“Shit show,” I mutter under my breath.
At least under Herrin’s reign, we knew what fucked-up level the shit was going to reach. With Drex in “control,” there is nothing but more and more unpredictable chaos these days.
“Right. Sorry, Prez,” Darren says while quickly lowering his eyes.
The wild, murderous glare in Drex’s leaves in an instant, and he quickly calms himself. I don’t even have to glance behind me to know that Eve is coming down the stairs.
She’s the only one who has that effect on him.
I remember when she was getting attacked pretty damn regularly in this place. Now the guys part like a motherfucking sea for her to walk through.
Just a motherfucking girl from the suburbs.
It’s a brave new world.
I glance up to my room, noticing Kara poke her head back in and shut the damn door the second I catch her spying. I keep my features schooled, resisting the urge to smile.
Maya is staring at me with unabashed studiousness, and her gaze flicks to my room briefly before returning her attention to her pathetic painting.
Sledge makes a frustrated sound from beside me as he pinches the bridge of his nose. The room dissolves into idle chitchat as Drex goes to lift Eve from the ground and start carrying her back up the stairs.
He’ll be gone a while.
I notice Axle slipping his arms around Maya’s middle, as she tries to fish for compliments on her shitty mock-up of Halo.
“We’re all going to get gutted alive, aren’t we?” I muse as I turn my beer up.
“Most likely,” Sledge says on a tired breath. “I remember when I thought it was a good idea to enlist you in this club. Sorry about that. In my head, I was doing you a favor, because I honestly thought this place was better for you than the streets.”
My gaze flicks back up to my room, and I take another long drag off my beer.
“Trust me when I say you made the right call,” I tell him absently, my attention mostly focused on the door as it cracks open.
Kara shuts it again when her eyes collide with mine. She’s gotten ridiculously soft in her time away.
“You’re going to get yourself stabbed in your sleep if you fuck with her head too much,” Sledge cautions. “Remember that she’s a Caine. You always struggled to understand just how fucked up those two really are.”
He gestures toward Drex as he shoves his hand up Eve’s skirt, seconds before he disappears into his room and kicks the door shut.
“Kara’s fear prevents her from turning into Drex, and her drive toward normalcy prevents her from ever following in Herrin’s footsteps,” I tell him with a shrug as I grin around the rim of the beer.
I glance back to my room, just as my door quickly shuts again.
“She’s too curious by nature. She can’t help herself, because her paranoia has her seeking out answers at every single turn,” I go on. “It leaves her vulnerable to me.”
When I look back and catch him giving me a dry look, I lose the smile and flatten my lips to a thin, expressionless line.
“I worry about just how fucked up your head really is,” he deadpans.
This coming from the guy who had a hand in killing his old lady after her betrayal and has shown zero emotion about it.
“No worse than the rest of you,” I answer.
He clinks his beer against mine before muttering, “Touché.”
We both drink to that.
Kara finally gives up the endeavor to spy in secrecy, because I look back to spot her walking across the high-rise catwalk toward the stairs.
“You’re letting her roam around freely?” Sledge muses.
I scrub a hand over my jaw, keeping myself from smiling. “No. She’s showing her defiance right now. I’ll punish her for it later,” I tell him as my smile finally starts to form.
“I’m sure she’ll love that,” Sledge grumbles like I’m an idiot.
I turn my beer up as she stalks toward us, ignoring the many eyes trying to assess the infamous, elusive Kara Caine. Most of the guys had never met her and have no idea what to think of her.
But she managed to escape Herrin Caine and lie low all these years while avoiding discovery from the man no one else has ever escaped.
More importantly, they have no idea what to think about Drex turning over control of her to me.
It was my one stipulation to Drex in order to keep me in the club after the mafia shit stirred up.
“She doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll never get to walk away from me again,” is all I say to Sledge as I stand and head toward her.
I hear him cursing under his breath, but I ignore his concerns. Kara Caine has gotten soft. I’m going to enjoy that as much as any man like me would.