Page 8 of Drax (Iron Thunder MC 3)
“See what I mean? You’re a bossy control freak who is not willing to give people the respect they deserve,” she hissed.
“And you think you’re being very respectful toward me?” I grunted.* * *Mary-Beth was standing at the small window in the room. It was dark outside. After our little outburst at each other, she’d turned around and walked over to it so she could look outside. There wasn’t much to see through there but still she kept her back turned to me.
I wasn’t sure what to say or do anymore.
I should have just told her to leave.
Leave before the Silver Knights got a whiff of this and Crash sent his guys after her. But for some reason, I wasn’t willing to let go of this woman yet. Even if it meant staring at her back the whole time.
“I guess I’m expecting too much from both of you, right?” she finally said in a low soft voice. When I didn’t answer, she looked at me over her shoulder. “That is what it is, isn’t it? I should just give up on you both ever getting along.”
“Why does it matter if we get along or not?” I asked.
She turned to me fully now.
“Because I don’t want to imagine what all this is going to one day lead to. It’s already been going on for years. You two fighting each other. I feel like one of these days, one of your luck is going to run out.”
I wanted to ask her the thing that was really on my mind—did she really care what happened to me?
“MB, your brother is capable of taking care of himself,” I said instead. “He doesn’t need you to look out for him.”
“And yet here I am, asking you to do this for me.”
Fuck me. Seriously? This again? Did she really have no idea what her brother had done?
“You know what our biggest problem always was? That you believed and trusted everyone else, but you refused to trust me.”
She scoffed and shook her head. “Are you seriously suggesting that was our biggest problem?”
“Then what was it?” I sapped. “I would really like to know because I never actually understood it.”
She rolled her eyes and looked away.
“I’m not going to get into this. Discussing our relationship is not why I’m here.”
And yet, that was what it all boiled down to. Our past.
“You need to speak to your brother about this, if you really want to help him,” I growled.
“I have spoken to him.”
“And what has he said?”
“That you keep provoking him. Keep pushing him over the edge. He doesn’t want to fight you, but you don’t want to let up. Is this about me, Drax? Is this about us? Are you trying to get to him because in reality, you want to get to me?”
She stared at me with those big blue eyes and for a moment, I was melting in them before I realized I needed to address that question.
Enough was enough. I wanted Mary-Beth to see her brother for who he really was.4Mary-BethThis had to be about me, right? It was the only possible explanation I had for Drax saying all these ridiculous things. He was refusing to even meet me halfway, stubbornly refusing to admit that he had an equal part to play in this feud.
And to top it all off, he was actually suggesting that Crash would hurt me.
The only reason I snuck in here and had been trying to keep a low profile while I talked to Drax was because I knew Crash would argue with me about it. In the middle of this war between them, I didn’t want Crash to think I was picking sides.
But not once had I actually considered him hurting me.
That was what Drax was suggesting and I couldn’t believe it.
No matter what all his faults were back when we were together, I never considered him to be a liar. So why was he lying now?
Drax operated on a set of his own moral principles. Things had always been black or white to him. He was not the kind of man who would be able to live with himself after telling a lie. It would keep him up at night.
Or at least that was what I thought of him. Clearly, I was wrong.
Did he really think he could say whatever he wanted about my brother and I would just buy it?
Did he think I was still weak at the knees for him?
Was he trying to play me?
“No. MB. This is not about you. I let go of any grudges I had a long time ago,” he replied. His dark eyes were threateningly focused on me, but I wasn’t afraid of him.
“Then what is this about? Why won’t you just stop lying to me and yourself? Why can’t you just give Crash a break?”
