Page 59 of A Night of Indulgence and Sloth
“Hank, man, it’s been a while,” the guard says, and I inwardly cringe.Shit.
Instead of answering, Kaleb moves to pass him and open the door, but the guard gets in our way.
“Hold up. Is this the infamous Anna?” His eyes roam over my body, staring at my chest far longer than I’m comfortable. “Well, fuck me. Even when she’s a drowned rat, she’s sexy.”
Kaleb remains silent and tries to pass him once more, but it doesn’t seem like this asshole can take the hint. “Hey, why don’t I take her upstairs? Give me five minutes with her.” He skates his gaze down to my ass and says, “Better yet, make it ten.”
“I’ll kill you before I let you lay a fucking finger on me,” I say, practically growling. I don’t know if it’s the confidence I get from having Aiden and Kaleb close by, or if my protective big sister genes are kicking in, but I’m done letting these assholes get away unscathed.
It would seem that my boys are too, because the moment the guard grabs my arm, Aiden comes out of nowhere and wraps him in a choke hold. Once he’s out cold, we move through the door and stuff his body in a small coat closet. Before we manage to close the door, his walkie-talkie goes off.
“All clear at the house. Anything at the barn?”
Kaleb slips it from its holster, brings it to his lips, and with an almost terrifyingly similar voice to the guard says, “All clear at the barn.”
He hooks the device to the belt loop of his pants while I just stare at him, shocked. He and the guard sound nothing alike, so how the hell did he mimic him so well?
“I’ve got talents you don’t even know about, baby,” he says with a wink, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. It doesn’t last, of course, as we make our way through the renovated barn on the hunt to find my sister.
We pass by four bedrooms, their doors open to reveal empty rooms, before we make it to the end of the hallway where it opens into a comfortable kitchen. When we step inside, Aiden immediately hauls me behind him while Kaleb steps up to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.
What the hell?
Then I hear it. The settling of a teacup in its saucer. The sound rings through my ears, bouncing around my mind and bringing up all the memories of being here. My aunt drank tea like it was going out of style. Sometimes it’s how she’d sedate me, under the guise of spending quality time together, feeding me yummy sandwiches and cakes like we were upper fucking class. It never ended well for me.
“My sweet Anna, is that you?” Her voice is as delicate as I remember, far too soft for someone married to my uncle.
I try to move out from behind Aiden and Kaleb, but they’re as solid as fucking mountains, completely unmovable. As much as I love their protection, this is one battle I need to fight on my own. I’m done cowering in the dark. They took it too fucking far when they involved Calantha, and I wouldn’t let them get away with it. She was fucking pure, a beautiful light amidst the darkness of my youth, and they’d have to kill me before they stole that from her.
To Kaleb and Aiden, I whisper, “Please. I need to speak with her.” When they let me through, I turn my sights on my aunt. Her hair is completely gray, pulled back into a low bun on theback of her neck. Other than a few extra lines around her eyes and mouth, she looks exactly the same.
“Where is she? Where’s Calantha?” I ask her, standing straight and unafraid.
“It was never meant to go this far, you know,” she says quietly. Her eyes are unfocused, like she’s a million miles away instead of sitting in the kitchen with us. “I tried to fight back when the abuse started, but he’s a harder man to control than you’d think and knows far more ways to hurt someone than I do.”
She rubs her forearm then, and I’m reminded of the time she broke it, falling off the loft in the storage shed. My eyes widen as I consider that maybe that wasn’t the truth at all. My uncle had always seemed to love her, doting on her whenever possible. And she’d always followed along with his plans as if they were her own.Had all of that been a lie?
“You have a chance to change things now,” I say, swallowing down the taste of fear and approaching her. “Help save Calantha. She’s better than any of us. We can’t let him take that from her. Hell, I’ll even take her place if that’s what it takes.”
Both men behind me snarl at those words, and my aunt lifts her gaze briefly to them before dropping them back to me. “I swore to myself that if he ever succeeded in bringing you back, I’d finally take a stand.”
She picks something up from the chair next to her and hands it to me. Hesitation keeps me still as I recall all the ways she used to manipulate me into doing what she wanted.Was this another of those times?
Even if it was, we didn’t have the luxury of waiting to find out. I untie the leather string and unwind it from a soft bundle of fabric. Unrolling the soft material, I find three needles inside. Just like the ones she would use to sedate me with.
Noticing the look on my face, she says, “I really thought I was helping, but I realize now that there was far more I could have been doing. I’m sorry I let you and your mother down.” A tear falls down her cheek, but she wipes it away and curves her lips into a small smile. “She’s on the second floor, but there’s a guard in front of her door and another man inside. The spiked tea I gave the guard twenty minutes ago should be kicking in by now, but it’s up to you to get past the man inside before he can talk to your uncle.”
“You were going to help her by yourself?”
She nods. “I realized a long time ago how much I’d fucked up. I swore I’d never make the same mistakes again. Now go, quickly.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, holding on tightly to the bundle in my arms. An odd sense of calm rushes through me, and I can almost hear a door to my past closing in my mind. Is this what closure feels like? Not that I’m truly there yet, but maybe someday.
Aiden takes the pack of needles from me as we walk up the stairs, then passes something to Kaleb. I expect it to be one of the needles, but when I look down, it’s the hat the guard was wearing outside.
Kaleb nods, putting it on and pulling it low over his brow. I don’t like the look of it on him, though I can’t decide if it was because that sleazeball had owned it or just that I’d never seen him wearing a ball cap.Those beautiful curls of his should never be tamped down by a hat.
“Be careful,” I mouth to Kaleb as he takes the last step to the second floor on his own. With someone inside the room, we can’t afford to cause a scene. After five minutes, I’m seriously considering going out there when Kaleb finally returns, giving us both a thumbs up. I smile and find that I rather like the look ofthis powerful man taking down my foe and then signaling with something as simple as that.
