Isolation | Book 4 | Holding On Jones, Nathan (best smutty novels txt) 📖

he mumbled. “The brothers were arrested, and I couldn't do anything for them.”

Gen's brow furrowed in alarm, but the others all looked grim, as if they weren't surprised. “Because they started those fires in Wensbrook?”

Nick blinked in surprise. Chet's and Ben's arson really must be a poorly held secret if even she thought they'd done that, even though she didn't know them well. He'd never spoken his own suspicions to her, out of respect for his friends and since it didn't seem to matter after the fact. But the culprits of the Wensbrook fires seemed to have become one of those rumors that got around and everyone seemed to know.

“That's the reason Gorstrom gave,” he agreed heavily.

“But that was in the middle of a fight for our lives against a psycho and his goons,” Gen protested heatedly. “Ben and Chet are good people . . . why bother going after them for something in the past? There have to be so many people out there who've done worse.”

Nick sighed. “I don't know. I guess if we want to be fair, in a fight where so many people died it makes sense Gorstrom would want to go after everyone on both sides who fanned the flames.” He paused, realizing his poor choice of words. Hal snorted, but Ellie and Bruce both remained grim.

Gen either didn't notice or chose to ignore it. “It's not fair, she wasn't even here.” She hugged him a bit tighter in comfort, resting her head on his shoulder. “What's going to happen to them?”

“A work program of sorts,” he said with a dour twist of his lips, thinking of his own fate. “They'll get a chance to work off their sentence helping rebuild the country they helped destroy, as Gorstrom put it.”

“BS,” Ellie said with a snort. “She's probably just trying to get as many laborers as she can, since a lot of people don't seem overly eager to be the first to pack up and move to where the infrastructure's being brought up and running.”

No one seemed to disagree with that assessment; amazing how quickly the goodwill earned by bringing them the vaccine could vanish once the relief administrator started throwing her weight around.

Gen patted his back. “Well, at least she didn't go after you. After how Jay dragged you into that mess so many times, I'm surprised she didn't.”

Nick tensed, and she must've felt it because she paused, suddenly doubtful, and looked up at him. “She didn't, did she?”

“Not exactly.” He hugged her a bit tighter to ease the sting of his bad news. “I'm under arrest for now, with Chet and Ben and probably the scavengers and several others involved with the fight against Wensbrook. Gorstrom is serious about restoring law and order. Starting with past crimes.”

“The town and camp leaders were definitely arrested,” Ellie supplied. “A lot of them were brought in before you.” She leaned forward. “Did she tell you what's going to happen?”

“A whole lot more than I expected her to, actually. I'm still trying to process it.” Nick quickly filled them in on everything Gorstrom and told him, and what his ultimate fate was looking to be.

“That's complete BS,” Ellie snapped when he was done, looking furious. “It's like when criminals were shipped to penal colonies! I can't believe this sort of thing is happening in our own country. She-”

Cutting off with an angry noise, she turned and stormed away towards the town. Probably to try to do something about what was going on. Hal shot them all a reassuring look, then hurried after her.

After a moment Bruce, who'd been staring darkly in the direction of the relief workers' camp, said, “Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to go talk to the town leaders too. There has to be something we can do to stop this.”

“I hope so,” Nick said wearily. “But I'm going to go home and pack, then spend as much time with the kids as I can.” Gen shot him an unreadable look, and he hastily added, “And you, of course. Sorry, I'm just-”

She patted his back comfortingly. “No, it's not that,” she said. “I just . . . you don't want to fight this?”

Nick noticed Bruce also looking at him expectantly, and shrugged. “I mean, I don't want to go. But at the same time, Gorstrom's not completely wrong.” He hung his head. “Even if it was for the best of reasons, I looted those people's houses. I told myself they were already gone and the stuff would just rot otherwise, but still . . .”

Bruce rested a hand briefly on his shoulder. “Packing's probably a good idea, just in case,” he said quietly. “And no parent ever went wrong spending more time with their kids.” He glanced at Gen for a second, then back to Nick. “Or with other significant others. But don't give up hope just yet, Nick. We'll find a way to stop this. Whatever we had to do to get through this crisis, you're a good man and you don't deserve this.”

He hurried away, leaving Nick and Gen to keep walking home.

“He's right,” she said, taking his hand and holding it tightly. “This isn't fair, and she can't get away with it.”

Nick thought of what Jay had told him, sitting around a campfire so long ago, of the day he'd come home and found his home ransacked. Of the dark night he'd spent after losing everything, and the vicious spiral he'd gone into afterwards.

Then he shook his head firmly; he couldn't burden Gen with grim thoughts like that. Instead he made his voice as upbeat as possible. “I don't know. After how good she made the rebuilding sound, there's already over a thousand people volunteering to go. Looking forward to it, even. And she did promise me I'd be treated the same as any other volunteer. Maybe it's not the worst thing.”

Uncharacteristically, Gen wasn't in the mood to take Gorstrom's side. Her grip on his hand had tightened as he spoke, expression equal parts