Rebellion of a Kingdom by G.N. Wright
Chapter 31
ELLE
It’s a new year and I’m waking up in River’s arms feeling perfectly rested and satisfied. So much has changed in the last six months, so much has happened. So much blood and death and almosts, I can barely keep up. But I’m here, we’re here. We’re safe. Marcus and I stayed in bed curled up in each other all night. Ash popped his head in on his way to bed with a sleeping Cass, and for once, everything just felt right.
I stretch out, careful not to wake Marcus, who is still snoring softly beside me and head to the bathroom. I go to the toilet, wash my hands, and then look at my reflection in the mirror. There are marks across my chest and up my neck that remind me exactly what we did last night, and I can’t help but smile. Being with him is like being free. Free from my demons, the weight of the world and everything I still have to do. He makes me weak in the best kind of way, reminding me of who I truly am at my core.
I head into the kitchen to find coffee, which I desperately need, and find Jace pacing. He halts as soon as he spots me, grabbing the already brewed coffee pot and pouring me a cup, and silently handing it over. He looks anxious and on edge, and I start to worry slightly. He’s just in black sweats leaving his tattooed torso completely on display and when he reaches out and absentmindedly touches where I know his sister's name sits, I really start to panic.
“What happened?” I put my mug down and lean on the counter across from him.
He sighs, “I have a situation.” Is all he says, and I frown.
I pick up my cup again and take another sip, blowing it a little. “Okay,” I drag the word out, “want to tell me what that means?”
“Taylor Kennedy is in my bed.” He blurts out, and my eyebrows nearly hit the roof as I slam my coffee back onto the counter. “Before you yell, I can explain.”
“Yell?” I scoff in disbelief, “I wouldn’t even know how to yell right now, do you know how reckless this is? Cassie is asleep right down the hall, Jace.”
“I know, Elle, I know, but I couldn’t leave her, she was in a bad way.”
My senses immediately go on high alert, “what do you mean?”
He takes a deep breath as he launches into the explanation, “Taylor texted me last night, asking if I wanted to go to a party. I spoke to Max and he said I could go, but that I had to take Tyler.” He shrugs and I smile a little at the fact that this 6ft tattooed Rebel had to ask permission to go to a party, “she said to pick her up from her house, but when I got there, she stumbled out. I thought she was drunk.”
“She wasn’t?” I ask to confirm, and he shakes his head.
“When she came out, I saw a man I recognized, I couldn’t place him, but Taylor confirmed his name.”
My spine straightens as I prepare for whatever name he’s about to say. “Who was it?”
“Rolland Atkins.” He grits his name out in disgust and his earlier pacing now makes sense, he must have been stewing on this all night. He tells me what happened, what he saw and how he brought her here so Arthur could take a look at her. She is fine now, she was given something to make her pass out, but all her vitals are good.
I huff out a long breath. I should have expected this. Dr. Atkins has been on my list from the beginning, and it seems my disposal of his friends hasn’t deterred him in any way. He needs dealing with and soon. I need to know how much Jace wants Taylor to know. She’s here, and when she wakes up, I’m sure she is going to have a lot of questions.
I consider my words carefully before I ask, “are we bringing Taylor into the fold?” I have no idea what is going on between them, Jace has been so closed off so it’s hard to tell where the playboy Rebel starts and my soft and caring Jace ends.
His shutdown is immediate. “No. She doesn’t deserve to be dragged into this, especially not by me.”
I soften at that, “Jace,” I start, but he cuts me off.
“No, Elle. I won’t put her life in danger. I only brought her here last night because I had nowhere else to take her. It won’t happen again.” His words are final, and I nod in agreement.
“It’s fine, she’s my friend, don’t worry we will work something out.” I have no idea what we will do, but I know it has to be something. She already has a target on her back regardless of her association with me or Jace.
“As long as she’s safe.” His tone breaks my heart a little. Such a beautiful, broken Rebel.
