I wiped my Pledge-greasy hands on my pant legs then moved over toward where they were still rolling around on the ground. Duke was on top, giving me a slight advantage as I moved behind him.
"Maze..." Repo's voice called out a warning to me.
Which I promptly ignored as I reached out, grabbed a handful of Duke's abundant hair and yanked viciously back. He came up ready to keep fighting. Before he even registered it was me, his hand was at my throat. He reminded me of a dog that way; he always went for the throat instinctively. I brought up both hands, grabbing his wrist and twisting until his hand loosened, taking the advantage and swinging it behind his back. It all happened in a matter of seconds and his body went slack as he saw through the red of his anger and realized it was me. At about the same time, Renny gained his feet and tried to charge again. Tried, because I slammed a hand into his solar plexis as he tried, cutting off his advance and knocking out his air. "Enough!" I growled, looking between them. "Enough," I said more quietly. "Now I can't stop you from fighting it out like boys, but I strongly suggest you talk it out like the fucking men you are instead," I snapped and Renny had the decency to look sheepish as he wiped blood from his lip.
Duke was still sparking with anger, but he just gave Renny a hard look and stormed out the back door. Renny gave me a shrug and went toward the bathroom to clean up. Me, well, I grabbed the Pledge and a rag lest I get lectured for leaving a mess, then did another thing that was totally not my place. I walked past the bar on my way to the hall, and mumbled just loud enough for Repo to hear, "Was that so fucking hard?"
"You just cost me fifty bucks, bitch," one of the older patched members called as I passed.
"That must suck for you," I said, sending him a sweet smile despite the bile rolling around in my belly. "Maybe next time you should put your money on a winner. In case the inflection there is lost on you, I meant me," I added with a chin lift before walking away.
I was sick, sick, sick of the shit in the compound.
It wasn't just the hard work. I could live with that. It wasn't even the sleep deprivation. My body was adjusting. It wasn't even Moose and Fox. They were jerks, but they were, for the most part, pretty predictable and easy to avoid.
No, mostly, my issue was with Repo.
See, since him dropping off the food beneath the tree, something had changed. I wasn't sure if it was because of my surly demand for him to keep his hands off me or what, but he went from being a good guy I could count on to at least be fair... to an outright asshole. He ran me ragged. He put me on patrol with Moose and Fox. He picked on everything I did, no matter how careful I was to make sure I did everything perfectly. He would invite all the guys to have a round with him while demanding I go cook them all food.
And on top of that, the bastard seemed to use any excuse to get close to me. When he was giving me an order, he would get in my face. When he was chastising something I did, he got up behind me and spoke over my shoulder.
He never out and out touched me again, but he got close enough that he might as well have.
It was a problem because, one, he was doing it because of my request to keep his hands off me. And, two, because while my brain was beyond annoyed with him, my body didn't get the message and any time I felt his body near mine, my skin flushed, my breasts felt heavy, my sex clenched, a sense memory of his kiss pressed into my lips.
So I had been, for a week straight, in a state of absolute anger and constant sexual frustration.
It was an issue.
It was especially an issue because it was making me forget my mission and causing me to lash out in small ways when I knew that the littlest thing could get me thrown out. I needed to get a grip. I needed to remember why I was there and what it would mean if I got kicked out.
So still fully clothed and in a sour mood to end all sour moods, I went to sleep.--It was hard to hold onto my anger the next day. Granted, we were all still called on to do all the menial tasks. But all the members were around. Most even brought their old ladies and children. Reign's wife, Summer, was hanging around. Their daughter, Ferryn, toddled around us while we talked about the food and who was going to be at the BBQ.