Chapter Twenty

Fisher tapped his gloved fingers on the wheel of the shit brown, four-door sedan he’d borrowed off of a used car lot.

“Borrow” may be putting it lightly, but he was going to return it when he was done. He cocked his elbow on the open window and stared at Wrath’s apartment.

Ice had gone inside about an hour ago and had not come out. Was he going to need to go in there? That would suck because Wrath would interfere, of that he had no doubt. And if anything happened to Wrath, there wouldn’t be any place that he could hide.

Fucking hell, why couldn’t he keep his mind on the job? Were his roaming thoughts because he had sat across from Ice and had laughed, drank, and eaten food together? He rubbed tired fingers at his forehead.

The press of the gun right at the base of his skull had him closing his eyes.

“Pull it out and toss it out the window,” Justice said in that smooth as silk fucking voice that send a shiver down Fisher’s spine.

He did as he was told and tossed the silencer out of the window. He winced when his baby hit the pavement.

“And the other one, plus the knife,” Justice said with a hard nudge from the gun.

“Are you really going to shoot me?” Fisher dug out his ankle pistol and pulled the knife from the sheath on his thigh and slid them both out the window.

“This will teach you to sit with the window open. You should have just used the gas and kept the air running.” Justice said. “Now, roll down the back window.”

Fisher made an annoyed sound and rolled down the rear window. Justice had no trouble keeping the gun on his head and picking up his weapons to toss in the backseat. Quicker than he liked to think about, Justice slid into the backseat.

Fisher slowly turned around and eyed the nine-millimeter with the silencer twisted on the end.

“Whatcha doin here, Fish?” Justice asked with a narrow eyed look.

“Waiting.”

“For my brother?”

“No.”

“Ice.” Justice’s voice turned deep and hard.

“I have no choice.”

“We all have choices, Fish.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” he hissed, suddenly pissed off beyond normal.

Justice’s icy blue eyes flickered from his face down to his arm and Fisher realized one sleeve had pulled up a bit away from his wrist. He yanked it down to hide the hideous scars.

“You know what? I never could understand your blind faith following Rogue.”

Fisher glared, fisting the end of his sleeves in his hands. He wanted to hide his eyes, but his hood was lying on the seat next to him.

Justice shifted slightly, the muscles beneath the tight t-shirt corded and rippled on his gorgeous chest and arms.

“Here’s the thing. I can’t let you kill Ice.”

Fisher sneered. “Why? You got a crush on him or something?” He tried to stem his irritation, but it came out anyway. Fuck, he sounded fucking jealous. Shit. Shit.

Justice smiled, and it was one of those smiles that came slow and sexy with a tilt of his firm lips.

Fisher’s breath felt strangled in his throat.

Motherfucker!

“No crush. But Echo loves Ice. Do you honestly think Echo will ever forgive you if you kill him?”

No! he raged inside. He knew Echo would never ever forgive him. Fisher vehemently shook his head as if that would take away what he had to do.

No, what he must do.

He had no choice and he wished like hell that Justice understood. But in order for Justice to understand, Fisher would need to clue him in and well…he wasn’t ready to share that shit with anybody.

“And Echo would spend the rest of his life hunting you down until he wiped you from the face of the earth,” Justice continued, tipping his head. Dark blond strands fell forward across his forehead, but his icy gaze never looked away. “And I can’t have Echo killing you.”

“Why?” Fisher whispered and then clenched his teeth. He hated how his voice turned softer when speaking to Justice.

“Because then I’d have to kill Echo. And I like Echo.”

Justice leaned forward a bit and cupped Fisher’s cheek in his hand. When the man’s thumb brushed at the corner of his mouth, Fisher parted his lips.

They’d been flirting around an attraction that had been growing for years, but Fisher always shut it quickly down…with the exception of a few times—times that he refused to think back on.

His brain scattered at Justice’s touch. The man truly was a force of nature. Why was Justice being so bold? Was the man going to kiss him?

No! He didn’t want that. He’d never be ready for that again. He yanked his cheek away from Justice’s palm and glared.

“You don’t understand.”

Fisher clung to those words. Nobody in the fucking world really understood him. Some tried, but not even Rogue or Echo or any of the other kids that had been and still were under Solomon’s power. Hell, he hadn’t even shared with Owen and they were Army buddies. Creed, he met later, but Fisher still kept his past to himself. No way did he want them infected by him.

“Try me,” Justice murmured.

“I can’t.”

Fisher grabbed his beanie and dipped out of the car. He leaped onto the hood and ran up the windshield to the roof. From there, he jumped on the top of a six-foot retaining wall that enclosed the house next to where he’d parked. He’d done all that before Justice could do more than shove his door open and get out.

Their eyes met across the distance.

Fisher couldn’t figure out why Justice wouldn’t give this up. His fucked-up life wasn’t worth shit and it would be better for all if Echo did eventually kill him.

“Fisher, don’t run.”

Fisher didn’t respond. He dropped over the side and into the shrubs below.

Running was what he was good at.

Into the void lay safety.