“You motherfucker,” he roars, darting around behind the bar, pulling his clenched fist back and cracking me right in the jaw.
I take the hit like a man. What else can I do? If he’s figured out what I’ve been doing, then I fucking deserve it, after all.
“Styx, what the fuck?” Diesel booms, racing over, Stray and Crank only a few steps behind him.
“It’s okay,” I tell them as Styx thankfully takes a step back and holds his hands up in surrender.
“I don’t want trouble. I just needed to—”
“I deserved it,” I say, cutting off his angry growl.
Tension crackles between us as Diesel stands there looking between the two of us. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Nothing,” we both bark at the same time before I continue with, “Go back to enjoying your night. Styx and I will take this to my room.”
Diesel’s lips part to say something, probably a knee-jerk reaction to tell Styx that he’s not welcome here. If it were anytime before the past couple of weeks, then I’ve got no doubt he’d have escorted Styx out of the compound. But since they’ve called some kind of truce, D just nods, and heads back toward where he was sitting enjoying his night.
Stray and Crank’s stares linger on the two of us longer. Crank is more than aware of the situation between us, but I’ve got no idea how much Dane knows. Enough, if the concern lingering in his eyes says anything.
Eventually, they leave us to it, confident that Styx is welcome, or at least not completely unwanted.
“You want a beer?” I offer, when he just stands there glaring at me with his fists still clenched at his sides as if he might go for another hit. To be fair, I couldn’t really blame him if he did.
“It’s going to take more than a fucking beer, Jack,” he grunts, using the nickname he knows I hate.
He caught me jacking off to some less than desirable porno mag of my dad’s that I found when we were kids. One fucking time. But sadly, Styx saw the funny side of it and helpfully ensured every single one of our friends knew the details, and Jack, well it stuck. Much to my irritation.
I guess I can’t really complain because it worked in our favor the night we were with Kat.
Grabbing two beers and a half-empty bottle of vodka, I jerk my chin in the direction of the door that leads toward our rooms and Styx takes off.
“End on the left,” I say as his pace slows, reminding me that he’s never fucking been in my room since it became mine.
We spent almost all of our spare time here as kids. We had our rooms picked out and our lives planned. Styx was meant to be here right alongside D and me. But then Faith came along and fucked everything up. Ripped them apart, ruining our little trio, and then fucked off without so much as a glance back in our direction. Selfish cunt.
“You weren’t even going to tell me, were you?” he growls the second the door slams closed behind us, cutting us off from prying ears.
“I wasn’t actively keeping it a secret,” I mutter, knocking the top of the beer bottles off on my unit before falling onto my couch while Styx paces the length of my modest room.
“You weren’t fessing up either, were you, asshole.”
“I knew how you’d react,” I confess with a shrug.
“You’re a fucking cunt, Ry. Why? Why the fuck did you go after her? You knew that I—”
“I didn’t, Styx. She came to me.”
“So she knows?” he asks, pinning me with a glare.
I can’t help but laugh. “Nah, she doesn’t have any fucking idea it was me that night. I guess it was just a happy coincidence that she came to me for comfort after you dumped her.”
All the air rushes from his lungs. “I didn’t dump her, I—”
“Acted like a pussy?” I offer.
“Fuck you, Ryder. Fuck you.”
He falls back onto my bed and drops his head into his hands. Silence falls between us as he fights his demons.