Page 13 of Throw Down
He wasn’t proud of it…but he’d be damned if he was ashamed.
That was a long time ago, but they never stopped trying to get him back.Or maybe Wade just enjoyed having some kind of imagined power over him.
“So…you interested in picking up some work?” Wade asked.
“No.” Derek gripped James by the back of the neck and began to steer him toward the truck.
“Better think twice, son!” Wade snarled behind them.
Derek stopped cold and cracked his neck before slowly turning. James panic-grabbed his bicep, but it wasn’t necessary.What did he think Derek was going to do?Splatter Wade against the diner like a bug on a windshield?Of course not. But he could. It would be easy.
A spasm of panic crossed Wade’s face.
“You better think twice,” Derek said quietly.“Bullies like you and Sutter are a dime a dozen, but this isn’t the same podunk it used to be.The sheriff ain’t your fishing buddy anymore.Eli’s not going to look the other way when you start flashing stolen cash.Cash that I don’t want or need.Now apologize to my brother for bumping into him.”
“I don’t—”
Derek took one deliberate step.
“Sorry!” Wade sputtered, eyes bulging.His fingers scrabbled at the brick behind him, like a cat trying to claw its way up a set of curtains.“Jesus Christ! Lighten up!”
“Derek.” James touched his elbow lightly, refocusing his attention on what mattered.“Come on, man. Susan needs us.”
Derek clenched his jaw and nodded, but he knew better than to turn his back on a snake like Wade.He waited until the man had scurried into the diner before following his brother.
James kept his mouth shut until after Derek had started the truck and shifted into gear, then he reached out and socked him hard in the shoulder.
“What was all that about?” he demanded.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said dismissively.
“Someone’s got to worry about you, bro.You do a crap job of it yourself.Why does that guy have such a hard-on for you, anyway?”
Derek shrugged and stretched back in his seat, draping one wrist over the wheel to steer.It wasn’t the first time one of his siblings had asked that question.Derek always ignored them, but James never stopped trying.He was like a terrier; never letting anything go.
“Where’s your shadow?” James asked suddenly, craning his head to scan the back seat.
“My what?” Derek ignored the pang of regret tightening his throat.
“Sabbath. I don’t think I’ve seen you without her in months.Did she finally stop chewing up the door frame if you leave her alone?”
“I got rid of her," he said stonily.
“What? Why?”
Derek forced himself to shrug, elaborately casual.“I never planned on keeping her.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” James screwed up his face in confusion.“Why bother shelling out for the fancy collar and dog bed and all that shit if you were just going to get rid of her anyway?”
Derek ground his teeth. “Because fuck you, that’s why.”
“Okay, so it's none of my business.” Jameslaughed.
“Like that ever stoppedyou.”
James rolled his eyes and added, “It's too bad,though.Her cuteness was all you had going foryou.”
Derek couldn’t argue withthat.