Devil's Gambit

Chapter 7

Harley spared a glance at Axel, curious if he had heard the innuendo Lucas had made towards him, but it appeared not as he simply sat back and examined the state of Lucas' body with furrowed brows.

"What the hell happened to your face?" He finally asked, and all heads turned towards Lucas, who remained steadfast on his task of buttering his bread. Harley had a feeling that was on purpose in order to retain his composure.

"Some guy at the bar claimed I took his money. I mean I did," he shrugged, icy eyes flicking up at Axel for a split second.

Axel sighed, body deflating slightly. Jackie's pristinely manicured hand came up to massage the base of his neck in a comforting gesture, and Harley was really glad Lucas was stubborn enough in his will to not make eye contact, not wanting him to see that display.

"Jesus, Lucas, money isn't worth your well-being. You know how some of those guys are. They're violent."

"Gee, who would have thought a bunch of drunk dudes could be violent? I'm clutching my pearls, Axel, truly."

Harley's older brother simply rolled his eyes, disengaging with Lucas once he realized conversing with him was pointless for the time being. Instead, Axel directed his attention towards Jackie, kissing teasingly at her neck as she giggled and swatted at his shoulder. Harley looked at Lucas in alarm, his face falling as he noticed the man frozen, staring directly at the couple with a weird expression Harley couldn't quite decipher. Was it disappointment? Hurt? Sadness? Anger?

Hell, maybe it was a combination of all those emotions, but Lucas' face was relatively relaxed, as though he was just taking in what was happening between the two, the cogs in his brain turning.

Well, Harley was pretty fucking sick of the two, as he stood suddenly from the table, which was also effective in tearing Lucas' gaze away from his love being with someone else.

"I'll be going now," he declared, carefully stepping around his chair and turning to face Jackie. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Jackie."

"Where are you going?" Axel asked casually, tearing off a piece of bacon with his teeth.

"Northside," Harley replied shortly, keeping his expression neutral.

"With who?"

"Jonas. My friend from school?"

"Ah, right. Jonas. Take my mace and knife, they're on the counter by the door. Don't be afraid to cut someone down," he smirked, leaning back further into Jackie's hold, who giggled and pecked his cheek.

"Really?" Harley sighed in exasperation.

"Yes, really. You still have that Northside deer in the headlights look, people are going to think you're an easy target."

Harley huffed, but agreed nevertheless. He was just glad, and surprised really, that Axel was even giving him permission to walk around on his own. "Alright, alright," he conceded, walking upstairs to take a shower.

The bathroom situation of the house was. . . scary, to say the least. There were only two bathrooms serving the entire house, so a single bath upstairs belonged to multiple men round the clock. Harley would need some time to get used to the living conditions aligning more with a frat house than when he lived at his aunt's.

Oh, and the door didn't fucking lock.

Because why would it?

Harley grabbed a spare towel from the small closet, padding into the messy bathroom. He learned quickly that disrobing in the tub and throwing his clothes from over the curtain gave a much greater guarantee to privacy, and shuffled as far as physically possible to the faucet as he turned on the shower head, waiting until the water warmed. He chuckled at the ridiculous lengths he had to go through just to take a simple shower, but the fact that aunt Missy didn't exist made everything worth it.