A Broken Jewel (Jade Book 1)

by Lucy Rains

  “But I have more questions,” I protested quietly. Not sure I wanted to know the answers.

  “You don’t want to drink from the fire house,” Alex pointed out.

  A wave of cold tiredness washed over me and I knew I was done. I wanted to be alone and have time to process what I had been told.

  “Fine. I’m going back to my room.” I said firmly, standing up straight. I grabbed my water bottle off of the table and took a step back. Four pairs of male eyes watched my every move as I backed slowly out of the room. Apparently they knew I wasn’t lying, because they let me leave without following me up the stairs.

  The low rumble of voices started as soon as I made it to my room. I could have easily stretched my hearing to listen into their conversation, but a hot shower sounded better then whatever they had to say.

  I closed the door behind me and turned the lock. The sound signaled solitude and I wiped moisture from my eyes. My limbs sagged and my chest hummed quietly. I hadn’t even noticed it downstairs. The hum was constant now. Never going away.

  As I pulled off my clothes for my shower, I was relieved to see my own undergarments still in place. But my happiness was short lived as I looked into the mirror. A thick white bandage was wrapped around my upper right arm. I fingered it gently, and then began tugging until it peeled off my skin. Once off, there were several spots of blood on a white cotton gauze that had been hidden under the bandage.

  I looked closely at the skin on my arm. There were no apparent wounds to show the source of the blood, but this wasn’t surprising due to how fast my body healed. I narrowed my eyes on a thin white scar line, about an inch long on the outside of my arm. It was where the gauze had laid. Bringing the bloody gauze closer to my face, I studied it.

  I brushed a nail over the blood and inhaled the scent. I could tell the blood was less than a day old, but longer than a few hours. My forced car accident was more than 20 hours earlier. Any wounds on my body would have healed by the time I reached the hospital. I didn’t remember having anything wrapped around my arm at the hospital, other than the needle taped to my arm for the IV. So, what was this from?

  While staring at the gauze, I twisted the door knob to open the bathroom door. Rather than throw the bandage away, I wanted to ask the guys about it later.

  I had been so lost in studying my new scar and bloodied bandage, I hadn’t heard the footsteps of someone entering my room. So when I looked up from the gauze in my hand to see Alex sitting on my bed, staring wide eyed at my barely clothed body, I nearly fainted.

  “What the hell!” I choked on my gasp and slammed the door shut. My heartbeat jumped from normal to light speed in half a second. I leaned my head on the door and pinched my eyes shut. I couldn’t get the image of Alex gaping at my body out of my mind. Shame and embarrassment washed over me. My body lacking womanly curves must have been such a shock to see, like a train wreck he couldn’t look away from. Blood rushed to my cheeks and my skin burned.

  What had he been doing in my room? Was he hoping to see me naked? Was he going to try coming into the bathroom while I was showering?

  The ideas frightened me. I swallowed back my shock and cleared my throat. “Alex.”

  There was a second pause before he answered. “Yeah?” A very guilty tone.

  “I locked my door. Why are you on my bed?”

  He cleared his throat. “I had a question to ask you.”

  I choked on a sour laugh. “Oh really? And what was it?”

  Another pause. “I don’t remember.”

  “Unbelievable” I growled. I stood up straight and grabbed a towel, wrapping it quickly around myself while still holding the gauze. I pulled the door open quickly and glared at him. He looked frozen in place, his eyes wide as frisbees.

  “I don’t care how fast you heal, if you ever pick my lock again, you won’t be able to walk for a week.”

  He nodded in apology.

  “I don’t trust you as it is, and this,” I gestured to him on my bed, “isn’t helping.”

  His eyes were round with remorse. Distracted by the gauze, he looked at my hand.

  I held it out accusingly. “What the hell is this?”

  Without looking away from the bloodied puff he yelled, “Kyson!”

  My eyes widened in horror, “What are you doing?!” I looked down at the towel wrapped around me and to the open door. The thunder of footsteps started on the stairs. I shrank back and began to turn around but was too slow. Kyson appeared in my doorway before I could dive for cover.

