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Chapter 11
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2024-10-29 19:42:56
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Jericho Chapter 12
ODETTEI sat on the barstool with my back pressed against the kitchen island. Gunnar looked like a raging bull with his nostrils flared in anger. He was doing his best to stay calm, breathing in through his nose and expelling harsh breaths through his mouth. Before Quinn came into his life—according to Jericho—Gunnar had serious issues when it came to controlling his anger. Now, he was better at it but I wouldn't go as far as calling him a timid, changed man. There were times, like this instance, when his anger got the best of him. But, it wasn't just anger. He used that as a base emotion to cover up everything else he felt. I watched him from where I sat with Jericho standing between Gunnar and myself as a barrier. Usually, I would insist that I didn't need Jericho to place himself as a sounding board between me and his brothers but this situation was different. This was a sensitive topic for all three Astor brothers and I knew this. That was why I kept it away from them. But things
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 13
ODETTE"Get dressed, we're going out," excitement rolled off Jericho in waves. He came barging into my room with this gleam in his eyes that I hadn't seen in ages and a smile so wide I was certain it would split his face into two parts. The one thing I had learned over the years of knowing Jericho, was that his excitement was not only palpable but it was contagious. He was an enigma and it was impossible not to feel what he felt. I was grateful that he hadn't hardened to the world around him the way his brothers had. He allowed himself to feel and absorb the emotions of others and himself. His excitement crashed into me, sinking into every crevice of my body until I could feel it buzzing through my veins. It had excitement of my own brewing at the base of my stomach. I couldn't remember when last I actually felt excited about anything so this new emotion after so many dull days was welcomed. It was the splash of color I needed when everything around me was gray and bland. I placed
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 14
JERICHO "Are you sure about this?" Odette shifted uncomfortably next to me. We were tucked at the back of a coffee shop across town from where I lived. It seemed like the safest place to meet and, considering the dim lighting in the booth we were seated in, I was certain no one would be paying us any attention. "It's the best option we have. I trust him completely. There's no need for you to worry," I reassured, weaving my fingers with Odette's and squeezing. Her gaze dipped to our joined hands on her lap and a frown weighed the corners of her lips down. I wondered if she could feel my thumb caressing the top of her hand, tracing the scarred flesh, or at least feel the slight pressure of me squeezing said hand in assurance. By the grimace twisting her features, I knew the answer to my questions. I forced myself to withdraw from her even though I didn't want to. If I attempted to comfort her in some other way right now, I knew I'd only make her feel worse. She was doing better, th
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 15
ODETTEI softly padded into Jericho's room to find him hunched over his desk, two arms folded under his head while snores left his parted lips. He only ever snored when he was exhausted, otherwise, he was a pretty silent sleeper which made sleeping next to him comfortable. I remembered when we were younger I'd sneak him into my room through the back door of my house so we could have sleepovers. My dad would have never permitted him to stay over because—as cool as he was—he was a very conservative man. It was why he wasn't so thrilled about having me stay here with Jericho when I first came home from the hospital after my accident. Until the age of thirteen, my aunt—my dad's youngest sister—would babysit me whenever my dad pulled all-nighters at work. When I turned fourteen, I somehow convinced my dad that I was able to take care of myself and that I didn't need a babysitter. He hated the thought of leaving me alone and it went against his moral code but he caved and allowed me to ga
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 16
ODETTE"Don't you look happy," Miranda crooned, leaning in to kiss my cheek before taking a seat beside me. Her sister, Tory, and Quinn slipped into the seats opposite, greeting me with a chorus of 'hey'. "Want to tell us what's got you smiling like that?" Quinn prodded as she rested her elbows on the table and perched her chin on her hands. She wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively with a knowing smirk curving her lips upward. For a brief moment, I wondered if Jericho had called her and said anything but then I shook the thought away. I was usually the first person he called when he had news. If it wasn't me, then it was Ace. He was probably talking to Ace right now about the kiss we shared. I shook my head when I realized I hadn't answered Quinn and bit back my smile, "We aren't here to discuss me. We're here because you said you have something to tell us."Quinn shrugged a shoulder, "We're just waiting on Priyanka."I had only met Priyanka a handful of times but she seemed li
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 17
