Page 30 of Ruthless Son

Kannon rushed toward me, his arms outstretched to take my almost-catatonic sister from my arms. He cradled her like a child, her head tucked in the crook of his neck. He looked at her longingly as she lay curled in his arms. A man that looked at a woman that way, wouldn’t—couldn’t hurt her. And so I let him take her inside, feeling bereft when my baby sister was no longer tucked up against me.

Climbing out slowly, my body felt stiff. I felt every ache and pain as if I’d run a marathon. “Where is he taking her?” I croaked out, feeling the weight of everything on my chest.

“He’s just gonna put her in one of the rooms to sleep it off. Rex can show you where she is and we can speak about things in the morning.” I merely nodded at the man—the president—talking sounded like a horrible choice right now. I needed sleep and a lobotomy to get rid of the nightmare that was taking over my life. This was supposed to be routine—come here, get my sister, go home. Things weren’t happening in that order, and life was throwing us a curveball—again.

Rex and the president looked pointedly at each other, the bigger man’s glare evident when he looked at Rex. I stared at the gravel and the heavy boots of each man, trying to erase the blood-soaked image of Margot’s floor. Sure, I was a nurse, but I saw these injured and dying people in a hospital bed more often than not. And I’d never seen someone who had been murdered, least of all someone I was chatting with that afternoon, who I had been moaning about internally. It was too personal. Too close to home for my liking.

“Come on, I’ll show you where you’re sleeping.” I followed Rex blindly inside, ignoring the stares of every person in attendance. I didn’t look around me to check out the decor or whether I knew anyone there, I just… followed. Rex’s arm hung off my shoulder, his thick arm pulling at my hair. The sting of pain did nothing to dull the memories, her stone-cold body flat on her back and her lively brown eyes now void of all life—completely blank and empty staring up at the ceiling.

I was led down a hallway, rows of doors lined the walls, all closed. The dark wood hiding their secrets from me. Rex paused outside one, and pushed the door open. The inside was bare except for a bed, wardrobe and dresser. There was no personality, no color in the room. And what was more evident when I looked at the bed, my sister wasn’t here either. “Um, where’s Millie?”

“She’s in a different room, you can?—”

“I’m so tired, Rex,” I groaned, “I’m not in the mood to fight with you, just show me where my sister is sleeping, and I’ll crash with her… please.” I practically begged at this point. My head swam and I was so close to my body just giving in, I couldn’t be bothered to argue. I needed to just lay down and forget all about this day.

Indecision warred on Rex’s face, he looked from me to his room and back. “Please?”

“Goddamnit.” He stepped across the hall and rapped his knuckles against a different door. Kannon flung it open, annoyance etched across his face. “She wants to crash with her sister,” Rex gritted out. “This don’t mean shit, her sleeping in your room, just open the fucking door…” Rex waved me across, and I used what little energy I had left to shuffle past Kannon and see my Millie curled up on one side of a double. “And you ain’t sleeping in there, go bunk with someone else,” I heard Rex growl. “Fucking women.”

It was the last thing I heard before I succumbed to the darkness, and was swept away in a dreamless slumber.

Rex

She was sleeping in another brother’s bed.

I gripped the 45lb weights in each hand, and curled. I barely felt the strain as I stared at the wall, lost in my thoughts.

We were brothers, we shared most things. But this… sweat poured down my neck, and I pushed through the pressure… she was sleeping in another brother’s bed.

I hadn’t even touched her yet, and she had me pissed at my own brother. And now I was pissed at myself for being angry at Kannon.

“What the fuck is this, Rex?” I dropped the bells with a loud clang, and reached for the towel beside me.

“Working out, Prez.” I wiped the sweat away.

“Don’t be fucking smart, boy.” He growled, his arms crossed over his chest. “Why are those women here?”

I leaned forward, my elbows digging into my knees. “The younger one, she’s seen the guy who’s been screwing with the drugs and selling it on our streets.” He nodded. “Not to mention with what happened to Margot, I couldn’t risk them dying before I had her ID him.”

“That’s not the only reason. Don’t forget how long I’ve known you. You were just a scrawny pup trying to steal my shit when I first met ya, I practically raised you T-Rex.”

I huffed at the nickname I’d been given years ago, a moniker to highlight the skinny arms and gangly legs that had been my physique. I’d got the ‘T’ removed the minute I had my patch, a road name to be worthy of—it was just Rex now, and Cal and the old-timers were the only ones who knew why I got this name… I wasn’t about to share that with anyone. But now, he was bringing up the past and my whole reason for being here. It was because of him that I sat here right now, with a brotherhood at my back and a patch on my chest. I wadded up the damp towel and dropped it on the bench beside me, letting out a long sigh as I considered the ramifications of bringing the women here. “I can’t have them flying back home yet.” His eyebrows raised, waiting for me to add more. “And… I like her, ok?” I sighed in frustration. Mia’s blue eyes haunted my every waking moment, and even my dreams were shaded in a vibrant blue reminiscent of that damn woman. Not even getting my dick sucked by the resident vacuum got that woman outta my head. It just made me want her even more.

I shook my head, trying to clear the infuriating woman from my thoughts, and Cal chuckled. “Does she know why she’s here?”

“I told her it was for their protection, they saw Margot?—”

“And I’m still not sure why they had to go to the shop,” he interrupted, his pinched expression had disapproval all over it.

“It got them here, didn’t it.” He lumbered toward me and collapsed on a bench beside me, his knees giving way and he groaned at the slight crack in his joints. “I’m getting too old for this shit, Rex. Honestly, you lot do dumb shit and I have to sort it out. It’s like having a bunch of preschoolers running around.”

“Who else has done dumb shit… and just so we’re clear, Prez, I don’t think what I did was dumb, more a… strategic choice.”

He snorted in response but ignored my question completely. “Women like her will not appreciate being kept in the dark. She’s like my Jenna, she’ll want answers and you’ll have to give them to her—within reason. Give her enough that it doesn’t become a problem.”

I nodded at his sage words, the man had been married for years and it was a ‘real’ marriage, one filled with love and trust. I would be foolish to not heed his advice.

“But if she wants to leave, you can’t keep them here. There’s only so long that excuse of protection will last. She needs to stay because she wants to, not because you’re making her. She won’t like not having a choice… And for God’s sake, stop getting your dick sucked by club pussy now she’s here, she will most definitely not stay around if you have sluts in and out of your room,” he grumbled, his dark eyes glinting with distaste. He’d wanted to get rid of the hang-arounds for years, but Jenna refused to be on clean up duty and Cal refused to hire an outside source to keep the place clean. Neither did the brothers want to go out and chase down women who knew the score, it was a win-win keeping them around. The men got easy pussy who didn’t whine about getting a ring, and the women kept the place tidy. But with Mia and her sister here, the brothers would have to tone down their nightly antics, because they would not appreciate watching Wheeler fuck a woman over the pool table.

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