Page 23 of Bound By Consequences
“I wanted to grab one of your books and read it, but I was too scared.”
“She,” I referred to our mother, “would’ve hit you. You saw what she did to me.” Just remembering that time had shivers skating down my spine. No. I didn’t want to remember that.
“Yeah. Keep going.”
My eyes closed as I breathed in deep, recanting my dreams. “In one of my books the man was a protector. Not only to his woman, but to those around him. While he had blood family, he also didn’t and protected them all the same. He was stability, safety, and comfort. Most of all he was filled with love. That emotion is a powerful thing and tells a lot about a man. He’d sweep me off my feet, taking me far away from our home where we’d get married outside under a large tree, have a family with four children, and be happy. That’s all I wanted was happiness.”
“You aren’t happy?” Katie asked a very poignant question.
“For the most part, yes. I have Remy, you, Ryker and Austyn. But I want to believe that there is a man out there for me. One who has all the sticking points I wished for when younger. Hope. That’s what I have. Hope that someday I can give Remy everything.”
Katie’s hand reached out and took mine, giving it a squeeze. “Girl, you’ve done an amazing job with her. She has everything she needs.”
“It would be nice for her to have a father figure.”
“Like we had such a great one. And I think we turned out pretty damn good.” Katie wasn’t wrong.
“We did. Remy doesn’t need a dad, but it sure would be nice for her to have one who was totally the opposite of ours.”
“True there. I just want to have fun. Sometimes I feel like a teenager again with all the freedom we have now.”
My brow quirked. “Not too much fun. We both know where that could lead.”
“I do know that. We just missed out on a lot.” She paused as I let that sink in. “Do you ever think we’ll go back and get our brothers and sisters?”
This stunned me. Never had I thought of going back. If one of them were to contact me, that was another story, but to go in and break them out—never.
“No.”
“Really? Since we got out I’ve always thought we’d try.”
A deep sigh left me. “While I’d love to take a big white van in there, open the door and say— anyone who wants out, let’s go—but it can’t happen. If we go back there, they will lock us up; you know that. We wouldn’t come out of there alive. And could you think of what they’d do to Remy?”
Katie visibly shook. “No, I don’t want to think of that. I just want them to live a life that wasn’t planned for them. One where they could go to school and get a job. One that wasn’t popping out babies to rule the world.”
“I’d like that too, but we have to focus on what we have now. The risk is too great to ever step foot anywhere near there.”
“You talked about hope a few seconds ago. Me? I hope those who want to get out can. We made it. Maybe they can too.”
I pulled Katie into my arms and hugged her tight. “Yeah. Maybe.”
We didn’t know what this life had in store for us, but we did know it was a destiny of our choosing.
9
Micah
Walking into the clubhouse,my dad was at my back which was a nice gesture, but whatever would be, would be. I’d already made peace with it a long time ago. It was judgment day, and I wouldn’t go away unscathed. It was four plus years in the making, and the brothers anger had time to stir and fester, growing to the point of explosion.
Judgment day.
All eyes came to me, and there were a range of emotions I could read, but it was the ones that I couldn’t that held my attention. Training was ongoing in the Marines. They put me through so much shit it made me wonder what the really bad guys could come up with. Torture training was constant.
One thing I never did, not once, was give in. No way in hell I’d start now. They could do whatever they wanted, but I figured since they wanted me to meet them in the bar of the clubhouse, they wouldn’t be draining my body of blood just yet.
I was wrong right off the bat. “To the hole,” Cruz ordered.
The hole? What the hell was that?
