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After taking a shower and changing clothes, I stalk down the stairs again. My brothers hear me coming and walk out of the kitchen at the same time as I reach the bottom of the stairs.
Something cold and hard smacks into my chest, and I catch it by reflex. Glancing down, I find an ice pack in my hands. I look up and meet Kaden’s dark eyes. He shoots me a commanding stare and stabs a hand towards my shoulder.
I roll my eyes but then raise the ice pack and hold it against my shoulder. The coldness immediately seeps through my muscles and soothes the ache.
After locking the door behind us, we all climb into Eli’s Range Rover. I watch the gray concrete buildings that make up Blackwater University fade outside the windows to be replaced by fields as Eli drives us back towards the city.
When we reach our family home, Dad is already waiting for us in the study. Mom is nowhere to be seen, which isn’t a good sign. It means that Dad probably timed this so that she wouldn’t be here to calm things down. He has been threatening to kick my ass unless I pull myself together and stop drinking and fighting and neglecting my studies. And as I walk into his office, I can’t help but wonder if he has finally decided to make good on that promise.
I left the ice pack in Eli’s car, so I cross my arms over my chest and lock eyes with our father as I come to a halt on the other side of the desk where he’s sitting. Eli and Kaden take up position on my left and right, with Rico on Eli’s other side.
“Well, you wanted a family meeting,” Eli says and lifts his shoulders in a lazy shrug. “Here we are.”
Dad shoots him a disapproving look at the arrogance in his tone. But he raised us with the same arrogance and dominance that he himself possesses, so I don’t know why he’s surprised.
After holding Eli’s nonchalant stare for another second, Dad shifts his sharp blue eyes to me. “The time for gentle guiding is long past now, Jace.”
I force out an annoyed breath. “What is this? My intervention?”
He slams his hand down on the desk, making the pens jump and clatter. “Enough! Enough with the flippant attitude. I get reports from your instructors at Blackwater. And do you know what they say?”
“That I’m the best marksman in the senior year and at the top of the charts in every sparring competition?”
“That you barely show up to class! That you get into fights with anyone and everyone over the smallest things. That you smell like alcohol half of the fucking time.”
My brothers cast me a glance from the corner of their eyes, but they say nothing.
I just hold our father’s stare. “So?”
His eyes flash. “I will give you one chance to come up with another answer to that.”
“If you’re so unhappy with my performance, then pull me out of Blackwater.”
“Pull you out of Blackwater?” Placing his palms on the table, he slowly stands up and leans forward over the desk while locking furious eyes on me. “You are my son. And you will finish your education at Blackwater just like your brothers have. Just like I have. Just like my father did. And his father before him. You are a Hunter and?—”
“And maybe that’s the problem!”
The words tear out of my chest with the force of a gunshot, and they’re out before I can stop them. Anger and panic and desperation rip through me, shredding my insides as I stare at my father in the now dead silent room. My chest is heaving.
Dad looks shocked.
For a few seconds, all he does is to blink at me in stunned silence. Then the wheels start turning behind his eyes.
It sends another spike of panic up my spine. But it’s too late to take it back now.
The fury drains from Dad’s features and is instead replaced by confusion. Holding my gaze, he shakes his head slowly while realization finishes trickling through his mind.
Then he at last says the words that I have been trying to hide for years now.
“You don’t want to be a hitman.” It’s half question, half statement.
Eli and Rico whip around to stare at me.
“What?” Eli blurts out. Confusion swirls in his eyes too as he looks at me. “You don’t want to become a hitman?”
I glance towards him but don’t reply since I haven’t decided what to say yet. Thankfully, Eli’s gaze shifts to Kaden on my other side and his frown deepens.
“Wait,” Eli begins, now looking at Kaden. “Why the fuck are you not surprised?”