  His eyes also bulged at my towel clad body. He turned to Alex on my bed and then back to me. Anger glinted in his blue eyes, “What the F-”

  “What is this?” I shoved the bloodied bandage towards him, then pointed to the scar on my arm. “This wasn’t here yesterday morning when I woke up, nor at the hospital.”

  He took the dirty bandage from me and looked at it for a moment. “This, was the reason for your car crash.”

  My eyebrows came down in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

  “We needed you in a medical setting,” Alex offered.

  It still wasn’t making sense to me. “Why?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Because we had to remove a tracking device from your body.” I stared at Kyson's ocean blue eyes, trying to process his words.

  “A what?”

  “Your mother had a tracking device inserted into the back of your left arm.”

  My eyes went to the now offensive white bundle and my left hand went to my scar. “A tracking device,” I repeated softly. “Where is it now?”

  Alex grinned, “Strapped to the bottom of an 18 wheeler heading to Canada.”

  I looked at both of them, feeling numb and weak. I nodded once and stepped back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.

  Leaning my back on the bathroom door. My legs gave out and I slid to the floor. A sob coughed out my mouth and hot tears ran down my cheeks.

  I rolled the bandage and gauze together and threw it across the bathroom. It rolled behind the toilet and out of eye sight. My palms pushed into my eyes. Betrayal burned through me, dissolving into ashes of sadness. I rolled my hands into fists and tucked them under my arms. Bringing my knees up, I leaned my head down and rested on them.

  I didn’t want to believe it. Deep in my heart I wanted to hold on to the idea that she was my mother, and she loved me like a daughter. That it hadn’t all been a facade.

  But I tried, tried to dig for memories that showed motherly affection, not just a controlling caretaker. Everything I remembered only showed that she was maintaining me, keeping me healthy and secure until she was ready to test on me. The rigid rules she enforced were not out of love, like I taught myself to believe.

  Forbidding interaction with the opposite sex, going to an all girls school, no cell phone, no co-ed parties- it was to keep me from possibly becoming comfortable and then intimate with the opposite sex. Her constant questions about my menstruation, not out of motherly concern but rather scientific calculation.

  Her cold demeanor, her disinterest of me and my life, wasn’t because of her busy job, it was because she lacked the true motherly concern.

  Every realization was like a knife in my chest. Lies. False pretenses. The pain cut like a dagger into the soft humming of my chest. The tears poured faster.

  A soft knock sounded above my head.

  “Go away!” I screeched in a voice I didn’t recognize as my own. I was in no state of being able to listen to anything they had to say to me. I wanted to be alone. Because that's what I was. That’s what I truly felt deep in my gut. Alone.

  After several more minutes of shedding tears on the hard tile floor, I pulled myself up from the hard tile floor and put my sweats back on. I grabbed both towels and flipped off the light switch, encasing me in darkness. Putting my hands out to feel around the bathroom, I climbed into the large rounded bathtub. I rolled up the towel, placed it behind my neck and head let out a heavy sigh, mingled with sobs. I used a
corner of the towel to wipe my face and put the other towel over the top of my body.

  I blocked out the deep voices outside my door and closed my eyes, praying to go unconscious again.

  CHAPTER 9

  Cold.

  Pulsing energy.

  Black eyes. Fear.

  Hands on my body.

  Screams.

  I jerked up quickly, gasping for a deep breath. Darkness met my wide eyes and the nightmare flashed hauntingly in the back of my mind. I gripped the towel around me, and my fingers clenched tight to steady the shakes. My heart hammered, and I drew in a breath to bring in oxygen to my chest. I blinked quickly, helping my eyes to come out of their fog.

  I had stayed in my cold, hard, uncustomary bed for the rest of the previous day, and into the night. Sleep came and went. The information I had learned leeched any desire from me to function. My body was heavy, unwilling to move.

  I could feel their anxiety always near. My chest hummed with warmth. It was my only comfort.

