Chapter Twenty-Five
“Y ou damn well know better!”
“You’re not my dad!”
The exchange had been going on for the past several minutes and Justice was trying to find the right time to get the hell out of there.
Stone and Azrael faced off in the entryway.
Real stood just off to the side and kind of tucked into an adjacent hallway. Justice had taken up a position next to Dave.
“Damned right, I’m not,” Stone growled back and advanced toward Azrael.
Real stepped between Stone and Azrael and Stone drew up short.
Real’s block was powerful, kind of like a tank suddenly plunking down in the middle of afternoon traffic.
It was also so unexpected that everyone, including Stone, froze.
Oh shit. Justice held his breath.
Were the two men going to throw down? He had no clue what the outcome would be if that happened. Nor if the furniture in Dave’s entryway would survive.
“Move,” Stone growled.
“I’ll handle it,” the Genesis commander growled right back.
They stood nose to nose until Dave stepped up and placed a hand on Stone’s arm. Stone went rigid and scowled at Dave.
“That little punk put you through hell,” Stone snarled.
Dave half-smiled at Stone and gently shook his head. Justice volleyed his gaze back to Real and the kid.
A muscle ticked in Real’s jaw and Azrael took a step backward. With a slight thunk, the boy’s boot hit the bottom step of the stairs leading to the upper levels.
Real advanced on Azrael.
The boy’s chin tipped up and fire spat from his.
It appeared that Real might be at the end of his rope. The big soldier’s hands clenched and Justice fully expected Azrael to run.
What he hadn’t expected was opposition. Clearly, he had underestimated Azrael.
Instead of running, the teenager poked Real in his muscled chest and glared up at the big intimidating man. The boy’s long black hair spilled down his slender back.
“Don’t you start bossing me around! You don’t get to ignore me and then show up here and—”
The rest of Azrael’s words were cut off with a squeak when Real tossed the slender boy over one shoulder and stomped up the stairs.
Azrael shouted a spew of curse words that blistered the stairwell.
A few moments later, an upstairs door slammed.
A minute after that, Real came back down the stairs.
“Let him calm down and then you can talk with him,” Real said and walked out the front door. It closed quietly behind him.
“I thought for a minute there, Real was going to hit him,” Justice told Dave.
Stone made a sound under his breath and walked out of the entryway.
“No, Real wouldn’t lay a hand on Azrael,” Dave said, walking to the door that led to his study.
“The kid’s having a rough time,” Justice said, following Dave into the room.
“Yeah, his whole world has been upended. Now his brother and Cash are living at the dorms and Azrael is lost,” Dave sighed.
“I take it that he doesn’t want to go to school?”
“No. I guess it was too much to hope that all of them would pick another way of life.”
“You rescued how many, nine?” Justice said, following Dave farther into his study. “And one refuses to change? I’d say you beat the odds.”
“Maybe.” Dave settled into one of two leather chairs that sat in front of the wide window. Beyond the glass lay a garden with wandering paths and blooming summer flowers.
“I don’t have time tonight,” Dave said. “But I want to go over with you what I have on Blue, Crow, and Tanis. Can you stop by tomorrow night? Say around twenty hundred?”
“Can you just text me the info?” Justice had stayed standing.
“I’d rather not,” Dave said. “Come for dinner.”
Dinner? That was odd. Were they having a meeting he didn’t know about? The soldier in him wouldn’t allow him to decline the former Secretary of Defense’s offer.
“I’ll be back tomorrow. I might not be able to stay for dinner, but I’ll try.”
Dave smirked and nodded.
“I won’t keep you,” Justice said, turning slightly toward the door.
“Have you spoken to Fisher?” Dave asked, preventing him from leaving. The man lifted a pair of reading glasses from the table before picking up a thick book.
“Yes, but nothing has been resolved.”
“Don’t give up,” the man murmured.
He wanted to assure Dave that he wouldn’t, but he couldn’t do that. The only thing he could give Fisher was space and a lot of it.
Justice gave a slight nod before leaving the room.
It was better all the way around if he just kept busy and didn’t think about the fucked-up shit he’d done.
Pulling his cell phone out, he shot Savage a text for another job.