Chapter 13 The Low Road For The Fast Track
The Low Road For The Fast Track
“But I got to pee!! Like right nowwww!” Marigold whispered in my ear loudly enough for everyone near to hear.
“I could take a piss,” Briar said earning a glare from me at her language. I found it endearing most of the time, but I didn’t need Dolly getting back to her five-year-old angel saying she needed to piss. “Let’s go little girl.”
“She said piss!” Marigold exclaimed.
“Because Briar isn’t a lady, is she, Marigold?” I asked.
“Nope, and proud of it!” Briar announced.
“Let’s go. You, too, Dear Maria Count Me In.
” I chuckled at one of the many emo songs Briar had turned into nicknames for Chester.
He shook his head—and no joke—flipped his freshly died black bangs out of his eyes with a jerk of his head.
Briar cackled at the sight as she led them toward the restrooms.
I took a drink from the delicious hot apple cider someone was passing around and focused back on the game.
Or I tried to.
“So, have you given it some more thought since that annoying wolf girl interrupted our discussion?”
I rolled my eyes before turning around to face the guy who hadn’t stopped bothering me. “I’d love for you to call Briar that to her face. With me watching. I want to see you get your ass kicked.”
“Well don’t you have a smart little mouth,” he said as his beady eyes narrowed at me.
He hadn’t been pleasant to start with, but his demeanor changed quick from someone I considered an annoyance to a potential threat.
I’d already told him to ask Thrakh about his kid on the team, but he’d been less than impressed with that answer.
As if I had some say in who Thrakh put in at which position?
I’d known the man less than a week, even if it had been an amazing week and I was thoroughly smitten.
“I’ll tell you what, red, how about—” he paused mid-sentence to climb down to the now empty spaces next to me, sitting down like he had the right. Which, I guess he did since it was a public bleacher, but still.
Manners.
“One,” I said, not letting him continue. “Don’t call me red. Ever.” I tried to sound menacing but knew I was typically anything but. “Two. Briar and the kids are coming right back, so can you move back to—”
“Here’s what’s going to happen, girlie.” He reached his too-long, too-bony arm around my upper arms, giving me a tight squeeze that I made me cringe instantly.
“I said move back—” I tried again.
“Let me finish my fucking thought before you go full-on bitch mode.” He was close to yelling at me, speaking faster and louder with each word.
“I’m just trying to get a word in with the coach’s latest side piece, you know?
I’m a dad. Do you know how important that is to a young boy? I need to do right by my kid.”
I shrank away from him, trying to pry his fingers away from my arm.
“Stay. Still,” he said before putting his mouth too close to my ear. I felt his warm breath and swallowed bile at the sensation. “I don’t get why the coach has the hots for you, and frankly I don’t give a flying fuck what it is about you he likes, but you’re going to—”
His words stopped, his grip pulling away roughly causing me to gasp and hold my arm. My pasty ass bruised easily enough, so I’d probably have a bruise to remember this lovely moment.
“Did I just see your slimy fingers on my mate’s arm, Jeb?
” A growl thundered from Thrakh, louder than I’d thought he was capable of.
Thrakh stood in front of me on the bottom level of the bleachers holding Jeb by the neck in a chokehold with one hand while gripping the hand Jeb used to grab me with in the other.
He looked at Jeb’s fingers like they offended him.
“Did you think touching what is mine was a good move on your part? Especially after I had the decency to warn you the other night?”
I heard a surprisingly quiet, yet powerful snap as Thrakh bent Jeb’s pinky back so it touched the top of his wrist.
“Get him, coach!” someone yelled.
But I didn’t want Thrakh to get him. I wanted to leave.
I looked around and saw Briar standing a few feet away with the kids, looking a little too pleased at the sight of Thrakh physically maiming Jeb.
“Thrakh,” I said, hoping to keep things from escalating any further.
“Stevie,” he answered in a low and gravelly voice, like he physically hurt and wasn’t fully present in the moment.
I’d done some reading on orcs this past week and knew they were generally short-tempered and quick to anger when pissed off, a trait I’d only seen that first night from Thrakh when I forgot to pick Chester up from practice.
That wasn’t anything close to what I saw now.
“I need you to let me do this, Stevie. Let me show you what happens to anyone who thinks they can touch you—touch my mate. How fucking dare he—” Thrakh snarled, and Jeb’s ring finger snapped back to match his pinky.
“Well, this is escalating quickly,” Lyle muttered before stepping up behind Thrakh.
He’d followed him up here, but this was the first time he intervened.
He wore Briar’s similar shocked—yet intrigued—expression that quickly turned into worry for his friend at the sound of the second bone breaking in Jeb’s hand.
“Hey, Thrakh, buddy. Trust and believe I want this guy to get all his fingers broken, you know he deserves it. I know he deserves it.”
“Hell yeah, brother!” someone called again from the stands.
“Shut up, Hugh,” Lyle said without looking away from his friend. “But we both know you need to take a deep breath. This isn’t the time or place. Too many witnesses, you know? And do you see your mate over there? See how scared she is? Poor thing is about to pass out from this little display.”
I wasn’t scared at all. I was mostly worried about Thrakh getting arrested or charged with something.
Fuck Jeb. I’d have broken his fingers myself if I’d had the time.
I’d gotten to know Lyle a bit while he was helping set up the house, but he didn’t know me well enough to know what I was thinking.
I gave him a “what are you talking about” look, and he widened his eyes, silently telling me to go along with it.
He was worried about his friend. Thrakh’s chest continued to rise and fall rapidly while holding Jeb’s hand in a brutal show of dominance. Lyle was trying to get Thrakh to focus on anything else but Jeb.
I could help with that.
“Thrakh, baby, can you come with me?” I asked, reaching my hand out. I needed to get him away from here, and I also didn’t want Chester and Marigold to see this side of him.
“Listen to your mate, Thrakh.” Sofia Castillo had approached with a host of big men flanking her. “Leave Jeb with us, honey. We’ll take care of him.”
I looked at Briar who was glaring at Jeb along with the rest of what I assumed were her family.
Sofia Castillo was a bad bitch and I wanted to be her friend so bad.
Later. I’d befriend the bad ass little old lady later.
“Briar, can you get them home?” I asked. She pried her eyes away, nodded at me, then wrapped her arms around Chester and Marigold, leading them away from the circus.
I sighed knowing they were taken care of.
“Hear that, big guy? Mrs. Castillo has this handled. Let’s go grab a cup of coffee.
I’m freezing.” I was not, but hoped it would distract Thrakh enough to let Jeb go.
I stepped slowly between him and Jeb, wrapping my fingers around Thrakh’s wrist that still gipped Jeb’s shaking hand and broken fingers.
He grunted in response, so I knew he heard me.
“I’m taking that as a yes. Let’s get out of here. I need you to warm me up.”
That got through and Thrakh’s near-black eyes surveyed me and slowly started clearing up.
“I’m… I’m sorry.” Jeb’s teary eyes did nothing for me. I wasn’t sure why he was so pressed about his kid and the team, but I hoped his son wasn’t witnessing this display.
“You should be sorry,” I said, not mincing my words. “Don’t put your hands on anyone. Ever.” I turned away, giving him my back and led Thrakh away.
“I think we could both use a cat snuggle, huh big guy?”
Cats looking for laps. Steaming hot cocoa with marshmallows and whipped cream. If two things in the word cured a thirst for violence it had to be that combo.