JERICHO"Did you find anything useful?" Gunnar asked as he leaned back in his chair behind his desk. He had requested for Ace and me to meet him in his office at Astor Architecture but he hadn't given us a reason as to why. I couldn't tell if something bothered him or if he had good news to share because my brother kept his face neutral, hiding what he truly felt behind an ironclad wall. It had anxiety assaulting my mind, causing the cogs to turn at double the usual pace. I loved my brothers but they were unaware of the stress they occasionally put me under. I tucked my fists into the pockets of my jeans and clenched them until pain shot up my arms from my nails digging into my palms, "I'm not sure if it's useful but I did find something in the book."Ace glanced over his shoulder from where he stood at the window—the view over the city from my brother's office was aesthetically pleasing but I doubted he ever had the time to properly appreciate it, "Care to share, cub? If you've for
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 18
JERICHOI swerved into my designated parking and was out of the car in the next breath. Ace hadn't explained what the rush was but I couldn't ignore the trepidation which sunk in my gut after Ace had disconnected the call. All he said was that the girls were in trouble at my apartment. No one even knew how the girls ended up at my apartment considering they were all meant to be out for lunch. My first thought was Odette. I was petrified that something had happened to her and she had no way of defending herself. The thought of her injured yet again—looking as battered and broken as she did on that hospital bed a few weeks ago—had my heart thrusting against my ribcage in heavy, hard drum beats. The organ pumped with the ferocity of a jackhammer, determined to break through the confinements of my ribcage and land at my feet. No matter how much I willed myself to calm down so I could start thinking rationally, the foreboding feeling only intensified the longer I was away from her, and di
Last Updated : 2024-10-29Jericho Chapter 19
ODETTEI placed a daisy on Slash's grave and used the back of my hand to dry the wet which had collected beneath my eyes. Jericho had buried him at home in the garden. A massive rock served as a headstone with Slash's name engraved. Each day without Slash felt incomplete. When he died, he left a gaping hole in our hearts. I knew Jericho took it badly. He would wake up in the mornings, forgetting Slash was no longer around, and call out for him. Sometimes I would catch him retrieving Slash's leash to take him out for a walk only to realize he could no longer do that. The look of anguish which hijacked his face each time made the whole situation so much worse. I hated seeing Jericho in so much pain. "We miss you so much," I whispered, peering over my shoulder toward the massive house which towered behind me, "I hope, wherever you are, you're still watching over him. No dog could ever replace you but maybe send him another to be his companion again. One that can take care of him as well
Last Updated : 2024-10-29
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Jericho Chapter 31
ODETTE One week. For one week I refused to leave Jericho's beside unless I had to. I couldn't keep food down but I forced myself to try because, I knew when he finally woke up, he wouldn't be pleased with seeing how much weight I had lost in just a handful of days. He would wake up, though. He had to.I needed him. It sounded strange to place so much importance on any single individual. To love someone was to give them a part of your heart knowing it would be a part you could never get back. They would take that piece of you into the afterlife if they departed, allowing you to wither away as a result of their loss. Because, without them, you were incomplete. Jericho was the sun in my solar system. He was the anchor. Bursts of warmth and mirth only existed when I orbited him. Without him, I was cold and desolate, aimlessly floating around space with no tether. He was my best friend. He was every word. He was every sentence. He was every line. He was everything. To love someone so
Jericho Chapter 30
JERICHO Time had no essence. It slipped and spilled. It ticked and rolled. From one moment into the next torturous moment. My will to live dwindled and the thread of life I grasped now sat at the edge of my fingertips. I wasn't sure how much time passed but once the torturing started, I stopped caring. The pain had me retreating into the darkest corners of my mind and yet, solace and silence still evaded me. I shifted in and out of lucidity as gruesome, unspeakable acts were performed on my body. The fowl, metallic stench of blood permeated the air, and my screams and pleas caused a dull ringing in my ears. Hatred danced across my tongue with bile as its partner and my heart playing a hazardous rhythm. Echoes of agony rattled my bones. I sat, chained to this chair with no means to fight back. My kneecaps had been shattered, fingers broken, hair pulled out, nearly drowned, flesh carved from my body, and when I lost consciousness, they brought me back to repeat it all over again. I ha
Jericho Chapter 29
ODETTE"What do you mean?" Anger flashed like a hot, searing beam of light against my vision, causing tears too well to ease the burn, "I haven't been gone for more than seventy-two hours and something bad has already happened?"Gunnar's hard voice drifted into the receiver of the encrypted burner phone Ace had prohibited me from using. Shuffling sounded in the background before a string of muffled curses followed, "I'm at his apartment. He called me and I told him I'd meet him when I landed. He never answered any of my phone calls after that. I came straight here after I landed. Everything in his apartment is thoroughly destroyed."My irritation fizzled and popped in my eardrums, like the pressure experienced at high altitude, while my blood thrummed and heart pounded like a war drum against my ribcage, "How long ago did you last speak to him?" My tone may have seeped out of me leveled and cool but my hands quivered as they wiped away my silent tears. The scars caught and held my at
Jericho Chapter 28
