A Broken Jewel (Jade Book 1)

by Lucy Rains

  “Did he?” Gavin asked, a tinge of violence in his voice.

  I shook my head quickly. “When he was about to touch me, I was bringing my hands up to push him off. He was thrown off of me, his body hit a tree. When I looked at him, his eyes...they were open, but not moving. He wasn’t moving. I was so scared. I just ran. Oh gosh…” I sobbed uncontrollably. Gavin released my hand as Pierce pulled me into his chest. Lifting me from the ground and holding me against him as I cried.

  My head was buried into his neck, the long strands of his hair brushing my face. I gripped his shirt, wetting his collar. His thickly muscled arms holding me together as I broke into a million pieces. The pain of the memory, of confessing it, of reliving it outloud had shattered what little strength I had left. I felt dirty, unworthy.

  We began moving, and I heard their low voices as we moved through the house. Doors opening then closing. Heavy footsteps. The cold night air hitting my wet face as we went outside. Another dog barking.

  My sobs stopped and the tears slowed once we reached the truck. But I still clung to Pierce’s shirt, desperate for his physical warmth and presence. I tightened my muscles, not wanting to be separated. But I was. My fingers were pried from his shirt and I was set into Alex’s lap in the backseat so that Pierce could move into the driver seat.

  I stayed in my balled up state, curled into Alex with his arms wrapped around my body. The tears still came, but slower. My hand rested against his chest and the warm hum of his vibrations soothed the offensive images from my mind and lulled me to sleep.

  CHAPTER 34

  I wasn’t surprised when I woke up the next morning wrapped in arms with a hard chest pressing into my back. My bed had not been slept in for days. My body warmed at the feel of the vibrations and my chest heaved a heavy sigh. Solid thighs were pressing against my hamstrings and it felt as though Alex was trying to hold me together so that I would not break.

  Within a minute of being awake a heavy cloud weighed on my mind and I searched for the reason why. As soon I thought back to the previous night, my eyes closed against the pain and I wished for sleep to return. Instead, the images and memories played on repeat. Charles on the floor, my empty room, Gavin flying backwards from my energy, my sins spilling from my mouth. My shoulders jerked at the pain of it all and my feelings turned dark.

  “Jade, stop,” Alex whispered, feeling my turn of moods. His hand was on my chest, pushing into my breastbone and I groaned at the sweet release of tension.

  Allowing my eyes to open again as I relaxed back into him, his face was suddenly in my neck with his lips on my skin. My breath sucked in at the unexpected sensation of both his lips and the tingles running down my spine. Expecting more, I was considerably disappointed when he released me and pulled away.

  Opening my eyes and lifting my head, I looked up to see Alex standing, his back rippled with lines as he stretched. Sage green sweats sagged low on his hips and he ran a hand through his long dark hair.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He turned to look at me as he threw on a black t-shirt, which put his hair in all directions.

  “I have to go work. There’s too much to do before tonight.”

  I sat up in bed, and felt the flash of cold morning air. When I looked down at myself I noticed why. Scowling at the sight of only wearing my sports bra, and underwear, I pulled the sheets up to cover my stomach.

  He gave me a playful frown, “Stop that.”

  “You stop it. Leave my clothes alone next time.”

  He rolled his eyes, and picked up his phone off the side table.

  I ran a hand through my own hair and let out a moan mixed with a sigh. “Can’t we just take naps?” I leaned against the headboard, “Eat snacks, read in bed…”

  “So basically, you want to be in Kindergarten?”

  His mouth stayed in a straight line but I knew he was fighting a smile.

  “You make it sound like a bad thing,” I retorted.

  Alex looked down at me from where he was standing, his phone still pointing at his face. “If you thought last night was hard, you’re going to need some serious prepping for the lab tonight.”

  I sat up taller against the bed and the sheets slipped from my hand, baring my torso and the top of my black underwear line. Alex’s eyes immediately went to the sight, and his movements froze.

