Page 7 of Bound by Vengeance
“Tell me again why I didn’t beat your ass for sitting on my porch, waiting for my little girl?”
A chuckle escapes. Leave it to Cruz to make it into a joke. “Because you loved seein’ my sexy face every day.”
He scoffs. “My ass.”
“Is there a point to this conversation?” Because normally, he doesn’t bring up his daughter with me. At least, he hasn’t for a while now.
Cruz lifts his brows. “Yeah. Just lettin’ you know I notice. I see. I hear. My eyes are wide fuckin’ open when it comes to my baby girl.”
I reach in for another smoke, tap it out, and light it up. “And this has changed since I joined?”
Cruz loves his kids. He’d lay down his life for any of them, no questions asked. He’s also protective as fuck, especially of his little girl.
“Nope, just thought I’d remind ya.” He taps on the wood then rises from the table. “Gotta head out. We’re movin’ Austyn and Emery into their new place.”
This catches my attention, and I rise with him, meeting him eye for eye. “What?”
Austyn is safe in her parents’ home, not out on her own when I don’t know where this fucker is.
“Wants to get her life back in order.”
“And you let her move out?” I’m stunned and shocked beyond measure. At least while she was there, he and Princess could keep tabs on her. Now … fuck.
“She’s serious about it, and I want her straight again. She’s been locked up inside herself for months and is now coming out.” He sighs heavily. “Buzz went and wired the place last night. We have cameras on the outside that are monitored all the time.”
“Fuck, I don’t like this.”
He crosses his arms over his chest and a menacing, determined look comes across his face. “Yeah, and why do you have a right to not like somethin’ when it involves my daughter?”
The man is fishing. I’m surprised it’s taken him this long. He’s a man who needs to be in the know and makes no qualms about it. Thing is, I’m a man, too, and it’s time.
Looking him square in the eye, I say, “Been mine for a long damn time, brother.”
“Hurt her and I kill you.” He taps the table two times then walks out of the building.
I collapse back down, letting out a deep breath.
I’ve never made a play for a woman. Never had to. However, with Austyn blocking me out these past few months, I’m going to have to make a play. Probably several of them.
Green, one of my brothers, walks in, holding a notebook and pen.
“Green!” I call over to him, and he makes his way to me.
“What’s up?” He sets the paper down.
“Not that I want to ask you this shit, but I need to.”
His eyes hide a ghost that I was afraid would appear when this topic was brought up. He’s not a dumb man. Far from it.
“Leah, she went through what Austyn did with those fuckers? Or similar?”
Leah is best friends with Bristyl, Cooper’s woman, which is how she and Green hooked up. Bristyl had some guys after her back in Florida who used Leah to get to her. Leah was tied to a bed, and the guys took turns on her, not sexually, but physically, carving into her body. When she was found, she was a bloody mess and in hysterics. The only person who could even get through to her on any level was Green.
After that, she moved up here to Sumner, not wanting to be anywhere near Florida. She has her own place, but Green stays with her pretty much every night.
Green clenches his hands. “Yeah.”
I meet his eyes. “Brother, I wouldn’t ask this if it wasn’t important.”