JERICHOI awoke chained to a chair. The warmth of a low-hung light bulb had sweat beading over my forehead, rolling down until it burned my eyes. I was dragged from my bed and knocked unconscious. Those were the last memories I had. Now, I was God only knew where with no one to find me. The heated steel ring on my index finger burned. If Gunnar figured out I was missing, he could track the ring. I just needed to buy myself time. There was no point in him plotting my rescue if I was no longer alive. He would just end up walking into a trap. Maybe that was the point. Maybe Eddie wanted Gunnar to find me, and walk into this trap so he could eliminate us both. The thought had a wave of adrenaline surging through my veins. I struggled against the chains which bound my wrists, tugged until they rubbed my flesh raw and a shot of pain zapped through my tense muscles like a bolt of lightning. The hiss that fled through my clenched molars echoed off the concrete walls. A chill passed in the
Jericho Chapter 27
JERICHO I scrubbed a hand down my face, scratching the stubble coating my jaw as my eyes skimmed over lines and lines of unintelligible scrawl. If the book wasn't written in a code I couldn't crack, it was also written in scrawl only a doctor could probably decipher. Then it hit me. What if this section of the book I was unraveling wasn't written in code at all? What if this was some type of medical note? It would explain so many things. It was a long shot but I knew Gunnar would have someone on his team able to make sense of the lines which seemed to blend into one another. The quicker I could get the information we needed, the quicker I could get Odette back. Admitting my love for her was one of the scariest and bravest things I could have ever done. I may not have been wired like my brothers. Violence was not my first solution to every problem. And yet, the thought of firing a gun and settling a bullet between two eyes wasn't as disconcerting as admitting my love for Odette. W
Jericho Chapter 26
ODETTEAfter a close to eighteen-hour flight with two stops in between—one of which Gunnar had made, we landed in South Africa, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. We were hauled up in a hotel room near the beach. The city we were staying in—from the little I had seen—was beautiful. Durban seemed to be filled with people of different races and ethnicity. It was different from what I had expected. Then again, I didn't know what to expect when Ace said we were going to a safe house. All I knew was that we wouldn't be staying at this hotel for very long. Even with the ocean view with golden sands and the warm, yellow glow of the sun shimmering off the waves or the salty sea breeze which carried an array of aromas from the restaurants lining this stretch of road, I couldn't truly enjoy the experience. One: I was running away and hiding from dangerous men trying to kill me. The thought gnawed restlessly at the back of my mind no matter how much I tried to stifle it. Two: Jericho, my best fr
Jericho Chapter 25
ODETTE"Do you need anything else?" Ace asked as he stood in the center of my loft-style apartment. I gave the small place a once over. It had been ages since I had been here. Everything had collected a thick layer of dust. A double bed sat at the furthest end of the room with green—the color of Jericho's eyes—nets around it. When I had bought the nets I remembered thinking of him. It was a green that was difficult to come by so I made sure to grab them.More toward the center was a sleeper couch with two single sofas on each side. My television was mounted on the wall to save space. I had a kitchenette through a door on the left and a bathroom through the door on the right—equally as small. It wasn't much but it was home. It was what I could afford on a cop's salary and I was happy with it. "I don't think so," I murmured dejectedly. After I argued with Jericho, the bubble of elation that cocooned me had burst. I felt like a drug addict suffering from severe withdrawals, aching for
Jericho Chapter 24
ODETTEJericho set me down and gestured to our clothes sprawled over the floor, "Put something on," he said as he shrugged on his boxers and grabbed a hair tie from the pedestal to prop his hair into a top knot. A grimace twisted his handsome features when he noted the coffee which had spilled when he had been straddling me on the bed, fucking my breasts and mouth, "I'm sorry. I know you were proud of making that and I'm proud of you for doing it all on your own with no assistance required. I'll clean it up.""It's okay," my cheeks heated as blood pooled beneath the thin veil of skin, "I have no complaints."He closed the space between us, gripping the back of my neck and sealing his mouth against mine with a searing kiss, "Good because I have none either."The knock sounded again, louder as if the person was trying the punch a hole into the door. A low, annoyed growl rumbled at the back of Jericho's throat. It was such a sexy sound that shot right through me like a lethal bullet to
Jericho Chapter 23
ODETTEThere was a bounce in my step and a glow in my face which was not there yesterday. It was surprising how one action, one night, could change so much about a person. The smile marking my face was unflinching and, although my muscles pained from being set in the same position for so long, I found I liked having it light up my face. It made me look years younger, like a giddy teenage girl who had just discovered what love was for the first time. I laughed lightly to myself, shaking my head at my own thoughts as I gripped the handle of the coffee pot as firmly as I could. My hands ached after clawing at Jericho's back most of the night for stability as I trembled beneath him. He liked it. Practically begged for it. The coffee pot shook as I lifted it out of its holster causing me to close my fingers around the handle tighter. Determination had my brows scrunching together and my mouth pinching in a thin line. I had a lot more reasons to want to be better now, even if I couldn't b
