𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫 {𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐭 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫}

fifty three: the hope that always lets you down

I am so very close to shutting my eyes and nodding off in my chair – but I knew this was important and forced my eyelids open.

Even that was proving to be very challenging.

Jax looked particularly refreshed this morning. He was freshly shaven, sporting a very fancy blazer while his hands glistened with silver rings.

I was unaware of the dress attire for this meeting – I looked basically homeless. My hair was thrown up into a ponytail, I was wearing Vince's old trousers which were way too big and some shitty trainers I stole from Thomas a few weeks ago.

At least I was holding up the hungover look. And at least I wasn't the only one who looked like that - Thomas also appeared completely worn out and battered.

It was obvious we had had a rough night.

Lia looked radiant, and Alek looked like Alek. Nothing special.

Jax was eager to speak at this point. "Lia, we don't have time for this-"

"We have hours I don't understand the issue-"

Jax slammed his hand down on the table, making my head snap up from its previous position of resting on my arms.

"We need to go – soon."

Lia visibly tensed and Alek pulled a face of confusion. Turning my head to look over at Vince, I watched as he examined Jax, clearly confused and taken aback by his sudden outburst.

"Jax, what is it?" Vince asked.

The man didn't turn to face his friend for a while, but eventually he did. And as soon as he did, Vince's face dropped.

Jax looked furious, and also a little frightened.

"We've helped you out, Vin. It's time for us all to go."

Everyone around the table was extraordinarily confused. I watched as Thomas' fingers twitched for his gun – something was wrong.

He could sense it.

I ran through a plan in my head – if anything goes south, you have a gun in your hip holster and one in your ankle holster. Also, you have a knife in your belt.

I always like to be extra prepared.

"Jax, what are you on about? We haven't figured out when they're leaving, or from where or-"

"It doesn't matter, Vince!" The man laughed, almost disbelievingly. "If we stay here, we're fucked."

Lia moved forward slowly, tentatively reaching for Jax's hand.

"Jax, what are you talking about? We're safe here."

Jax wrenched his hand free and scoffed. "Safe? We are not safe here, Ophelia."

Thomas and I shared a look of confusion, but neither or us said anything.

"What do you mean, Jax? Last time you checked we were fine here. Sure, we're still going to move out in a couple weeks but right now we're fine-" Alek tried desperately to comfort his friend, but still Jax would not listen.

"Oh, wake up, Alek! You want to know how I know we aren't safe? I overheard it on the radios today – they're coming for us."

My heart felt like it had just been ripped out and stomped on.

"What?"

The man laughed again, this time, much more sinister.

"And you want to know how Wicked found out our location?" Jax asked the group, but none of us answered.