Drew sighed softly. “I’d put money on him coming back to Babylon to rattle Ayda’s cage more than anything else. Unfortunately for you, that puts you in the firing line. I’ve seen you there before, Tate, and I know you can handle it. You’re more of a man than that di—” Drew stopped himself and cleared his throat. “Than that idiot.”
“The stray that lives out back of the Roller Freeze is more of a man than that asshole, Drew,” Tate followed, pushing his food away.
“Hey,” I said, trying to calm him down. “I know this sucks. Believe me, he’s already been more of a dickhead than Kenny manages to be in six months.”
“It’s a natural state,” Tate mumbled, leaning against Libby and shaking his head in disgust. “There’s no way in hell he’d call a college scout out for me when the time comes. I’m screwed.”
“You think we’d let that happen?” I asked.
“You think he won’t try to screw me over?” Tate snapped back.
“If he does, we’ll handle it,” Drew muttered quietly.
“What?” Tate said through a shitty sigh. “You got college scouts on your books now, Drew? You can hook my entire future and football career up for me just by throwing some cash at some guy in another state?”
Drew pulled away from me and sighed. I knew what was coming. For all he thought he was terrible at playing this role in Tate’s life, he always seemed to know when to step in, and he worked on natural instincts I’d never had to teach him. He was a father of so many men, even brothers who were old enough to be a generation more experienced than him. Dealing with Tate was second nature to Drew. I just hadn’t the heart to tell him when he was so convinced he sucked at it. He was cute when he was unsure—a rarity for a man like him.
Scratching the back of his head, Drew tossed the food in front of Tate out of the way, grabbed my brother by the hand, and forced him to stand.
It was always a weird contrast. Strong, rough, determined and experienced facing almost strong, potential to be rough, definitely determined, but absolutely no experience whatsoever.
Drew straightened his spine, pushed his chest out, grabbed both Tate’s biceps and looked down on him.
“Quit whining.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“So the world has thrown you a curveball. Welcome to the real world, kid. Shit happens. But you want the truth, here it is: I have no worries about you or your future, ‘cause when I look at you, I see a kid who makes shit happen in his life, whether he believes in himself or not. Last year, a snot-nosed brat walked into my home, hid under my bed, and tried to steal money from my club in order to save his sister. Do you remember that?” Drew asked, raising a brow at him.
“Vaguely,” Tate muttered, his face setting to stone before his chin dropped to his chest.
“That kid was a year weaker than you are right now. He’d suffered some shit, yeah—a lot of shit, actually. But he had no idea what he was about to face and how much his life was going to be tipped upside down.”
“Drew, I—”
Drew’s hands gripped Tate’s arms tighter, his knees bending until they were both eye to eye. “That kid had the courage of ten thousand Jacob Hoves. That kid had brass balls to waltz into the lions’ den and try to steal from them, so don’t tell me you can’t go out there, play your heart out, and steal your future from anyone else’s hands. Don’t you stand here and stutter in front of me and tell me or Ayda that you can’t handle this motherfucking weasel who’s trying to rattle both your cages.” He paused, keeping his eyes on Tate as he mumbled at me, “Sorry, Ayda.”
I smiled, not acknowledging his apology for swearing, or interrupting his talk with Tate.
“I will have your back. Ayda will have your back. Every single man out there in that Hut will have your back. You know why?”
Tate cleared his throat and shuffled from one foot to the other before he clenched his jaw and shook his head once, raising his chin.
“Because you are a Hound now. You may not have the patch on your chest, but you’re a part of this family. This family rides and dies as one, and we stick together like glue. If Jacob gives you shit out on the field, you suck it up, or you choose to handle it. That’s up to you. I ain’t here to tell you to be a good boy. Lord knows I can’t preach to anyone. But if you have a shitty day out there in Babylon, when you come home, we’ll be here waiting to make it better. The world ain’t easy, Tate. You’re gonna get a million Jacobs try to piss you the fuck off in life, especially if you do get the patch on your chest one day. I can’t think of a better person for you to handle than that fucking runt.”
“He’s right, Tate. The only damage Jacob can do is what you allow him to. None of us are going to sit back and let him run you down and bench you. You’re the best player on a small Texas team. You think anyone in this town will let him get away with that? He pushes you, you push back.”
“I know I have some power here. I also know all y’all will have my back, but there’s only so much we can do until I get suspended for disrespect. Jacob used to be someone on this team.”
“Believe me, he could never have kept up with you, even when he was your age,” I said, pushing up onto my tiptoes to ruffle his hair. “Play your best and play your hardest. He comes down hard on you for no reason and we’ll get thatshit sorted out. He’s not going to get in the way of your scholarships. I won’t let him.”
Tate looked between Drew and I before nodding, one of his hands rising to squeeze the back of his neck. Even Libby looked relieved when he blew all the air from his lungs and squared his shoulders.
“Hound for life,” he mumbled quietly, his big body swaying as Drew slapped his arm and released him.
I hoped to hell that we could keep our word on this. Tate had worked so hard on the field—on and off-season—to keep himself as fit and ready as he could. Even some of the Hounds had taken to working out with him most days, running a couple of miles in the mornings. Since the season had ended, some of them rode to the stadium in the evenings to play with him. Everyone seemed to understand just how much it meant to me—and Tate—to see him follow this dream through before he followed the dream of becoming a Hound.
Taking a deep breath, I nodded and smiled at him before I turned my attention back to Drew.