  Before I could blink his phone was gone and he was hovering over me. His eyes dark pools and I pushed myself into the pillows for breathing room.

  “Alex, wait!”

  His mouth was on mine before I could say anything else, the long tendrils of his dark hair brushing my forehead, my cheekbones. His tongue swarmed my mouth and his groan of pleasure was guttural.

  I put my hands to his chest and pushed him back, gasping for air. “Alex-”

  His eyes pinched tight and he grabbed the hand away from his chest. “Remember what I said yesterday, remember what I told you, Jade.” A hand was under the blankets now, wrapping around my thigh and I almost choked in the plethora of emotion coming from both of us. His thumb was moving, stroking my inner thigh, and my whole body lit up at his one touch.

  When his mouth came to mine again and I gave him access I thought back to his words before the Banquet. It hurts not being able to touch you.

  His hand left my thigh and trailed up my hip, gripping my underwear in his fist for a moment before taking hold of my hip, like he was trying to steady himself. He felt on the brink of losing control, his movements and desires so strong and intense- more so than I had felt in the others. Like he had been bottled up for too long and was about to burst.

  After several minutes of deep kissing he pulled away and sat back on his heels. His eyes were closed and he his breath came out heavy, like he was trying to steady himself.

  My own breathing was shallow, my chest heaving. When he didn’t move, I asked, “Better?”

  His eyes opened and he nodded once.

  I shook my head slowly, giving him a knowing look as I eyed his sweatpants. “Liar,” I whispered, using his favorite word against him.

  His full lips parted and his eyes darted down my body again. His head dropped and his stance became predatory. When he moved to come back to me there was a knock at the door.

  Pierce’s voice came through, “Meet downstairs in 10.”

  Alex rubbed a frustrated hand over his face and let out a growl. I knew I needed to cover up and remove myself from his reach. I looked at the floor, searched around the room for my clothes but found none.

  “They’re in the wash machine.”

  I scowled at him. “You did that on purpose.”

  He shrugged. “Gavin mostly.”

  I swore under my breath and pulled the top blanket from Alex’s bed to wrap around me as I stood up. He hollered at me as I left the bedroom but I ignored him.

  **************************************************

  “We have a lot to talk about,” Pierce started, as I scraped butter over my toast, “things to discuss.”

  “Need to get on the computers,” Alex added.

  “Agreed,” Gavin chimed in. “We need to find the office that he mentioned.”

  “Did you take her phone?” I asked.

  Gavin shook his head, “We don’t need it. We’ve already hacked into its network and found what we wanted.”

  “Jade, did you have any clues that Charles knew about Vera’s work?” Pierce asked.

  I shook my head, “Nope.” I lifted my mug of milk, drinking and thinking. Charles had done nothing but maintain the house, and grounds, and help watch over me while my mother was constantly gone. Apparently, he watched over me closer than I had realized.

  How could I miss that? How much knowledge does Charles really have? I was pretty sure he knew about my abilities, did he know about the guys? Had he known what my mother had planned for me? Was he on my mother’s side? It didn’t sound like it, but I wasn’t sure. My bitterness at Gavin only increased with every question that popped int
o my head, angry at the chance he took away from me for answers.

  “Did you have any clues that Charles might be a different man then what he portrayed?” Kyson asked.

  I shrugged, “He taught me how to throw knives when I was 10.”

  They all looked at me with wide eyes. “And that didn’t seem weird to you?” Alex asked.

  “I was 10! I trusted him, I didn’t know any better.”

  “Wow,” Alex breathed out a sigh.

  “So what do we do now?” Kyson asked.

  “Vera has a secret, and we need to find it,” said Gavin.

  “Why would she have a secret office?” Alex asked. “What would she need it for? She has the lab, with files and computers there.”

  “We have to find out what she’s hiding to understand the why,” Pierce offered thoughtfully.

