Chapter Quote:
"I don't care if you're sick as a dog or in bed with Beyonce. I call, you show."

~Han, Tokyo Drift
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Chapter 27

Jace

Sunlight streamed through my blinds as I lay in bed, staring up at my ceiling as my mind mulled over everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, particularly in regards to the incredible girl sleeping beside me.

I kissed the top of Ember's head as she slept soundly on my chest. After all we'd been through, after the way I'd treated her, I never thought I'd get a chance to try again with her. Besides, with Jackson around and how close they'd become, I figured they were going to be an item sooner rather than later. I don't know what Ember saw in me, but I was glad she saw something because whenever I looked at her, I saw my future and my world.

"What time is it?" she murmured, breaking me out of my thoughts.

My eyes flicked over to my alarm clock. "Nine in the morning."

Ember groaned. "I don't want to get up."

"Who says we have to?"

"I know if I don't show up soon, my family is going to wonder where I'm at. I'd rather them not find me in here in this state." We both glanced over at our clothes strewn carelessly across my room. "My uncle might shoot you."

"He'd have to get in line behind Jackson and your mom."

Ember chuckled. "Not my mom. She likes you. But Jackson, yeah, I could see him shooting you. I'm not going to let that happen."

"Listen, when this is all over, I'm going to take you out on a date. A proper one," I said, turning my head to look at her. She smiled up at me before giving a kiss on my cheek.

"I'd like that." With that said, the two of us crawled out of bed, throwing our clothes back on. She quickly slipped out of my room. Considering I didn't hear any voices once she left, I assumed no one had seen her go. At least that was one problem we could avoid. The issue of Lynch was another, one I dreaded to face again.

I shuffled to the bathroom, where I took a quick shower, just enough to get rid of the dirt and blood since I hadn't done so last night, causing me to consider changing my sheets later. They had to be disgusting. How had I let Ember sleep with my bed in its state? Then I remembered all I'd been thinking about was her. A nuclear bomb could've gone off, and I wouldn't have noticed.

Once finished, I threw on some jeans and a tee, then shuffled into the kitchen where I found everyone else convening in the kitchen around a massive stack of pancakes and plates of bacon and eggs. I sidled up next to Ember, refraining from putting my arm around her. We were going to be fielding enough questions just from us talking again.

"What's going?" I whispered to Ember.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I got here right before you did."

"You two are talking again?" Brandon queried, nudging her.

"Yeah, we worked things out last night," she replied casually, careful to hide the blush creeping on her cheeks.

"So, what's going on?" Sam finally piped up, garnering the attention. "Did we find out where Lynch went?"

"No. It's been a bad few days. First, we lost Lynch, and we've yet to find him. Secondly, our only lead to exactly what's he's been up to has disappeared," Hobbs informed. "The prisoner rescued by my coworkers, before we went after Lynch to get Ember, had been hospitalized and under surveillance twenty-four seven. Somehow, before we were able to get an ID on him, he escaped. We don't know where he is either. The only lead from him we might be able to go on is that he kept muttering something about his kids and saving them. Ember, Jackson, did Lynch have any other kids under his command?"

"No, I was the only one," Jackson said.

"And if he picked up anymore, I never heard anything about it," Ember added.

Hobbs grimaced. "I'll keep looking into it."

"Why didn't they fingerprint him or something like that?" Sam queried. "Why weren't we able to get an ID on him?"

"His fingers were too scratched and injured for them to get clear prints, and he fought them every time. Whoever that guy is, he's been imprisoned, beaten, and tortured for a long time. It's not too surprising. We need to get reorganized, find out where Lynch is, and take him down once and for all. For now, recover from the last ordeal."

The group dispersed. Rather than lingering to eat breakfast, Jackson pushed away from the counter, hastily exiting the room. Ember was quick to follow, face scrunched in worry. A twinge of jealousy bloomed in my stomach, but I reminded myself who she was. Ember didn't fall for anyone quickly or lightly. If she was giving me a chance, she wasn't going to throw that kind of attention elsewhere.

"Anyone else want to know what's going on?" Brandon asked.

"Yes," Sam and I said.

"We'll stay here," Bucky offered. "You guys do your family things."

"But I'm not family," I pointed out.

"Might as well be," Brandon said. "Come on."

The three of us headed in the direction of Ember and Jackson, listening through the closed doorways for their voices. Sam stopped in front of one and knocked before poking her head in. "Everything okay?"

"Come in," Jackson said. It was hard to miss his stressed tone. We filed into the room and shut the door behind us for privacy. "I know you guys are going to ask what's wrong, so here's the deal. That prisoner is one of the ways Lynch was holding me back from escaping. Otherwise, I would've found a way to leave a long time ago. I thought Lynch killed him after I defected, but since he had Ember, he had a new person to use the prisoner on, whether she knew who he was or not."

I took the bait. "Who is it?"

Ember and Jackson shared a glance with each other. "I have no way to prove it other than seeing the guy once, but I think it's-" Jackson stopped himself for a moment, then said, "I think it's Brian O'Connor."

You could've heard a pin drop; the room became deadly quiet. None of us could fully process what Jackson had just said, and I couldn't take my eyes off Ember. She remained unnaturally calm, and I wondered how on earth she was doing that. The death of her dad caused her so much pain just a few years ago. She hadn't forgotten what that felt like.

"How do you know it's Brian O'Connor?" Sam whispered as if she didn't dare believe his claims.

"I looked him up online afterward. The guy I met had long hair, a beard, and was badly malnourished, but without those things, he would've been identical to Brian. Besides, the first thing I thought of when I met Ember was how she had the same eyes as him. I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't truly believe it was him because I know it's a sensitive topic."

"Sensitive is an understatement," Brandon said.

"Were you close to him?" I queried, something about the situation not settling well with me.

"Yes. I would sneak and see him whenever Lynch and his crew left me out of a heist or mission."

"Then that explains why you're so stressed about this."

"I vowed I'd get him out alive. I was in the process of trying to do that when Lynch found out what I was doing. You guys rescued me that night."

"We need to tell the adults," Sam said.

"No, that's the last thing. If I'm wrong about this, I can't risk hurting m-" Jackson ran a hand over his face. "I can't risk hurting Mia. It would kill her."

I clenched my fists. "But, you can risk telling Ember?"

His nostrils flared. "I wasn't planning on telling her exactly who it was, but she guessed. She figured since Jack cared so much about him, it had to be someone from his past. The only male figure she could think of was Brian. I wasn't going to lie to her."

"Dad will either go where mom and I are, or he'll go after Lynch, whoever is closest to him. If we can get to Lynch first, dad will follow," Ember cut in before Jackson and I could go at each other's throats.

"So, what do we do?"

"Jace, can you reach out to some friends back in LA and have them keep an eye on my house? It'll be the first place dad looks, and it won't take him long to get there."

"I have a few contacts. Bucky, Steve, and Wilson can help me with it, too. If I tell them not to ask questions, they won't."

"Okay, let's get on that. Tell them to call me the moment someone out of the ordinary approaches the house. Everyone else, let's see if we can track him from where he left the hospital. I'm sure Hobbs' people are doing the same thing if they're not finished already, but I still want to try. Sam, think you can do that?"

"Can you drive a car?" she countered.

Ember smiled. "It was more of a rhetorical question. Brandon, help Jace. I'm going to help Sam and Jackson. We'll reconvene later once we have something, and we'll work from there. Now, let's go find my dad."