Chapter Quote:
"Maybe you're not the good guy pretending to be the bad guy. Maybe you're the bad guy pretending to be the good guy. Did you ever think about that?"
~ Mia Toretto
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Chapter 26

Ember

I paced nervously up and down the living room, waiting for my family to come back. Mom sat at the computer, trying to get in touch with Jackson. We'd lost contact with him after he went to get Jace. I feared the worst of why he wasn't responding...

"Mia? Ember?" Dom called out. My mom and I jumped in surprise, whirling around to find my uncle, Letty, and Hobbs walking towards us. We hadn't expected them to be back so soon.

I threw my arms around my uncle, giving him a bone-crushing hug. Letty and Hobbs weren't immune to my affection either, being subjected to the same greeting as my uncle. I tried to convey in the hug how happy I was to see them. I was beyond relieved to see them safe. Now we just needed the others to show up.

"Where are the others?" Mom asked.

"Cops showed up, so we split. Just agreed to meet back here," Dom replied grimly. "Any word from Jackson or Jace?"

"No," I said. "Jackson stopped responding after he went after Jace. He-"

I was interrupted by Sam, Bucky, Steve, Wilson, and Brandon entering the room. Sam bee-lined to her dad. Brandon came to me first, pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Brandon!" Roman shouted. He and Gina ran up to their son, Tej a few paces behind them. Brandon let go of me to go greet his parents. I watched everyone regroup and revel being back together. But we were still missing two very important people. At least they were to me...

"Anyone hurt?" Dom asked, scanning the room. Sam, Tej, Steve, and Bucky raised their hands. "Follow Mia and Gina to the infirmary. Ember, stay and listen to the comms in case Jackson or Jace comes through. Everyone else, follow me. We need to start coming up with a new plan."

"I'll be there in a sec, Dom. I have an incoming call," Hobbs announced. He grimaced, and I could tell he was not looking forward to telling his superior what had just happened. Not only had two of the operatives disappeared on the field, but we'd lost the target as well.

I took my seat at the radio, listening anxiously for any sign of Jace or Jackson, but I kept an eye on Hobbs, trying to figure out what was being said. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Even from where I sat, I could hear the angry voice on the other end. I wanted to go take the phone out of his hand and rip the guy on the other side a new one but knew Hobbs wouldn't appreciate it. When he hung up, he let out a sigh, then went to join Dom.

I now sat alone, the muffled voices of my family coming from two different directions, and the dead silence on the radio. It let my thoughts wander to everything going on. Lynch thought I was dead, something I wondered if we could maybe use for our advantage. Jace was missing, which meant I would never know what he wanted to tell me until he returned. Jackson was missing, which meant the only connection I had to Jack was gone until he returned too. On top of that, there was a chance neither one of them would return. I wanted to go out and look for them. I needed to do something other than just sit here and wait. Surely there was something else I could be doing to track them down. Not that I could come up with anything myself...

I got up from my chair and started pacing, keeping my ear trained on the radio. Time passed slowly. Mom, Dom, Letty, Brandon, and Hobbs all kept me company at some point, talking to me and trying to keep my thoughts from being preoccupied by Jace and Jackson. However, I made them go to bed. I could see how exhausted they were and if we were going to catch Lynch another day, they all needed to be rested.

So, I continued my pacing.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Every time I checked the clock, although it'd seemed like hours had passed, in reality, it was usually only around five minutes. And I must've checked that clock at least two hundred times. And still, nothing on the radio from either of the boys and nothing from any other source about two wayward-looking boys showing up.

"If you pace anymore, you're going to fall through the ceiling," a familiar, yet tired, voice remarked. I snapped my head up to find Jackson and Jace, covered in dirt, sweat, and grime, looking worse for wear with blood and bruises on almost every part of their body, but they were alive, and that's all I cared about.

"Jackson!" I exclaimed involuntarily, rushing to hug him. He barely had time to brace himself before my arms were around his neck. His arms wrapped around me tightly, eagerly returning my affection. The only reason I let go was to check on Jace. He seemed surprised that I hugged him too, hesitating before melting into it. One arm snaked around my waist, the other cradled my head. I heard him murmur something, but I couldn't make out what he said.

I was about to ask him when Brandon exuberantly exclaimed, "You're back!"

Jace and I pulled apart. Our eyes met for a brief moment before we hastily looked away while my family gathered around us, bombarding the boys with questions.

"Are you two okay?" Mom inquired worriedly, cupping Jackson's bruised and cut cheek. He nodded but didn't say anything. I figured he was too shocked from being shown worry by someone in my family, considering most still didn't trust him.

"Why the hell did you turn off your comm, man?" Brandon demanded, turning to Jace. He whirled on Jackson, "And you! Why the hell weren't you responding to us?"

Jackson pulled two comms out of his pocket, both mangled and unusable. "Lynch destroyed Jace's before I got there. Mine got knocked out and destroyed in the fight."

I glanced over at my uncle who had been uncharacteristically silent. Knowing from experience, that meant he was trying to control his anger. With him staring down Jace, I knew exactly who that anger was directed at. Apparently, so did Jace, because he said, "I know what you're going to ask, and you deserve an explanation.

"Then talk," Dom said icily.

Jace shuffled nervously. "A few weeks ago, before we got Ember back, I was reading over some letters my mom had sent me. In the last one, she told me about the dad I'd never known. She explained how he was involved in heists and illegal dealings. In the end, she told me a name. Carter Lynch. I thought it must've been a coincidence that the man we were hunting had the same last name as my dad. But when I did a search in the database one night, I found out the truth. So then, not only did I want to kill the son of a bitch for what he did to Ember and to this family, but I wanted answers from him before that happened."

