at me and then returned to watching the SUV climb irrevocably toward us. His voice was soft but resolute.
My breath sped up. I searched the area. Where could we hide? We needed an escape route. The car was too far away for us to make it out of there before the SUV was upon us. I licked my lips and swallowed. “What?” Of course, he would be thinking about how I’d inconvenienced him as his twin when I was close to death.
Braddox turned to face me, ignoring the car coming closer and closer. My pulse sped up and I watched him while keeping the car in sight. He tilted his head, his eyes sad but determined. “The hardest part is that I can’t even hate you. And trust me, Jaxon, I’ve tried. I’ve tried to hate you. I’ve tried to blame you for everything. What it comes right down to is the fact that you’re too damn likeable. I mean, shit, Jaxon. You have the better answer for everything.”
“Why would you want to hate me? I mean, we’re brothers. Wouldn’t you want to get along with me?” I studied Braddox. What was I missing that he’d want to hate me so much that he wanted to kill me?
He stared at me; his expression neutral with a tinge of pain. He twisted his lips to the side in a mocking smile and shrugged. “Why not?”
His answer left me frustrated and more than a little sad. Why not hate me? Why not want to hate your brother?
I shook my head, backing up as if to separate myself from him. But he followed me, staying close. I held up my hands. “I haven’t done anything to you. And you hate me.” If I was going to die, then I was going to die with a clear conscience. “Just so you know, I’m sorry. I never meant to make your life hard or to even make you want to hate me. I’ve never wanted anything but for our family to be together and you and I to be close. That’s all.” Since I was set up to die, I lowered my arms.
I wasn’t going to go out like a bitch. I was going to be a man.
Braddox stopped following me, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. “Damn you, Jaxon. Why do you always say the right thing? You’re not supposed to do that. You’re supposed to at least be a prick at the end of your life. You know? I mean… isn’t that like a right or something?”
“Can we get out of this? Can we get down? Can we crawl out of here or something? Anything?” My instinct to survive kicked in and I suddenly didn’t want to hear what Braddox had repeatedly told me. I didn’t want to believe that there was no way out.
“There’s no way out of this, Jaxon. I’m sorry.” Braddox shook his head as he held my gaze.
Just what had my brother imprisoned us in? I was going to die and I didn’t want to.
The SUV crept closer, driving smoothly up the road, closer, closer, closer. There was no turning back at that point.
A finite calm spread over me and I met Braddox’s eyes. “Okay, Brax. If this is what you want. I got you. Maybe you’ll finally see just how much you mean to me.” I reached out and pulled him in a tight hug. He didn’t fight me for a long ten seconds then pushed me away.
I’d gotten something from him. That’s all I could ask for. I set my jaw and turned, watching as the SUV got closer. In the distance, my shiny black El Camino pulled into the cemetery. Dread filled me. Olivia couldn’t be there. She’d be in danger. I needed her to stop. To go back.
Braddox saw her then and breathed, “What is she doing here?”
Chapter 23
Olivia
There was no hiding my arrival as I drove the El Camino through the rock gates. The old-style windshield wipers slapped back and forth on the glass, trying vainly to banish the rain impeding my vision.
I peered up toward the place where Jaxon’s mother had been buried, spying Braddox’s black Nova parked to the side. Up even further, Braddox in a blue hoodie and Jaxon in a black one stood by the grave but not looking at it. Th
ey faced each other and I couldn’t see their expressions, but their body language screamed that they were arguing.
They had to stop.
Movement off to the side, just past the Nova caught my eye. I squinted, leaning forward to see better through the windshield as I drove the car further up the winding road to the place Jaxon and Braddox were.
A black SUV similar to the one I’d watched shoot up the house, drove toward the Nova. The road didn’t have anywhere else to go besides that parking lot. Instead, the blacktop turned, dropping down to loop back into the road to take the visitors back to the exit.
There was literally no other reason you would be on that road, other than to be in the cemetery.
The SUV was there for them. I could feel it. The damn rain altered my view of the setting and I had to look away to watch the road. I sped up, turning the first bend. The SUV was going to beat me to the guys. I revved the engine, pushing the car as fast as I dared. Every time I started to gain, I had to slow down for the coming curve.
