9. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

I zzy needed to have a conversation with Daruss, and he wasn't looking forward to it. He was already in a shitty mood thanks to the fact he couldn't stop thinking about the fear on Ulises face. He hadn’t slept for shit since the incident. Even getting drunk on dragon shine hadn't helped.

Izzy hadn't seen Ulises in a solid week. He hadn't been back to the club. That much Izzy was sure of. He tried texting a few times, but he was pretty sure Ulises had blocked his number. Izzy could have gone to his apartment, but he questioned if he would be overstepping. Ulises had been more scared than Izzy had ever seen him.

Izzy knocked on Daruss's door. He didn't come to Daruss's house often. If Izzy had something to talk about, he usually waited until they were at the club. But he'd felt unsettled lately. The thing with Ulises only added to the feeling.

Daruss answered the door. He stepped aside to let Izzy in. "Since when do you knock?"

"Since we went legit. Don't know where I stand anymore." Izzy didn't see the need to beat around the bush. Not with Daruss. They'd always been straight with each other.

Daruss growled. "Come in. We might as well hash this out."

Daruss led them into the kitchen where Jude and Raylee sat at the kitchen island with their heads together over a phone screen.

Jude met Izzy's gaze first. His smile seemed like more of a smirk. "Hello."

The little shit was up to something. Izzy could almost smell Jude's gears turning.

Raylee covered the phone screen with his hand as if he were hiding something.

Of course, Daruss noticed it and held out his hand.

Raylee sighed and handed it over.

Jude groaned. "It's not what it looks like. We were asked to give our opinions on Ulises’ profile."

At Ulises’ name, Izzy growled and snatched the phone from Daruss. It took him less than a second to figure out what he was seeing.

Ulises had a profile on a dating app. The pictures were good. The one of Ulises draped over Gavin's bike would live in his fantasies for a while, but the ones by the lake were good too. He wasn’t smiling in any of them, and he’d turned his head, so the lump wasn't visible. Not that it was anyway. His wide eyes held an innocence that shouldn't have been there, considering he'd been a Dragon Skull boy for three years.

"What's the name of the site?" Izzy handed the phone to Raylee since Daruss didn't seem interested anymore.

"Cupid's Arrow . It's popular right now for those who want to have a relationship." Jude smirked and put his arm around Raylee.

"I've heard of it." He hadn't ever been on the site, but he knew about it. He'd have to live under a rock not to.

"The pictures are really good, right?" Raylee smiled in that na?ve way he always had. He was the kind of person who said "bless your heart" when what he really meant "fuck you" or some variation of that sentiment.

Izzy didn't answer because he didn't want to talk about how sexy Ulises was and how Ulises seemed to be oblivious to his own appeal, which made him even sexier somehow. The lump would do a number on anyone's confidence. Ulises was no exception. But it didn’t detract from Ulises’ beauty even when it was visible. His big brown eyes appeared sad and tragic.

Everyone in the club wanted to wrap him up and protect him, including Izzy. The instinct to protect had only grown stronger. Breaking things off with Ulises hadn’t changed it. A fact that pissed him off because he was a slave to it.

Daruss nodded his head to the kitchen table. "You want a beer or something?"

Izzy had never been more grateful for a change in conversation. "No thanks."

Daruss grabbed one for himself and then sat at the table. Izzy followed.

Raylee stood and kissed Jude. "I want to sit with Daddy."

They moved to the table. Raylee crawled into Daruss's lap and Jude sat beside them. He rested his head on Daruss's shoulder and his hand on Raylee's thigh.

They all stared at him as if he were on display. If he were a lesser dragon, it would’ve unnerved him. "What?"

"You've been off lately. Does it have something to do with Ulises?" Daruss knew damn well it did. They'd been best friends for over forty years. For dragon shifters who lived hundreds of years sometimes, it wasn't a lot of time, but it was long enough for them to know each other almost as well as they knew themselves.

Izzy narrowed his eyes and glanced at Raylee and Jude. No way would he say anything in front of them. They were friends with Ulises. Even if they didn't say anything to him, they would gossip with the others in their little clique. Izzy didn't care what they said about him but he did care if they made Ulises feel as though they were talking about him behind his back. It would make him feel bad.

Daruss sighed. "Would you give us privacy? Please."

