Devil's Gambit

Chapter 7

Testing the water temperature with a tentative hand, Harley deemed it acceptable to finally step under, rubbing his hands through his hair as the strands became damp.

He was relishing in the peaceful solitude, until the telltale sign of the bathroom door slamming open and shut again startled him. With closed eyes, Harley tilted his face towards the rushing water, feeling his soul whither at being forced to share the room.

"Sorry about this Haley, but a man's gotta shave," a rough voice grunted, and Harley's head jerked over to the shower curtain, suddenly very concerned at how much the material was able to blur out his body. A tall outline was on the other side, puttering around as it opened various drawers.

Poking his head out from around the plastic, Harley made sure to wrap the curtain around him as he peered at Lucas standing in front of the mirror spreading shaving cream all over his face.

"What did you just call me?"

"Haley? Ain't that your name? I mean it's kind of girly but I don't judge. Names should be gender neutral anyway," he shrugged, taking extra precaution around the fresh wounds on his jawline.

"That's not my name," Harley bit out.

"Oh? It isn't? I'm so embarrassed," Lucas feigned bashfulness, a small smile playing in his lips as he met Harley's eyes in the mirror.

Lucas knew damn well what Harley's name was. The man was teasing him.

Rolling his eyes, Harley stepped back into the shower, a newfound fervor to finish as quickly as possible. He wasn't sure what was worse; Lucas being hostile and passive aggressive towards him, or this weirdly civilized relationship they now had that resulted in Lucas constantly toying with him.

His eyes widened, suddenly remembering the sexual comment the man had made at breakfast.

This was worse. This was definitely worse.

Slamming off the water, Harley snatched the towel off of the curtain rod, toweling himself off quickly before wrapping it around his waist. He ripped open the shower curtain and stepped out of the tub, haphazardly gathering his discarded clothes into a pile in his arms before scampering out of the bathroom, not enjoying the choked feeling Lucas' presence made.

That's partly why Harley was so eager to get out for the day, the tensions within this entire house were squeezing him like a vice.

~

"So I saw you made it home safe last night- at four in the morning," Harley smirked, elbowing Jonas slightly.

Jonas groaned. "Don't remind me of why I feel like shit right now." He was bouncing a small, blue rubber ball on the sidewalk next to him, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as they walked. Jonas always has to be doing something, and it was like his version of kicking a rock down the street. Although, this was a better alternative, as the last time he kicked a rock down the street, it hit the front windshield of a Lamborghini. That was an expensive glass replacement job his dad had to do for free as an apology.

Everyone knew Jonas had ADHD, he even received a letter from the school psychologist two years ago, highly recommending his parents take him to see a mental health professional. That never came to fruition, as Jonas' mom was what one would refer to as hyper crunchy. She had a strong, unwavering stance against medicating Jonas, and that only led to Jonas harboring ill feelings towards his mother as he was left to suffer with abysmal grades and a difficult time focusing, no matter how hard he tried.

"That guy who drove you home, he was one of Axel's friends?" Jonas questioned, making a clear attempt to shift the topic.

"Yeah, Daniel's a really nice guy. Honestly, it's safe to say he's my favorite in the house so far."

"Aw, come on. Axel isn't your favorite anymore?" Harley's friend made a pouting face, pushing his bottom lip out comically.

"Our relationship is still a bit strained, I thought after years of being apart we would be so close, that we'd make up for all that lost time. Axel has just. . . matured a lot since I last saw him when he was still a teenager. He's twenty one, he's not that carefree person anymore. It seems like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders now," Harley huffed, eyes scanning the row of houses to their right, huge McMansions where you barely see anyone come and go, but you could surely see the gardeners they hire working tirelessly in their yards.

"Maybe you still just need to give it some time. You're dealing with two versions of Axel here, and they're conflicting in your brain with each other. You gotta let who you thought Axel was go before accepting the new one," Jonas shrugged, giving the ball a particularly strong thwap against the concrete. Harley eyed him suspiciously.

"Are you still high? Where the hell did that come from?" Harley gasped.

Jonas snorted. "Fuck you," he scoffed, but laughed and shook his head.

As the pair closed in on the central hub of Northside, there were signs of a small commotion over in the grassy field of the local park. A group of people were gathered, focused on someone standing on nothing but a small, overturned fruit crate, hands raised to the heavens as they shouted.

Harley squinted, attempting to make out what the individual was spouting passionately, but Jonas appeared unperturbed.

"Who the hell is that?" He pointed.

"I have no idea, some religious zealot. He just started showing up recently, you didn't see him at all when you were still here?"

"No, not at all. I probably left only a couple days after he showed up. What does he say when he's got a crowd of people like that?"

"I don't exactly listen. Probably something assbackwards. The people around here just eat it up though."

Slightly annoyed at Jonas' inability to give him information, Harley gave one last look at the man, catching a piece of the long winded speech as they passed by the closest point to him.

"There is an evil within this country, so many lost souls overtaken by sin. Some being our own sons and daughters!"

~

The banter between characters is some of my favorite parts of this book, I hope you all also enjoy the humor of the guys as much as I have. We're seeing some more religious themes has we had in chapter one, do we think they're connected in some way?

Leave a vote if you enjoyed the chapter!