I want to throw my arms around him and comfort him, tell him everything is going to be okay, but I don’t know that. I sigh and roll my eyes trying to break the serious tension in the air. It’s clear he likes her, but apparently, we aren’t admitting that today, so I just smile and say, “you’re insufferable.”
“But you love me, right?” He smiles for the first time, throwing in his signature, flirty wink, making it impossible not to smile back.
I don’t hesitate this time, rounding the counter and pulling him into a hug, “too much for my own good, pretty boy.” I whisper into his chest, as he hugs me back.
“We need to take him out.” He whispers into my hair.
“I know, but we need a plan,” I pull back and stare up at him, “we can’t just go after him without a plan.”
He gives me a look as if to say he doesn’t believe me, “since when was that a rule?”
“Since I won’t risk losing any of us again, we’ve had too many close calls and I don’t want anymore. We’re all in this together, right? Whatever it takes?”
He nods, “Whatever it takes, Queenie.”
I nod and move to leave, but he grips my arm, “I wanna be the one to do it, the one to kill him.”
“Jace,” I start, wanting to tell him he doesn’t deserve that kind of stain on his soul, but we are interrupted.
“Elle?” Both our heads snap to the entrance of the kitchen at the sound of Taylor’s confused voice.
I look at Jace who is just staring at her and then turn back to her, “Hey Tay, how are you feeling?
“Like a truck ran over my head repeatedly.” She says rubbing it slightly before looking at Jace, “what happened last night? Where am I?”
I look at Jace again, unsure of how much to even tell her at this point. Jace said he doesn’t want to bring her in, but Rolland went after her which means Elliot went after her. That and the fact she is standing in our kitchen, how can we not bring her in?
“You’re at our place.” I say and her frown deepens, which is understandable, it’s not like it’s been broadcast that the Rebels were burned out of their home, and I was bloodied out of mine. “Look there is a lot of stuff to tell you and a lot of stuff we can’t tell you, but I need to know that you won’t tell anyone anything that you learn.”
She gives us both a questioning look, “anyone like who?” I think she is asking a genuine question, but when I go to answer, she goes on, “it’s not like I’m bursting at the seams with friends.”
Her words hit me in the gut because I know what it’s like to feel alone and like you have no one, but I was never alone. I’ve always had someone. I can’t say that to her so instead I settle on, “This is life or death Tay. So, are you in or out?”
I feel Jace’s glare piercing into the side of my head as I give her the ultimatum and Taylor looks between the two of us again, before she speaks at the same time another voice enters the kitchen.
“In.”
“Mommy!”
Cassie bounces into the kitchen with Ash right on her heels, and his eyes flare wide as he notices Taylor. His gaze snaps to mine straight away. I catch Cassie as she leaps towards me pulling her into a hug, all the while watching the shock embed itself onto Taylor’s face. This was my biggest concern when Jace told me she was here. Not what almost happened to her or everything else she could find out, but this right here.
“Morning, baby,” I brush her curls from her head as I kiss her cheek. Then gesture across the kitchen, “meet my friend, Taylor.” Cassie immediately turns her head and flashes her the cutest smile.
“Wow she's so beautiful.” She gasps waving at her while Taylor still remains in shock.
“Jace sure seems to think so.” I smile smugly and he groans at me, but of course it goes right over Cassie’s head.
“Nice to meet you.” She isn’t fazed by Taylor’s silence and just turns back to me to proudly add, “Daddy is making me pancakes.”
I slide her onto the counter, “oh is he now?” I say eyeing Ash as Taylor’s head snaps to him, and I think she goes into even more shock, if that’s even possible, “well Daddy better make some for Mommy too.”
Ash is still glaring at Taylor, both of them locked in a stare off as he speaks, “like I would ever risk your wrath and not make you some, Hells Bells.” He says calmly, but I know he is probably plotting out every way this situation could turn out. Which is ridiculous, I have known Taylor almost my entire life, and Ash has known her since halfway through middle school. She isn’t some stranger, ready to sell our secrets to the highest bidder. She’s our friend.
