Chapter 12 Kratos #2
“He didn’t look like he was going to do more than watch her at first, but when she left Hazel and Leo, and went back to the bar for a drink alone, he decided to approach her.
I’m not sure what happened, boss, but one second, she seemed like she was going to tell him to fuck off, and the next, she was laughing and hanging off him like she was every other drunk girl in the club.
She danced with him, but I don’t know why.
He wasn’t close enough to slip anything in her drink, and she had only had a few drinks, so even if she was a lightweight, she shouldn’t have been like that.
” He shook his head as if trying to make it make sense.
It wouldn’t, not for him at least, but I understood perfectly.
Jade thought he could be useful, and of fucking course, she did.
She’s not wrong either, and if I weren’t so annoyed that she was back to putting herself in danger needlessly, I would probably applaud her for her line of thinking.
Not that it was shocking to me. I wasn’t lying when I told the guys she was the brains of most of this in the beginning.
You don’t grow up like she did and not pick up on what the people around you do.
There’s a reason I made her the leader, and it wasn’t just because she saved me, like she seems to think.
“She was using him,” I tell him plainly because it’s really all I can say without giving away everything.
It’s not that I don’t trust Dom. In fact, he’s one of the few people I do trust to know. But I refuse to tell anyone without running it by Jade first. She has enough shit going on right now, and I don’t need to add to it, especially not with this shit on top of it all.
“That makes a lot of sense, actually,” Dom says, nodding, and I see the wheels turning as he thinks of everything in a new light.
“What happened after that?” I ask impatiently. I’m still missing part of this story that I feel only gets more fucked as it goes. Not to mention if I let him think too much about why she would need to use him, he might actually figure it out.
Dom sits back and crosses his arms before he looks up at me. And here it is, the thing that’s going to piss me off. I can tell just by the way he’s looking at me.
“Spit it out, Dom,” I demand after what feels like forever of me waiting, only for him to remain silent. I would rather not have to bark orders at him, but I can’t sit here in the dark a moment longer.
“Fuck,” he sighs, rubbing a hand down his face before looking back at me.
“Just don’t hit me, okay?” he says with a smirk, and while I know he’s trying to lighten the mood, it only makes me sit up straighter in anticipation of what he’s about to say.
I’ve never hit Dom, not really, and while I don’t plan to now, I don’t think he would say those words lightly, either.
“She danced with Jake for a little while, and he was kind of all over her,” he says in a rush. I suck in a breath through clenched teeth in an effort to keep my mouth shut so he can continue.
Jade knows what she’s doing. She’s a big girl, and if she let him do that, she had a reason. I tell myself.
Fuck, even if she didn’t have a reason, I don’t own her. That’s the whole point of Vengeance. Nobody does now or ever will again. So no matter how pissed off the idea of him having his hands on her makes me, so long as she was okay with it, I’ll let him continue to breathe.
“They were fine. I was ready to step in, but she didn’t exactly seem like she needed my help.
But then it got weird. He said something to her, but between the distance and the music, I don’t know what it was.
Whatever it was, it was like her whole demeanor changed.
One second, she was a drunk club girl looking to have a good time, and the next, she was the same badass she is when she’s here with you.
” He shakes his head and keeps going. “Anyway, it was strange, but not crazy. Hell, for all I know, he could have just said something to piss her off, but then Randall was there and—.”
“Randall was there with her?” I only meant to ask, but the moment I open my mouth, I’m shouting.
I push to stand, unable to remain in the chair as rage courses through me like a drug.
My chair rolls back, hitting the wall as my hands come down on the desk hard, the sound echoing around my office that suddenly feels too small.
I know it’s Dom’s fault, but I also fucking hate the idea of him being around her at all, let alone when none of us were there with her. The only thing that calms me slightly is the fact that I can see he’s upset about this as well.
When I don’t say anymore, he continues, albeit reluctantly.
“Jake put Jade behind him, and at first I thought he was just going to chat with Jake and take off like he usually does. As soon as he came up, I made sure to get closer. Randall told Jake about his meeting and how he was going out of town and went to leave. But he never made it far. He made a comment about Jake and the company he kept, being his usual asshole self until he looked back…” He shakes his head, and I can see the confusion written on his face.
“He knew her, K. I could see it in the way he looked at her. And...” He trails off, and I have to stop myself from snapping at him to tell me.
I fucking hate all of this, and the more he tells me, the more I hate it, but I need to know.
“She was fucking terrified of him, K,” he says, his voice low as if in disbelief, and I can’t blame him.
I can’t even imagine her being afraid. I haven’t seen her afraid in so long. It’s almost as if that person is someone else, just a child in my memories.
Sinking back into my chair, I close my eyes against the memory of her terrified and fighting against my father. We aren’t those people anymore; we made sure of it, and we’ve worked our asses off to ensure nobody else will be either. But the thought of her in our club, afraid, makes my stomach roll.
“Spencer showed up not long after and shut Randall down. Randall was insistent that Jade join them for dinner when he returned. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Eventually, Spencer told him to take it up with Rick.
He was pissed, K, madder than I’d ever seen him, all because he couldn’t have Jade over for dinner.
Something isn’t right with that,” he says, pushing up off the chair to pace in the space in front of my desk while he tries to puzzle it out.
“Spencer got him to let it go, but I don’t think it’s the last she will see of him, and that’s fucking terrifying on its own,” he says almost to himself, while he continues to pace.
“Why do I get the feeling there's more still, Dom?” I ask, because what else could there be? I don’t know how much more I can handle before I lose my shit completely.
“Jade sent Spencer to collect Hazel so they could leave, but she stayed back with Jake. He wanted to know how his father knew her; he was a fucking mess as well. But instead of being upset at his father, he seemed distraught by the idea of them being associated. There's only one reason I can think that he would have that reaction...” He trails off, but he doesn’t have to say it for me to know what he’s implying.
Fuck!
I take a moment and think over the whole thing before I ask the only question I can think of.
“Did she answer him?” I have to know.
“No. She calmed him down, and he left, and they left as well. Spencer told me he would get them home.”
She didn’t have to answer. Her not answering was all I needed.
Just the thought is enough for my feeble hold on my temper to snap. Before I can think better about it, I sweep my arm across the desk, letting everything fly across the room and off the wall, falling onto the floor.
My phone lies on the ground with a bunch of papers and my laptop, the screen in a million pieces, and I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration.
I needed that.
I guess it doesn’t really matter. Phone call or not, there's no way I’m not going over to the guy's house to see her. I already wanted to go before all this. All this bullshit has done is make the decision to go there before I go home and sleep.
“I’ll be back later. Push anything I had for this afternoon to later tonight, and if they can't do it tonight, push it for later this week,” I tell him as I head for the door.
“You got it, boss. I’ll have one guy grab you a new phone, too,” he says as I head out the door. I nod but don’t stop as I head back down to my damn bike to see the girl I’ve always known is going to be the death of me.
If only I had realized just how accurate that damn nickname was when I gave it to her.