  My stomach growled harshly in protest at going so long without food, and a few minutes later, a protein bar was shoved under the bottom of the bathroom door, the wrapper crinkling in the tight squeeze.

  A heavy breath escaped me as I rubbed my eyes. I knew I needed to eat. I knew I couldn’t continue like this. But I still stared at the bar for a few minutes. Bitterness, anger, resentment, sadness, all prevented me from jumping out of the tub and snatching up the food. But reason won over and I found enough motivation to get up and pull it the rest of the way through. I picked up the water bottle I had brought in and quickly emptied it, then refilled and emptied it again.

  The bathtub knobs turned smoothly as the water turned on, bringing it to a high heat. When I eased into the hot stream, I noticed, for the first time, the cleansers and bottles lining the upper shelf on the wall by the shower head. I reached up, letting my fingers run over the labels. Someone had picked them out for me. Someone had gone to a store and thought about me when buying these. Jasmine scented hair products, citrus body wash, and a charcoal face wash. I turned each bottle around in my hand looking over the words printed around the labels. An unfamiliar energy filled my chest and I didn’t know what to call it. It was like warm honey among my vibrations.

  As I washed, visions of my mother came to my mind. Her cold face, her uncaring attitude. Did I want her to find me? Would I ever want to go back home? I didn’t know the answers to these questions. What resources did she have at her disposal to look for me? If she truly was involved with this facility as the guys as said, there was much more to her then I could understand.

  I thought of Charles and my heart ached. Of all people, I didn’t want him to worry about me. And I knew he would. What would my mother tell him about my disappearance?

  Then there was Mia and Vicki, I couldn’t begin to imagine how they would take my absence. I had never missed a day of school, so suspicions would raise immediately. They would assume I was sick at first, but when a week went by, would they go to my house? What would Charles even say to them, assuming they could get passed the metal gates.

  This was trivial, and I pushed it out of my mind. There were more important topics to be concerned with. I turned off the shower and began rubbing the thick gray towel over me briskly.

  Once dry, I realized my current dilemma. Which was, that I had no clean clothes. And there were at least one, if not four, males behind that door. Why would they stay close constantly?

  My hand went to my chest and I closed my eyes. It vibrated intensely, signaling most of them were nearby.

  I swallowed down my timidness and pulled the towel tightly around me. The door creaked softly as I pulled it open. Light from the bathroom filtered into the bedroom. Kyson was stretched out on my bed, his eyes closed. Alex laid curled up on a sleeping bag on the floor. Pierce sat in my cushion chair in the corner, one leg crossed up over his knee. I wondered briefly where Gavin was, but my curiosity was answered when I glanced out the door and saw legs stretched out on the floor of the hallway.

  Pierce regarded me cooly, but I could feel his concern. My eyes met his for a brief second, then I turned to the closet. My feet stepped lightly, careful not to make a sound as I went in and quickly shut the door behind me.

  Looking through the bags on the floor, I picked out clean underwear and a bra, then a simple navy cotton tank top with black capri leggings. A black cotton jacket caught my eye and I threw it on over the top of my tank.

  When I emerged, Kyson was sitting up, watching me. Alex was gone and Pierce had stood up from his chair, his hands tucked into his jeans pockets.

  I tucked my hair behind my ears, not sure what to say. Thankfully, Pierce spoke first.

  “Food?”

  I nodded humbly, not denying my body any longer.

  Gavin had disappeared from the hallway, but as we made our way to the kitchen, I caught sight of both him and Alex sitting together on one of the couches downstairs. Both were on cell phones, looking intently at their bright screens.

  Pierce directed Kyson to take me to the dining table and wait with me there while he made food. Kyson brought a couple glasses of water with him and set them on the table. We sat in silence for about five minutes before Pierce brought in a heaping bowl of scrambled eggs, with plates and forks, promising to be back with sausage and hashbrowns.

  Gavin and Alex staggered in, phones still in hand, as I piled eggs onto my plate. They also sat down and dished themselves up. Kyson sat down at my right, Alex sat across from me. Gavin placed himself a couple chairs down.

