Page 74 of Bound By Redemption
Ryker looked to the group and pinpointed one of the ladies that had stepped forward, this one in pink. “Hey there, Mom. Dad’s dead. How the hell are ya?”
“What have you done?” she yelled loudly, eyes narrowing at Ryker.
Ryker’s mood turned, and in a flash he was standing next his mother. “Fuckin’ took care of what none of you dumbasses would. You came after me and mine. Blew up my fuckin’ house almost killin’ my woman. Now they all burn. You wanna join them? Be my fuckin’ guest.” His arm swooped out to the building ablaze daring the woman to step into the fire. “Walk right on in.”
When she didn’t move Ryker looked at the crowd spotting something. “Ya’ll want out. Say the word and I’ll have a truck here in five minutes. You wanna stay here and live this life, that’s on you. But you want out. I’ll get ya out.”
“Who are they?” I asked my father.
“His brothers and sisters.” Oh fuck. He’d already killed three.
“No takers?” He yelled out. “Well you know where to find me when you buy a fuckin’ clue and learn this isn’t a life and it’s far from healthy or a way to get to some eternal peace. When a so called prophet blows up peoples home just because his dick didn’t get wet, that isn’t the man you want to follow.”
Ryker stepped back and I asked him. “Who is Ensley’s mom?”
“Fuck me. Let me see if I can pick her out. It’s been years since I’ve seen her.” His eyes scanned the crowd some turning and walking back towards the homes. They knew there was nothing they could do here, except burn with their loved ones.
Ryker whistled. “Margert!” He yelled out. A woman in a yellow dress turned to her name. “Yeah you. We got Cyrus, in case you gave a shit.”
The woman’s face turned red and just as she was about to say something I started. “Thank you for having her. You gave me my woman and my child. But that’s all you did. You were a bitch to her and I hope to God you live with that every day. You’re a terrible mother, but Ensley is a great one.”
Margert said nothing, just turned on a heel and walked away.
“I gotta check on Ensley.” I told Cruz who was standing next to my father. “She was a fuckin’ mess. Now that this is cleaned up, it good I go?”
“Meet ya at the clubhouse,” he responded. I nodded to Dryerson to come with me and didn’t waste another moment, hopping into my SUV and heading straight to my woman.
It was time to leave this nightmare behind us and move the fuck on. That was all I wanted. Me and my family.
28
Ensley
I lay in bed,my little girl between me and her father. Having her even just across the room was too much for me to bear. I needed her right by me. Needed to make sure those assholes wouldn’t come back and take my little girl.
Sleep wasn’t coming, but that would be expected after the ordeal today.
Talking was out of the question because I hadn’t processed what was going on nor what I’d done. I just wanted to block it all out.
Now, as I lay here in the clubhouse surrounded by the people I loved, I felt it growing. The burning that started in my heart like part of it was shriveling up and hardening. Like a part of me was lost with my actions that I could never get back.
I’d taken another life. Another human being on this planet, I ended him. What kind of person did that make me? Was my soul damned to hell for eternity too because of my actions? Guilt racked me. Everything I was taught growing up slammed into my head like battering rams and I couldn’t get them to stop.
The teachings of killing another human being. How one would go directly to hell. How one would never see anyone they loved again. How I’d be all alone in the afterlife.
It might be irrational, but some things from childhood were hard to break.
Rolling from the bed carefully I went into the bathroom shutting the door behind me as quietly as I could. I stood in front of the tall mirror staring at the woman inside it and knew I was a murderer. Daniel’s blood was literally on my hands. Hell, I was bathed in it.
Even watching it flow down the drain earlier when I showered, didn’t make the feeling of it disappear.
Everything was twisting inside making me confused.
What kind of role model was I for Remy? She didn’t deserve a killer for a mother.
Tears fell from my eyes as I closed them and hung my head, my hair falling all around me.
I hated the man. Detested him. I didn’t cry because he was dead. No, I had the emotion because I’d done something I never thought I’d do in this lifetime.
