Chapter 32 Too Bad, Baby
TOO BAD, BABY
JACOB
One corner of the basement has a five-inch brick ledge sectioning off a circle on the floor. It’s just enough to hold an inch of water, keeping it in when it inevitably splashes around.
The air is muggy, and the walls are damp.
While most Sigma House initiates fear the first level of the House’s basement, they would piss themselves if they saw the deeper levels.
Which is exactly what Derek has done for the last three days.
Pissed and shit himself, sitting in an inch of standing water with his arms up in chains, waiting for me to return.
It feels good to be back at Sigma House. If for no other reason than to access this room. A place where no one will find him or hear him scream.
Every day I’ve stopped by to see him. Working him until he’s a raw nerve and then taking it a bit further.
Until he’s on the brink of blacking out or death, and then leaving only to come back again.
It seems that in my time on the sidelines, the men of the House have forgotten what I’m capable of.
Since Derek decided to be one of the first to disobey an order, it feels only fitting that he serves as the reminder.
Derek flinches when the door groans open behind me, and Declan walks through. But Derek still isn’t scared enough for my liking. Not after what they did to her.
The fear that burned in Patience’s beautiful golden eyes seared into me. And I refuse to let Derek die until I see it amplified in his.
Only then will I have earned the right to see her after what I let happen.
I might have told those men to back down, but I didn’t follow up. I wasn’t paying attention. I let my guard down and turned my back for a split second when I should have known better.
At least I was smart enough to inject the tracking chip into the back of her neck when she was sleeping at my apartment. She woke up briefly, thinking something bit her, and the flicker of guilt faded the second I needed to use it.
Maybe I was crossing a line. But she’s alive because I had things in place to find her if necessary.
When I walked into the basement and saw Anson straddling her—her pants at her thighs—I saw red.
An endless rage swelled like the blood that surged from his neck when I split it open.
But it’s not enough.
Not yet.
Which is why I’m back here with Derek. Atoning for my sins so I can face Patience with the knowledge that I’ve done what’s appropriate to the men who tried to hurt her.
Declan stops at my side, crossing his arms over his chest, taking in the scene. His black eye is a reminder that Alex is going to need as much of an explanation as his sister will.
“You stripped off the rest of his clothes.” I stop at the edge of the pool of water, where Derek is chained and hanging.
Declan smirks. “He looked too comfortable when I came by yesterday.”
“You graduate next year, right?” I glance at him, and he nods. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep running things?”
“I’ve got more important shit to focus on.” His expression doesn’t crack, but I get the feeling he’s talking about Teal. “Besides, from the sight of him, you’re right back where you need to be.”
I suppose he isn’t wrong. I might have resisted my legacy, but it doesn’t mean I wasn’t always fit for it. One of the reasons my mentorship with Gideon Lancaster didn’t end well is that we both knew I had too quickly surpassed him.
Sigma Sin runs through my blood. It’s in every mark I’ve left on Derek’s half-dead, limp body. This has always been where I belong—maintaining control.
“I suppose you’re right.” I scan Derek up and down.
“Have you gone to see her?” Declan asks.
My eyes narrow, slicing his direction in a warning.
“Just trying to gauge how much rage you’ve still got in you.” He throws his hands up, chuckling.
“Enough,” is my only answer.
Not long ago, Patience was mine. Now she doesn’t even want to look at me. It might be partly my fault for keeping my involvement with the House from her. But unfortunately for Derek, he will be the one to pay.
“Well, it’s good to have you back.” Declan smirks. “Sorry for the mess you’re going to be cleaning up.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You’re right.” He grins. “I’m not.”
I chuckle, stepping farther into the basement, pausing at the edge of the bricked-off circle. Derek’s arms are bound by chains above his head, but at this point, he barely has the energy left to crack his one remaining eye open to watch me.
Bruises and cuts in various stages from bleeding to healing spot his body, but it isn’t enough. There isn’t enough fear in his eyes—his soul. He still thinks this will be a pleasant death, and I’m here to make sure it isn’t.
There’s a reason they call me the Interrogator, and it isn’t because I administered trials for new initiates. If torture is an art, then I’m an artist. And for my girl, I’ll paint a masterpiece with this piece of shit.
“We had a deal, Derek. You know better than to go against my orders.” I tap the toe of my shoe against the brick wall.
“You were the one who brought her to LA to lure in her father.” He coughs. “You aren’t the only one owed a piece of Gideon. What he did to my family—”
“Is irrelevant now.” Although bloody and brutal. “We had an agreement. My idea, my rules. Things changed, and I made it clear she wasn’t to be brought in. She wasn’t to be touched.”
“I didn’t.”
“Anson did. And you helped him take her. Making your argument pointless. What you allowed to happen—” I can’t even say it out loud, much less think it.
Another man on top of her.
Touching her.
My teeth are going to crack if I don’t shut my mind off.
Even if I hadn’t fallen for her, I never would have let someone force themself on her.
