Dreams I'll Never See (Intersex gxgxg)

Chapter 2

3 years ago

Louise Allen was Lessa's mom. She was a small woman, made even smaller by the asshole of a husband she had, but with a giant heart. She'd always supported Lessa and I, and Lexie and Willow when they made it official too. Her funeral was a somber affair, with many friends there to support the family through their hard time. I wish I could have been one of them, but since I was supposed to be dead, I watched the proceedings from behind a tree as she was lowered into the earth. Willow and Lexie just held each other, sobbing, while Zac turned and walked away.

I followed the girls discreetly. There was a small reception at the old family home, but they left that after an hour to head back to their hotel. Once I knew the hotel, it was easy enough for me to call Joe and get their room number, and I made my way up to the room, standing outside of it and raising my hand to knock. That was where the hard part came. When Joe had taken me from military custody, they'd informed my uncles of my death, who then told the girls and their mother. It was all fake, obviously, but we needed everyone to believe it. My uncles knew the truth, because they were provided new identities and had moved within a month of that news. But the girls always assumed I was truly dead, which was for their own protection.

But now I was about to reappear, hoping that me coming back would maybe lessen the blow of losing Louise, but also potentially putting them in harm's way. Nothing had happened in the 2 years I'd been reported dead, so I didn't think the risk was high, but I still had to worry about their reaction to me reappearing.

But I swallowed my fear and knocked on the door.

The look on Lexie's face when she opened the door was worth it. "Jesse?" she gasped, her eyes wide as her hand flew to her mouth in astonishment.

"Hey Lexie," I replied with a small smile.

She started sobbing immediately, rushing into my arms and crushing me with a hug. She couldn't say anything, but soon started to hiccup instead. When Willow came to see what was happening, she ran to join us, and we had a little group hug in the doorway. Needless to say, there were a lot of tears between the three of us.

"How are you alive? How are you here?" Willow finally asked. I quickly pulled them into the room and sat on the bed. They both ended up on my lap since neither of them were letting go.

"I got in a lot of trouble after Lessa," I told them in a low whisper. "I killed everyone at the place she was held, and then anyone else that I could find that had anything to do with it. But I got caught. I thought I was going to jail, or I'd get the death penalty, but I was bailed out by some other people. They wanted me to work for them, but that meant being dead. They faked my death, and let everyone know, and I had to stay away from everyone to keep them safe."

"But you're here now?" Lexie asked while burrowing into me.

"Just for a bit. I can't stay, it's too dangerous to you with what I do."

"You're still doing the same thing?" Willow was wrapping herself around the two of us and it was nice to hold them. In the time immediately after Lessa's death and her funeral, we'd all grown even closer with the shared grief, and it seemed like now was more of the same. I hated that we always seemed to gather at the worst of times.

"I am. There are a lot of bad people out there, and they don't always get punished. But I make sure they do."

"Like my dad," Lexie muttered bitterly. "He deserved it."

"Right. Like him. There are a lot of others like that, some with drugs, some murderers, and some true monsters. I make sure that they pay for what they do."

"But you're safe?" Willow's eyes were full of concern.

"I'm as safe as I can be. But you never know. I tend to have the advantage of surprise and a lot more knowledge though. None of them ever know I'm coming." Those two elements made my missions much easier than they otherwise might be. Plus, I had weapon skills that most of the victims usually didn't, and the willingness to kill them, which their victims rarely did.