His breathing turned into ragged, pained pants.
“You going to behave if I let you go?”
“No!” he yelled, trying to stomp on my feet.
I sighed. “Stella.”
She must have heard the unspoken threat in my tone, because her voice turned placating. “Blake, I know you’re mad, but it’s done. Theo agreed to transfer your debt to me, and this is how I’m going to pay it off. If anything, he’s letting us both off easy. It could be so much worse. He has the power tomake it worseif you keep pissing him off.”
Good to know she understood the situation so well. Maybe it would be easier to keep her in line than I’d expected.
She stepped closer, gaze steady on her brother. “You need to accept that this is happening, because freaking out or acting like an asshole will only draw attention, and then what do you plan on telling Mom and Dad?”
Blake went still in my grip, showing he hadn’t really thought this through. It made me think even less of him, had me doubting Stella’s claim that he was a smart kid. Maybe her parents weren’t the only ones who had sheltered and coddled him. Maybe she had, too, and that’s why she still looked at him through rose-colored glasses instead of seeing him for who he truly was: a dumb college kid, as impulsive and hormonal as everyone else his age.
“You done?” I asked him.
“Yes,” he muttered.
He was lying. No way had he’d been cowed into submission so easily.
I released him, stepping back so I had room to swing when he proved he couldn’t be trusted.
He whirled on me immediately, fist flying.
Sometimes, I hated always being right.
“Blake!” Stella seethed.
I ducked his sloppy punch and hammered a fist into his side, right beneath his floating ribs, where his kidney sat.
He let out a strangled cry and crumpled to the floor.
Stella tried to rush forward to help him, but I snagged her around the waist and drew her back while Blake writhed in pain.
“He’s fine,” I said as she fought me. “I didn’t hit him hard enough to do permanent damage, but pissing blood for a week should be a good reminder to behave. Right, Blake?”
“Fuck you,” he wheezed from the floor.
I pushed Stella toward the door. “Get out. Let me talk to him alone.”
She stumbled to a stop, shaking her head. “No. You’re going to hurt him again.”
I met her eyes with a hard stare. “Not unless he makes me.” My gaze swiveled back to Blake. “Your brother and I just need to get on the same page, is all.”
She didn’t move. “I’ll only leave if you promise not to hurt him.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Two strides and I was in her face. “Promises mean nothing in my world. They’re just another way to manipulate naïve idiots.”
She backed up, eyes wide, expression torn between fury and fear.
“Are you an idiot, Stella?”
Her cheeks pinked, and she shook her head, anger winning the fight as her eyes narrowed to slits. “No, I’m not. If you hurt him again, all bets are off.”
I flashed her a smile. “Now you’re speaking my language.”
And then I shoved her out the door and locked it behind her.
