Page 96 of Silent Damage

One last look at Torren tells me he knows something is up.

I’ll deal with that later.

I turn on my heels and dart to where they took Jason, Tobias trailing behind.

When I enter the cabin, Jason is lying on the stretcher, spitting bloody water into a bowl.

Tobias knocks on the door. “This is family. Let him in.”

The medics nod and motion for me to come in. At first, all I can see are the wounds the medics are cleaning.

Then I see his face—he stares at me with rage in his eyes.

“What do you want?” he asks curtly.

A cold chill travels down my back in response to his tone, and my fists clench.

He’s mad at me? Me? My mouth opens, but there are too many people around us.

I clamp up—teeth clenching and look at the floor.

“Give us a minute,” Jason says to the medics.

They share a look, the two medics silently talking before one says, “I think he’s fine. We just need to monitor him for a bit.”

The other one nods and says, “Get us if you need anything.”

Together, they leave, and as soon as the door closes behind them, something cracks open inside me. All of the fear I felt watching him fight pours out of me in a rush, and I start screaming, “What the fuck was that? What are you doing, Jason? The fucking HellCats?”

“What about it?” he spits back.

I run my fingers through my hair and pace the room. “You could have died tonight. You could die working for Tobias.”

“I won’t,” he says, not even looking at me while he speaks.

“You don’t know that,” I try to explain.

Jason rolls his eyes. “What are you, my mother?”

“Don’t be a fucking asshole! When you won your first match, I ran down there. I stayed to make sure you were okay. You beat that guy because of my advice, so don’t treat me like this!”

He doesn’t like that. He opens his mouth to fight back, but all he can do is take a deep breath and look away from me.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask in desperation.

“Because what else can I do?”

“Anything, Jason. You could do anything you wanted.”

“That’s bullshit,” he yells, pointing at me with his shaking hand. “I can’t do shit, Gabe, so let me have this. Besides, your hero, Torren, created the HellCats. Don’t be a hypocrite.”

I notice the way he says hero—the bite behind it.

“Why did you say it like that?”

He narrows his eyes at me again. “Like what?”

I take a deep breath, trying to control my frustration, and close the distance between us. “You know what I mean.”