Page 14 of They Break Beauty

But Lev… he just couldn’t.

Not anymore.

Ever since what had happened to him six years ago, he hadn’t been the same.

He’d returned with a few screws loose.

He’d returned damaged.

I sipped at my glass of scotch that he’d served me—another suspicious thing with him being so attentive—and took in the lounge he’d led me to. Colt was still over on the other end of the house being obsessed with the recording studio Lev had set up for him. There was no question that Colt would definitely want to move in here now, no questions asked. It certainly was the way to his heart—and everything else—and Lev knew that all too well.

“Sorry about that,” Lev said, striding back into the sleek room with light-gray walls, black leather furniture and a frosted glass coffee table, along with black and white artwork of prized cars and motorcycles lining the walls. “Couldn’t get all the blood off. I used the last of my special solution a few days ago.”

Fuck me. “How?”

“How what?”

“How did you use it all? You’ve been street fighting again? Already?”

He lifted a shoulder. “A little. And it’s not already. I’ve been back in town for a couple of weeks.”

“What?”

“Chill. I didn’t tell you, because I wanted to get this surprise ready. This house for the three of us to move back in together. I get that you and Colt needed the whole brotherhood thing while I was gone, but joining a frat? Come on, Mason, that’s weak.”

I ground my teeth. “You weren’t here. You don’t know what—”

“I know the fraternities around here are infected with entitled shitheads, sexual predators that are under the false assumption that they’re above the law.”

“There are a select few. I’ve been taking care of it.”

“Right, in your usual cautious and slow way.”

“You mean, the safe way.”

“I mean, the ineffective way. Instead of just dealing out a beating, you should’ve made an example out of them, outed them to everyone at that damn party. Rather than that, you had Colt distract everyone with that crazy-ass charisma of his and an impromptu concert, while you took care of it in the shadows.”

“They weren’t just roughed up, they were also marked.”

“By you. It’s not enough.”

“You don’t know—”

“Mason,” he said, coming closer and snatching up a bottle of vodka. “You’ve gone soft. That’s the rep I was hearing all about since I’ve been away.” He screwed off the top and downed a couple of large gulps. “Those five assholes I put down? They were gonna come at you. They knew you and the sorority heads were behind rooting out the bad elements at that party, and your position and reputation has been so incredibly weakened that they thought they actually had a good shot of succeeding in putting you down. You, brother. Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Things have been in a peaceful state over the last year.”

“Which has given these shitheads time to gather and delude themselves into thinking they have power and invulnerability, that they’re untouchable.” He took another gulp of vodka. “When the world is at peace, a gentleman keeps his sword by his side."

“Wu Tsu.” I rolled my eyes. “Something you quote all too often.”

“I quote it as necessary.”

It was clear what he was getting at, even though he hadn’t actually stated it outright.

We were both great manipulators, albeit I was much more calculating.

I had the patience there where he didn’t.

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