  “What’s the status update?” Kyson asked.

  Alex swallowed his mouthful before speaking. “Activity around the hospital has died down. The tracker diversion ended yesterday morning. The signal died out around 8am. I’m assuming they found the semi, and killed the device. Vera has logged into her lab computer both yesterday morning, and” he looked at the watch on his wrist, “last night. So we know shes’ been back to the facility.”

  Alex took a break to shovel a spoonful into his mouth. Gavin put his fork down and began filling the silence. “We’ve monitored the security feed around her home. Petrov and Quinn stopped by yesterday morning and had a meeting. We assume to discuss their next course of action in looking for Jade. Other then that, she hasn’t spent much time there, other than to shower, and sleep.”

  I was so absorbed in the what the guys were saying I jumped when Pierce set down hashbrowns and sausage in the middle of the table.

  He sat down and asked, “What do her cell phone records show?”

  Alex took the lead again, “Of course, calls to her security team that secure the compound. Calls to her bank in Switzerland, her contacts with her office in New York, as well as to a new number here in D.C. I don’t recognize.”

  “I don’t like that. Find out what it is,” Pierce commanded before leaving the room, then returning with his own glass of water. He sat down between Alex and Gavin. “We’ve kicked the hornet’s nest, we have to be ready for anything.”

  “Have local traffic cams been checked?” Kyson asked.

  I sat quietly, eating my hashbrowns and savoring the taste of real food again. My stomach twisted in protest, so I took a few more bites before setting my fork down.

  “I’ve checked major intersections within a 20 mile radius. Haven’t seen anything.” Gavin leaned back and crossed his arms.

  “Are we monitoring their communications between devices at the compound?” Kyson asked.

  Gavin shrugged, “The best we can. There haven’t been many calls or texts between them.”

  “Good,” Pierce said, pleased with their reports.

  “So?” I spoke up. “Now what?” The guys all stopped eating to look at me. I shrugged, “You got me away.” I motioned around me, “What now? I live with you? Judging from my closet upstairs, this is your plan? You interrupted the final months of my senior year, so I didn’t graduate from high school. You uprooted me out of my life and plans. What am I supposed to do
now?”

  Gavin went back to eating, seemingly unconcerned with my questions. Alex opened his mouth but Pierce beat him to it.

  “You’re right, we did hope you would plan to stay, move in. We hoped you would feel comfortable here.”

  I raised a high eyebrow at his words, and looked at him like he was joking.

  “Eventually,” he amended.

  “Don’t worry about your diploma,” Alex added, while cleaning off his fork with his mouth. “That’s easy to get. In a few weeks when school is finished, I’ll get your diploma and transcripts.”

  I had no idea, even being a super hacker, how you could get all of that without raising flags or suspicion, but I wasn’t going to worry about it.

  “Do you want to go to college? Get a job?” Kyson asked softly. “What do you want to do?”

  My mind spun at his questions, all at once feeling completely overwhelmed with the options in front of me. My body tensed. I couldn’t think about this right now. My life had just been turned upside down. I pinched my eyes shut and rubbed my forehead. Everything felt dark and disconnected. Like a bad dream I would wake up from.

  “Now is not the time to make any decisions,” Pierce pointed out. Kyson reached out to put a hand on my back and I turned slightly away, warding off his touch..

  “The rest of us, however,” Pierce continued, “have class and jobs that we tend to each day. Kyson is in med school, as you know. Gavin works at an auto shop, Alex and I are enrolled in classes at Georgetown.”

  I nodded in understanding. They had lives, goals. Freedom. Something I never had. Did I have that now?

  Pierce leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. His long dark blonde hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, a couple days of scruff had grown on to his face. It only added to his masculinity. I realized, glancing quickly over all the guys, that they all looked tired, scruffy.

  “We can not, will not, leave you alone for the foreseeable future. For many reasons. Tomorrow, we have to go back to our classes and work. So you will have to come with one of us.”