Page 33 of Bittersweet Revenge
“Still…we should be careful. We don’t know him.”
“Fuck off, Cillian. I don’t need you to tell me that.”
He sighs. “How’s Ash?”
“Sleeping, I hope. I’m gonna check on her, but tomorrow we need to talk about how to push more product.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling that was coming. We got this.”
I nod, bump fists with him, then head upstairs. The room is quiet, my sister still asleep in my bed. I change into a pair of shorts, then get into bed with her. She immediately cuddles close the way she used to do when she was a kid. If our parents were fighting, she had a nightmare, or Dad came home bloody, she would sneak into my bed like she always knew I would do anything to protect her.
And now, though she’s strong as shit and doesn’t want to need me, there are still moments like this where she lets go.
“I’ll fucking kill him for trying to hurt you.”
“No,” she whispers sleepily. “I will.”
As much as I don’t want that for her, as much as I want to keep her hands clean and want her to have choices I didn’t, I won’t be able to deny her the revenge she deserves.
*
I sit inthe living room of the suite in New York, my hands balled into fists. I can hear what they’re doing in the next room. I can hear her shouting his name, can hear the bed creaking, and all the names he calls her as he takes her.
And I’m standing here doing nothing.
We came to the city for business. Dad’s getting a shipment of guns. I’d been so excited because this was the first time Dad brought me. That has to mean he trusts me, right? That he believes in me and thinks I’m worthy of being his son.
But we haven’t done any business yet. All he did was call her, and they’ve been in the room for hours, fucking each other’s brains out while my mom sits at home.
Pain shoots through my jaw as I grind my teeth together.
A while later, the woman comes out completely naked, followed by my father, who’s wearing a robe. They’re both sweaty and disheveled. He clearly doesn’t care if I see her or know that he’s cheating on my mom.
“Aren’t you cute?” The naked woman pinches my cheek, and I jerk away from her.
“Fuck you,” I tell her. “He’s married.”
“Sweetie…I know.” She winks at me, and my dad laughs. My face flames with both embarrassment and anger. “You get a couple of years older, and you can have your turn.”
My stomach twists, and it takes everything in me not to lunge at her, not to hurt her for embarrassing me and betraying my mother, but like always, I don’t do anything. I can’t. Not against my father.
He orders room service, and the two of them eat at a small table, the woman still naked. He did get me food, but the thought of swallowing any of it down makes me want to vomit.
When they’re done, she goes back into the room and gets dressed. When she’s in the living room again, she approaches me first. “See you later, sugar. You’ll understand one day.”
“That my father likes sticking his dick in dirty whores?” In reality, I know it’s not her fault. I know he’s the one who owes my mom his loyalty, and she’s either just doing her job if he’s paying her, or maybe she thinks they actually have a future together.
She gives me a sad smile and walks over to my father, the two of them kissing, tongues in each other’s mouths as I seethe.
The second the door closes behind her, my father is standing in front of me. I don’t have time to realize what’s happeningbefore he backhands me across the face. I stumble with the power of his hit and fall onto the coffee table, hitting the floor along with a plate and cup from earlier.
“You’re cheating on Mom,” I shout defiantly.
“Your mother lives in a beautiful home and has more money than she knows what to do with. She knows better than to complain where I stick my dick.” He grabs the front of my shirt and jerks me to my feet. “She knows how to stay important to me. She runs my home and raises my kids. She does what I tell her because if she doesn’t, she’s worthless to me. You should learn a lesson or two from her. This world”—he hits his chest—“I fucking own it. You’re only allowed to stay in it if I want you to. The sooner you learn that, the better.”
There’s no doubt in my mind he would kill her if he wanted to…that he would kill me. And then who would Aislin have?
I hate what he’s doing to Mom, to us. It makes me sick, but he’s right. This is how this world works. Did I think he really loves Mom? Loves me?
