She barely blinked at the sound, but she stepped closer and leaned in, her voice pitched low as she spoke to him. “That’s not an apology, Jacob. Drew doesn’t make idol threats, which leaves you one of two choices here. Apologize, or take the punishment for ignoring him. I don’t give a shit about you. You mean nothing to me, but if you think you’re going to manipulate me by threatening Tate’s position on the team, you’re going to lose every time. Apologize, or have your throat used as a stump grinder—your choice to make.”
She was hot when she went old lady on a situation, something she was getting better at the more she realized she was the heart of The Hounds. It was her instinct now. She’d found her home. Ayda was becoming who she was always meant to be.
I stared at Jacob with amusement, my brow rising.
“I’m fucking sorry,” he pushed out in a rush.
“That didn’t sound very sincere,” Ayda said, laughing quietly.
“Exes,” I sighed, rolling my eyes in Ayda’s direction, proud as hell of her. “You need me to make him beg for forgiveness, darlin’, or shall we just let him scurry off to the sewer?”
My brothers all reacted, each one offering a different huff of amusement at how I was handling Jacob. To be honest, I was surprising myself. Every single part of me wanted to rip his limbs apart and send him out of Rusty’s in a body bag, but I’d made a promise to Pete under that tree when I’d said my goodbyes. I told him I wanted to live more. To quit hurting people. To be different. I remembered those wishes every day.Now every situation I walked into, I tried to handle differently.
This was as peaceful as I was going to get with a man who had touched my woman before.
I looked up at Kenny. “What do you think, brows?” I asked him.
Kenny shrugged. “I haven’t killed anyone in a while,” he responded, sounding bored for Jacob’s benefit.
“Not sure this guy is worth the bloodstains.” I cringed. “Deeks?” I asked, looking his way, noticing how he was standing there with his arms crossed like a proud father.
“Gut him like a fish,” he answered with a smile.
“Ooh. Messy,” I hissed. “Back to you, Ayda.”
“Castration?” she said sweetly. “I think Rusty has a really sharp knife back there.”
“Have you ever castrated someone before, baby? That shit takes weeks to wash off. Plus there’s all the wastage, especially when you take their balls apart and shit. I don’t know. Seems like a lot of hassle for this creep.”
Jacob tried lashing out one more time, but he had no fight in him. A man can be built like a machine but the second you cut off the oxygen to his brain he becomes nothing. He’s a mouse in a trap. Jacob was my mouse and I was dangling all sorts of cheese in his face.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said through a resigned sigh, and the moment those words were out of his mouth, I let him go, watching as his body swayed back and forth.
Ayda stared at him, no sympathy in her blue eyes as he raised a hand and rubbed his temples idly. She waited until his body stopped flagging from side to side before she met his gaze.
“You’ve forgotten how different Babylon can be fromthe rest of the world. Whoever you were out there, he can’t survive here. The sooner you heed that advice, the easier your life will be. You’re not the big man on campus. You’re nothing now. Nothing. Leave or learn some respect. Those are the only choices you have left.”
I leaned back on the counter, resting on my elbow as I watched her deal with him.
“You’ve no idea what you’ve just done,” Jacob whispered like he was talking to himself.
“Excuse me?” I asked, raising both brows.
When he lifted his head in my direction, I saw that look again. I saw something familiar that had me frowning with curiosity as all my old enemies rattled around my head chanting one by one,not me, not me, it ain’t me.
I studied him as he studied me, and if I’d been more in tune with things, I’d have understood what he was trying to tell me. I’d seen that face a thousand times before. When someone hates you, there are two ways they look you in the eye: one with fear. One with the knowledge that it might not be their time yet, but one day they are going to fuck you over… you just won’t know when.
“You’ll see,” he all but growled as he slid off the stool and stood on shaky legs.
My brothers taunted him as he tried to leave, and Ayda’s eyes followed him all the way to the door.
“It’s your choice, Jake.”
He turned at the door and glanced at each and every one of us. “Fuck all y’all.” Then he pushed out through the door, smacking it against the wall with rage before he disappeared into the parking lot.
I didn’t feel the need to tell Ayda I’d had one of the boyscut his wires so his car wouldn’t start. I was too high on the look of satisfaction she was wearing when she turned back to me.
“Oops,” was all I offered her.
