Just to fuck with them I cover my eyes dramatically. “Are you two covered? I’d rather not have an unsavory image of you burned into my retinas.”
My dad slaps me on the back and I stumble before he wraps his arm around me and holds me steady.
“What are you doing here? Not that we’re not glad to see you!” My mom quickly backtracks trying to sound happy to see me.
“I thought I would surprise you and share good news, but I can come back later…”
“Nope!” My mom rushes to the kitchen and pulls a pitcher of tea out of the fridge and pours us all a cup, before grabbing a snack plate out of the fridge as well. She has it all put together like she was waiting on other company to come over. I quirk my brow at my dad and he shakes his head, warning me not to ask but now I’m even more curious.
“What’s the good news? Did you finally finish the house?” My mom tries to brighten the question, knowing that talking about anything Raiden related has been off limits for as long as he’s been in the hospital. It takes me back to times when we had the same agreement, but for different reasons. Fuck, I was so stubborn to not realize he was struggling as well. I could have saved us a lot of heartbreak if I would have known.
But then I wouldn’t be the man now, and the man I am is more ready to fight for Raiden now more than ever.
“Raiden’s alive.” Even as the words escape me, I still can’t believe they’re real. I saw it for myself, witnessed them pulling the life saving measures and knew the risks. And Raiden still held strong.
“Oh my god!” My mom rushes over to me and pulls me into her arms, the warming scent of her perfume reminds me of all the times she held me like this when I was younger. Through everything, my parents have been my rock. My dad wraps his arms around both of us, and to feel their strength holding me up, I break down.
I sob, not holding anything in as the tears of anguish streamdown my face. With every drop, I’m letting go of the despair I felt seeing him in that bed, knowing there was nothing. Gone is the anger at him for leaving me when he knows he hates thunderstorms. The guilt I’ve been harboring for talking to Liam that night and not being able to reassure Raiden thathewas the one I was choosing, the only person for me. He’s my rain in the drought, the soft thunderstorms that I love to listen to as I fall asleep, the torrential downpours that cleanse the earth. He’s all of it and he always will be.
“What now?” My dad asks when my eyes have no tears left and my body sags from the loss of stress it’s been holding.
“We wait.” And we wait. And we wait. Until Raiden wakes up.
My next stop isn’t my smartest one, but if anyone asks me if I cared I would ignore them. Because not only do I not care, I want to make it known that I will do anything to protect Raiden. And that means protecting him from his asshole of ahusband.
But that won’t be a problem anymore if I have anything to say about it.
On my way over, I called Elijah to do some digging for me. I wanted to know everything.
“Is this illegal?” Elijah asks me when he finally finishes sending me over the information in a file with what he proclaims is the thickest,capital t two c’saccording to him.
“If you have to ask that question, you already know.” I turn my truck down the narrow dirt road that leads to Josh’s house. Trees line the sides of the road and there’s no houses or driveways around. Even better.
“Touché,” he says, clicking around on his laptop. There’s another muffled voice in the background talking to him and I lose Elijah’s attention as he starts bickering with the other person.
“Is that all?” I cut in when Elijah’s voice raises and echoes through the car as he tells someone to “politely, fuck off.” Which… at least he said politely. It’s better than some people would do.
“Yeah, that’s all.” The line clicks before I get another word in and I huff a breath of laughter.
If Connor and Hollis knew what I was up to, they would demand to join in, but I can’t let them. For one, I’m doing this as a selfish act, for him trying to take Raiden away from me in his own fit of jealousy. And two, I know that they’re the people my mom had a snack plate for because my dad let it slip on my way out of their house. I swear if my parents are trying to replace me with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum I’ll be so mad.
I park at the edge of Josh’s driveway, with my truck neatly tucked away from sight in the treeline. He should have really thought about that before he fucked with what’s mine. Not like I care because nothing would have stopped me from getting my vengeance, but he could have made it a little harder on me.
I sneakily approach the door, creeping my way across the wood wrap around porch, making sure to avoid any sketchy looking boards that might creak and give my location away.
His car is sitting in the driveway, parked right beside the house. The fancy silver shimmer and BMW emblem sickens me. He’s been using Raiden as his cash cow, and that stops now.
The door swings open before I have a chance to infiltrate and Josh is standing there with a gun in his hand. His eyes are hard as he glares at me.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Jericho?” He bites out and the gun in his hand wavers. He won’t shoot me. Josh is a lot of things, but a murderer isn’t one of them. He’ll never know what it’s like to take someone’s life and watch the life drain out of them. He tried with Raiden and failed. Epically.
“You know what I’m doing here, Josh.”
“Get the fuck off my property. Before I shoot you.”
He must think his warning scares me, but he doesn't know I’ve looked death in the face and smiled, knowing that when my time comes, I’ll go happily.
I take measured steps towards him, my confidence never wavering as his skin goes pale.
