"Right, right. You beat him down. But the real question is, why did you stop only when she asked you to? Hmm? You could’ve just let it go, but you didn’t. You kept going. You’re obsessed with her, aren’t you?" Hugo’s voice was oozing with mischief now.
I could almost see him waggling his bushy eyebrows at me.
What the heck was he even saying?! Obsessed with who?
María José?! Someone whom I saw as nothing more than a little sister because trust me, she was. I was seven years older than she was for fuck’s sake.
The girl is literally a kid. Eighteen!
I cursed and slammed the gear shift into drive. The tires screeched against the pavement as I took off. There was no way I could sit here and let Hugo have the upper hand.
He had to stop this incessant teasing. Right now.
"I wasn’t obsessed with her," I grumbled, swerving around a car that didn’t seem to understand the concept of speed limits. "I was pissed. I wasn’t gonna let anyone hurt her. Hell, nobody gets away with treating someone like that. Not when I’m around. You know that yourself."
Anyone who knew me would know that too. I would never stand by and watch injustice lead. Never:
"You sure about that? You were ready to knock heads off, and the moment she begged you to stop, you listened. That doesn’t sound like the usual Axel I know. You’ve never backed down from a fight. But for her, you did." Hugo wouldn’t stop.
By the fucking Moon, he just WOULDN’T STOP!
I muttered something under my breath about how he was completely insane, but it didn’t make him stop. He kept on and on like the damn broken record he was.
"I’m just saying, hermano, you might want to figure out if you’re falling for her. Because if you are, I’ll be here to remind you."
Falling for her?! What the heck was that even supposed to mean? How did we go from being obsessed to falling for her?
And who was the ’her’? María José? Rosa? Tch. Fat chance.
At that, I groaned. There was no winning this fight. Not today. Not with Hugo constantly in my head, pushing my buttons.
I focused on the road before me. It was already noon, and I had a plan. A plan to teach the boy who kissed her that I soon came to find out was named Luis Miguel and his gang of assholes a lesson. They thought they could mess with María José? Take her money like it was some game?
I drove through the pack’s land, keeping an eye out for any sign of the boys. The pack was sprawling, full of hidden corners where trouble could easily brew.
It didn’t take long before I saw some of them—Luis Miguel and his pack of rats. They were huddled under an old oak tree in the park, cackling over a pile of crumpled bills and a set of dice.
From the smug looks on their faces, it was clear they had just swindled some poor bastard out of his money.
So these stupid kids were the little menace of the pack, huh?
Well, I like me a good cleaning day.
I parked my car at a safe distance and stepped out, adjusting my sleeves. This wasn’t the kind of situation I could charge into fists-first—no, that would be too easy.
Beating them senseless would feel good, but it wouldn’t be satisfying. No, I wanted them squirming, sweating under my gaze before I made my move.
Hugo chuckled darkly in my head. "Oh, I like where this is going. Let’s play with our food before we eat it, huh?"
I strolled over casually, hands in my pockets, tilting my head as if I were merely observing their little game. The boys, all about nineteen or eighteen, didn’t notice my approach. They were too caught up in their latest victim’s misfortune.
One of them, who was a scrawny kid with an unfortunate patchy mustache, rattled the dice in his hands and threw them onto the makeshift betting board. The group erupted into a series of contrasting groans and cheers.
"Pay up, idiotas!" Luis Miguel laughed, raking the bills toward him.
I smirked and crouched beside them, plucking one of the dice from the board and rolling it between my fingers. "Mind if I join?"
The reaction was immediate and it was silence.
The entire group paused like I’d just announced I was their new stepfather. Luis Miguel’s arrogant grin swayed, and he slowly lifted his gaze to meet mine. "Who the hell—"
Before he could finish, one of his goons let out a gasp. "Ay, Dios mío... That’s the Beta."
Panic spread through the group like wildfire. The kids scrambled to their feet so fast they nearly tripped over each other, each of them mumbling hasty greetings.
"¡Beta! We didn’t see you!"
"Buenos días, señor!"
"We—uh—we weren’t doing anything bad, I swear!"
I waved a lazy hand, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. "Relax. I’m just here to play a little." I tossed the die onto the board, watching it bounce before landing on a six. "What’s the game?"
Hehehe... today was going to be a day they won’t soon forget. All of the pent up rage from my confrontation with Don Diego would be poured into their punishment.
I just couldn’t wait to unleash the beast in me.
They exchanged uneasy glances. Luis Miguel, as the cocky bastard that he was, cleared his throat and tried to recover his composure. "Just... a little dice game, señor. You roll, bet on the outcome, and, uh, win if you’re lucky."
I arched a brow. "Sounds simple enough." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a bill, tossing it onto the pile. "I’ll bet fifty."
Luis Miguel eyed the money warily. His little gang seemed torn between excitement at the high stakes and fear of my presence.
They were right to be afraid.
Hugo hummed in my head. "Look at them, squirming like worms under a magnifying glass. This is going to be fun."