I stood in place, shell-shocked by this information. I wasn't the only one either. A few mouths had dropped open on the bomb Jace had just dropped on us. Roman started to ask something but Jace continued on, "I thought if I told any of you, you'd think I somehow had a part in him getting Ember since she was taken when she was alone with me. I wanted to help get her back first."

"But you still didn't tell us," Dom pointed out.

"No, sir. I didn't. I don't have an excuse except I got scared."

"You're not your dad," I said softly. "We're not going to judge you for the sins of your father."

"Does anyone find the timing of it weird though? Our family gets involved with Lynch's son, and suddenly he becomes a pain in our ass?" Roman noted.

"You're a lot smarter than you look, you know that?" Tej remarked. Roman stared at him, unamused.

"Before Jackson showed up, I got some information out of him. He wanted me and Ember to meet. He knew she was scouting the races and watching them. He just needed to get her involved in them, get her under his wing, take down the Toretto dynasty through their legacies. He had already gotten Jack. He just needed Ember."

"But why not kidnap her in broad daylight like he did Jack?" Brandon asked.

Jason shrugged. "Probably because she was never really alone, and he knew if she was taken, he'd have everyone trying to catch him. If she joined him voluntarily, it'd be less heat on him. Like I said, he wanted to take down the Toretto dynasty, and it helped that Ember was a good driver because he had a need for her skills. I didn't get much information after that. He decided to escalate it into a physical fight. But I made sure my stupidity wasn't all for nothing. I dropped my tracker in his car. It won't be long before he finds it, but it can at least give us his location right now."

"We'll talk more about this tomorrow. Right now, we need to patch you boys up," Mom intervened. She was right. Both of them looked about ready to collapse on the spot. "Jackson, you come with me. Ember, can you take care of Jace?"

"Yeah," I said, secretly glad she'd asked me to. Now Jace and I had a chance to talk, even though I was extremely nervous about it. A lot had happened since we last saw each other, and things had been said over the radio that needed to be addressed.

"I'll see you later, Emmy," Jackson said tiredly. I nodded, watching him follow my mom out of the room. I grabbed a medical kit on the way to Jace's room. We walked in silence, slowly, because he couldn't move fast with his injuries. Finally, we entered his room. He sank down onto his bed while I knelt down in front of him, examining the injuries I could see.

"I need you to take your shirt off so I can see the extent of the damage," I ordered. Jace complied, slowly taking off his jacket, then peeling off his shirt. Some of it stuck to the dried blood on his torso, opening up the wounds.

"God," I breathed. I grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and some cotton pads. "This is going to hurt. I'm really sorry."

I gingerly started cleaning the wounds, unable to ignore the silent winces flashing across Jace's face. I tried to hurry, but that was impossible unless I wanted to hurt him even further. Slowly but surely, I cleaned all the wounds and got them to stop bleeding. I patched them up, put antibiotic cream on them, and gauze over the ones that needed it before standing up and announcing he was done. Jace grabbed a pair of sweatpants out of his bag. I turned around to give him some privacy.

"I know this isn't the best time to talk, but you probably have some questions," he said quietly.

I turned around to face him. I did have questions, I just didn't know where to start there were so many; so I went with the first one that came to mind. However, it came out a little angrier than I expected as I burst, "What were you thinking going after Lynch by yourself? You could've been killed!"

He flinched. "I know... that's why I said what I did on the radio before I turned off my comm."

"People only say things like that when they think they're about to-"

"Die?"

I stared at him, his words slowly registering with me. "You weren't expecting to make it out alive, were you?"

Jace shook his head. "No. I planned on meeting him one-on-one for a while, and after you faked your death, I was mad, don't get me wrong, but that wasn't why I pushed you away, because words couldn't explain how thrilled I was you were alive. But I knew if I faced Lynch, I most likely wouldn't make it out alive, and I didn't want to allow myself to get any closer to any of you, especially you, because I knew I wouldn't do what I needed to if I told you how I really felt. So I lied. It was the only time I ever lied to you, because god knows I've been madly in love with you since the day we met. Everything I've said after the club, how I don't love you anymore, that's all been bullshit on my part to help with a bullshit plan I came up with when I was grieving and stressed and not in a good place in the head. I love you, Ember, and I will try to make up for all the shitty things I've done to you, even if it takes the rest of my life. And I'm sorry for snapping at you about what you had to do to get away from Lynch. Knowing what I do now, I realize you really had no other choice."

I love you.

The words repeated themselves over and over in my head. He had really just said those words aloud after I thought he didn't feel that way anymore. Whispering them in my ear in the club and then running off was one thing. Telling me straight to my face and staying there waiting for an answer after all that had happened between us... this was different.

"I never got a chance to say it back to you, and by the time I thought that chance had come, you made me think you hated me," I said. "We have a lot to work out and to work on, but I'm willing to if you are."

Jace's hand cupped my face, his blue eyes staring into mine. "That's not even a question. I promise I'll-"

"Just shut up and kiss me before we're interrupted again," I said, a smile spreading across my face. A grin broke out in his face as he leaned, his lips touching mine and setting my blood on fire. My arms snaked around his neck, pulling him closer. His hands gripped my waist, flushing our bodies together.

We pulled back for a brief moment, both catching our breath, stealing small kisses in between, unable to get enough of each other. I gently pushed him on the bed, then straddled his hips. Our lips met once more, and I lost myself in the kiss. I felt his hands roaming up and down my back, once in a while slipping under my shirt. I broke off the kiss, bracing my forehead against his.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't-" Jace started, but stopped when I slipped my shirt off. Where this confidence had come from, I have no idea. His eyes trailed over my body, taking me all in.

"Ember, are you sure-"

"I'm sure," I said. "I've never been so sure of anything in my life. I love you."

"I love you, too," he replied, and there were no more questions.