Mastered(62)

If it were anyone but Silas, that wouldn’t sit well with Drake at all. He didn’t hire men who wore shadows like others wore clothing. But in Silas he saw a kindred soul, and he also saw a man who placed great value on a man’s word, particularly his own. In all the years they’d worked together, he’d never known Silas to break his word once given. Regardless of circumstance. And Drake would know otherwise. He made it his business to know everything about the men he trusted. Except, he thought ruefully, he’d made an exception with Silas since no one knew anything about the man other than what he chose for them to know.

Drake glanced at Hatcher, whose expression was bland and unruffled, though his fists were clenched at his sides, a sure sign of his irritation. Drake frowned at the tell. Men who broadcast their mood, thoughts or intentions were the ones most likely to get themselves killed.

“You will handle this, Silas,” Drake said, making a sudden reverse decision when before he’d fully intended to give the assignment to Hatcher. Though he had implicit trust in Silas when it came to taking care of problems that arose, this task was beneath his abilities. Any of his men could do what needed to be done, and though he suffered no conscience over using any of the men he partnered with and had made very wealthy men, he had to admit that every once in a while he grew concerned with the considerable burden that Silas, for the most part, bore alone as Drake’s clean-up-and-take-out-the-trash man. Silas was too valuable, too integral to Drake’s many less-than-aboveboard assignments.

If Silas knew that it had even crossed Drake’s mind to shield his muscleman, it would be a betrayal; Silas placed much emphasis on loyalty and carrying out any task Drake put to him, regardless of how dirty his hands got in the process. But then the entire reason Drake chose Silas for that particular role was that he could simply turn it off, do the job impersonally and without emotion or suffering a fit of conscience, two things Drake demanded of all his men, but especially Silas.

Silas wouldn’t question Drake’s decision or his motives, but if he had, he would have simply been honest about the fact that of all his men, Hatcher had been with him the shortest period of time, which meant he still had to prove his mettle not only with Drake but with his partners and brothers.

He shot Hatcher another quick glance, satisfied that at least he showed no outward reaction to Drake’s decision. But then he could hardly blame the man for his anger toward Eddie when Drake wanted nothing more than to hunt the little bastard down and kill him himself.#p#分页标题#e#

But this wasn’t about Eddie, directly. Eddie had already received a message very loud and clear, courtesy of Silas, Jax and Justice, to give Evangeline Hawthorn a wide berth in the future. One he was still no doubt recovering from. Except he’d shown up in Steven Cavendar’s nightclub the night before. And not only had he been allowed entrance, but he’d also availed himself of his VIP status and all the perks that accompanied VIP treatment.

Drake had done his homework on Eddie and had only grown more disgusted, if such a thing were possible. He didn’t have money, or a job for that matter, or the ambition to do anything more than to live off his parents’ largesse and toss around money without a second thought in his bid to impress women and men alike. He wanted something he had no hope of ever receiving. Respect. He was a parasitic leech and there was no doubt in Eddie’s mind that once he’d set his sights on Evangeline, it was a fait accompli and she’d fall into his lap like a ripe plum just ready to be bitten into.

He’d certainly picked the wrong woman when he chose Evangeline and was barking up the wrong tree entirely. Evangeline wanted, needed, craved a forceful, dominant man, and he doubted she’d even realized it yet. Eddie, even if he had been satisfactory in bed, would have failed her on every other level that it was possible to fail a woman. He was weak, spineless and unapologetic about his lifestyle and what his parents’ fortune gave him by proxy. As an only child, he’d been shamelessly spoiled, and he knew nothing about the real world or where Drake and his men and Evangeline had come from, what they had made themselves into. He was a whiny petulant prick who expected nothing more than to crook his finger at a woman and have her clinging to him like a lifeline.

Until Evangeline. And she had not only stung his pride by making him put on all his charm to seduce her, but she’d made a fool of him and worse, he knew it, though he’d never admit to such a thing. He’d been on a mission to take Evangeline’s virginity and to toss her the day after, never to be thought of again.