We have honor.
We may be assholes, but we’re only assholes with the assholes willing to play our game.
Dylan deserves what’s coming to him.
“So, what,” I scoff. “You little methheads are in love? You ransack Poppy’s fucking house looking for shit to sell for drugs?” I’m screaming now, and I can’t control my temper. I pick up the thing closest to me, a giant glass bong, and throw it against the wall. It shatters and splinters into a thousand shards on the floor. Some of the glass flies back at me and hits me in the arm. I don’t care. I don’t feel anything but rage.
Savage clears his throat, and I know he’s giving me a warning. This is the beginning of an end, and I need to handle this like a leader. I will when I’m good and goddamn ready.
“How about those rats?” I seethe. “I knew whoever planted those fuckers had to have the security code to the pool.” I point at Shayla. “That’s all you. You think Idon’t know how many times the kids brought you over to swim, and this is how you repay me?”
“You tried to take her fucking kids, Phantom!” Dylan’s visibly shaking now, and Shayla looks like she’s going to be sick.
“I don’t ever want to hear you talk about my kids. Do you hear me? You say their names, you even think their names, and I’ll tear every last tooth from your mouth and stick them so far up your ass you won’t be able to tell if you’re eating or shitting. You got me?”
Viper cracks his knuckles. “I’m fucking done. These two gotta pay. Why don’t you let me handle it? Two birds, one fucking bullet.”
Shayla starts screaming and crying. “Don’t! My God, Phantom. You’d let them take me from our kids!”
“You two pieces of shit killed rats and left them in my pool. You endangered the lives of our kids, not to mention violated the court’s order. Breaking and entering. Felony damage to property. Who knows what other laws you broke. And why? Because in your cracked-out little skulls, you thought you’d scare Poppy for asking to get her bills paid?”
“It was the only way I could hurt you,” Shayla says.
“What about hurting yourself?” I ask, suddenly mad as hell that she’s on shit. “You were never an addict, Shayla. What the fuck happened?”
She doesn’t answer, but her silence says enough. Dylan. Dylan’s been into the shit since I met him, but I had no idea he was this far down the rabbit hole. A little weed, a little coke, who gives a fuck. But this?
“Who busted up your face?” I point at Dylan. “Because they sure as fuck didn’t do nearly enough.”
“I did it.” Shayla was quiet. “It was me. I got mad after the rat thing. He was supposed to do it before the court appearance, but he said he couldn’t get close to the house. I did it myself, and then…” She looks at me, real tears in her eyes. “Then I beat him with a rolling pin. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so angry all the time. I feel sick. I’m scared.”
She’s got spit in the corners of her mouth, and for the first time, I can see how truly broken she is. It softens my heart to see, but just a little. Not enough to put my knife away.
“You’re right, Phantom. It’s the drugs. I’m not myself. I haven’t been myself for a long time.” She drops her face into her hands and sobs. This time, unlike before, the tears are real. “I can’t do it anymore. I want to stop. I just can’t.”
Dylan puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close. I gag a little in my mouth, but I just shake my head. And then I make a plan.
A plan that’s going to get me, my girls, and Poppy the life we deserve and the peace we want.
By the timeI get back home, I’m exhausted. The house is dark and quiet, but the television is on. Poppy is curled up on the couch, watching a movie on silent with just the captions. As soon as I come inside, she jumps from the couch and throws herself against my chest.
She doesn’t ask anything, and I don’t say anything.
I lean my chin against the top of her head and breathe in the expensive scent of her hair. She laces her hands behind my back and holds me like we’ve been doing this for years and not weeks.
It’s way too soon to feel that I love her, but I love this. Who she is. How she holds me. The fact that she is here. I lovethis. I didn’t want to go back to the compound, join the party, drink myself sick, and sleep with anybody willing and warm.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do that again. Not if Poppy’s waiting here for me.
I click off the television and lace my fingers through hers. We climb the stairs, passing by the kids’ closed doors. Everything is quiet. Everyone is asleep.
“I need a shower,” I tell her once we’re in our room.
“Alone?” she asks. “Or do you want company?”
As tired as I am, there’s never a time I’ll say no to this woman. “Come on.”
I turn on the taps, and we strip out of our clothes. I stand under the spray and let the hot water hit the top of my head.
