Page 21 of Bound by Adoration

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Liam

Pulling out my cell,I saw the name on the screen, and my temper spiked, as if it needed help from seeing Raid and Nyx together and this fucking situation. “You have a scrambler here?” I asked Raid.

“What the fuck do you think? You’re fuckin’ lucky I do, or I’d grab that fuckin’ thing and crush it,” Raid fired back.

Rolling my eyes, I answered the call.

“What?” I moved to the far side of the space and turned my back to the room. They could hear me, but I didn’t give a fuck. They’d find out eventually anyway. Raid had me in his sights, and he never missed a target. He would dig until there was nothing left to learn. The tenacity inside of him even when we were teenagers was intriguing. No one was as driven as Raid when he set his mind to something, someone, or a situation.

This trip home coming full circle with my past and present had my head spinning.

“And hello to you too, little boy.” Her voice was raspy and deep from chain smoking throughout the years. She always had a cigarette hanging from the corner of her lips with a long cherry at the end that fell every time she spoke. The scars on my stomach where the memories of the heat meeting my skin were now covered in ink, erased gone.

“What do you want, old woman?” She fucking knew I despised being called “little boy.” My reason for being so little growing up were all her brother’s doing, then later hers. Once I’d gotten actual food, I’d grown.

This boy wasn’t so “little” anymore. Something she was getting ready to know.

She huffed on the other end, no doubt blowing out smoke between her battered leathery lips. “Don’t be a dick.”

Fuck, I hated this woman. Absolutely fucking hated her. “Tell me what the fuck you want before I hang up.”

The complacent days of my teen years were long gone. Trying to placate her so she didn’t harm me were over.

“Just wanted to know how close my nephew is to Sumner. We have many things to do.”

It would take every bit of my strength not to strangle her when I saw her because I had to see her. Fate was a funny bitch like that. But did she really need to be there? Something to ponder.

Aunt Clara. My father’s sister. The devil incarnate. Evil didn’t even come close to her. When she died and went to hell, Lucifer himself would send her ass back, not wanting her in his space.

“I’ll be in Sumner when I fuckin’ get there.” She didn’t need to know I was already in town. The more she was in the dark, the better.

She exhaled. No doubt another puff of smoke. “We need to go to the lawyers and get everything settled.”

Which was the only fucking reason she wanted me in Sumner. To sign documents. Yeah, I wasn’t fucking stupid. She thought I was, but she would be sorely mistaken. A lot had changed. She no longer had her hooks in me like she thought. She wanted me to be a puppet with her pulling the strings. No fucking thank you on that one.

Only reason I was here was to piss on my father’s grave and tie up some loose ends. Then Nyx was here, and hell if I knew what was going to happen next.

“I’ll get there when I get there. Don’t you fuckin’ worry about it.”

Her tone changed to the sneer that haunted me in my dreams when I was younger, sending a shiver down my spine that I quickly shoved off. She no longer affected me. She had no power over me. None. She’d never have that. “You little fucker. Watch how you talk to me.”

I disconnected the line, not wanting to hear another word out of her broken lips. This would be the last damn time I’d have to deal with her. Not that she’d be happy with what I had planned, but once again, all the fucks to give had run out.

Turning around, all eyes were on me. Therefore, I explained. “My bitch of an aunt. Let’s figure Nyx out, and then I’ll handle my shit.”

Raid’s eyes narrowed as he assessed me. Had no clue what he saw. Surely nothing good. He’d have something to say.

But what else was new…

8

RAID

What in the fuck did Liam have to do with his aunt here in Sumner? The woman was a fucking bitch. That wasn’t even a question. But he hated her. There would be no reason for him to be here unless it was something big.

Already knew his father was dead. Old man finally croaked about a year and a half ago. There was no service, but Liam came to town briefly, then left. Why would he need to meet with his aunt now? Did she have some kind of tether on him?

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