Page 55 of From Best To Bested

“Look,” the C.O. said with her hands up in disgust. “I know where I work and who I interact with, but some of you fuckers are downright disturbed.”

“Did they find any evidence?”

“You mean aside from the bodies?” the guard asked with a roll of her eyes.

“No,” Ezra snapped. “I mean, witnesses, footage, DNA. Something they can use to pin on a person.”

She got really quiet and shook her head. Ezra seemed especially concerned from that point on.

Roman couldn’t believe what he’d heard. Jake’s entire crew had been killed. He wanted to smile, but then he recalled the violent brutality of Jake’s death, and his stomach twisted with queasy confliction. There was absolutely no way Roman wouldmourn the death of Jake “the Snake” Finnegan, but he’d also never wish that type of carnage onto someone. Onto anyone.

The amount of rage it’d take to stab a person, to stab any living being, forty-eight times and in the groin. There was a severe degree of malice involved, someone who hated Jake and certainly hated his snake. Roman thought back to the pet he encountered, the guy who’d likely endured enough pain to certainly carry the rage necessary.

He shook away the thought. The guy he saw was too frail, too broken, too strung out. No, the person responsible had to be someone like Jake, a rival gang member perhaps. Roman continued studying Ezra’s concerned expression as he questioned again and again about evidence until he was absolutely certain they didn’t have any.

Roman’s eyes widened. Ezra would absolutely have the strength for something like that. And he had left Roman alone in the cell before the fire was announced, barely returning before the lockdown started. But even Ezra couldn’t attack his entire crew. He wouldn’t have to, though. Ezra had built his own silent army of men during his stint as champion; he had the favor of the rest of the syndicate at Marlow Penitentiary.

Would he have the rage, though? Roman had seen the hidden undertones of fury behind Ezra’s green eyes, but he thought only he provoked it. Maybe Ezra hadn’t grown bored with Roman. Maybe he was mad that Roman offered himself over. Roman struggled to figure out Ezra’s tests, what would make him happy, and he thought servicing Jake, patching things up with the crew, was what Ezra wanted in the bliss of a delirious high. Maybe Ezra didn’t like the idea. Maybe he removed Jake.

After everyone settled in their cells, Roman stepped over to Ezra, who stood at their open doorway, staring out of the suite to the barred cells.

“Did you…” Roman paused, unsure if he wanted to know the answer. “I just want you to know if you… Well, if you had to do something…”

“For Christ’s sake, just fucking speak,” Ezra said through ground teeth.

“Did you get rid of Jake?”

Ezra’s face fell flat.

“I’d understand, I just—”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because of what he said to me. Did to me. With me.” Roman swallowed hard, quickly correcting more for his sake, his sanity, than anyone else’s. “Because maybe you didn’t like how he treated me.”

Ezra smiled, chuckling a bit to himself as he reached out to caress Roman’s face.

“You really are so fucking pathetic and stupid that you’d build up a fantasy like that in your head.”

Roman’s stomach dropped.

“You think I’d do something so outlandish for you? You? Roman fucking-pathetic Grayson.” Ezra squeezed Roman’s cheek, nails stabbing his skin. “You think you’re worth that type of effort? No.”

He shoved Roman back a step.

“I was actually hoping Jake would take your cheap ass off my hands.”

“I’m sorry,” Roman said, pressed against the wall and staring out at the cells, hoping no one saw this argument, hoping no one knew how he’d upset Ezra.

“Apologies from worthless whores mean nothing.” Ezra spit. “I’m tired of you, tired of the headache your presence brings me. I’m just gonna hand you off to the next person who wants you. Let you be their problem. Hell, maybe we can have an auction,huh? I’ll give you to the lowest bidder because you’re not worth a goddamn thing.”

Roman’s eyes teared up, and it took everything not to break down and cry.

“And when you’re passed around from one gang to the next,” Ezra said, cupping his hands around Roman’s face again. “I’ll laugh at your agony. I’ll smile at your defeat. I’ll relish every day that you suffer.”

“Why?” Roman finally began to cry, trying to understand how he’d ruined this friendship, where he’d failed to behave, how he’d let Ezra down.

“Because you broke me first, and it’s about time you fucking understood why I’ve always hated you.” Ezra released Roman and turned to go to sleep.

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