Page 118 of Beneath His Robes

Call the police the way Elias had begged me to do before.

My hands shook as I pulled my phone out of my pants. I couldn’t see the screen through my tears and the blood. Jack was moaning, trying to crawl away to safety. There was no safe place for him now. I would be sure he was imprisoned for all he had done. And this time.

He would rot.

A man like Jack deserved worse than death. Maybe when he was stuck in a cage with the people he put there, he’d learn who was really in control. A drunk, a drug-addicted, pathetic excuse for a human being. He would suffer, but not at my hand. Not anymore.

Finally, I was able to type the numbers. The three that mattered the most. I couldn’t breathe, much less speak. I just sat there on the ground, feeling the soil under my hands and knowing Elias was with me.

I stayed there.

Past Travis coming and trying to talk to me, past Jack coughing and spewing more insults as he, too, was immobilized. I did not move until the police pulled me away. Even then, I kept my mouth closed.

I was prepared to endure whatever sacrifice was necessary to ensure that Jack was imprisoned. If that meant being in the cage again to keep him there, then so fucking be it.

ChapterForty-Two

Ronan

The cold concrete of the booking area was a sharp contrast to the heat still simmering beneath my skin. The fluorescent lights buzzed above, the only sound in the sterile, oppressive space aside from the muffled voices of other prisoners further down the hall.

The cuffs around my wrists were tight, biting into my skin, and I could feel the heat of the bruise on my ribs from where Jack had slammed me into the ground earlier. My body ached, but it wasn’t just from the fight. It was from everything that had built up over the past few months—everything that had led me here.

I hadn’t planned on ending up here. Hell, I hadn’t planned on half of what had happened. But now, as I sat in the holding cell, everything seemed so much more…final. I could only hope that Elias was proud of me.

My heart was still racing, the adrenaline still coursing through me as the officers processed my arrest. My mind kept flicking back to Elias—his grave, the last words I had said to him, the way I couldn’t protect him, how I had let everything get so out of control. The anger, the blind rage, the blood…all of it tied into the bitter, gnawing feeling in my gut.

A loud clang echoed through the hallway as the metal door at the end opened, and in walked Jack, his hands cuffed behind him, his face a mess of cuts and bruises from our fight. His clothes were stained with his blood, the way mine were that night from Elias.

I didn’t look at him.

Not at first.

I couldn’t.

Every time I did, all I could think about was how he had destroyed so much of my life—how he had ruined everything.

But then he walked into the booking area and stopped, his eyes meeting mine. The bastard had that same smirk on his face, busted lip and puffy eye or not. He was missing teeth from the assault, but he still looked like he was the one who had won.

He talked to the police behind him like a friend. Waltzing around like nothing could faze him.

“Look at you,” he sneered, the sound of his voice slicing through the silence between us. “You really thought that was gonna fix things, huh? You think you’ve finally got the upper hand, Ronan? Beatin’ up your poor old man just showin’ his respect to the dead?”

I swallowed hard, my jaw clenching. His words were like a punch to the gut, but I wasn’t going to let him have that satisfaction of a response.

“May I be transferred somewhere else?” I said quietly to the officer in front of the bars. I tried to pretend Jack wasn’t there. I was so tired of hearing his voice and his presence suffocating everything.

Jack leaned against the bars, his smirk growing wider. “You really thought you had me didn’ ya,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “But look who’s here again—you, Ronan. You’re always tryin’ to fix things. Always playing the hero. Such a good guy. Who you tryin’ to fool? These are my friends. There is no one for ya. I know a group of boys who missed ya.”

I didn’t respond at first, my mind flashing back to that night in the prison, and the fear fell into my gut like lead. I shoved it off. I could feel my fists clenching, the urge to lash out still there, but I knew it wouldn’t change anything.

“Why don’t you just admit it?” Jack continued, his voice low now, almost taunting. “You’re just like me. You’re just a damaged little boy, looking for a way to fix things that can never be fixed.”

I couldn’t stop myself anymore. I lunged forward, rattling the bars of the cell.

“Don’t ever compare me to you,” I hissed, my voice dripping with venom. “You’re nothing. You’re the reason Elias is gone, Jack. You’re the monster who killed him. I won’t stop until you fucking burn!”

Jack didn’t flinch. Of course, he didn’t. He just looked at me, his eyes cold, calculating. “And what? You think you’re some kind of saint, Ronan? You think you’re better than me? Why? ‘cuz you fucked a priest? I’ve got news for you…you’re not. You’re just like me. Stuck in the same mess, trying to find a way out of it, but you can’t. Not like I can. You have nobody.”

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