  “Something she’s keeping from the other scientists?” Alex continued, “It doesn’t make sense. They share all their work and information.”

  “And how would Charles know about it?” I wondered out loud.

  “Probably followed her there,” Pierce offered.

  “But why?” I asked.

  “We need to tap into her credit cards,” said Gavin, “bank accounts, records. See if there is payment history for a office rental. I’m sure there’s an auto withdrawal on there somewhere.”

  “You guys haven’t already dug through her financials?” I asked in mock surprise.

  A sour feeling came from Gavin and I smiled smugly.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t,” Kyson said.

  “What?” Alex asked from the middle.

  “Spend time on this. Let’s just go. Let’s just get out of here, disappear like Jade suggested.”

  “What about the lab?” Gavin asked.

  “We destroy the lab as planned,” Pierce stated with authority, “Then we disappear, as planned.”

  “This is going to take time,” Gavin explained. “To make plans, preparations, get Jade informed about the layouts of the lab, and on top of that there’s Vera’s secret office holding information.”

  “And Matteo,” I added quietly.

  “What?” Kyson asked.

  “Mr. Bruno,” I said louder, wiping crumbs from my chin and setting my mug into the sink, “He also has information that apparently would be very interesting for us.”

  “And what of Vera?” Alex asked. “How do we track her down if she’s throwing off a fake trail? We can’t leave until we face her.”

  “And then there’s Jason,” Kyson added.

  “Enough!” Pierce barked.

  I wrapped my arms around my chest, and looked around the kitchen at the guys. They all held tense expressions and I could feel Pierce’s mood darkening with the heavy load we carried.

  “We focus on what needs to be done so that we can get out of here. We take care of the lab and move on. Destroy the information, terminate the remaining subjects, and clear out the clean room. We don’t worry about Jason, or Matteo, or anyone else.”

  “But what if Mr. Bruno offered a way for us to be free of Jason? And her?” I offered. “This would ensure more freedom for us in the future.”

  Pierce shook his head. “We don’t even know if we can trust him, Jade.”

  I sighed. Pierce was right, we just needed to get out of here. With Jason employing completed subjects from the lab, and Vera creating serums that disarmed our abilities, things were becoming dicey. Add in new players with more information, there were too many forces working against us.

  “Do I have everyone’s support?” Pierce asked.

  “Yes,” three males voices answered in unison.

  Pierce waited patiently for me to respond, reaching over and putting his hand on the back of my neck. His thick warm fingers rested against me, entangling in my hair. It was a gesture of comfort, support. My chest warmed at his touch, and I knew I needed to be wherever he and the other guys were.

  “Yes,” I whispered. And I hoped that was the end of the discussion. “Can we go swimming?” Pierce dropped his hand from my neck and took a step back. I looked at the other guys, “I know its bad timing but, last night was so...painful.”

  Alex cleared his throat and held up a finger. “I know this is going to sound controversial, but I thought last night went well.”

  I gave him an incredulous look and opened my mouth to tell him where to stick his opinion when Kyson nodded in agreement.

  “For who exactly?” I asked, “For you? Cause it didn’t seem so great for me.”

  Alex had a thoughtful expression, “You released your demons, got them out of your system. Holding that in couldn’t have been healthy for you.”

  I huffed, “If you’ve made your point, you should stop talking.” Alex trying to play psychologist wasn’t going to work for me. Looking at Pierce I asked, “So what's going to happen? Are we going tonight?”

  He set his own mug on the counter and ripped open a banana. “No, we need more time to prep. Especially if we’re leaving the country. Tomorrow night.”

  “I want to go swimming,” I said again, “Is there time?”

  “No,” Pierce said, his voice firm.

  I bristled at his tone but tried to keep a straight face. He was right, and I needed to be reasonable, but I felt like I was being shut down like a child.

  “I’ll take her,” Kyson offered.

  Pierce shook his head, “No. I need you to go over transportation and passports. We need to discuss how we’re going to leave the city and how we can throw several fake trails for Jason.”

