“You’re too busy playing house with Tank and fussing over Drake,” Pyro snapped back. “They’re grown men and don’t need coddling.”
“Everyone needs to feel cared for.” Clover stroked Pyro’s arm. “Even you. I thought I’d always be fine on my own, but I wasn’t. It’s good to let people in.”
Pyro snorted, shrugging off the touch. “Yeah, you’d say that. You let a lot of people in.”
Clover flushed, staring at Pyro with those big blue eyes. “Seriously? Why do you have to be so mean when I’m just trying to help?”
“No one told you to follow me in here! What do you think you’re doing anyway? You think you can replace Boar? Well, let’s get that out of the way: you can’t. Even your cooking sucks!” It didn’t exactly suck, but Pyro was too angry to acknowledge that.
Finally, Clover scowled. “We’re all in this together, so you could at least stop being such an asshole, when I’m trying to help!”
“I’m the asshole?” Something pinged at the back of Pyro’s brain, a jolt of electricity that sent him forward. Before he knew it, his hand was around Clover’s throat, pushing him at the wall, and then digging into the white flesh. Clover grabbed his wrist, trying to pull Pyro’s hand away, but he wasn’t strong enough. His eyes widened, the focus of Pyro’s world. “We both know he only went there to protect you. He wouldn’t have gone on Drake’s revenge rampage. But no, you had to egg the two of them on.”
Clover gasped for air, digging his nails into Pyro’s arm and helpless like a moth trapped in a spider web. Pyro was heaving as he kept Clover in place. He’d come into this room to calm down, yet he was only more furious.
“And let’s not forget that you’re only here today because Tank thought you were a nice piece of ass. Stop prodding me. Stop following me, and stop thinking I need your help. I don’t. If you want to be useful, put your lips around my cock once a day and suck. That’s all I need from you.”
Tears spilled down Clover’s cheeks, and all the way down to Pyro’s hand. He watched them as if they were alien creatures, only existing to pull on emotions he did everything to bury.
Someone pushed him from the side so hard he let go of Clover and fell on the bed with a groan.
“What. The. Fuck? Pyro!”
When he looked up, Drake already had his arms around Clover, his hand where Pyro’s had been a second ago, stroking the frantically-moving Adam’s apple. Tears rolled down the red face that twisted so heavily it deformed all of Clover’s normal features. He leaned into Drake, who stared at Pyro with eyes that burned with a heat so infernal Pyro’s own anger no longer felt so pressing. He blinked at the two men with his heart beating in warning.
He hadn’t even meant those things he said.
Why had he said them?
“You should go,” Drake said, hiding Clover in his arms.
Pyro rubbed his forehead, getting up. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I just got so—”
Clover wouldn’t look at him, huddled up on the floor and crying while still struggling to breathe.
Drake on the other hand, watched Pyro like a hawk. “I said, leave!”
Tank chose this moment to pass through the doorway, his gaze darting from Pyro to Clover. “What’s going on?”
Pyro walked past him, straight for the door. He could only breathe once he was outside, and the fresh wind soothed his overheated skin. Like a zombie, running on hate and regret, he made his way down the stairs and across the parking lot.
He’d done it. He made everyone hate him.
The blue Subaru Impreza was his solace, and once he’d shut the door and leaned into the leather seat, the hold around his heart lessened somewhat. This wasn’t any good. He’d never meant to put his hands on Clover that way. So maybe the hangover had gotten the better of him, but that wasn’t really an excuse. He needed to get all that energy out somewhere. On someone who deserved violence as much as Pyro did.
He reached for his phone and chose the number of Boozer, who dealt with the illegal fights for him. When the guy picked up, Pyro didn’t waste any time.
“It’s Pyro. I’m in Denver. Hook me up with something intense,” he said, watching the other parked cars. A short silence on the other end made Pyro shake. “What is it?”
“I’ve got something. But it’s this crazy life or death kind of match. You sure you’re up for that?”
Pyro finally felt his muscles relax. It was only then that he realized he’d taken the passenger seat, just like he always had when Boar was around.
“Sign me up.”
Chapter 5 - Clover
“Clover, are you okay?” Tank’s words came as if from behind a wall, but the gentle touch of his hands on Clover’s neck, probing to check for potential damage? That brought Clover right back to reality.