G.U.A.R.D. Book #2: Aberrations

-20-

    When we arrived at our new motel room, the first thing Jade did was grasp the front of my shirt and throw me onto one of the beds. My head hit the headboard, and I groaned.

"Don't ever do that again," she said, icy eyes flashing.

I wiped a hand over my face, exhausted from the night's ventures. We had traveled to this motel on her motorcycle, speeding through the streets until the League was gone. I was so tired, it took all my strength to focus on Jade. All I wanted to do was go to sleep and leave my worries of the real world. But she had other plans.

"They were in the way. Killing them was our only option. Don't stop me next time, Saber, or you'll be the one with a bullet in your head."

Anger burned in my heart, spurring me to push myself up and spit back at her, "Maybe it's news to you, but I'm still not used to seeing someone murder other people, let alone so easily. Those people had lives, jobs, probably families."

She let out a harsh laugh, ripping off her gloves. "You really think that?" She threw them on the other bed, facing me. "One of them was a prostitute, the others League agents. The people trying to kill you. I did you a favor-"

"How can you talk like that?" I threw my legs over the side of the mattress and glared at her angrily. "They may have made some mistakes in their life, but that doesn't mean you had any right to kill them. Who made you judge, jury, and executioner?"

"They did. The thieves and robbers. The people who smuggle drugs. The murders and killers-"

"Like you?" I interrupted with a sneer.

She stared at me with rage in her eyes, breathing hard from all the anger bouncing around in the room. Finally, she said, "Would you have preferred I had left you back at Conway's mansion to die?"

I breathed through my nose. "I would have preferred you knocked those people unconscious, not killed them. I saw you fighting over there. Your skills outmatched theirs by a million. It would be so easy for you to just bash their heads and be done with it."

"Oh, yes," she said sarcastically. "Then we could run into them later and have to fight them all over again. Don't you just love reunions?"

"So you're saying you feel no remorse whatsoever at what you've done?"

"Why should I?"

My jaw trembled, I was so mad, but I couldn't find an answer within me. I couldn't believe I was actually traveling with such a monster. Someone so uncaring for human life. Someone who would just kill people because they were in the way.

Jade turned from me and unzipped the front of her suit, letting it reveal the brown tank top beneath. She began stripping from all the belts running along her body, completely ignoring me. Under my breath, I muttered, "Mom was right to leave you behind."

She stopped. After throwing the last belt onto the bed, she turned to me with a suspicious expression. "What did you say?"

I wasn't sure what I was supposed to answer that with. Tell her the truth? What would she do when she learned we were half siblings? But... I... wanted to tell her. I felt something crawl up my spine. Spite. I wanted her to know Mom chose to say with Ally and me, not her. So I looked her right in the eyes and said, "My name's Dustin Light. My mom's Jo Race."

Jade didn't answer for a long time. She stripped from her leather suit completely and laid it out on the bed next to all the weapons and belts. Finally, she responded with, "So?"

I gazed at her unbelievingly. "What do you mean... 'So?'"

Jade sat down on the bed with a sigh and gazed at me. "I already knew."