“What’s happened?” he asked, throwing an arm around me and pulling me closer to rest his chin on my head.
“It’s begun. Jacob Hove has been announced as the new coach, and they think it’s only going to be a week or two before he’s full-time.” I leaned closer, leaching warmth from Drew’s body, wrapping my arms around his waist. “To make matters worse, everyone has their hero worship on for the return of the prodigal son.”
“And I bet Jacob loves that,” he blew out quietly. “Tate taking it badly? Stupid question considering the direction you’ve just come from and the look on Libby’s face. Wait… She is called Libby, right? Or is it Lucy?”
“It’s Libby,” I huffed out and rolled my eyes before rocking back so I could look up at him. “Tate’s going to be okay. It’s just the worst-case scenario for him. I think he was hoping he had a while to get used to the idea before Jacob became coach. I agree, this isn’t ideal, but as long as Jacob is fair, there’s nothing that can be done. I swear, Drew, he better not fuck with Tate. I’ll…” I trailed off. There was no way to finish that sentence without making myself feel worse. “I hate him.”
“Careful, darlin’. Some people aren’t worth the hate. He’s one of them.” Drew squeezed me tighter with one hand, brushing my cheek with his other. “I can’t promise you anything other than we’ll do our best to make sure Tate gets through this. And if Jacob pushes too hard, I’ll drag up the oldme, set him free, and smash some kneecaps.” He leaned closer to whisper, “I’m totally,totallyokay with that.” Drew grinned.
“You’re right, hate is too passionate a word.” I slid my arms up from his waist and over his shoulders with a small sigh. “Kneecaps might work. He’d suck as a coach if he couldn’t walk.”
“Just say the word and your wish is this outlaw’s command.”
“I can think of something better to use all that energy on right now.” I pushed back and tipped my head to the side as I studied him. “I don’t want to waste another thought on Jacob Hove today, so how about you take me for a ride? It feels like it’s been forever since we did that.”
“Now, that I can do. Where do you want to go? Or shall we just see where the cold ass wind takes us?”
I rocked back on my heels and gripped my hands, continuing back until the tension in our arms was the only thing keeping me vertical. I grinned at Drew again, loving the way he watched me. “Surprise me.”
The ride had been just what I’d needed. Being out on the road was like a reset button that nulled the bullshit Jacob seemed to be leaving all over the place for us to step in. The importance of him dropped a little and life started to go on again.
The first couple of days with Jacob being in the school were the worst for Tate. He kept expecting Jacob to do or say something to throw him off or instigate a confrontation, but that never came. According to Tate, Jacob just went about hisbusiness and treated him like anyone else on the team. I didn’t expect that to last, and I made an assumption that Jacob was on some kind of temporary probation period at the school, which would account for his behavior toward Tate and the fairness of it all.
I really hoped that I was wrong and that he wasn’t going to take our differences out on Tate or his football career, but I wasn’t going to be complacent either, especially when outside of the school his behavior was far from fair. The Hounds spent time in town now we were trying to be more community spirited. The patch didn’t invoke fear as it once had, and that aspect of club life was fading for Babylonians with every passing day, so the guys would go into the hardware store instead of traveling to the chain stores that lay beyond the city limits. We were spending money in town, and the relationship was a symbiotic one.
That peace had made life in Babylon much easier, but the longer Jacob was in town, the more he became a thorn in our sides. His poison wasn’t blatant from what I understood. Just words here and there about how violently he’d been welcomed back by the MC, or subtle jabs to instigate confrontations when he saw someone wearing a cut in town. He was like craw stuck in our feet, and if we reacted badly that would only make what he was saying real. As slippery as an eel and sly as a fox in a hen house, Jacob took his time planting the seed while acting as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
The only person who could do anything about the negative swing against the club with any real sway was Sutton, and he did everything he could to counter the negative press and remind the people how much of a part of the community we’d become.
