Page 16 of Please Save Me

“She has my baby in her belly. I have a right to know if they’re putting anything weird in her system.” I continued.

Sebastian’s expression pinched as his icy gaze pinned on mine.

“Are you sure? Because the last time I checked, you weren’t the one holding her hand while everything happened.” He held up his hand to show a few crescent-shaped marks lingering on his pale skin, acting as if they were a badge of honor. “Plus, even if Lavender unfortunately sharesyourDNA,I’mthe one who has been there for everything. Also, it’s stillMason’sbody. You’re really showing your age by thinking you own her just because you came in her once.”

“Actually–it’s been much more than once.” My taunt slipped before I realized that wasn’t important. Still, I liked seeing Sebastian’s face tighten in anger.

He ran a hand across the square of his jaw, his expression morphing into one of amusement. He let out one quick, breathy laugh before looking back at me.

“Calm down, Daddy.” Sarcasm dripped from his baritone voice.

My pulse skipped, and I almost choked on my saliva.

“Don’t call me that,” I warned.

“Why not? I hear Mason say it all the time. You’re the one who she’s referring to when she does that, correct?”

“You ain’t my partner,” I warned. “You’re a pest.”

“Awe, Calvin.” He cooed. “If you feel threatened by me, I can quit my specific case, move back to Portland, and letyoufigure out how to keep Mason safe.”

My shoulders tightened, and my blood went cold. “You wouldn’t dare.”

He smirked before shrugging. “Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t… Are you really willing to test that out?”

The answer to that was no. I didn’t have a great track record of partners surviving once Dale was in the picture. And even though last night he told me that he was only returning to take over the operations of the local Hospital's chapel, I didn’t believe him.

Sebastian was a killer, and that meant he could protect my girls even if I couldn’t.

“That’s what I thought.” A smug smile unfurled on his lips, causing one dimple to pop as he stepped back from me, creating distance between the two of us. “Now, if you’re willing to be a good boy and cooperate with me, I have a question.”

I liked having him call megood boyeven less than I likeddaddy.

“What could you possibly need?” Other than to harass me, of course.

“Do you have any pictures of Dale?”

Chapter 5

Cameron

Sebastian never explained to me why he needed the photos of Dale, just that he did. I assumed it was something involving the case. Unfortunately for him, I didn’t like keeping reminders of my adoptivefather… but I also knew Dale would be at church tomorrow, so I promised I’d point him out then.

Dale liked to watch my sermons now and then so that he could remind me how I was fucking them up.

For the longest time, he had been telling me how I was letting myself go, how I was getting too old to fulfill my duty of spawning an offspring for the church, and overall, just how disappointed he was in me. It was no secret that I lost the passion I once had. I used to savor the idea of religion and saving the souls of innocent people from eternal damnation.

Still, at some point, after my brain fully developed, I realized just how terrible the cult was.

That was the first time I tried to leave the Sons of Christ. I was grieving the loss of my first son, and I told him I was done. I signed up to give sermons and save souls, not kill innocent people in the Lord's name. But Dale let me know I’d never be allowed to leave. If I tried, he promised that what he’d do would be worsethan death.

And it was. I was starved, tortured, whipped within an inch of my life, and then locked in the basement of whatever church we worked out of at the time. For three days, I lived naked, lying against the cold concrete, shivering so hard that all I could hear was the clacking of my teeth. When Dale finally came to get me, I promised I’d behave.

If I had been smart, that woulda been the only time Dale punished me. But that cycle continued for years. I could have stopped it by fighting back. Lord knew Dale wouldn’t have been able to physically stop me, but I wasn’t the type. Especially when he’d gotten in my head and made me think I couldn’t.

Slowly, the weight of his actions smothered my love for religion like dirt on a fire. And now, while I still believed in God, I didn’t think he was up to anything good. He definitely wasn’t anything someone should pray to.

All that abuse turned me bitter for a long time. I allowed that anger to poison me, and for years, I kept to myself because of it. Then I met Silas White, and he took me in like one of his own. And that led to Lucian and Sophia, and then eventually Mason.

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