“This started because of me. When I spilled that coffee on you.”
“Not a great start,” Kash replied, irritation flickering across his face.
“Ody told me what you did to him was just harmless teasing.”
“I told you the same thing.”
“Right.” Mano leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, fighting to keep his composure. “So why has everything escalated? Isn’t your problem with me? You beat me up. Wasn’t that enough?”
“Ody’s got nothing to do with you. I had my eye on him long before you showed up.”
“Yeah, but you never pushed things this far before.”
“Oh, you mean yesterday?” Kash uncrossed his arms, still lounging in his chair. “Come on, it was just water. It dries.”
Mano closed his eyes, breathing deep to keep from punching him. He leaned back and stared at him. “Leave him alone. Focus on me. Do whatever you want. Bring your crew. I don’t care.”
“See, that’s the problem.” Kash’s smile widened, pleased. “For some reason, you care way too much about your little friend Ody. You’d rather take a beating yourself than let us touch him.”
Mano’s jaw tightened.
Kash laughed under his breath. “That’s why I told you that if you interfered, I’d beat him worse. And you… even when you saw us messing with him in the bathroom, even when he needed you… you walked away to protect him from worse.” Kash’s grin stretched. “How could I stop when this is so much fun?”
Mano’s anger surged, the veins in his arms throbbing. His fists tightened until his knuckles whitened.
“Even now,” Kash said, leaning in, “I can see it in your eyes. You wanna knock me down, break my teeth, my nose, my ribs. You wanna destroy me, don’t you?” A slow grin spread across his face. “But you won’t, because you know that if you do, he pays for it. Damn.” He huffed out a laugh.
Mano’s hands shook. Under any other circumstances, Kash wouldn’t have finished a single sentence before finding himself on the ground, bloody and broken.
“So, no. I’m not stopping,” Kash said, mocking him.
Mano took a long breath, closing his eyes. Then he slammed both fists onto the table.
Kash flinched.
Mano leaned forward until their faces were close, his voice low and lethal. “You’re gonna regret this one day.”
Now serious, Kash leaned in as well. “Are you sureyouwon’t regret it? If Ody asks me tomorrow why we keep beating him up, I’ll just tell him his friend Mano threatened me.”
Mano’s fury burned so hot he could barely breathe. He exhaled, forcing himself to look away.
“There you go.” Kash smirked. “That’s more like it. You understand who’s in charge. I’ll let you off this time. But if you try to act tough again, your buddy ends up with broken bones.”
Mano stared at the wall to the side, holding back every violent impulse he had ever known. No one had ever spoken to him this way. No one dared. He didn’t even know how he managed to stay seated.
“Anything else you wanna talk about?” Kash asked brightly, mocking.
Mano glared at him, trembling with rage.
“Thought so.” Kash stood, leaned in, and gave him two belittling pats on the cheek before turning away.
Mano shot to his feet. The chair scraped loudly against the floor. Their eyes locked, neither of them looking away. Kash smirked and glanced down at Mano’s fists, seeing how hard he was holding himself back.
He laughed. “Too much fun.” He walked off while Mano stood there seething.
That afternoon, Ody headed to the basketball courts to meet his friends.
“What’s up, Pierce?” he greeted one of them.
