Page 12 of Izzy
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 naïve 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."
