Peaches 'N Cream

25. Paradise

"So you're the psycho that's been fucking my—"

"Fucking my—"

"...my—"

My?

His what?

Joseph was starting to see red; it took quite a bit to get him riled up. But he's been on a violent streak lately and the words kept playing in his head like a broken jukebox. He had the other man against the brick wall, tattooed fingers clawing at his wrist, crushing Ezekiel's trachea.

He needed to take it easy before he actually killed the guy, not kidding when he said getting out of a murder charge is a lot trickier than it seems. The blond forcibly yanked his own arm away but stood stock still, visibly glaring down at the shorter still having a coughing fit.

"I'm gonna preface this with somethin' simple, ain't shit," he spat at the ground in front of him, missing his ugly Balenciagas by a narrow margin "yours 'round here. My family owns this fuckin' county; pigs, hospitals, lawyers. You want somethin', you ask. So, I'll make this easier for both of us because I promised I wouldn't break your legs. What the fuck do you want with mine?"

The raven-haired man rubbed at his inked throat, still wheezing but had enough wits about him to keep that sneer on his face. Joseph folded his arms and waited. He had all the time in the world to sort this out.

"What..." he gasped again, "did you do to Kylie?"

The quarterback paused for a second, that was his first priority?

"Nothin'."

Zeke pushed off the wall, "what the hell do you mean—!" taking an aggressive step in his direction before he pushed him back against the wall.

"Did I say you could move?"

He could tell the man was mad already, but Joseph's disrespect would send him teetering over the edge. That was the plan, though, because if he wanted to sock it to him, he'd need a reason, and what's better than the classic 'he swung first?'

And swing first, he did. The taller boy didn't know if Ezekiel was still disoriented from the lack of oxygen or if anger sped up his reflexes, but he easily evaded the fist heading his way. Joseph couldn't afford another blow to the face, regardless.

It had only been about a day and a half since his last altercation with Hunter, and he still needed a few more weeks to heal. His knuckles connected with the other's nose, a satisfying 'crack' resonating his ears. He shook out his already battered fingers and grinned.

"It'll be somethin' more important next."

Seeing Ezekiel tilt his head back with a wince and cradle his now bloodied nose quelled the bloodlust running through Joseph for the moment.

"You're insane."

He relaxed his posture with an exhale, loosening his shoulders and unclenching his jaw in the process.

"Maybe, sure you still wanna do this?"

He glowered at him warily; the quarterback watched him study his body language. Probably anticipating another broken bone just in case the wrong thing came out of his mouth again. He eventually shook his head 'no.'

"I'm gonna keep this short and sweet then. As I said, I didn't do anythin' to Kylie. My brother, on the other hand, is a different story. You don't need to know the details, but she got into some stuff at my house she had no business seein'. The only way to keep her out of harm's way and cover for my brother's crazy ass was to shut her up and lie about it."

The shorter man still looked skeptical, pulling himself up straighter to lean more of his weight against the wall.

"So you're telling me it was all fake? Everything she told me, the rumors, your abusive 'relationship,' all of it?"