Page 44 of Baiting Kong

“It’s no longer about what Kat or I want,” Mark admitted. “It’s about what Teddy is or isn’t willing to do to make things right with the club. Personally, I don’t think he’s capable ofhumbling himself enough to admit to the wrong he’s done and make amends.”

“Well, if you’re not willing to tell him to stop trying to poison Scout against me and the club, then I’ll deal with him myself.”

“Have at it.”

“You giving me license to put the fear of God into him?”

“Do what you will; I don’t give a damn at this point,” Mark said. “I’ve never been more disappointed in anyone than I am in him.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“Fine,” Mark growled. “Believe what you’d like, just don’t mention him to me again.”

“Fair enough.”

They finished their whiskey in silence before Kong took his leave and headed straight for Teddy’s cabin, where the man was hopefully sleeping in preparation for the overnight shift at the club-owned eating establishment. Sure enough, he answered bleary-eyed with his hair disheveled, blinking against the bright, sunny afternoon.

“W-haa,” Teddy slurred, then seemed to focus on Kong, recognition making his eyes widen a little. “Scout isn’t here.”

“Good, ‘cause I’m not here for him,” Kong declared. “I’m here because he told me what you said to him about steering clear of me. You had no right.”

“I had every right when you’re fucking with someone who doesn’t deserve to be toyed with!” Teddy snapped, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “He’s not as hard as he pretends to be.”

“You don’t think I know that?”

“If you did, you wouldn’t be stringing him along.”

“Did he tell you that’s what I was doing?”

Teddy sighed, hung his head, and shook it. “He said the night you spent together confused him,” Teddy admitted. “Thatyou held him and made him feel like he mattered, but he didn’t get why.”

“Because he does matter to me,” Kong insisted, beginning to relax a little.

He’d never had an issue with Teddy before now, and to hear him speak about Scout, it really did seem like the man cared for him too and wanted to make certain that Scout wouldn’t wind up getting hurt by someone who wouldn’t care about his feelings after they’d gotten what they wanted from him.

“Look, you can give me shit all you want, but he’s never really dated, never been this far away from home, and he’s alone,” Teddy said. “I brought him here, so I feel like anything that happens to him, I’m responsible for. If you can’t understand that, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Kong cocked his head, studying him. There were dark circles beneath Teddy’s eyes, and it looked like he’d lost a little weight since Kat and Mark had cut their patches off him.

“Tell me you’re not doing it for your own twisted reasons.”

“I’m not,” Teddy declared. “Whether you choose to believe it or not, he’s my friend. I just wanted to protect him. How was I supposed to know that your interest in him was different from the way you treated the last three guys who were stupid enough to fall for you?”

Deflating, Kong rubbed the back of his neck, recalling the way he’d cut the last one loose in a short note, right before he’d headed to Kill Devil Hills to help with the rebuilds for their sister chapter. As much as it galled him, he had to concede that Teddy was right to caution Scout about his tendency to be one and done with the men he took to his bed, even if Teddy couldn’t have known the real reason behind it.

“You’re not wrong,” Kong admitted. “But none of those three were the right fit for me. Jaxson was too delicate; that’s why I didn’t approach him again after the night we’d spent together.He just bruised too goddamn easily. Every time I looked at him afterwards and saw handprint-shaped marks mottling his skin, I felt like shit because I hadn’t been careful enough to prevent it. Robby just wanted to say he’d taken a ride on King Kong and lived, which pissed me off when I overheard him, and Davy, well, I could have handled that better. When I got the assignment to head north, I should have taken the time to explain to him that leaving him behind wasn’t personal; it was to help his chances of being named a prospect here, something that wouldn’t have happened if he’d spent six months at Kill Devil Hills with me. At best, they’d have asked him to prospect there, which would have led to me leaving him behind when I returned and ending the relationship anyway. It was a no-win situation.”

Nodding, Teddy leaned against the doorframe, staring up at him. “I didn’t know about Davy or Robby.”

“Well, now you do.”

“I’m sorry Robby was an ass,” Teddy said, shocking Kong to his core.

That was the last thing he’d have ever expected to hear coming from him. “Should have figured something was up with the way he’s ping-ponged around the club, fucking everyone who shows the least bit of interest in him. I guess I thought he was just doing it because you’d hurt him.”

“Why? Is that because it’s something you’d have done?”

“If anyone would have me, maybe, I dunno,” Teddy said. “I was with Kat and Mark for so long that I can’t even imagine what the feel of someone else’s hands on me would be like. When I do try to think about it, I just cringe and wanna puke.”

---