“Well, it takes a good ten months, at least, to set up a long-term op like this,” Ryland said. “And some of these scenarios take longer. Not to mention they needed that unique opportunity where it would be easier to get to Bullard.”
“Where was he back then?” Izzie asked.
“He’d been over at Ice’s place,” Quinn stated.
“And, of course, Bullard would do anything for Ice. It was part of our fight.”
“What about it?” Quinn asked.
“I told him that he should find a woman who was free.”
“Ouch,” Quinn said. “You know Ice’s always respected the sanctity of marriage, and Bullard would never cross it.”
“I know. I really do,” Izzie explained. “I knew it back then, but he’s so alone, and he was hurting, and I wanted him to find a partner of his own. Not always be interested in only her.”
“As you know,” Quinn said softly, “it takes time to find the right person, and you don’t always see clearly.”
She snorted. “Yeah, but, after him throwing that at me about my boyfriend, I …” She hesitated and then shrugged and said, “I threw that back at him too.” She’d regretted it instantly, but once the words were out …
“Nice,” Ryland said. “We all knew about Ice and Bullard. But he also is really good friends with Levi.”
“I know. I know.” Izzie raised both hands in surrender. “And I often said to Bullard that he didn’t really love Ice. It’s just he loved the idea of Ice.”
The two men shared a look.
“She’s unique, but I don’t think that he cared about her as much as he thought he did.”
“I don’t know that any of us can read Bullard’s mind and heart,” Quinn suggested. “Regardless, it’s always been a sore topic. The big one that we never broached.”
“Well, I did,” she said, “and that’s why I figured I hadn’t heard from him in so long. Because I crossed that invisible line.”
“Maybe so,” Quinn said. “You attacked not only Bullard’s feelings for the only woman Bullard has ever loved but you attacked his ethics, his morality. Bullard had some hard feelings to deal with himself, seeing Ice and Levi happy, together, getting married, having a baby. He didn’t need your harsh words too, as he was already dealing with the reality of seeing them together at their compound, making a success of their business, their team, comingling their personal lives with their professional lives.”
Izzie grimaced, remained silent.
“I don’t know what you did,” Quinn continued, trying to soften his tone, “what you said to Bullard, other than what you just shared. Even from just your point of view, I feel some of the pain that you must have inflicted on Bullard. He sees you as his blood, his family, his niece but more like a daughter. Bullard is our leader, the patriarch of this mixed family. He thinks of everyone else first. He rarely thinks of himself and his needs, his wants, on a personal level.”
Quinn shook his head. “Izzie, what you said must have hurt Bullard worse than any airplane crash. We all know you were lashing out. And Bullard does too, when stepping back from the pain. But you hurt him so much, Izzie. You don’t do something like that to another person without it having repercussions.”
Izzie had long ago teared up and had turned from Dracon but also Quinn. “I … get it,” she said, blinking and swallowing the tears. “Believe me.” She took in a big gulp of air. “I get it. And … I’ve been regretting it ever since. This asshole just made it all that much worse.” She flung an arm in Dracon’s direction.
“I didn’t do anything,” Dracon whined.
“No? You beat me to a pulp,” she snapped. “And you sure as hell didn’t tell me that I would be a prize for another person at the time.”
“They told me not to let you know.”
“Yeah, what would I do?” she asked. “What could I possibly do against you and your buddies?”
“Well, you had these guys,” Dracon whined. When Quinn reached down for him, Dracon held up both hands. “I didn’t know about your friends back then,” he said. “But my guys beat me up too. I thought they were my friends, but obviously they weren’t.”
“Yeah, obviously,” she said. She turned to look at Quinn and asked, “Can we leave now?”
“Soon,” he said to her, turning to Dracon again. “Where are these guys?”
“I don’t know,” he said, scrambling away from Quinn. “All I have is a way to contact them.”
“That’ll do just fine,” he said, shaking his head with disgust.
Dracon glared at him. “Yeah, that won’t be that easy though. I haven’t tried the number. I don’t even know if it works anymore.”
Quinn held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”
“You don’t have to be so pushy,” he whined.
“I don’t have to be, but I can be.”
Dracon pulled out his phone and handed it over, as Dracon looked back at her. “Ever since we hooked up,” he said, “my life’s been in a spiral.”
“Well, while you were spiraling, and I was in hell, you didn’t clean up your act, did you?” she snapped. “This place is a pigsty.”
“You ain’t got no call to judge me for that,” he protested.
“Why not?” she said, “I never would have lived in a pigsty like this.”
“It’s the same as it was when we were living together,” he argued.
“You’re not.” She stared in disgust at Dracon, trying to find what used to be his Prince Charming good looks, with shiny blond hair, smooth skin, bright eyes, and a gorgeous smile. All she saw now was lanky hair, a pimply chin, and shifty eyes that said so much more about who he was at his core. “I don’t know what I was going through back then,” she said, “but, wow, have my eyes been opened now, seeing you here today.”
He snorted. “What? So you like dudes like these ones, who come in and beat me up?”
“Hell of an improvement,” she said, nodding. Now she turned to walk away, to the front door, the two men beside her, and suddenly she stopped, looked over at Dracon, then asked Quinn, “May I?”
Dracon just looked at her in confusion, but Quinn picked up her silent question immediately and said, “Absolutely. I think you should.”
She looked at Dracon hard.
“Violence never does anybody any good,” Ryland added.
“It’s a hell of release, and it gives you back control, even closure,” Izzie said, as she looked over at Ryland.
He smiled and nodded. “If it’s what you need to do, then you need to do that.”
She tilted her head, as she studied the weaselly mouse in front of her. The room was quiet for a couple minutes, before she said, “He’s not really worth it.”
“What are you talking about?” Dracon asked, looking wildly around at the three of them. “I want you all to leave. She’s ruining my world.”
“Ruining your world?” Izzie repeated. And something snapped, and she reached out with her closed fist, as only Bullard could have shown her, and punched Dracon hard in the face.