“I’m listening…”
Rubin shuffled his stool and himself as close as he could possibly get, and Deeks instinctively leaned in with him. Our faces were no more than a few inches apart. I could smell the whiskey on Deeks’ breath and the over applied teenage deodorant from Rubin.
“Mom said Dad is spending a lot of time with that scary looking woman who’s always in Rusty’s. The one who looks like a shorter haired Cruella DeVil?”
“Winnie,” I said on a breath.
“You know her?”
“She’s ATF.”
“ATWhat?” He frowned hard.
“Part of the law, kid,” I told him quietly. “They’reresponsible for anyone in this country who is trafficking, building weapons, acts of arson…” I looked over at Deeks, the memories of our perfectly plotted warehouse explosion drifting back to me before I looked back at Rubin. “They take down criminal organizations and shit.”
“Babylon has those?”
I couldn’t help my smirk as I raised both brows and pressed my lips together. “Uh, yeh.”
I waited for the penny to drop, and when it did, Rubin just looked really fucking angry. “That’s bullshit!” he whisper-cried. “You guys aren’t like that. The Hounds don’t work that way. It’s… You’re… What the fuck?”
“Shh,” I said, amused. “But thanks for the vote of support.”
“You think she’s coming after you guys for real?”
“We know she is.” I drained my beer quickly, taking half the bottle in a few thirsty gulps before I dropped it back on the bar. “If your dad is spending time with her, and after the night at Rusty’s when he was pressing Sutton and his force to make one of us pay for what happened, that could mean he’s trying to take us down, too, Rube.”
“Fuck.” He slammed a balled up fist down on the bar, his eyes searching the surface of it wildly. I looked over his shoulder to see the women and Owen had both looked up out of curiosity, but Moose still slept on. After a second, they all looked away again and got back to their business.
“Hey,” I whispered, leaning closer to him. “Rein it in.”
“Sorry,” he practically growled. “I just… he’s such a....”
“Dick?” Deeks offered sweetly.
“A pussy,” Rubin corrected.
“Betty White says they’re stronger. They can take apounding. You should go with dick, kid. They’re easier to snap.” Deeks’ smile was one that said he was proud of himself for that one, and I had to admit, it made my chest bounce with silent laughter as I watched on. Rubin didn’t see the funny side, though. He was openly furious.
“You really don’t like your father, do you?” I asked him after a few seconds of silence.
When Rubin looked up, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face was set to stone. “What’s to like about a man you know is more corrupt than the people he’s constantly trying to keep off his streets?”
My face fell instantly. All my cool and humor dropped to the floor like a lead weight, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention immediately. Rubin’s skin paled, but his eyes were made from fire and rage as he held my gaze and worked the muscles in his jaw.
“You don’t have to do this…” I warned him, knowing what was about to come out of his mouth before he spoke the words. “Once you do, there’s no going back.”
Deeks looked up at me, his face full of questions that were tainted with a smidge of worry.
But all I saw was Rubin.
“Kid…” I ground out.
“I want to work with you if I can. I want the men to trust me,” Rubin began. “I want you to trust me.”
My chest rose and fell as I released all the air in my body and waited for him to go on.
“I don’t know much, but I know he isn’t as innocent as Babylon thinks he is. I hate the way he treats me, treats Mom. I know he’s not a nice man, Drew. Sometimes, I feel it in my bones with just one look at him. He’s my dad, but he’s also astranger to me.”