Under the Altswood Sky (The Altswood Saga #2)

Chapter 15 - Outlaw

Chapter 15 - Outlaw

It was me, Jules' voice echoed in my head. I killed Manny.

Gabriel was the first to speak.

"Why?" he asked, quiet, hesitant, betrayed—as if the truth was clear but he thought any moment, Jules would reveal that he was joking. Then it came again. Faster, angrier, tortured. "Why, Jules? Why? Why would you do that?"

Annabelle and I had frozen in our seats, turned to ash and cinder. Gabriel stood up and started pacing the kitchen, wearing away his electric energy. His shoulders were shaking. He looked like his entire life had dropped out from beneath him.

Gabriel stopped. He either didn't notice Jules looking crestfallen or he didn't care.

"How could you?" Barely audible, this time. Gabriel wasn't expecting an answer. The pain in his voice was enough to break even the strongest of spirits.

"Please," Jules whispered, "I didn't mean to."

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Gabriel shot back.

"How was that conversation supposed to go?" Jules replied wearily. "I'm sorry but your best friend's death was my fault? Is that what you would have wanted?"

Gabriel spun on his heel. "Yes! Goddammit, Jules, yes! You lied to us!" 

Dad cleared his throat. At the sound, Gabriel forced himself to calm down, exhaustion dragging his shoulders still. 

"If not for these new murders," he said quietly, "how long would you have kept it a secret?"

"I don't know," Jules answered, pained but honest. "I thought Rebekah was pulling the strings and after she was caught, I thought she would talk about my involvement sooner or later." Jules rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. "I thought they'd get around to punishing me eventually."

I remembered seeing Manny fall. I remembered the bullet in his head and the steady gush of blood, like someone had turned on a tap in his head and let everything flow.

Truly, I didn't know how to handle the thought of Jules at the other end of this violence.

I bolted up from my chair and made it to the sink just in time to start gagging. I hadn't eaten enough food to vomit, so instead, sour bile squirmed up from my stomach. I heaved and I heaved, the acidic-tasting liquid scratching at my throat until my pipes were raw. It felt like every toxin inside me was trying to escape all at once.

A hand reached in to hold my hair. I inhaled deeply, finding a pause. 

"Thanks, Gabriel," I muttered.

He gave my back a small pat.

Behind us, Annabelle had stood up as well, leaning against the wall with her eyes shut. If we were thinking along the same wavelength, then she was deliberating whether or not to be frightened by Jules.

Jules and Dad remained the only ones still sitting. Dad managed to keep a neutral expression, even though his fingers were trembling.

"I didn't want to," Jules said again, defeated. "They didn't give me a choice."

I pushed away from the sink, my stomach wholly emptied. Outside, the rain had worsened, echoing the pounding in my head as I quietly opened a nearby cupboard. I grasped onto the tiny bottles inside and shook out my meds, then swallowed it all in one, dry go.

"What happens now?" Jules asked softly.

I turned around, holding a hand over my mouth as the pills travelled down.