Page 26 of Whips and Chains
He smoothed her tousled hair back from her face. “This is Lavender. LaLa, this is your aunt, Violet.”
I gave her a wave, and she turned shyly into my brother’s shirt. She didn’t look anything like my hulking, Viking-ish brother, and I suspected she was not his biological child, but that clearly didn’t matter to him.
The boy climbing all over my sister-in-law was now upside down, swinging from her arms like a monkey but peeking at me curiously. Rebel twisted so I could see his cute face. “And this is Wolf. The big two who ran through earlier were Remi and Madden. The one you’re holding is the newest recruit. Her name is Snow, but she probably doesn’t know that because everyone just calls her baby or bubba.”
I stared down at her and felt my ovaries clench at her happy little face. “I can’t believe you guys have five kids.”
Rebel laughed. “Trust me, we can’t either.”
Another man swept down from the stairs carrying an armload of laundry. I recognized Kian from when we’d met at Psychos, and he grinned at me. “Wondered when you’d end up over here.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “Welcome to the madhouse, sis.”
“Aunt Violet!” a little voice called from the top of the stairs. “Do you want to see my monster trucks?”
I twisted to see the two older kids, who still really weren’t very old at all, maybe six or seven. The blonde-haired girl, Remi I assumed, whispered something to her brother.
Madden called back down, “Remi wants to know if you want to see her monster truck too. Hers is pink though, so it’s not as cool as mine.”
I opened my mouth to tell them I’d love to, but Rebel cut me off. “Give Aunt Violet a minute, okay, guys? Take Wolf upstairs with you and get a track set up.”
Wolf twisted, trying to get down fast, and Rebel set him on his feet so he could sprint up the stairs after his older siblings.
Lavender had fallen asleep on Fang’s lap, though how that had happened with all the shouting was beyond me, but I guessed she was used to it.
Fang’s phone buzzed, and he took it out of his pocket, frowning at it, and then glancing over at me.
I sighed. “Which one is it?”
“Reaper. Says they just had the cops over at your place. They know you’re here, but they don’t know where here is, so we probably have some time.”
I pressed my teeth into my bottom lip. “I don’t know what to say to them.” I’d filled them both in on the drive over here, so they knew everything that had happened the night before.
Well, almost everything. I hadn’t told them about the orgy.
“Not the truth,” Rebel said quietly, sinking down into the seat beside me. “You were the only person who walked out of that building alive last night, and you’re a woman from Saint View who grew up in foster care. The lazy pieces of shit at the Providence Police Department will take one look at that and instantly make you the number one suspect.”
A shudder ran through her slight frame, and Vaughn, standing behind us, squeezed her shoulders. “Hey. Don’t go there. This isn’t the same as when your mom died.”
I glanced questioningly between Rebel and Vaughn, but she’d closed her eyes, leaning into his touch, and he was fully concentrated on her.
Fang pulled Lavender closer on his lap. “Rebel was the prime suspect in her mom’s murder about six or seven years ago, despite there being zero proof she had anything to do with it.”
“Which of course, I didn’t,” she muttered angrily, still clearly holding a grudge I couldn’t blame her for. She turned her dark eyes on me. “Don’t ever think they’ll help you. The police in this town are as corrupt and useless as they come.”
I stroked the baby’s head, understanding what she meant. “I know. I’ve had my own run-ins with them in the past.” I would never forget how they’d treated Toby and me after his attack. Never.
Fang’s phone buzzed again, and his cheeks went pink.
Rebel squinted at him. “What is it?”
Fang just passed her the phone. She read it, snorted on a laugh, and held it out so I could read it as well.
My face instantly flamed with embarrassment.
Rebel’s laughter filled the room. “Want to tell us why the guys told the cops you were having sex with them all night, little sis?”
The tiny five-foot-nothing woman calling me little was hilarious, but that was the second time someone in this house had called me sis, and they weren’t even the ones who were blood related to me. I barely knew these people, and yet with one phone call they’d dropped everything to come get me. Their kids were calling me Aunt, and a warmth settled over me that went a small way toward filling the gaping void inside me that had always craved family.
My brother and I had never had it with our biological parents or siblings.
