Running a hand through my hair, I huff, trying to get my head back in the game and epically failing. But if I fuck this up, I’m giving Julian more ammo, proving that Elysium is a distraction and more of a risk than an asset.
Sighing wearily, he doesn’t turn to look at me. “If he’d killed her, he would have needed to call somebody to handle clean up. You know he isn’t about to get his hands dirty or risk getting caught disposing of a body. Him going radio silent is… a good thing. Means she’s got his full attention.”
Grinding my teeth, I mirror Grave. “When has Julian taking an interest inanybodyever ended well for anyone but himself?”
Mav starts bouncing his knee, the only sign that he isn’t as aloof as he’s attempting to be. “El’s different. Tell me you haven’t noticed the way his demeanor changes when she comes up in conversation?”
Smacking his shoulder so that he’ll look at me, I level him with a furious glare. “You’re acting like youwanthim to date her. What the fuck, man? I know you had a stick up your ass since she moved in, but you can’t hate her so much that you’d want to pawn her off on the boss.”
Pale grey eyes narrow on my face as he clenches and unclenches his fist, like he’s trying to talk himself out of cold-cocking me in the face. “Wake the fuck up, Ev. This can end one of two ways. Either Julian thinks she’s too much of a threat with the way you and Grave are wrapped around her finger, makes her suffer until she eventually tries to bolt and we’re forced to hunt her down. Or he decides he wants to keep her, to punish the two of you and make sure you do everything in your power to protect him and his empire because she’s at his side. One way she dies for sure, but the other, at least she has a fucking shot at a life, and a better one than any of us could give her.”
My anger drains away as his words sink in, bringing a sense of hopelessness with them. He’s right. I’ve been deluding myself that she could keep on the way that the rest of us do. We might not be able to leave, but we want for nothing, are left relatively alone unless it’s for work. But Elyse isn’t one of us. She’s a ticking time bomb, and we’re all just tiptoeing around, waiting to see who she’s going to destroy when she finally explodes.
Instead of any of that, I fling back his last statement in his face. “Us?”
Biting his tongue, he turns away from me. “You know what I meant, don’t get your panties in a twist.”
I’m forced to drop it as three figures sprint into view and I fire up the engine, shoving personal shit aside in favor of work. It’s risky as hell pulling a job this soon after we were released, when there’s likely extra eyes on us. It means there isn’t any room for error, and I have to keep my head in the game. So I shove everything else aside as the others yank open the doors to the backseat and dive in.
Rather than floor it, I pull away easily, straddling the line of the speed limit and careful to use every signal, to follow every sign. We make it four miles before we dump the car, switch to the one waiting, and torch it on our way out of the junkyard. Circling back, I head south before we change cars yet again, but this one we simply leave unlocked in a shady area so it’s bound to get stolen.
Dropping the three in the back off where Caleb’s waiting, Seth finishes taping the small box off and slapping the mailing label on it. Sealed and hidden in plain sight, they leave it in the backseat as we part ways, the three of them off to follow Caleb’s lead on their alibi for the night.
Maverick and I head to the casino, parking in the blind spot of the cameras. We approach the door to the kitchen, currently propped open with a milk crate and a solitary camera fixed on the exit that’ll currently be frozen with a frame from earlier. Heading in, we drag the crate back with us, careful not to let the door slam shut. There isn’t a soul in here currently, room service not starting up for breakfast for another several hours.
“When’s the last time he’s actually had us kill one of Jax’s men?” I ask out of the blue, but the silence of the last forty-five minutes has given my mind plenty of time to wander.
“Why?” Mav continues to scan the hallway as we bypass the lobby, sticking to our predetermined route to stay off of the active cameras and get back to our room before they kick back on.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that Julian’s been so opposed to letting us kill Tom Miller? He faulted on his payments, and then when Jake went back for the deed after we took in Elyse, he reported her missing and started working with Jax. He broke into the club to dump a body, got all of us but you arrested, and caused a massive headache for the boss. So why the hell would Julian still be opposed to letting us kill him?”
We stop outside of a room and I knock on the door, a man already waiting for the hand off. He opens immediately and I pass him the box that he accepts with a sharp, determined nod. “I’ll get it dropped off first thing in the morning.” The door snicks shut and I just shake my head at the enthusiasm of new blood.
“Let’s hope they wrapped that sucker in enough bubble wrap to survive the post office.”
We finally arrive at the room we were called to hours ago for maintenance, sliding in the key card to the adjoining room before going through the attached door. Maverick finally answers as we gather up our tools, needing time to mull things over.
“It’d be a bloodbath. We haven’t had to deal with anything more than some random jabs to remind us they’re still around and hate us for, what, five years? If Miller’s working for him now and we slit his throat, Jax will likely take it as us drawing first blood and ending the unspoken truce. Shit will hit the fan, and Julian likely doesn’t think it’s worth it for that prick.”
“That bastard deserves a hell of a lot more than a bullet between the eyes. If Julian actually wants Elyse at his side, he should be giving her Miller’s head as a fucking gift instead of a damn ring.”
Just thinking about it pisses me off. He doesn’t deserve her; none of us do. But she sure as shit deserves better than this, better than him. She should be able to sleep easy at night knowing nothing and no one will hurt her, not terrified of the man at her side.
“Unless you’re prepared to kill him and have us all throw our lives away so she can be free, just-“ he hefts up his bag and turns his back on me, heading for the door “-let her go, Ev. She’ll be better for it.” Striding out of the room, he leaves me alone to collect myself before showing my face in the lobby, needing to pretend that everything’s fine.
Yet nothing is. Because if it were just me, I would kill all of them; Miller, Jax, and Julian. I’d happily sign over the last bit of my life to take them down with me and make the world a little less shitty. But it isn’t just me, and anything I do will damn seven other men that I call brothers, that I’ve been through too much with to sacrifice like their lives mean nothing.
I was wrong. Elysium isn’t our salvation, she’s our ruin.
“God damn it.” Julian’s been more on edge today, and I’ve just been trying to stay the hell out of his way, but he hasn’t been making it easy to avoid him.
I haven’t gone snooping around since that first night, not after his threat. But that hasn’t stopped me from asking questions when the opportunities arise, to subtly look around whatever rooms I find myself in. And I’ve been finding myself in more and more of them over the last couple of days, as if Julian wants to show me around like he has nothing to hide, while also not leaving me out of his sight.
I’m stretched out on a couch in the library, and drop my book onto my chest to peer at him. The massive desk sits in front of a bay window that shows it’s started to snow in earnest.
“Everything alright?”
He swipes a hand over his face, dark shadows under his eyes like he hasn’t been sleeping, afraid of not hearing me sneak out of my room. “I’m going to need to go out of town for a few days. A situation’s come up that I need to deal with.”
