The Allies of Old; Book Two Renewal: Chapter Fifty Nine "Confessions"

Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul

If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn

Table of Contents for Fifty Two chapters of Renewal, created by @bashadow

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Jess sighed noisily. “What are my options?”

“Either show yourself or show yourself out and let him continue to believe he was drugged. Then leave him the hell alone so he can get over it.”

“He deserves it,” she pouted.

“Jess.”

“Oh all right.” She undimmed and Nate, who had been staring at Austin like he'd grown an extra head, stumbled backward, his face blanching.

“Whoa, no fucking way!”

Austin grabbed a hold of him and steered him into the living room nodding at Jess to follow.

“I’m still sleeping,” he stated numbly, “or hallucinating, whatever, I think I need to go back to bed.”

Austin pushed him down on the couch and sat next to him. Jess took the seat opposite and smirked.

“I need to ask you something,” Austin addressed Nate, speaking carefully, “would it be easier for you to believe this was a hallucination? Would you be able to forget about it, or would you constantly worry that you’ll have another episode?”

“Uhhh. I don’t know. What do you mean?”

“I can make Jess leave you alone by appealing to the conscience I know she has,” at this he gave her a pointed look and she glanced away guiltily. “And I could leave and come back a little later, let you believe you imagined the whole thing.”

Nate stared at Austin and glanced at Jess then back again. “Or?”

“Or we could tell you the truth which you will have a difficult time believing and once you do it will change your perspective of the world dramatically. You’ll never be the same brother, I know because I was in your shoes.” He stared silently at his friend and waited.

Nate shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, because NONE of this is real. I’ve heard that angel dust can make you see things for days.”

Austin nodded and stood. He looked at Jess and jerked his head toward the door. She nodded reluctantly, standing as well and he took her arm and escorted her through it leading them toward the elevator. He figured if Nate really wanted to consider the possibility he'd follow.

He didn't.

Once the doors shut he quirked an eyebrow at Jess.

She gave him a sheepish look. “I was only going to mess with him for a couple of days,” she said defensively.

“Uh huh. Then what? Were you going to try and tell him the truth?”

“I don’t know, I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Okay. But you heard him, he doesn’t want to accept this, and besides why would you bother? If he treated you so poorly why would you bring him into this?”

She nodded and snorted. “You’re right. It’s just that I saw him playing in the bar last night and then followed him around while he laughed with his friends and it pissed me off! If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be- this. I would still be me.”

He studied her for a minute, his eyes narrowing. “I saw Jenna and Anna a few days ago and they didn’t mention that you were okay. They do know, right?”

Jess stared at him wordlessly as the enormity of her situation struck her with full force. She was well and truly caught, she could no longer feign amnesia and gradual memory gain when she called her sister.

Instead of answering his question she blurted, “How could you see me?”

He frowned, his brows furrowing then pulled his medallion out of his shirt. “Your Aunt Harriet gave this to Anna. She told her it only works with certain people and Anna would know who to give it to. It turns out I’m that “who”. It makes me Faerian in a way.”

Jess stared at the piece of jewelry and grabbed a lock of her hair twirling it nervously. The doors to the elevator opened and she hastily stepped out and walked quickly toward the exit, avoiding Austin’s eyes as he kept pace with her.

Once they’d stepped out onto the sidewalk he gripped her arm and turned her towards him. “You didn’t answer my question, they have heard from you, right?”

“Oh God,” she breathed. “You are going to think I’m the worst person who ever lived.”

He stared at her intensely. “Why’s that?”

She looked around nervously. “Do you have a car here?”

“Jess, answer the fucking question.”

“Take me out to breakfast and I’ll try and explain.”
He continued looking at her for a moment then turned away and she followed him to his car with a sinking feeling.

A half an hour later Austin slid his cell phone across the table of the low key restaurant they’d chosen. “Call them. Now.”

“You think I’m scum, don’t you.”

He paused for a moment, taking a breath before shaking his head. “No. But I do think you’re selfish. Your sister watched you get your throat cut-Jesus Jess, I can’t believe you'd think they would forget about you! Because of a couple of comments they wrote? They probably just wanted to keep up an illusion that all was well so they wouldn't worry the girls, they didn't tell Macey and Marina what happened. Trust me when I say they did not forget about you. They believe you’re alive based on Harriet and Jenna’s visions, which is why they aren’t locked in rooms crying but...just fucking call them Jess.”

She stared down at the table. “Give me a few days.” He started shaking his head and she looked at him pleadingly. “I have to explain myself to the Brothers Three. If I call them now they’ll be on the next plane and I won’t have a lot of time.”

Austin sighed and folded his arms across his broad chest. “Martin Preston died Jess, the last time I saw them was at his funeral.”

Her jaw dropped open. “What? How?”

“He had a brain tumor and didn’t tell Anna.”

Jess closed her eyes, guilt knotting in her stomach. “I could have been there,” she whispered.

“Yeah, you could’ve.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him with sincere regret. “I’ll call them after I explain everything to my housemates, I promise.”

He nodded grimly. “I’ll hold you to that. Give me your phone, I’ll program my number and you can call and let me know. Within three days Jess, or I’ll call them myself,” he warned.

She slid her phone to him, her stomach doing flip flops as she imagined sitting down with the Brothers Three and explaining. And then explaining to Anna and Jenna- God, she’d been in a position to call them for weeks and she was just now realizing how stupid and petty her reasons for not doing so were going to sound.

Austin slid the phone back to her and she looked at him as she fidgeted with her hands. “So, once I call them do you want to see them? You can come to the place I’ve been staying at and meet the Brothers Three.” Please, she thought, the more buffers the better.

He shook his head. “No, I’m supposed to be hanging out with Nate, remember? I only have a few days before I gotta head to L.A..” He stood, his expression clouding.

Jess studied his face. “You don’t want to see Anna,” she stated sympathetically.

He smiled wryly. “It’s not so much her- let’s just say her mate isn’t overly fond of me and the feeling’s mutual.”

Jess raised her eyebrows. “Mate? Michael?”

He shook his head, “Jared or LeJarien whatever you want to call him.”

Jess gaped at him. “She ended up with the scary one?”

“I’m sure she’ll fill you in on all the details.” He looked at her for a moment, his expression softening, then leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m really glad you’re okay Jess, I was worried about you.”

She stood and gave him a hug, “Thank you. And thanks for putting an end to my self-destructive behavior. You’re a good guy Austin.”

“Yeah, yeah,” his lips quirked in a small smile. “Tell the girls hi for me.”

“I will.” She watched him leave the restaurant with a sinking feeling. She had three days in which to explain. She thought the Brothers would probably understand, certainly about her initial reasons for the lie. But then she would have to go on to explain why she hadn’t come clean in the last few weeks, and that would be more difficult.

It’s better this way, she thought with a sigh, lying to them, pretending to remember things slowly…I would’ve felt sick doing that. She just needed to impress on them that it wasn’t their fault she’d continued acting. She’d have to emphasize how hurt and angry she’d been by the idea that her sister and Anna could have let her go so easily. And she had been extremely hurt, in fact she still felt justified- to a point. Except the way Austin had looked at her, like she should have realized how foolish it was to make those assumptions; he wasn’t wrong, because once the anger and hurt had faded, which it had, it had really come down to a selfish desire to enjoy herself without her sister’s overbearing presence.

She put her head in her hands. She so did not want to admit that part to anyone. Tomorrow, she thought, I’ll sit down with the Brothers tomorrow.

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