Page 3 of Chaos Claimed

“Go ahead and get the garlic bread. I’m gonna see if my mom needs any help.”

“I’ll hold down the fort until you return.” Their eyes met, Santiago’s gaze lingering a moment too long. Percy’s heart gave a quick, unexpected thump, a flutter of nerves spreading through him.

Before his life had unraveled, Percy would’ve welcomed such a look, encouraged it even. Now, he dashed out of the kitchen, reminding himself not to lead Santiago on.

Since moving in next door, Santiago had been a genuine sweetheart, and Percy didn’t want to give him any false hope.

Things would never return to how they once were, no matter how much he wished otherwise.

Percy pushed the screen door open, stepping onto the porch, before the door shut behind him with a familiar clatter. The breeze felt amazing on his heated skin, cooling him off with a gentle whisper.

The moment felt peaceful, until he realized that wasn’t his mom’s car in the driveway.

“Jacob,” he breathed, his voice a whisper of disbelief. Fuck. Just what he didn’t need right now. Each breath felt sharp and shallow, as if the air was fighting back.

“Got no business with you, boy. Just waiting on your ma.” Eyes as cold as stone locked on to Percy, carrying nothing but cruel amusement.

The careful way Jacob looked past him rather than at him told its own story. He was wondering if Santiago was inside. Ever since Santiago had become Percy’s neighbor, he’d chased Jacob away.

Before his ordeal, Percy would have shouted for Santiago, and read his father the riot act. “You know she doesn’t want to see you.”

Percy had never been more relieved that his mom was running late. Hopefully she stayed gone until the bastard was gone. It had taken everything in Macey Weaver to put Jacob out then divorce him. Percy knew how much pain seeing her ex-husband caused her.

People couldn’t turn their feelings on and off like faucets. Macey still loved Jacob. You weren’t married to someone for over twenty years and not have feelings for them. But she always spiraled whenever he “visited” her.

“I don’t think that’s any of your concern.”

The scent of freshly baked garlic bread wafted through the air, mixed with the pungent smell of Jacob’s chew and the tart, damp aroma of sweat.

The sound of Jacob spitting chew onto the flowers from over the railing made Percy’s stomach turn. He and his mom had worked so hard to plant those this past spring.

Now he’d have to water the flowers just to get that crap off.

Sweat cooled his hairline, but it still felt suffocating. He needed to get his phone and tell his mom to stop at the grocery store so he could delay her. If he told her that Jacob was there, she would come home right away, fearing for Percy’s safety.

He reached for the screen door, but froze at Jacob’s next words.

“Warn your boyfriend I’m here, and you’ll stay up at night wondering if the noise you hear outside was the wind… or me.” He lifted his chin just a fraction, an unspoken challenge, daring Percy to call his bluff.

That showed how little he knew his own son. Percy smirked. “Luckily I sleep like a log.” He stepped inside and hurried toward the kitchen. He might be questioning everything around him now, but no longer would Percy allow anyone to intimidate him.

Before he’d been lured away from the safety of the tavern, Percy had been downright naïve. Now, he was still naïve, but his father had no idea who he was fucking with.

“Your mom need any help?” Santiago drained the pasta, the tray of garlic bread sitting on a cooling pad on the counter. The guy loved to cook. He could go for it. Percy hated the chore. He’d only been trying to make a nice meal for his mom.

“I wouldn’t know.” Okay, so maybe Percy’s nerves were getting the better of him. After all, his father wasn’t a small man. “It was Jacob outside, not my mom.”

A slow tilt of his head. One blink. Then his whole face shifted into something dangerous. Santiago set the strainer down into the sink, wiped his hands on the tea towel like he wasn’t about to rip someone’s throat out, and calmly asked, “He’s on the porch?”

That calm didn’t fool Percy for a second. Santiago’s hazel eyes had gone dark—dead serious, deadly focused.

“Yeah,” Percy said, voice quieter now, picking at the frayed hem of his too-small shorts. “He just showed up.”

And threatened my life. That had been a first. His father had always been hostile, but he’d never personally threatened Percy before.

Santiago nodded once. Then he walked past Percy, each step measured like he was holding back something feral.

Goddamn right Percy followed behind him to show Jacob he could shove his threat up his ass. He was expecting Santiago to slam the door open, to go all Hulk on Jacob. Instead, he opened it slowly, the door creaking before he stepped out. Then Santiago closed it right in Percy’s face.

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