“You loved doing things with Rose, didn’t you?” I spat.
“The fuck you talking about?” Butch said.
“Don’t play games with me, asshole. You’re the one that gave me her note. She’s the one who knew your real name. What did you do with her?”
Butch shook his head.
“You’re fucked, Axle. I knew that, but you’re fucked.”
My fists curled. Lane got between the two of us.
“I took my fucking dog to the vet, and she recognized my cut,” he said. “You really think I’d do anything with her?”
I hated that that was a logical explanation. I wanted to trap this asshole in a spot that he could not explain his way out of. But that...
Didn’t matter. I had other things.
“Okay, why’d you go to the east side after the vet visit?”
Butch looked at me like I’d accused him of breathing, like I’d made the dumbest statement ever.
“Because I was fucking hungry, and no one is going to attack me in daylight.”
Again, he had a point.
But one last time, I felt I had a trump card.
“Then why are you telling Jerome about everything?” I said. “Huh? Why are you telling him shit?”
“Jesus Christ, Axle,” Butch said.
I’d never heard him speak so much in my life. It was almost like he’d worn a mask of silence before this fight, but now that the gloves had come off, so had the mask.
“We need allies, not enemies,” he said. “Same reason why I keep telling Lane we need to get Cole and the Gray Reapers in the fray. Because we need allies in order to defeat the Fallen Saints.”
“Allies who would try and recruit me away?” I said. “Allies like you, who would say you don’t need ‘my kind’? Care to explain yourself on that one?”
Butch shook his head.
“I’m sorry how I said that,” he said. “But I’m not sorry for saying we don’t need you if you’re going to be like this. Whatever is making you like this, get the fuck over it.”
He’s right, you know. You may hate him. He may be the rat.
But he’s not wrong.
“That’s enough between the two of you,” Lane said. “Go home and get cleaned up. I’m going to speak to each of you individually before you see each other. For now, stay the fuck away from each other, would you? I’d rather you throw punches at Lucius instead of my fucking eye.”
As I was closer to the door, I was the first to leave. I nearly spat at Butch before I decided it would make things worse for Lane. I glared at him, but stares just didn’t have the same effect that punches did.
When I walked out, I saw Patriot and Father Marcellus waiting outside. Red Raven was a little further away, seated, not able to stand for that long. I walked past all of them without a word.
I went straight to my bike and sped home so fast, a cop could have pulled me over enough times to meet his ticket quota for the month. I was beyond pissed, to say the least.
Upon reaching home, I checked my phone. To my surprise—perhaps a little too much to my surprise—Jerome had messaged me.
“The hell’s going on up in Springsville? Saw the attack on Brewskis.”
It wasn’t a message directly pitching me on joining them. But it wasn’t hard to read between the lines and see how it easily could become that. All he had to do after this text was say something about how the Hovas were now more stable, and if I came to him, I wouldn’t have to worry about shit like that.
