Page 13 of Beauty & Corruption

“I…uh.”

“Don’t give me a line of bullshit. I am serious. I know you are full of shit most of the time, but I never thought about it. Do. You. Lie. To. Me?” I enunciated each word in a hoarse voice, holding back tears of frustration. I felt so stupid since any time I asked anything of him, he answered. He pushed me to recognize things about myself that I refused to see and was more inclined to ask for things instead of taking them. He said he was a taker, but perhaps I wasn’t the only one with a jaded self-imagery.

His hand cupped the back of his neck, and his piercing blue eyes found mine. Was he nervous? Mordy was never nervous. It wasn’t an emotion I thought he was capable of. “Heh. No…Not usually,” he said slowly as if he was ruminating as he said them. He crossed his legs beneath him, and his fingers found mine, pulling me down into the dirt beside him. This time, I didn’t fight his touch. I didn’t want to.

“Do you intentionally tell the truth?” I focused on his face, preparing for him to spout a line of BS.

“Not per se, but I don’t lie when I don’t have to.”

“People don’t notice that, do they?”

“Not really, lass. People only see what they want. Most people cling to the ugliness of the world. It’s easier. It gives them something to complain about. It’s harder to accept the truthsand beauty the world has to offer.” He shrugged as if the words that left his mouth weren’t shifting my entire universe.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because,Éan, once you find something worth living for, you’re ruined for life.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll spend the rest of your fecking life terrified you’ll never find something worth living for,” he said in a voice so sincere it made my heart ache. He lifted his hand, and his fingertip brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Enough of that.” He nodded, standing and pulling me to my feet. “Where do you want me to take you?”

“Back to the house,” I answered him in an almost inaudible voice. I told Stone I would never love Mordy. I was so sure of that fact when I said it. Mordicus was incapable of loving anything or anyone. He was a monster. I believed everything anyone said about him and never took the time to listen to the words he said to me. Once again, I proved myself to be a liar. What in the fuck was I going to do? Surely, I didn’t love him. It wasn’t possible. Was it?

“Aye, lass,” he answered quickly, turning away from me to lead us back to the spot where his motorcycle was parked.

Mordy dropped me off at the house and, after seeing me inside, left without so much as a single word. His brothers were going to be pissed at him, but that was nothing new.

I had a lot to think about. My heart was split down the middle when it shouldn’t be. One half belonged to Stone, and it was quickly shriveling. The other beat so intensely that it was painful. I guess Mordy was right after all. He didn’t ask for me to give him a portion of my heart. He took it.

Chapter 11

Reggy

Asudden pounding noise broke through the quietness, and my eyes batted open. I must have fallen asleep. I scanned around the room, trying to focus on something. I turned my head to the side, but the sound was gone.Am I hearing things or maybe I wasn’t fully awake?I questioned myself as my attention darted around Mordy’s room, and I quickly got to my feet.

Again, a pounding. Someone was at the door. No one knew I was here except the Crazed Kings, so there wasn’t any harm in checking to see which of the idiots was knocking.

As soon as I opened the door, I immediately regretted doing so. “Fuck you!” I screamed, whirling around as fast as I was able, and ran in the opposite direction.

Two people dressed in black, one large, presumably a man, and a smaller one, a woman, perhaps, were here. Their faces were hidden behind ski masks. I looked over my shoulder as I reached for the knob to the back door. The man cocked a rifle, and the woman swung a baseball bat at my head. As quickly as I could, I ducked, and her bat smashed against my hand on the knob. Horrific pain shot up my right arm, and I cupped itwith my left, screeching out in pain. At the very least, a few of my fingers were broken; there was no question. I needed to act fast. Cracked bones were the least of my worries. Whoever these people were, they were making it clear they weren’t here for a friendly visit. Guessing who it was that came for me was pointless. Was it the Falbos? Did they finally see their opening now that I was stupidly left alone, and they took it? Or could it be my not-so-loving father coming to claim his heir to his bloody fortune?

I stood strong and reacted fast. My thoughts raced ninety miles a minute, trying to remember anything that would save my life. Maybe they were thieves, and I had caught them by surprise by being here. “I have a wad of cash in my room. Let me go get it,” I rattled off the first lie that came to my brain, knowing I didn’t have a cent to my name. I would try to reason with them the best way I could, lying straight through every one of my damned teeth. I hadn’t carried a purse for years unless it was absolutely necessary, but they didn’t know that. If I could make it to Mordy’s room, I could enlist his girls for help.

The man laughed gruffly as his head jerked backward. “We don’t want fucking money.” He jabbed the end of the riffle between my tits forcefully, knocking me back two or three paces.

“You sure? What about jewelry? I have a whole bag full,” I lied again, scooting my feet backward. I squared my shoulders and tried to act as if he didn’t hurt my breastbone and my hand wasn’t throbbing. Adrenaline was pounding through my veins, and I was riding its high out to the end.

“Can it, Angeloff!” the man shot out, taking one large stride that put him toe-to-toe with me.

“I don’t know who that is.” Another lie.

“We know the truth,” the woman finally spoke, confirming my observation of her being female. “You are the missing link that ties our forsaken families together. You shouldn’t havehappened to begin with. I’m supposed to be the one who gets everything. Not you!” She swung the bat for a second time. The aluminum smashed against my naked calf, and I cussed myself for not looking for my own clothes that Mordy had stolen. Instead, I wore one of Stone’s button-downs. I fell to my knees, and I tried to swallow the pain. If I could get past the initial shock of it, I would be okay. I had to be okay. Unable to hide how much that blow hurt, I released a cry and grabbed my skin where she hit me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I sobbed, “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t want anything an Angeloff has to offer. Get fucked, bitch!” I forced the words out of my mouth, sniffing back the tears as they poured out of my ducts. All of this pain and suffering came from being the daughter of a man who I had never met and had no desire to do so. I’d hated him long before I met Stone, Mordy, or any of their motorcycle gang. Learning the truth about him only added to my hatred.

“No, you can go fuck yourself, bitch!” the woman repeated my words in a snarky tone, and her grip tightened around the neck of the bat.

Instinctively, my hands went up to defend myself, but it was useless. Sickening pangs shot through my stomach, and warm liquid traveled down my forehead. My entire body filled with heat, and I fought to keep my eyelids open, but they were so damned heavy. My head was killing me, and all I needed to do was give in to the sleep that called me. Maybe then, the pain would stop. NO! I screamed, but no sound left my lips. My eyes blinked again, and my vision blurred. I gave into the darkness and let the blackness envelop me.

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