Rivals 🌈 ✔

52 - Down the Drain

Esai knew very well they wouldn't let him get away with this. Nevertheless, watching Phantom getting a good beat-up was a nice bonus. Raine would get pissed anyway; one more little lie wouldn't change a thing. At least seeing the disbelief and panic on the prospect's face was golden. That would be a nice reminder not to pull a stunt like this ever again. 

With a smug smile, Esai watched his friend beat up the prospect. Unfortunately, it didn't take long. The fight  — or rather, the beat-down since Phantom didn't get a chance to throw a punch  — attracted the attention of the other Mayans. 

"What's going on?" His father's voice echoed through the clubhouse. 

Now it's on...

Esai pretended not to hear his question. It earned him a withering stare as his father strode past him, grabbing Raine's upper arm while pulling him. "Stop."

Raine turned his face to the side, looking grim. "He drugged me!"

"He didn't." Marcus looked at his son. "Did you tell him that?"

Unashamed, Esai shrugged his shoulders. "It was a conclusion he drew."

Suddenly, his father grabbed him by the ear and dragged him closer, like a child he was reprimanding. "You disgrace me with this childish behavior. I start to wonder if you deserve a spot in this club at all, you seem to think we're at kindergarten!"

Wronged, Esai tried to pull away his head but his father kept his ear in a firm grasp. Shame wiped out the smugness. He wanted to snap at him to treat him like all the others  — who he would never touch like this  — but he swallowed the words, knowing it would only make things worse. 

"Let me go," he hissed eventually. 

"That's for me to decide," his father answered in a merciless voice. "After all, you seem to think it's normal to make decisions for other people."

"It was for his own good," he grunted. 

"Kicking you out of the club will be for your own good too if you keep behaving like this!"

Esai clenched his jaw. A hollow feeling grew inside his chest. Would his old man really do that? Kick him out? Because of one misstep? That made no sense  — he was his son! This club was his birthright!

"Is that true?" Raine's voice sounded dangerously low. "Did Phantom speak the truth, did you trick me?"

His father let go of him. Esai resisted the urge to rub his aching ear.  "I was tryin' to help you, man. You know damn well things would have gone wrong sooner or later. Imagine us in a gunfight with the Sons — we wouldn't be able to count on you because you're too scared to kill your boy-toy. Were we really going to wait for a moment like that?"

"You could have brought it up, discuss it, instead of feeding me drugs! What the fuck man. Do you really think Juice and I haven't thought about a scenario like that? Of course we did! He already told his brothers that he wants to leave the club and they agreed as long as he trains a new prospect. And I — I wasn't sure what I wanted but you can all go to hell now. If you treat me like this, I don't wanna have anything to do with the club. Do you have any idea how messed up I felt, the past weeks? I had a hard time after Rosa's passing, but he made me happy. He was there for me, he held me when I was close to falling apart. And what did you guys do? You beat up my boyfriend, you drugged me and you sabotaged my relationship. Well, I'm done with this." 

Angry, he took off his kutte. Before he could toss it at the floor, Marcus grabbed his wrist. "Esai didn't act in the name of the club. Phantom told me what happened just a few minutes ago."