The tension thickens the longer she doesn’t speak, so I break it, “great, you boys do that while Taylor and I go have a girly catch up.” Hearing her name, she looks back towards me as I turn to Cassie, “stay with Daddy, okay? Mommy will be back for pancakes.”
“Okay, Mommy.” Cassie smiles, completely oblivious to any of the tension surrounding her.
I don’t wait before I grab Taylor by the arm and drag her from the kitchen. I hear Ash snap, “you fucked up.” and then Cassie shouts, “swear jar.” But I don’t stop, I just pull her down the hall. We pass Marcus on the way as his eyes widen. I reach out and give his arm a little squeeze as we pass, but I don’t stop until we get to my room. I pull her inside and over to the bed, until she slowly sinks down on the end of it.
“I,” she starts, staring at the door like she can see all the way to the kitchen and then stops, “how,” she pauses again so I stop her.
“What you have just discovered and what I am about to tell you is not only a secret, but it’s also dangerous, do you understand that?” She stares at me like I have grown two heads, before nodding slowly so I continue. “I have a daughter. Her biological father is a very perverse and dangerous man who raped me. That’s the reason I left Black Hallows.”
I expect the flinch that leaves her at the word rape, but then instead of pity in her eyes, I see confusion, “You weren’t at boarding school?” She asks and I shake my head slowly.
“That was a lie to cover up what happened to me. God, forbid I soil the King name.” I roll my eyes in disgust, taking a seat on the bed next to her. “What happened led me to having Cassie. I didn’t want her to know her real father, so Ash became her dad.” It sounds so simple when I say it like that, so very black and white. If only.
“You guys never?” She asks trailing off.
My eyes widen, “Lord no. We’re close, but we have never been that close.” I say with a slight laugh.
“I don’t even know what to say.” She admits, which is understandable. I’ve had over three years to adjust to my reality, I can’t expect her to digest it in one morning.
“Honestly.” I blow out a breath, “that’s probably for the best. I wish I could tell you more but trust me when I say it’s safer this way.”
She takes a deep breath, looking round the room. I can see her trying to digest what I just told her before she swings her head back to me, “what does all that have to do with me being here?”
She was always smart, that hasn’t changed. “The man who raped me, works with a lot of sick men. He didn’t just want to hurt me, he wanted to sell me.” I can’t think of a better way to put it and I wait for the words to sink in.
She shudders as they wash over her and she realizes what I mean, “they tried to take me?” She says panicking as her hands start to shake.
I reach out and clasp her hand in mine, “I’m not sure, I think maybe they were planning on it, but Jace was there. You passed out and he brought you here.” I try to stay calm as I talk, but it’s hard. The rage I feel whenever I think about what fucking sick crimes those bastards commit could blow up the world.
“Why can’t I remember anything?”
“We think they put something in your drink, Arthur checked you over and said other than that you were fine.”
“Who’s Arthur?”
I huff a laugh, because what I have just told her is the tip of the iceberg, “not important, what is important is that you can’t tell anyone you know where I am, or who I’m with okay? I promise I will keep you safe, but I need you to do this for me.”
She takes in the no doubt serious look on my face before she nods, “of course Smell, anything for you.” She smiles, squeezing my hand, which has remained in her grasp, this whole time.
We spend the rest of the day catching up and she gets to know Cassie. We have tea parties, a movie marathon and just hang out like friends should. It’s a perfect day, reminding me exactly why we were so close as kids. Jace comes by a couple of times, trying not to linger, but the attraction between them is clear as day. I understand him wanting to keep her out of this, but I can’t see how we can. She’s here, she knows, that puts her in it whether we like it or not. Another innocent person caught up in this fucking war. We can’t wait anymore; we need to end this once and for all.