Attest (Centrifuge Duet Book 2)(31)

It appears that her spectacular disregard for anything but her own desires has survived the blow I dealt to her ego by outsmarting her, since she ignores me and continues doing her own thing. B hikes up her skirt and bends down as far as she can to examine Jax. If she wasn’t so annoying, I’d laugh. The woman is unbreakable—her ability to toll with the punches is second to none.

“What have you done to him?” Her voice is shrill. She plants her hands on her hips and scowls at me with as much anger as she can emote with all the plastic pumped into her face. “If he’s permanently damaged, so help me God—”

“Oh, shut up.” Amber snaps. Now, it her turn to glare at me. She places her hands on her hips and growls, “What do you mean, she can take him?”

I hold up a finger and grab two of the bags that Casper left behind. Crouching down, I unzip the first one and show her the contents. Harry moves forward to have a look and Belinda picks her way carefully over the rough track until she’s standing with us.

“That’s all the doses of Centrifuge that have been manufactured to date. I figured Belinda could take them with her and give Jax a taste of his own medicine.”

Harry and Amber exchange a glance, then break into smiles. Belinda nods, contemplation of the malevolent kind lighting up her plastic face. “Well, it would be fitting consider he shot me and left me for dead. A little bit of payback never hurt anyone.”

I don’t have to check Amber to see if she’s on board with what I’m offering. She runs a hand under the back of my T-shirt and snuggles into my side for the first time today. The iciness she’s been emitting all morning has thawed, and I’m positive she’d purr with contentment if she could.

Belinda seems satisfied for the moment as well. She smooths the front of her dress down, then her expression changes from contentment to regret. Laying a hand on the side of my face, she pats me, before running her thumb over my lips. “It was wonderful knowing you. Another time, another place. Who knows what might have been.”

My mouth drops open. I don’t think I’ll ever get a handle on her delusions. Belinda snaps her fingers at Harry. “I’ve given you everything I have, now help me get all this into my car. My part of this charade is over.”

After I’ve loaded the two bags of Centrifuge into the trunk of her car, I help Harry move Jax into the back seat. He truly is a bruised and bloody mess. The Aryan Circle have had a bit too much fun with him over the past two days. I prod his cheek where dried blood has settled over a deep cut.

“That’s gonna need stitches.”

Belinda laughs. “Isn’t it fortunate that I’m here to nurse him back to health?”

Jax manages to open one eye a crack. He glares at Amber, who has followed us to Belinda’s sportscar. “Doesn’t matter where you run to, I’ll find you and make you—”

My fist makes an even bigger mess of his nose when it is driven into the pulpy mass that he calls a face. “Over my dead body you will.”

I slam the door shut and tap on the roof to let Belinda know she can leave. She lets her window down, a brilliant smile on her face.

“I wish you the best of luck,” she says. The She-Devil even sounds sincere. “May all your dreams come true because mine certainly have.”

She adjusts her rear-view mirror, so she can look at her passenger. He struggles to sit up, scrambling for the door handle with terror in the one eye he can open properly. Harry leans against the door to block his exit while Belinda presses the door lock button and reaches into her handbag. She pulls free a contraption that looks like a lightsabre. Amber drags in a sharp breath and steps away from the car, and I watch through wide eyes as B hits a button on the device and it crackles to life. Electrical currents flow through the end, like something out of a futuristic horror film, and I wince when she places it against Jax’s neck and zaps him until he passes out.

Tossing it on the passenger seat, Belinda gives a cheery wave, raises her window, and drives like a crazy person down the gravel track. The back of her sportscar weaves a couple of times, but she makes it over the summit eventually.

“That is one crazy chick,” I remark as we walk back to the shack.

“Amen to that,” Harry agrees.

“What do you think she’s going to do when the Centrifuge runs out and he regains his memory?” Amber asks.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem,” Harry replies. “By the time she’s finished with him, I doubt that Jax will be able to recognise himself in a mirror—with or without Centrifuge.”

Amber shudders. She gives me a quick kiss on the lips and heads inside of the shack to get the boys ready.

“Do you have everything?” I ask Harry when Amber is out of earshot.

“New identities. New documents. Four one-way tickets to paradise.” Harry hands me a package. “My number is in there. Call me if you ever need anything.”

“I won’t.”

Harry purses his lips and nods. “Good.”

We regard each other with quiet respect. There’s so many things we could say right now, yet none of them seem adequate.

“I hope you’re prepared for the cost of the deal you made.” Harry says.

I shrug. “It is what it is. Winning comes always comes with a hefty price tag.”