Page 4

F amily breakfast is wrapping up, and both Keegan and I have our eyes on Benjamin and Ignacio. By the look of it, things went fucking sideways. Nobody commented on the lack of an engagement ring on Benjamin’s finger—or the fact Ignacio is still wearing his. But fuck, this cannot be good. We do not need a fracture in the Family right now.

Standing up to leave, Keegan lightly knocks his shoulder against mine, tilting his head toward Ignacio and then Benjamin. Sighing, I run my fingers through my hair, not wanting to deal with this shit. Being an adult fucking sucks, and as War, I’m the one who needs to rein in Chaos. I stride toward him as Keegan pivots toward Benjamin.

“Hey, let’s get some time on the mats,” I say as I grab Ignacio’s arm, pulling him out of the dining room without giving him a choice. Normally we’d avoid the gym right afterwards, but Ignacio barely ate and I had my breakfast a while ago with Cole.

“I don’t think?—”

“Nope, no excuses here. We need some time to spar. It’ll help get me in the mindset for today. Especially after they tried to arrest me last night.” I’m not even lying necessarily. I do need to work off some aggression. He just doesn’t need to know that Keegan already took care of most of it.

“Fine,” he grumbles as he pulls his arm away from me.

We don’t speak on the way, which suits me fine. I’d rather he go off on me in the relative privacy of the gym.

It’s early enough that when we enter there are no other guards training, which is a relief. I’d give it an hour before they start to trickle in after the change of guard happens. As soon as we hit the mats, I’m on him. I sweep out his leg, bringing him down.

He jumps up and snarls at me, “Asshole! I wasn’t even ready!”

“Since when did that matter? You taught me to always be prepared. Walking in front of me? Not being aware of danger? That’s not like you at all. So you have two choices. Either tell me what the fuck is going on, or I’ll beat it out of you.”

Without a word, he jumps toward me, but I quickly evade him. I snap around, getting a punch in on his side. It doesn’t stop him, but I didn’t expect it to. It fuels his anger, which is what I want—and need.

“Come on. You’re better than this. I’ve never known you to be sloppy.”

I can see my words hit their target, and he makes the dangerous mistake of closing his eyes from the emotional pain he's experiencing. Sighing, I step up and punch him, pommeling him when he won’t fight back.

Skipping back, I growl, “Fight. Fucking. Back. Or have you given up? Do I need to take you out completely? Because right now, you’re of no fucking use to anyone.”

That snaps him out of whatever pity party he’s under, and when he opens his eyes, they’re brutally cold. Thank fuck. My relief quickly dissipates as he comes at me. Shit . Now I remember why this fucker trains the guards.

I try to evade his punches, but I’m not fast enough. Every time I move to get my own hit in, he blocks it easily. It pisses me off how fucking effortless he makes this look. He’s not being careful at all, or pulling his punches, and my body feels it. I don’t want to think about how many bruises I’ll have, and fuck—that engagement ring cut the hell out of my mouth.

Taking a deep breath, I jump at him, hoping it’ll throw him off. He laughs as I try to tackle him, quickly changing our direction until I’m down on the ground and he’s on top of me. He’s got one arm across my neck and a knee at my balls.

I slap the mats, and for a moment, I don’t think he’s going to let me go. When he does, he drops down, lying next to me. Both of us are covered in sweat and blood. I hate to note that I’m bloodier than him. Fucker.

“Alright, fucking tell me what’s going on.” I shove him none too gently as a reminder that I’ll beat his ass if he doesn’t explain—or at least attempt to.

Ignacio shrugs as he stares at the wall. “Benjamin broke up with me.”

“Really?” I say sarcastically. “I never would have guessed. The whole ‘no longer wearing his engagement ring’ didn’t tip me off at all. What I want to know is why?”

“Why do I like you?” Ignacio scowls before his whole body slumps. “I fucked up and didn’t listen. I didn’t train him, or believe in him enough. And then he found fucking Tennant.”

I whistle quietly. “Tennant. Huh. That’s…surprising.”

“Trust me, I saw the video. It…was more than just sex. I could tell, even if I desperately wanted it to be otherwise.”

Ignacio drops his head, defeat radiating from him. I wince because I can’t imagine watching Keegan with another man that isn’t one of us.

“When he came back…he walked away. And then when Tennant got arrested, he ran from the room. Never even looked back.” Ignacio’s voice cracks and I reach out, patting his shoulder.

Fuck . That’s worse than I thought. “I don’t mean any offense with this, but…why didn’t you train him? I’ve never known you to leave anyone untrained.”

“Fuck. I…I couldn’t see him as a target. Especially after Jax. I had been training him. And then after being kidnapped… Shit. I didn’t know if he was alive or not.

“I watched him be tortured…for me. He begged to be tortured instead of me. Did you know he still has nightmares? Tell me, what the fuck would you do? I’m the one who got him into this mess. I’m the one who took him from his nice, safe life and brought him into this world.”

“First, you didn’t bring him in, Il Padrone did. You simply helped with the kidnapping. And despite what happened, Benjamin chose to stay. He became his own brand of crazy, just like Lio.

“As for the other thing… I don’t know. I can’t imagine how I’d react. I can see why you struggled, but you fucked up.”

Ignacio stands up and starts pacing while I stay there quietly. He finally stops mid-pace and whirls toward me, pain seeping into his voice. “You think I don’t know that? You think hearing it from him last night didn’t tear me into pieces?”

“So…what are you going to do? I need you fucking present to help us find Il Padrone. We’re being hit over and over by these fucking LEOs, and haven’t had any spare time to actually look for Il Padrone. You’re our Chaos. We need you. And despite what’s going on between you and Benjamin, he needs you too.” It’s a low blow, manipulating his love for Benjamin, but it’s the only option I have right now.

“You’re right. Let’s get cleaned up and figure out what the hell we need to do next.”

I nod in satisfaction. I want to ask if he plans to get Benjamin back, but I bite my tongue. There will be time to ask that later, but right now, he’s barely holding himself together.

Fuck . I don’t want to have to take sides in this. I wish Il Padrone was here, he’d have an idea. Then again, if he hadn't been kidnapped, Benjamin would never have gotten so close to Tennant…