Page 9 of Drax (Iron Thunder MC 3)
He loomed tall over me. Big and strong.
He looked even more muscular now than he did a year ago. I remembered each and every tattoo that adorned his torso. Did he have new ones? I was dying to know. But I couldn’t ask him. That would be inappropriate…I shook my head to get those thoughts out of my brain.
“I’m not fucking lying to you,” he continued, and I shook my head.
“Okay, this was a complete waste of my time and a big mistake. I never should have bothered to come here,” I said and made to leave. As I brushed past him, he caught me by my wrist and yanked me back.
“Yes. It was a mistake for you to come here. But don’t worry, it won’t be a waste of your time. I’m going to make sure you fully understand who your brother is before you leave my premises tonight.”
I gulped as we stared at each other. Suddenly, my throat was very dry. What did he mean?
“I have to go back home. It’s getting late. Thank you for your hospitality,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“You can go home, sure, but go home with the knowledge that your brother is in the habit of branding people.” He let go of my wrist quickly. I could still feel the spot where his skin touched mine. It felt like it was burning.
“Branding people?” I nearly chuckled with that.
“I’m pretty sure one of my prospects he branded doesn’t feel like smiling at that,” he growled. He’d seen the corners of my lips twitch.
“You’re making this up,” I said, and he reached for me. He grabbed me before I even knew what he was going to do.
“Drax! Let me go!” I cried and banged my fists on his back. But he had thrown me over his shoulder. The way he used to love carrying me around this place before. “Drax!”
But he was deaf to my squeals. He marched out of the room and now he was carrying me down the hallway toward the bar area.
“You’re not going anywhere until you see this,” he growled.
He kicked the bar doors open with his feet and we walked through. From my upside-down position on his shoulder, I could see people looking at us. He was making a fool of me.
Most of the faces I recognized, but some were new. But because I was on Drax’s shoulder, they all kept silent. Nobody so much as even sniggered as we walked past.
“You. Lift up your shirt. Now.” I heard him bark out a command to someone. Then he was plonking me down on the ground. We were at the bar counter. Sophie was standing behind it, looking very pale. Maybe she had an idea of what I was feeling and felt sorry for me.
The guy Drax was addressing was staring at us in shock, one can of beer in hand.
“You deaf or what? Lift up your fuckin’ shirt!” Drax growled through gritted teeth. What was going on? This made no sense. But then the guy did what he was told. From what I could tell, he was just one of the ‘trainees’. Prospects, as they were known.
He lifted up his shirt and I saw the branded mark clearly on his chest. It was the Silver Knights logo and it had burned through the guy’s skin. It looked ugly and painful. How long had it taken him to recover? Had he got the medical help he needed? Did it hurt now? I was full of questions, but I couldn’t ask any of them.
If it wasn’t Crash who branded this guy or at least ordered the branding, who could it possibly be? It had to be Crash, right? But my brother would never do something like this…* * *“Where do you think you’re going?” I heard Drax’s wild voice behind me. I had stormed out of the front of the Fifth Gear bar and was now headed to my car. It was parked out at the back where I hoped it was inconspicuous. Drax followed me out.
“I think I’ve seen enough. I need some time to clear my head,” I said, without turning to look at him.
“You’re not going anywhere till you’ve heard and seen everything there is to know,” he growled. He ran past me and blocked my path. I stood staring up at him. I could feel my cheeks burning…with anger? Embarrassment? Betrayal?
I still didn’t know who or what to believe. Crash made it seem like the whole fight was Drax’s fault. I truly believed he was acting this way because he was on some kind of payback mission against me. But now that I’d seen that poor guy with the big bruised brand on his chest, I didn’t know what to think.
“Please let me go. You can’t keep me here forever!”