Taking a deep breath, I relax my hands at my sides and pull my shoulders back. Anson is taken care of, and Derek is next. Then this can be over.
“What?” Fear floods Derek’s voice as he watches my expression change.
He’s known me since college, and we’ve spent many moments like this. Although, he’s usually standing where Declan is right now when we are in these situations. He knows when my work is done. When I have no more use for a person.
“You trusted the wrong person, Derek. You forgot who is in charge.”
The door opens again, and Alex steps in holding a large metal box. His eyes are stone-cold when he meets my gaze.
A conversation is coming, but that’s not why we’re both here. Whether he hates me as much as his sister does right now or not, this is for her.
“What is this?” Derek tries to pull back as I walk over to the wall and release the drain.
Slowly, the water empties, and while that might be a relief after his legs have spent a day soaking and rotting, we both know what comes next isn’t any better.
“You can’t do this. We’ve been friends for years.”
“I don’t have friends.”
“I took you to her.” He panics. “I got you there before Anson did anything.”
“So I wouldn’t put a bullet in your head on the spot.
I didn’t need you. I already knew where she was.
How do you think I found you in the first place?
” I shake my head at his lame attempt to argue his point.
“That’s what you seem to forget, Derek. I always know.
I’m always watching. I learned my lesson, and now I don’t take my eyes off what’s mine. ”
He wrestles against the chains as Alex steps forward.
When Patience was still in LA, she told me her brother had been speaking again, but it’s still selective. And right now, he doesn’t waste any words on Derek.
“Take from the House, we take from you,” I remind Derek as Alex opens the cage. “Since you like scheming with snakes, we brought you a friend.”
The moment the cage opens, Derek starts screaming. Alex has the cage positioned so the snake is trapped in the brick circle and can’t get to us.
“Unfortunately, the bite isn’t going to be what kills you.
” I step back, watching the snake slowly circle, not reaching him yet.
“It will hurt, yes. But your skin slowly rotting is going to hurt more. And when you start bleeding from your nose, eyes, and gums… well, I guess that won’t be much fun either. ”
“You can’t leave me like this.” He kicks his legs, trying to break free.
“I can do whatever I want, remember? That’s why you chose to follow me. That was the one good decision you made before you decided Anson’s plans were more important.”
Alex stands amused, watching Derek squirm. A smile ticks in the corner of his mouth, and it’s the most joy I’ve seen from him, which is fitting considering what he does for the House.
Declan is beside him with his arms crossed, frowning. Likely disappointed that the fun is over.
“Are we done here?” Declan glances at me. “I’ll have someone clean this up when Maddox comes to get his snake.”
“No!” Derek yells, but I don’t bother turning back to look at him.
I’m done, and he’ll learn his lesson the painful way before he rots in hell.
He’s still screaming as we shut the door and leave him with the venomous snake in the pit of the Sigma House basement.
There’s no more sound. Nothing to indicate he’s even here as we climb the steps, not stopping until we’re on the main level of the basement, where the fraternity holds its initiation trials.
These walls bring back memories. They’re cold. Unforgiving. Some things never change.
Alex stops in the room, watching me, and I cross my arms over my chest, prepared for what’s to come.
I wouldn’t blame him if he pulled a gun out and finished me because I’d do the same for his sister, but all he does is stare.
Finally, after a long moment, he speaks. “My sister hates you.”
“She has every right to.”
He smirks, crossing his arms. “I respect my sister enough to let her deal with you and decide what she wants out of this. But you should know, if she tells me she’s done with you or if you hurt her again, I have no problem dragging you back to this basement, no matter your role in the House.”
That, I don’t doubt.
“I’ll take that under advisement.”
Alex glances at Declan. “Any word on my father?”
“He tried to contact Ursa yesterday. It’s only a matter of time before we track him down.” He looks between us. “Who do I turn that information over to once we know where he is?”
Alex and I meet gazes again, and he tips his chin at me. “I want to be there the second he’s called in.”
“I’ll make sure that happens.”
He starts to leave but pauses at the door, deciding otherwise. “You’re going to have to tell Patience who you really are. You’re going to have to tell her everything. She hates the House, but for some unknown reason, she likes you more. No matter what she’s telling herself right now.”
“I plan to.”
He rakes his hair off his forehead. “It’s difficult for her to trust. Considering… things that have happened to her.”
Alex doesn’t finish that thought, and he doesn’t need to. I’ve seen her scars, and even if I don’t know the stories, I know she’s been through too much.
“I assumed as much. I’m going to make sure no one hurts her again.”
“You saved my life once,” Alex says. “Me not killing you here and now for using my sister in Sigma House business is me repaying that favor. We’re even.”
Alex turns to leave with Declan behind him, but I pause in the basement for a moment. Closing my eyes, I breathe in the stale, metallic air that created the monster I became. The monster Patience hates.
Too bad, baby. You’re mine now. Whether you like it or not.