Easton

“This is gross,” Taylor said.

“Then get the fuck out. Why don’t you do something useful and plot our deaths, or maybe, I don’t know, learn how to spread your legs properly and keep your man out of my office?”

He wanted them to hate him, for them all to despise him.

He wasn’t good enough to stand by their side.

This was all just a waste of time.

“You know what, I’ve put up with your bullshit for long enough, but no more. Your ass is going to rehab, and I’ve already picked out the perfect one.”

“I’m not going anywhere. You can’t make me.”

“With the wealth we’ve got, we can make you do whatever we want. We’re even going to make sure you stay in until you complete a total detox program. Your place will always be here, by us,” Axton said.

“You think he needs to do that?” Taylor asked.

“He’s going to do that if he likes it or not. He’s one of the Four Kings, and we have a reputation to uphold. We’ve all been really fucking lenient with him, and I’m done.”

“Fuck you!” Easton curled up on his side and burst out laughing. He really didn’t give a shit what his friends wanted. They had their own lives, and he didn’t need to worry about them needing him.

This was his life, and if he wanted to fuck up, he could do that.

“You want me to fuck off?” Axton asked, getting right up into his face.

“Yeah, why don’t you take your woman and fuck her properly rather than worry about me?” He saw Axton’s hand clench.

“He’s wanting you to lose control,” Romeo said.

“I know. Easton, you think we don’t know you, but we do. We all know what is going on here, and we all know what you’re doing.”

He glared up at his friends, hating them even more than ever before.

“Get out!” He wanted them gone, but Axton shook his head.

“Not happening.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re going to—”

He didn’t get to finish as Axton hit him, and everything turned black.

****

“What the hell was that?” Taylor asked.

Axton shrugged. “There was only going to be one way of getting him to the clinic. This was it.”

“By hitting him?”

“Believe me, he’ll thank us for it,” Karson said.

“I don’t think he’s going to thank you for doing this to him.”

“He’s killing himself, Taylor. I know you wanted to take time and all that shit, but with Easton we don’t have time. He’s dying inside, and at this rate, he’s going to drink himself to death.” Axton nodded at the two empty bottles of whiskey.

Easton’s drinking had been a problem long before now, but Axton had always found some reason not to complain or be annoyed, or even upset by it. Now he felt so fucking stupid. Karson and Romeo had each come to him with concerns about Easton. Even Paul, their new business associate, had voiced his own worries. Everywhere he turned Easton was fucking up, and they were all carrying him, which wasn’t a problem.

He was their best friend and had been by their side for as long as Axton could remember.

There was no way he could turn his back on his best friend; none of them could.

Moving toward Easton’s desk, he opened the top drawer, and seeing the small bag of white powder made him even more angry.

Drinking, he could handle.

Even drinking to excess, he could handle.

Lateness was something else he could deal with.

The constant women and the blackmail for extorting money, he didn’t even mind. There was no reason to even be alarmed by that. There was nothing Easton had done that made Axton want to kill, but the drugs, that was one step too far.

He didn’t know if Easton had already taken any, or if this was just the next step in waiting.

Grabbing a piece of paper, he used it like a glove to pick out the bag for Romeo and Karson to see.

“Now do you think I’m overreacting?” he asked, glaring at Taylor.

“I don’t need to be here for this.”

He watched as Taylor walked out of the office and closed the door behind them.

“Let’s get him to my car,” Axton said, dropping the bag back into the drawer.

“Let me take care of that,” Karson said. “We don’t need an overzealous cleaner who thinks they’re doing us a favor.”

“We can pay anyone off.”

“Right now, I don’t want anyone looking too closely at us,” Karson said.

Axton wasn’t going to complain. Since the truth had come out about their families’ manipulation and blackmail, the police had been making their presence known, which was fine, but none of them wanted to draw too much attention to themselves.

With a baby on the way, Axton didn’t want Taylor stressed. He’d already upset her tonight with this thing with Easton. He would make it up to her. For now, she had to wait while he dealt with his friend’s guilt.