Page 51 of Sin

“No.”

Then she knew. Just like that, she knew what his punishment had been, as well as who had dispensed it. She looked away, not sure how she felt about that. She wasn’t even sure how she felt about her father anymore. It broke her heart that he was gone, but he’d already left her a long time ago.

“It’s going to take me a while to sort through my feelings about him,” she said. A lone tear trailed down her cheek and she wiped it away. “How?”

“He hung himself,” Ares said stiffly. “His guilt was overwhelming.”

“I see,” she said softly. And she did. She had a choice to make. To go along with everything they were telling her—or not telling her—or bring the lie into the open.

“Wait, before you say anything, I want to tell you that Lori fucking lied,” Hunter said. “I never told her I wanted you to work upstairs at Belladonna. I wanted you to work as the floor manager.”

“We want you, Adira,” Ares added. “For always. We don’t want a toy or a plaything…”

“Well, we do want to play with your thing,” Hunter interrupted and Ares shot him an incredulous look. Hunter only smiled and she smiled back.

Ares rolled his eyes. “So lame, but he’s got a point. We want to be with you. Share our lives with you. We want all of us to live together full time.”

“Maybe we can find a house,” Hunter interjected. “And buy a really big bed.”

Adira chuckled, which jolted her shoulder and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Ouch. Don’t make me laugh. I was devastated when I thought we were over because I didn’t want us to be over. I will never want us to be over because I love you both.”

“We love you, too, baby girl,” Hunter whispered and ran a finger down her cheek. “About your father…”

“No,” she said. “My father was obviously a disturbed individual who let the sin of greed take over. I, for one, do not want to think about him anymore.”

“Are you sure, sweetheart?”

She nodded. “Very. I’m not about to lose my new family to my old one. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes,” they said together.

Adira sighed and closed her eyes. “Then, when I’m better, we’ll go house hunting.”

She opened one to eye to peek at them, and grinned at their very happy faces.

Epilogue

“Adira is going to skin you alive when she smells cigarettes on you,” Ares warned.

Hunter blew out a puff of smoke, and then with a sigh, dropped it on the ground and smashed it under his booted foot. “I’m down to a pack a week, for fuck’s sake.”

Ares just raised his eyebrows and stared at him. Hunter gave a huff, pulled out his pack of cigarettes, and crushed it. Ares snorted just as Adira’s red car pulled up to the curb. The car died, and she jumped out, hurrying to the two men.

“Hey,” she greeted. Rising on her toes, she gave a kiss to Ares’s cheek before heading over to Hunter. Only, she stopped before giving him a kiss. “I thought you stopped smoking.”

Ares snickered, and Hunter shot him a glower. Then he wrapped an arm around Adira’s waist and brought her in close.

“Almost,” he told her.

She reached into her backpack and found some gum, holding it out. He took a stick and popped it into his mouth. Then she smiled and kissed him on the lips.

“I picked up your cholesterol medicine,” she told him.

He winked. “Thanks, baby girl.”

“We found a house,” Ares said.

“What?” she gasped, eyes widening. Then she looked at the property they stood in front of. “This one?”

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