I tried to spend more time in town, too. I was considered a member of The Hounds by the people I’d grown up around, and Sutton seemed to think that was a good thing. I was happy to do the positive publicity most days, but I hated when I went alone and I got that creepy feeling that someone was following me. The insidious finger down my spine wasn’t there all the time, but I would feel it enough to stop and look behind me or check store windows to see if someone was even walking in the same direction.
That feeling always became worse when I was working at Rusty’s. In the diner, it felt like eyes were boring into my back and burning spots into me, but there was never a sign that there was anyone around. I honestly thought I was going insane until the first real sign that I was being watched showed itself. I was cleaning off one of the tables that looked out over the highway, and I almost missed the untidy scrawl that saidBe Careful!on a napkin. I stared at the words for a moment, my eyes barely catching the ass end of Jacob’s truck as I caught theDuallypassing the diner.
I should have known the threat was from him. With a scowl, I scrunched the paper towel into a ball and dropped it into the chili bowl with a satisfied nod. I hadn’t even realized he’d been in the diner. Rusty had temporarily banned him after the altercation with Drew and me. Just another one of those subtlelet’s not make a big deal out of the fact that I love youRustyisms.
The day that Jacob officially took the job of coach and waved off his predecessor wasn’t a good one for Tate. Jacob didn’t wave his position or dominance in his face. He didn’t even look him in the eye, but there was a hint of something between the two of them that Tate felt. He had to be talkeddown by Sloane so he wouldn’t do something stupid like walk off the team. There was no provocation, so it wasn’t even as though Drew or I could step in and help.
Drew was amazing with the whole mess. He distracted Tate and calmed him down while he fulfilled his promise and started to train me in my quest to be good with a gun, and my fists now he’d started down that road, too. I won’t lie, we didn’t get as much done as we could have. If it were just the two of us in the gym, we’d end up half-naked and sweaty for a whole different reason—not that I ever complained. I would challenge anyone to roll around on the mats with Drew and steer the training away from becoming sexual. He was naturally feral and there was something inherently sexy about that, but if I actually wanted to get to hold a gun and use it, I would have to rein myself in and dampen my out of control libido. Then again, there were some days I think that was his end game.
Unfortunately for him, those distractions didn’t last forever.
Chapter Seventeen
DREW
Time passed by quickly when we were having fun. Maybe it was Ayda who was making my world feel like a daydream, or maybe it was the fact that, after the night in that warehouse, I’d finally given myself over to life. It was probably a combination of the two.
I was due to go on a shady repo job that Saturday morning, but Ayda had peeled back the comforter on our bed, straddled my waist and begged me to train her on the punchbag for an hour before I had to leave. I tried to tell her I needed my sleep. I tried to warn her that the guy whose car we were repossessing had a reputation for causing trouble and starting fights when things didn’t go his way. I tried to get out of it because, quite frankly, her thirst for body power was starting to worry me a little bit. She was lucky I was getting turned on too much to say anything about it every time we ended up in the training room.
But no matter how much Itriedto get out of her demands, there I was, watching her with a towel thrown over my shoulder as she threw a determined combination at the bag and went up too high on her toes.
“Darlin’,” I said roughly, sleep still tainting my voice. “Don’t get too eager. Keep the feet down until you have tomove away. Balance. Remember?”
Uttering a quiet expletive under her breath, Ayda dropped her heels back down to the mat under her and took a deep breath. She was already damp with sweat—her eyes narrowed with determination as she pushed her ass out and lifted her hands again. “Got it.”
I gave her a short, sharp nod of approval and watched her get back to work. There was a fire in this woman I’d never seen in anyone else. She could have been the runt of the litter, but she’d still be the victor in any war. Her eyes shone with determination, even on those occasions where she did confuse herself by trying to run before she could walk. Her muscles strained, practically begging for her to fall back and take a breath, but she’d be damned if she quit before she was ready.
It was hot as Hell.