Slamming my hand on the steering wheel, I stared up the hill. Why weren’t Braddox and Jaxon moving? What were they doing? Run! I wanted to scream at them. Scream more specifically at Jaxon. Run, damn you!
As if in slow motion, the SUV drove parallel to me, with its passenger side doors facing down the hill. The windows rolled down. I could clearly see Donnie. I shook my head. “No!” But no one could hear me. No one cared I was there.
The SUV took the last curve to get to where Braddox and Jaxon had parked, this time the open windows faced up toward the guys.
A slew of shots rang out and I screamed, taking the turn in front of me at thirty miles an hour and half skidding off the pavement.
The SUV drove on, taking the loop and passing the curve I’d just left. They disappeared from my view since all I could see was the hill. Not that I was even looking after them. I didn’t care what happened to them.
Jaxon, in his black hoodie, sank to his knees, Braddox beside him, reaching for his brother’s chest. I couldn’t get the car to move fast enough. I stopped the vehicle on the up curve behind the Nova, throwing it into park as I jumped from the car.
Sprinting as hard and fast as I could, I ran through the slippery grass, tears already warming my cheeks. “No. No.” I didn’t even look at Braddox as I sank to my knees beside Jaxon’s fallen form. I pulled his head gently into my lap and stared down at his body. “Where are you hit? Oh, shit, Jaxon. I… You can’t be hurt. Please, say you’ll be okay.” I folded myself at the waist, bending over his face and crying. “Please. I love you. I need you. Don’t die.” Desperation was my friend and I clung to the hope that he’d be okay as long as I told him how I felt.
Even though my life wasn’t some afterschool special.
“I knew. You loved. Me. You just needed. The right. Incentive.” The guy I thought was Jaxon coughed and smiled a rueful smile as he looked at me from my lap. “Too bad. I had to. Get shot to. Prove it. To. You.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, staring up at the man who actually was Jaxon. He was fine, unharmed and staring at me with a gentle sadness I knew wasn’t for me. “You’re okay?” I had to ask anyway. I didn’t know how to go from thinking I was losing him to having him standing right in front of me.
He nodded and sank to the ground beside Braddox, reaching across his brother’s chest to take my hand in his. “I’m fine, but…” He shook his head and reached out, taking Braddox’s hand in his other one. He blinked, his eyes suspiciously bright. “Why? Why did you do this?”
Braddox didn’t move but to blink, shifting his gaze between Jaxon and me. He stared at me, watching me for a long moment. A warm stickiness came through my jeans on my knees where he was half-lying. “I’m going to pretend you said you loved me. Not him. Just once. Is that okay?” His tone lacked the strong sarcasm I’d grown used to expecting from him.
I wrinkled my nose and nodded. “If you have to.”
He laughed, but the sound came out more like a cough. “Yeah, that’s a first.” He turned his gaze back to Jaxon, tears pooling in his eyes before leaking out the sides. “I swear. I wasn’t. Thinking straight. I…” He closed his eyes, then opened them again, staring at Jaxon. “I did this right. I can say that.”
“No. Hold on. We can start over. Try again. Braddox, I…” Jaxon claimed Braddox’s hand lying limply to the side in his fingers and scooted closer to Braddox’s side. “I love you. I forgive you. Hang on.” He looked at me. “Call for help.” His words were soft and demanding all at once. He needed his brother. I could see that. I could accept it as Braddox lay in my arms. Jaxon needed his brother.
“No.” Braddox weakly reached for me. “Don’t. I did this. I did. They. Won’t get here in. Time.” He gasped, his chest laboring to get him more oxygen.
My heart sank. I winced, shooting a glance at Jaxon whose own cheeks were damp from more than the rain coming in spurts. “Don’t say that, Brax.” I moved to pull out my phone but he stopped me.
“I’m sure. I know. Trust me. This one time.” Braddox turned his gaze toward Jaxon. “Do something good. I set this up. I had. To undo it. Let me do this. I… You’re my. Brother.” His last word faded, stolen from the air by the rain dripping onto his suddenly slack features.
I gasped, shaking my head as I gripped his shoulder with my hand underneath him. “Jaxon, call the cops, call for help. Something. We can still save him.”
Jaxon slowly pulled out his phone, but watched his brother with a knowing frown. “He’s right. It’s too late, but…” He dialed on his phone and then spoke to an operator, getting off the phone in less than minute and returning his cell to his pocket.
