“You broke his nose.” I can’t help snorting in laughter at the memory of Damon’s busted face and the reason for it. “With a vacuum cleaner.”
Dru waves a hand uncaringly, looking vaguely satisfied by the reminder. “He was a right baby about it. He should thank me, really. I think his nose looks better now. More distinguished.”
I make a noise of enthusiastic agreement. “That’s what I said! But you know what some people are like. Very complainy and melodramatic.” I widen my eyes at Rohan, who up until this point has been staring down Jack. He seems to have decided not to ignore him this time around, instead opting for open disdain at his presence.
I don’t know what his problem is, but it’s starting to tick me off how hostile he keeps being with Jack.
Although if we’re being fair about it, Jack isn’t being much better. He’s glowering right back at him, the same heated intensity in his expression as Rohan has in his.
I’m not sure if it’s because they’re both a reminder of OI for the other. Rohan is Ian Stone’s son, so I can understand why Jack would automatically dislike him. His father is the main cause for all the misery and pain Jack’s experienced for most of his life. Not to mention it would have been Ian Stone’s decision to have his brother killed.
But Rohan isn’t Ian. Having a shit for a dad doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, which is lucky for me because my own wasn’t much better than Ian Stone.
Rohan’s reasons for having so much animosity towards Jack is less obvious to me. But I suppose he could feel secondhand guilt over what his father did to Jack and the people like him. I think if it were me, I’d feel some familial responsibility. Whether that’s right or wrong is another question. But if that’s the case, I can understand why having Jack around would be difficult for him.
I could be wrong, of course. Rohan might not feel anything about what his father did. He might dislike Jack for an entirely different reason.
What that other reason could be, I can’t fathom.
It’s unlikely either of them will explain if there is something else going on.
“Do you two want to be left alone?” I ask, darting my eyes between them. “Dru and I can piss off if you’d like to have this staring competition in private. Or if you want, we could play referee? What is it—first one to blink—or first one to leap across the table to throttle the other loses?”
Rohan drags his gaze away from Jack to pin me with a derisive look, the anger having dissipated from his face.
“Agent Roth doesn’t throttle people,” he says, slow and careful in his pronouncement. “He just slits their throats. No fuss. Job done.”
“We all know what the consequences are for running from OI,” Jack says, his tone straightforward. “She did. You did. Dan did too.”
“No one escapes OI,” Rohan intones, eyes drawn back to Jack.
They’re both glaring at each other with barely veiled disgust. I’m almost shocked by the vehemence of it. It’s worse than before as if they’ve both triggered something in the other.
With no provocation, Rohan stands and leaves the room much as North did, without a word to any of us.
In the awkward silence that follows, Dru gets up from her seat as well. She offers me a polite smile and Jack a wary look before she too leaves the room, taking the two laptops with her.
Once we’re alone, I feel able to address whatever the hell that was just now.
“What was that about?” I ask, turning to Jack, my curiosity too strong to tamp down.
Jack blows a breath out through his nose and gets up from his chair. He keeps his eyes trained ahead, not looking at me as he answers in a strict monotone, “Do you know what stopped Rohan from abandoning his father and OI all those years before he defected?”
I frown up him, shaking my head slowly.
“Um, no. Why?”
“His mother,” Jack says, eyes still averted as if he’s looking through a window to a past only he can see. “He didn’t want to leave his mother alone with his father. So he stayed.”
“What happened?” I ask, feeling like I already know the answer.
“She died,” Jack says.
A curl of dread is scraped up on the inside of my stomach.
“How did she die?”
“She tried to run,” Jack tells me, his voice so low and quiet I can barely hear it. “And I was the one he sent after her.”
