Chapter Thirty-Nine: Aspen

Chapter Thirty-Nine
~ Aspen ~

Will looked like he was about to throw up. He turned to go after her, but I moved to catch his arm.
“Just leave it for now.” I urged, and he plopped back down onto his chair in defeat.
I honestly didn’t know what to make of that situation. If he really did sleep with her and someone else right after, she had every right to be mad. I chewed on my bottom lip as I recalled mine and Grey’s night together just a few hours ago. Yeah, if he did that with anyone else, he’d be dead. I cleared my throat in the hopes of cutting some of the tension.
“Well, uh. I have a plan and it might be really stupid.” Three sets of eyes looked at me expectantly and I sighed. “First things first, there’s something you all need to know.”
I let my attention land on Grey and prepared myself for anything. I had no idea how he was going to react to the news. We’d never talked about his family. I wasn’t sure if he even knew his mom was alive. Why she hadn’t reached out after all this time perplexed me.
“Okay...?” Jax urged when I didn’t continue.
“Grey, Lex ran into your mom at the market.” I felt like I’d dropped a bomb on the room.
He stiffened. Jax’s mouth dropped open in shock, and Will lifted his head from his hands with a quick jerk. Grey’s eyes narrowed on me suspiciously and he stood.
“She told me this morning. We think she may be able to help us.” I rushed the words out, needing him to know I hadn’t kept it from him for long.
“Lexa lied to you.” He bit out; his hands clenched into fists. “My mother is dead.”
“Grey…” I trailed off, not knowing where to go from here. I had no proof. The only thing I had was E’s word, which I trusted. “She can help us. We need exposure—”
He turned and stalked out of the room. Great. This meeting was quickly becoming a disaster and we barely had any time left to save our people. A surge of anger moved through me, and I squared my shoulders. I had to take charge if we were going to get anywhere today.
“Stay put.” I barked the command at Jax and Will before leaving the room myself.
I had a good idea of where Grey and E had gone. They both had their issues right now. I got that. Emotions were high. But we were about to be in a war for crying out loud. They needed to pull it together, and fast. I followed the sound of yelling until I stomped my way into the gym.
“Enough!” I shouted, and they stopped immediately. Neither of them had ever seen me lose it like this, but I was done. “Both of you need to get your heads out of each other’s asses and get back to that room. Now.”
They both looked at me in shock. Grey had a murderous glint in his eyes, but I knew it wasn’t directed at me. He was probably going through a lot after finding out his mom isn’t dead, as anyone would. And E, she was dealing with whatever the hell that was with Will. Either way, they both needed to get their shit together.
“We’ll be there in a minute.” Grey muttered through clenched teeth.
“If you want to be a part of the plan, come now.” I turned on my heel and left without waiting for a response.
We had to act fast if we wanted a chance at making it through this. I knew what we needed to do; it was just getting everyone else on board that might be hard. I made it back to the meeting room within seconds and waited silently for them to join us. Jax and Will gave me questioning looks but didn’t speak up. A few moments later, they came in and sat down.
“Alright, here’s what’s going to happen.” I started, my voice hard. “Jax and I are going to the market to talk to Grey’s mom. We need--”
“Absolutely not.” He stood up suddenly, cutting me off. I sent him a glare and continued.
“We need exposure. Lex already talked to her about setting the record straight. We need people from the city as witnesses so we can show--”
“That’s not happening. I already told you, you’re not leaving my side--”
“Greyson!” I hadn’t been this angry since the last time I saw dad. I didn’t know what was coming over me, I was just done with all of this. It was as if these people have never had to act professionally. Sometimes, you have to suck it up and do things the hard way. “I need you to shut the fuck up for a minute. We’ll go to the market and get her to do what we need. The rest of you will stay here and prepare to fight. I think we have enough resources and training to hold our own for a while. Either way, Grey’s mom and maybe others will be recording the battle so the people can see how we are really being treated. Even if we lose, it’ll hopefully send a message.”
“Like I said, not happening.” Grey barked out, even more angry than before. Well, I’m right there with you, buddy.
“If we lose? That’s not an option.” E spoke up, disbelief in her voice.
“Yeah, Aspen, I don’t know…” Jax was much calmer, but still doubtful.
“Look,” I sighed. “This is our only choice. We can’t run. There’s nowhere we can go that will be safe for more than a few days and with this many people that just isn’t sustainable. We have to stay and fight and hope for the best.”
I could tell none of them liked the idea. I just hoped they’d think it through and see that it really is the only way out of this mess. I’d been up thinking about all the possibilities since Grey took the 3 AM patrol shift. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but it was all we had.
“Okay.” Will spoke up for the first time. “I trust you.”
Now that brought a smile to my face and hope to my heart.