“What do we do?” I’d spoken about killing him, getting revenge on him, but kneeling there, holding his dying body in my arms was a drastically different experience than what I’d had planned. It was far too personal compared to what I’d actually wanted.
I sniffed, leaning my head back as genuine sorrow filled my heart. “He said he was going to do this. He said… I thought he called it off. I thought…” I shook my head. “Why was he here with you? What were you guys doing?” I couldn’t understand what exactly had happened. How had they gotten Braddox instead of Jaxon?
“He pushed me out of the way. He knew what he was doing.” Jaxon closed his eyes and waited beside me. Braddox had sacrificed himself for his brother. Jaxon was right. People could change. They could become something they weren’t. Braddox had done that. He’d saved his brother, even though he knew he would die.
Too much loss riddled our present. How could we face the future we’d tried mapping out? Where did we go from there?
Chapter 24
Jaxon
I didn’t want to let go of Braddox’s hand. His fingers became limp and I held on, even though I knew he couldn’t feel me anymore. I held on for myself. His flesh was still warm, but in that chilly rain it wouldn’t be for long. I hung my head, wishing I could go back to that morning when he’d stopped by my room. “He didn’t step out of the way. He actually moved away from me after pushing me the other direction. They shot him twice. They were aiming for him. He’d just gotten me clear, so I wouldn’t take any extra shots.”
My chest hurt from the effort of trying to suppress my pain. I clutched his fingers and held on, wishing he would come back, wishing he was just playing around.
“They wanted to kill Braddox? I don’t understand.” Olivia’s large eyes took me in, as if hungry for more of me, the way I hungered for her.
The fact that she was there with me gave me a kind of solace I’d never be able to explain.
I shook my head, reaching down to cradle Braddox’s elbow in my palm. “No, he borrowed my hoodie. He specifically asked me to use it this morning. I didn’t think anything of it. I usually wear that one, but today, I felt like blue.” I was rambling. I knew it but I couldn’t stop the words from falling from my mouth. “I wore the blue and he wore black. He… he told me what he was doing even as he stood the
re and that damn SUV drove closer and closer. I got your call and he said…” I leaned my head back and let the rain rinse my tears away. “He said he ordered a hit on me and on Donnie, but with different people.”
Sorrow shadowed Olivia’s features. She didn’t seem to care that her dark curls were soaked, strands clinging to her cheeks or the fact that her normally vibrant skin was pale, making her eyes look that much bigger. “He ordered a hit on Donnie? But Donnie was just here. Maybe if Donnie had died before him…” She furrowed her brow, glancing down at Braddox and tensing her jaw.
Before she could say anything against my brother, I shook my head. “What do I do now? We were talking, actually talking with each other. I mean, he said things to me that I never thought I’d hear from him. He owned what he did to Mom. I forgave him.” I pulled Braddox’s hand to my forehead, desperate for one last moment with my brother. “I don’t understand. How did I lose so much?”
Just when I thought I was gaining and making strides in my family, I had to lose someone else. Braddox wasn’t just someone, he was my brother. I’d never get another chance with him again. He was gone. That was all there was to it. “Everyone I love dies.”
And there it was. My truth had fallen from my lips like petals of a dying flower. Drifting to fall between Olivia and me to land on the one guy who was me but different.
I stared down at him, my breath coming in pants, fogging in front of my face for the brief time it took for the rain drops to drag the frozen breath away. Looking at Braddox, I finally let reality soak into me. That could have been me. It should have been me. “He’d worn the sweatshirt so he would be the one shot. Him. He’d planned this since before we got here. All that time, I thought it was going to be me.” I moved his hand down to hold against my cheek and stared at him more. “It should have been me.”
“Jaxon.” Olivia didn’t say anything else as she waited for me to lift my gaze to her face. Once I did, she tilted her head to the side and reached out, releasing Braddox’s hand from hers and grazing my free cheek with her knuckles. “Maybe we’re not good for each other. All I’ve caused you is pain. Me. I came to your school and brought Braddox that way. He never would have bothered you, if I hadn’t shown up. You wouldn’t have lost so much to him.” She sobbed, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth and closed her eyes. “I see your sadness and I feel responsible.”
Forgiven: a bully romance (An Academy Twin Rivalry Series Book 3) Page 17