  Kyson gave me an apologetic look and then left the room, Alex and Gavin following after him.

  If these guys didn’t want me losing my shit in a messy way I needed out of the house. On my own. I could feel the walls closing in and threatening to suffocate me.

  I folded my arms and fought to keep my posture straight. “There’s a drugstore around the corner, I’m going to buy a Slurpee.”

  “Not by yourself you’re not,” Pierce said. “Kyson can go with you when I’m done talking to him.”

  I glared at him, “I don’t want to wait a couple hours. In fact, I don’t want anyone going with me. Air and solitude to clear my mind would be great. I have nothing to do, it's literally 2 blocks away, I will be fine.”

  He took a step closer to me and I took a big step away to avoid his touch. His ocean blue eyes bright and alert. “I completely trust your ability to walk over there and back. But I’m not having you go anywhere alone. Kyson will accompany you when I’m ready.”

  Pierce didn’t wait for me to respond and left the kitchen at that point.

  Flushed and irritated, I stood there for a moment, debating my next move and the consequences in it. Once again, I had no say in the matter. My conscious tried to argue that he was only trying to protect me, but I slammed the door shut and gave him the finger. I was going to feel the burn of Pierce’s wrath but I didn’t care.

  I turned on my heels, dropped my plate in the once again overflowing sink and made my way upstairs. Peirce’s dominance brought up memories of my mother’s overbearing personality. I pinched my eyes shut, I should never compare Pierce to her. But I couldn’t help it. His tone, his words, his body language- it was like being at home with my mother.

  I quickly changed into black leggings, a t-shirt, and zipped my jacket back up. Trying to busy my body to hold off the angry tears that were burning behind my eyes, I went to the bathroom and splashed water onto my face. I tied my mess of a hair into a bun on top of my head and grabbed my purse from off the top of my dresser. With light footsteps, I quietly made my way down the stairs.

  I didn’t dare breathe when I reached the front door.

  I could overhear the guys talking as I slipped my flip flops on and opened the front door. Their conversations didn’t stutter as I stepped out onto the concrete steps and slipped the door shut behind me. I knew I had seconds before their chests felt my absence and they would come looking for me.

  Knowing I looked ridicu
lous, I ran down the street in my flip flops and away from the house. Once I turned the first corner I could see the store. Sure enough, it was only 2 blocks away and should take me only 5 minutes to reach. The late morning air was heavy with moisture. The sun had come up hours ago but would be another grey day.

  My feet moved quickly. I kept my pace fast, knowing I would be scooped up by one of the guys within minutes. My warm vibrations was trickling to a stop as I rounded out of the neighborhood. My eyes were peeled for cars or any pedestrians that looked to be a threat. I glanced around and over my shoulders constantly. But the streets were empty, as were the sidewalks. No cars passed by me on my early morning stroll and nothing raised my concerns.

  Surprise, relief, and satisfaction rolled over me as the store’s entrance doors rolled open for me. A silly grin spread across my face at my success. I had made it without being captured. Maybe Pierce had changed his mind? I was alone and it felt wonderful. I wanted to click my heels together in celebration. But then I realized my joy was going to be short lived, dreading when I had to return home.

  The store was steady with weekend shoppers, the door behind me continually opening and closing. The pharmacy line was long, kids tagged behind their mothers, and I moved to blend in with the shoppers.

  I located the Slushie machine, filled a styrofoam cup with a crystal blue liquid, and snapped on a lid. The tickle of cold carbonation slid into my mouth and I almost groaned in pleasure.

  But just as quickly, my satisfaction turned sour and my chest began to feel hollow. Trying to understand the source of my negativity, my hand went to my chest and this time I did groan. In frustration.

  I missed the warm hum. And I hated that I did.

  My body demanded that I return to the house, back with the guys. My body felt cold, empty. I shook my head to clear it, determined to be on my own and not feel the need to run back to them.