Jude kissed Daruss on the cheek and stood, holding out his hand for Raylee. "Do you want to make love, Pretty?"

"Always."

Daruss cursed. "See what you're making me miss."

For the first time since Izzy arrived, he grinned. "If you want a quick conversation, do you really want to hear about how I fucked up with Ulises or do you want to hear about the real reason I'm here."

"I know why you're here. You're worried about the gang. We're not solid anymore. I feel it too." Daruss' eyebrows drew together. "I'm not willing to compromise the safety of my boys."

"It wasn't the drugs that made us a family. That's the only thing we quit. Ronin still makes his hooch."

"And it's still going to cause a territory problem. Maybe not now but eventually someone will try to encroach, and we'll be right back where we started with the Chained Devils. I can't have my boys caught up in that sort of shit a second time." Daruss wouldn't compromise. Not that Izzy expected him to. Izzy wouldn't have either, if he were in Daruss's shoes.

"Not Hooch either." Izzy sat forward. "We need to go hard at rescuing victims. The family is all in with that, Daruss. They always have been."

"That means working for the mob."

Izzy shrugged. "Jonik is a part of that crime family. He’s tried to hide it but you know he is. So is the new guy. Samson. Hell, I even think Seryn takes their contracts sometimes. I don't know anything about Samson other than he helped rescue Jude, but Jonik and Seryn are solid."

Daruss snorted. "Jonik can kill a man with one hand. I would say he's the deadliest member of the family, but Seryn probably has that title.."

Izzy hummed. "You're hesitant to take their money because you don't know if they'll push us to do more than what we initially agreed to. Give an inch take a mile."

Daruss nodded. "They're the fucking mob. They have enemies. If we start working for them, their enemies will be ours."

"Is that better or worse than losing the family? It'll whittle away one member at a time. Without a purpose, that's what will happen."

Daruss shook his head. "Sometimes things end, Iz. You know that."

Izzy expected that response from Daruss, but it was the last thing he wanted to hear. He pounded his fist on the table. "That can't happen, damn it."

Daruss' eyes shifted to his dragon’s. "You think everyone leaves."

Those four words took the fight out of him. They had the power to take him back to a time he would rather have forgotten. The only problem was everything he did stemmed from a single event in his life. "They do."

"Not everyone gets sick, Iz," Daruss whispered. His voice was rough with emotion. "I know she was your sister, but I loved her too."

"We aren’t talking about the past."

"Aren't we?"

"Fuck you, Daruss."

"No, fuck you. While you're rolling around in your abandonment issues, why don't you remember this." Daruss stood, leaning across the table, getting in Izzy's face. "I've been here for over forty fucking years, Izzy. Me. And I'm not going anywhere. Not now that I have my boys. It's still you and me against the rest of the bastards in this world."

Izzy ran a hand down his face. "I just don't want to lose what I've got."

"Then stop pushing people away." Daruss sat back down. "Isn't he worth the risk?"

They both knew who Daruss meant. Izzy wasn't ready to admit anything out loud. But he'd admit to leading with fear. Even if it was only to himself. "What risk?"

"Losing him."

Izzy stood and headed to the door. He could feel the tension build in his stomach. He didn't know where to put it. He'd either end up fighting with Daruss or fucking some rando somewhere. He'd rather not fight with his best friend, so yeah. "I have to go."

Daruss shook his head. "I'm here when you're ready to have the hard discussion."

Izzy snorted. "Like this wasn't hard enough."

"Well, it'll get a lot more honest if you stick around. Like how you're about to mess up again."

"Fucking up my life is what I do best." And with that he straddled his bike, starting it.

As he turned his bike around, Daruss yelled, "Deal with your inner demons, Isaac."

Daruss using his real first name was a low blow. The last person who’d called him by his given name had been his sister.

Izzy flipped Daruss off as he pulled onto the road. He got the bike moving, intending to head for the gay bar in Grand River. He hadn’t been there since the rescue.

His intentions went out of the window when he found himself at the lake on the other side of Wingspan. He leaned against his bike and created a profile on Cupid's Arrow. And then he swiped on Ulises, which would ask him if he wanted to connect.

He didn't question what he was doing or why. Impulsive? Maybe. Would the impulsiveness cause him trouble down the road? Absolutely. But he would never regret it.