Page 32 of Bound by Vengeance
She blows out a breath, her voice trembling when she says, “Mom. She talks about you sometimes when we’re alone. She said she talks to you, so I stole her phone and wrote your number down. I’ve had it for a while, but …”
“But what?”
“I just need to leave. Can you help me?”
Austyn rouses from the couch, her sleepy eyes taking notice of me. Whatever she sees has her sitting up straight.
“Yeah. Where are you?”
She gives me her address and says, “You have to be really quiet. No one can see you. My neighbors are very nosy and will call Rob.”
“Right. Be there in a couple of hours.”
“Thank you.” She disconnects the phone as I focus on Austyn.
“Need you to get dressed and come with me.”
She nods and, with not a single question, runs to her room. I hear her drawers opening and closing as I lace my boots up.
She comes out moments later with black jeans, dark blue shirt, and a leather jacket. Sexy.
“Gun?”
“Absolutely.” She lifts the back of her jacket. I know why she’s wearing it.
We jump in the truck and take off like a shot. I’m thankful I had half a mind to bring one of my rides over here the other day.
I didn’t want to bring the Harley because, if someone touched it, they’d be dead. I don’t have time for that shit.
Austyn is very quiet, twisting her hands in her lap as she stares out the window. She wants to ask where we’re going and what we’re doing, but she is holding it in like a champ.
It’s not that I care if people know; it’s that I don’t like talking about it. I don’t like exposing myself to people’s ridicule or attitudes toward a cult that isn’t in my beliefs. I have my opinions on it, and to me, that’s all that matters. I don’t give a fuck what others think. Unfortunately, a part of me does care what Austyn thinks.
“We’re going to pick up my sister.”
Her head whips toward me. “Sister? You have a sister?”
“I have several brothers and sisters, Austyn.”
“You’ve never brought them around or talked about them.” This is true. She sounds shocked as hell that she didn’t know something about me.
Gripping the steering wheel, I huff out deeply. “That’s because I don’t see them. Or haven’t in years.”
“Why not?”
I turn my head toward her briefly. “Need you to listen to what I have to say and let me get all the way through it. I know you’ll have questions. We’ll deal with that shit after I’m done. But babe, I need you to listen first.”
“Okay.” The word comes out breathless, and my cock hardens. Fuck, it’s been hard for the entire time I’ve spent with Austyn. This should be different while talking about my fucked-up family. With Austyn, though, it’s always the same.
“My family is fucked up. This is going to sound off the wall and crazy, so just bear with me. My mother is ‘married’ to a man, but she’s not legally married to him. She’s just with him. This man has six other ‘wives’.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see hers widen. “Now, I don’t give a fuck about how many women he has because, if they want to put up with his ass, then so be it. Now, this is fucked up part. You still with me?”
“Yeah.”
“This man, James, is also married to my mother’s sister and one of her cousins.”
Austyn turns her entire body toward me, bringing her knee up onto the seat, the seatbelt still across her. I have her complete and undivided attention now.
“So, that means my aunt and my second-cousin are also my step-mothers. If you look at it that way, my cousins are also my half-brothers and sisters.”
