I barely hold back the scowl I want to throw them. They look young. Could be college kids or townies. All I know is they ain’t club. And from the way they’re looking at Ruby as she bounces over to them, they aren’t planning to talk about school. Or hell, anything at all, based on the way their tongues are practically on the floor and their eyes are glued to her cleavage. Girl really needs to start wearing turtlenecks or something. Not the normal corset push-up thing she has on. It’s like a damn plate under her chin with how high her tits are. I bet I could rest my whiskey on them.
“She giving you trouble again?” I spill my drink as I jerk my hand, and my head, turning around to look at Law. I hope to God he thinks I was looking at his little girl out of anger and nothing else.
Because why would I see her as anything but a job? I surely wasn’t looking at her tits. Or any other part of her. And no unholy thoughts were running through my head. Not a one.
“Something like that.” I adjust in my seat, just enough to find a way to bring pain to my cock to keep it down more than ever.
“You ever get any information on that little problem?”
I know exactly what he’s asking. He’s never told me to search for the guy who hurt his girl. He never had to ask. We were both on the same page: No one hurts Ruby. For him, it’s a fatherly thing. For me, well, I’m not sure when I got on board, but the idea of someone other than me making her frown pisses me off more and more with each passing day.When I do it, I’m a sick sonofabitch who likes that kind of pain. But when others do it? Yeah, not going to let it happen.
“Already took care of it.”
He leans back as if I offended him. “You did.”
I nod once, watching his reaction. I see anger on his face and a bit of hurt there too. “That a problem?”
“Was hoping to take care of it myself.” There’s an edge to his words. I try not to read too much into things. Hurts me more times than not, especially when I’m wrong. But I know I’m not wrong on this. My gut tells me all I need to know. Boss man is jealous that I took out the threat to his daughter. He’s feeling like he should have been the one to do it and not have another, especially another man, do it instead.
“It was a small matter.” I grab my drink and finish it. “Your girl did a number on him. He was just waiting for the Reaper. Bastard welcomed him in and everything,” I say, trying to take the sting out by telling him that his little girl was able to handle the matter, and I just did the cleanup.
It’s mostly true. The guy was living a life. Not a grand one, but living is more than most do. He drank a bit too much but was still holding down a job at a fast-food restaurant as a drive-through operator. He ran at first when I busted his door down, but then he saw my cut. Only word he said to me was “Finally.” He was too much of a chickenshit to take his own life like he should have, so he waited till I did it for him. Which took just a single blow to his head, and I didn’t even blink doing it. Guy deserved worse, but he wasn’t worth the time. Ruby moved on, so I was going to as well. I also wasn’t going to tell her what I did.
For her, it’s in the past. Something she dealt with and lived through. Molestation, not rape. Probably the only reason Law hadn’t known about it before. She got her own retribution for it. I still don’t know all that went down, but I got enough to know there wasn’t penetration. I have to live with my imagination, which is far darker than any Grimm Brothers fairy tale.
I might not know everything about Ruby, but one thing is clear: She wants to deal with her problems alone. She needs help most of the time, which she hates asking for. And I’ll give her hell each time we have to step in to help. But the girl really tries to take on the world by herself.
Too bad for her. She’s still too coddled by her old man to know what it’s like to have it spit it back out at her. She needs to have a little bit of the world crumble around her to learn to enjoy the good. At least, that’s how I see it. If she thinks that asshole is still out there, she might think twice about letting someone close. Someone who shouldn’t be standing by her side in the first place.
Someone like the fucking blond meathead who’s staring at her right now.
“Good. Good.” Boss nods and walks away. Who the fuck knows where. I’m not about to follow and ask.
I flag down the bartender and order another round for myself.
“Make it two,” Atom says as he sits on my left.
“Three,” King chimes in as he takes up my right.
“Boys.” I give them each a chin lift. Got no problem with a brother sitting beside me. I’m not antisocial, like someof the others. I don’t go all out and make myself the life of the party either, but I can hold my own in a group setting.
“What did we order?” King asks.
“Whiskey, neat,” I grunt out as the bartender sets three tumblers down.
“Well, here’s to putting hair on your chest,” King says as he grabs one and raises it high in the air.
“And on your balls,” Atom deadpans before throwing his back.
I just sip mine while the two of them gasp as though they’ve swallowed fire. Fucking amateurs. You never shoot good whiskey. And I never drink less than a decent whiskey when the tab is on the Hounds club card.
“Man, this stuff will kill you.” King coughs, and I chuckle.
“Funny. Someone just said the same thing.”
“What’re we doing tonight?” Atom looks at us as he flags the bartender down once again. “Two beers.”
King nods at his new order, and I just shake my head. Fools.
