Page 98 of Reckless
Archer and I were on our way back to the house. He’d gotten more clothes, along with a few other things he needed. His house was cleaned up, but I didn’t blame him for wanting to keep living at the Fitzpatrick’s house. He’d get to stay close to Jaz and get away from the house where his mother died.
I was never close with my mother, obviously, but I could imagine how much it hurt to lose someone you loved. If I lost Jaz, I think I’d go crazy.
Pulling up to the house, I saw a car lingered near the gate. Vaughn stood, arguing with the security guard, Frank. When I stopped before the closed gate, I rolled down my window, wondering just what the fresh hell all of this was about.
Vaughn was busy threatening Frank: “If you do not open that gate for me right now, I will break through that glass and—”
I interrupted what was sure to be a colorful threat, “Vaughn, what’s going on? Why are you here?”
He whirled on me. “Something’s not right. Her friend, Bobbi—” I knew a little about Bobbi. Jaz had spoken of her on a few occasions, but I did not know of any connections until he went on, “Has an older sister named Alice. Alice Wilde, who is now a walking zombie because of something that happened three years ago. Her mother ran away and left her father—”
Alice Wilde. Shit. I remembered what happened to that girl perfectly, even though years had passed. Star child, well-loved by everyone; she and Celeste got into it. She beat Celeste up for supposedly going after her man, and then… and then, if I had to guess, Ollie’s twins got to her.
“Frank!” I shouted his name. “Open the fucking gates!” Out of nowhere, my heart beat too fast. Surely this was all a coincidence, surely this didn’t mean that Bobbi was the one skulking around in the shadows, killing people?
I was back in my car the next moment, flying through the gates before it opened all the way. Vaughn hurried back to his waiting car, following me up. The driveway was too long, obscenely long, and I barely put the car in park before leaping out and running to the front door.
Archer asked, “What’s going on? I don’t—”
I didn’t say anything, busting through the door and shouting, “Jaz!” As it turned out, I didn’t have to look too far. After running through the front vestibule, I found Jaz standing in the kitchen, holding onto a bloody knife.
Fuck. She was covered in blood, and when I said covered, I meant it looked like she showered in it. Her eyes were alert, instantly spotting me, and I saw her grip on the knife tighten, as if she was going to try to stab me with it.
I knew I didn’t have the whole picture of what happened here, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I needed to calm her down and get that knife out of her hand, then I could see what had taken place in this house.
“Jaz,” I spoke quietly, ignoring Archer, who’d come into the house behind me. When he saw Jaz and all the blood on her, he froze. “Give me the knife.” I didn’t want to use any takedowns on her, but I recognized the crazed glint in her eyes. She’d lost it, and she needed help coming back to herself.
She looked at me, but I couldn’t tell if she saw me or just a face. She stood still, her body breathing hard but not trembling. Judging from the blood on her face, she wasn’t crying, either. It hardly looked like she was there, in her body, in her own head.
I stepped closer, saying again, “Jaz, give me the knife. I’m here now. You don’t need it.”
Vaughn entered the house, moving to stand beside Archer. Both of them watched her, though I couldn’t take my eyes off her to see what their reaction was.
Extending a hand, my heart hammered in my chest. In a situation like this, you never knew how someone would react. I loved Jaz, but even I knew she wasn’t in her right mind. I moved slowly, carefully, and Jaz’s shoulders slumped.
There. That was it. She was still in there.
“Give it to me,” I said, taking another step closer to her, my hand nearly on hers, on the knife.
A fresh tear fell down her face, creating a pathway through the wet blood on her cheek. When her grip loosened on the knife, I was able to take it from her, holding it off to the side. “She killed my mom,” Jaz whispered, her voice breaking, and my heart breaking as well.
I didn’t care that she was covered in blood; I used my free hand to pull her close, to hold her against me as she started to break down.
“She killed my mom,” she muttered it again, caving into my chest and losing it.
Archer went to look around the kitchen with Vaughn, but it wasn’t a second later that he saw something bad—my guess, Piper’s body. Or maybe Bobbi’s. Either way, Archer paled and turned his back to it, moving to stand beside Jaz and me. He set a hand on her back, and I let him take her.
As Jaz buried herself against Archer’s chest, I glanced down at my clothes. Covered in blood, thanks to her, but whatever. I didn’t care. I took the knife to the island, setting it down before going to Vaughn. From where he stood, I could see both Piper’s body and Bobbi’s.
God, what a fucking mess.
Piper’s neck was cut; if I had to guess, I’d say Bobbi caught her off-guard, maybe when she was cooking or something, while Jaz was still upstairs. No way Jaz would’ve watched and let Bobbi hurt her. Jaz loved her mom; she might complain about her and her parenting skills any chance she got, but that didn’t change the fact that she loved her.
Bobbi, on the other hand, was a mess. There was no single wound on her body. Her entire top half was littered in wounds; a quick count put the wounds at at least fifteen, but I’d bet any money there was more. Jaz really lost it.
Fuck. I had to call Oliver.
I pulled out my phone, and I saw Vaughn do the same thing as well. Vaughn wandered to the living room to talk, but I stood there, keeping an eye on both bodies and Archer and Jaz as Oliver answered: “Jacob, what is it?”
