Page 81 of Bad for You

Spanner yelled a reply to his friend and disappeared back into the main room and I started toward the closed door at the end of the hall.

“Lila?” a rough voice said behind me.

I turned back.

An older man stood there. He was wearing a Ramblers vest and there was something vaguely familiar about him. His head tilted to the side and he looked me over.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” I said, feeling suddenly nervous.

“You looking for Jesse?”

“Spanner said he was down here.”

He shook his head. “He asked me to bring you to him.” He grinned, and I knew who he was instantly. “I’m his dad,” he said confirming it. “He’s through here.” He motioned to the door beside him.

I glanced at the one Spanner had pointed out to me.

“Hurry up, girl. He’s waiting,” Jesse’s dad said gruffly.

I offered him a friendly smile, despite his impatience. Jesse and his dad’s relationship was strained. He’d never gone into it with me, but if they were together now, that had to be a good thing, right? Maybe they were trying to work out their differences?

He planted his hand on my lower back when I reached him, opened the door, and gave me a not so gentle shove through it. We weren’t in the warehouse anymore. We were outside, behind the building, and it was dark.

I glanced around, trying to see into the shadows. “Jesse?”

The door banged shut behind me and I looked up. Jesse’s dad stood in front of the door, his arms crossed, blocking the way back in.

“Grifter isn’t out here,” he said.

“What’s going on…”

“Shut up.”

I froze.

The sounds from inside were muffled, but out here was eerily quiet. I didn’t think anyone would hear me if I screamed.

His green gaze, the same shade as Jesse’s, bored into me. “We’re going to get a few things straight, and then I’ll let you go back inside.”

I shivered, not just because I didn’t have my jacket and it was cold, but from the dead-eyed man looking at me. There was no warmth in his gaze, it was arctic, devoid of emotion. The same look Jesse got when he was in the ring.

“Nod yes for me,” he said, voice rough.

I did as he said because this man scared the crap out of me.

“I’m not sure what you think you’re doing with Riff, a walk on the wild side maybe…”

“No…”

He took a step closer and I slammed my mouth shut, fear shooting through me. I didn’t know this man or what he was capable of, and I didn’t want to find out.

“What you saw in there, the way my boy fights, it’s because of me. It’s who he is, who we are. That’s his biggest value to his club, his fists. You know he just gave up his chance at sergeant at arms?”

I had no idea what that meant, any of it.

He laughed without humor. “You had no idea, did you? Do you know what he does when he goes away for the club?”

I shook my head, shivering, the coldness dripping from him, seeping into my bones.