Chapter 31 #2
I huff out a breath, assuming that Zeus has been out and about exploring as well.
"What the fuck?" Scott asks, turning his attention from Zeus, whom he has pinned against the crumpled car wall by the chest. "Are you two out here together?"
"Off," Zeus snaps, his hands ineffectively trying to get Scott to release him.
I can tell it's an act. I know him well enough to know that he could beat this man's ass even if he were drunk out of his mind. Scott is one of those kinds of chronic meth-head skinny types. Like he'd rather skip a meal than lose a chance at getting high.
"Why are you two out here roaming around?" Scott growls, his eyes in my direction as he pulls forward and shoves Zeus back into the car.
I see the flash of fury in my partner's eyes, and I know he's less than one more shove away from killing this guy.
I hold my hands up near my ears, a sign indicating that he has all the power here, something he probably rarely gets around here.
"First," I say, pointing the finger of my right hand in Zeus's direction without lowering my arms. "Clearly he's fucking smashed."
"Could be pretending," Scott argues.
I shake my head. "Think he'd let you get away with treating him like that even if he was pretending."
Zeus lowers his eyes, a mild struggle against the grip holding him, before Scott looks in his direction.
"I've seen him kill people for less."
I fight the grin when Scott eases his grip some.
"I pray he doesn't fucking remember this in the morning," I continue, slowly lowering my arms down now that the man is listening to me. "For your sake, anyway."
With that, Scott pulls his hands free, takes a step back, and gives Zeus some much-needed breathing room to calm down.
"He's drunk and probably got lost on his way back to our cabin," I explain.
"And you?" Scott asks.
I wait for the man to look back in my direction, something that takes a while now that he seems more than a little concerned that Zeus might reach out and choke the life out of him.
"And you?" he asks again.
I give him a wide smile. "I spent the evening with Sable."
I don't miss the way Zeus's eyes drift in my direction, something unreadable in his eyes due to the darkness, but I hate the way he's analyzing me as if he's discovered I'm somehow not the man he expected me to be.
"I walked her home," I continue, diverting my attention back to Scott. "The girl has a set of hands on her that were clearly God-given."
I put as much insinuation into it as I can manage without outwardly lying about what we were doing.
Scott doesn't even grin, and that worries me.
His attention is drawn back to Zeus, who is still playing the part of the drunken lost man, slumped against the stack of cars, head hung low.
"He walked off with Hil… I mean Peaches. He left with Peaches," Scott growls. "Did you fuck her?"
I take a step forward, grateful the guy is only brave enough to make the verbal accusation rather than put his hands on Zeus again.
"Careful," I warn. "Peaches is your girl?"
Billy mentioned sacrificing his woman, but Scott never indicated that he lost his girl, too.
"Not exactly," he mutters. "But I like her a lot."
"She's a very pretty girl," Zeus slurs.
Scott trembles with rage, fist tight at his sides.
"So you fucked her?" he snaps.
"He didn't come back to our cabin," I assure him, knowing Zeus couldn't have gone back to her place. Sable made it very clear that men aren't allowed in their area.
I know that it has more to do with Bobby's control rather than protecting the women from unwanted advances, and that works in my favor right now.
"Didn't fuck her," Zeus answers.
"She turned you down?" Scott asks, with a tone that tells me he's more concerned than proud that she would do that.
It gives credence to the repercussions for the women if they don't actively participate in whatever these men want to do with them.
"Told her she wasn't my type," he slurs.
"What?" Scott asks, confused.
Zeus slowly lifts his head to stare at the man.
"What do you mean, what? Think I was going to tell her my dick wasn't going to work?"
A breath of relief rushes past Scott's lips as he puts even more distance between the two of them.
"And if she tells people differently?" he challenges, and it's almost sweet the way he wants to make sure the girl doesn't get into trouble.
Zeus smiles as well. "I'll tell them that she's got a mouth like a fucking vacuum."
"You'd lie for her?" Scott asks, an edge of awe in his voice.
"For her," Zeus scoffs. "Fuck that. Don't need people giving me shit for not being able to get it up."
"You guys can't be fucking wandering around out here," Scott snaps. "Get your fucking drinking under control. That shit will get you dead around this fucking place."
He turns and walks away, pausing when Zeus speaks again.
"Care to fucking tell me how to get back home?" Zeus snaps.
Instead of turning back and giving my pretend drunk friend an answer, he just starts walking again before disappearing around the edge of a car wall.
"That was fucking close," I tell him as I approach, leaning into him so I can help him back to our place.
If the man was too drunk to figure out where he was going, then he needs to stay drunk until we at least get back to the minimal safety of our cabin.
He shoves me away the second we step inside, before turning to glare at me. I can see the distrust on his face, and he might as well take a knife and twist it into my gut to think that I'd mess with one of these women.
I look around the room, but of course, there's not a fucking slip of paper visible. I grab a pen from my still unpacked duffel bag and scribble on my hand.
Nothing happened with her.
I turn it to face him, but even after he reads the words, his attitude doesn't change.
Instead of believing me, he strips off his shirt, kicks off his boots, and heads toward his bed.
I swallow, feeling guilty when he sees the disheveled way I left it. Just the pause in his steps makes me want to step forward and reassure him of what really happened.
Instead of getting into the lower bunk, he climbs up to the top, leaving his back in my direction.
Despite knowing there's no way he could fall asleep with his back to the door, he doesn't mutter another word.