Page 80 of Whips and Chains
“Xavier is the eldest, after me. Suzanne is his wife, but don’t call her Suzy. She gets crazy eyes when someone does. Lilith and Blake are their kids. Then there’s Felix and Max, and Hendrix is the youngest of my brothers.”
She wrote it all down diligently, then read over it. “You all have X’s in your names.”
“We do.”
“That’s why you go by X in the group?”
I shrugged. “When Trigger first found me and told me about the group, he said we couldn’t use our real names. I had to choose fast or one of them would have chosen for me, and I would have ended up with a name like Tinkerbell. Or Lulu. Or…Bob. X was the only thing that came to mind.”
“Your family doesn’t call you X though, do they?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“So I should call you by your real name, at least while we’re in your parents’ home?”
I hadn’t really thought about it. This problem had never come up before because I had never wanted to bring a woman home to meet them.
But I wanted to spend a night with Violet. And knowing my parents were expecting us kept any desire to wrap my fingers around her throat at bay. I hated that I felt like we always needed a chaperone, but the memory of choking her in the shower haunted my every moment.
I wasn’t ever going to put her in that situation again.
I needed a babysitter, whether I wanted one or not. And since Levi and Whip were too busy making “I want to suck your dick, even though I swear I’m straight” eyes at each other tonight, that chaperone was going to have to be my parents, my siblings, and my ninety-year-old grandma, Ruth, and her man of the week.
We stopped in front of my parents’ home, and Violet peered out through the window.
“Wow. This is really nice!”
I got out to open her door again, taking her hand as she got herself out of the van. “Were you expecting the slums?”
She shrugged a shoulder, pink flushing her cheeks. “Honestly, maybe? I think I expected burnt-out cars on the lawn and guns and drugs littering every surface inside.” She glanced at me. “Is it impolite to ask if your family all likes to kill people too?” Her cheeks were bright red. “I know you won’t let them touch me, but it would be good to know, either way.”
I snorted on a laugh. “You’re so fucking cute.”
I couldn’t help myself. I snaked my hand into the back of her hair and drew her in close, my whole body lighting up when she didn’t fight me and just went with it.
I dropped my mouth down on hers, kissing her slowly, savoring the taste and feel of her lips.
The door swung open in front of us, but I was powerless to stop kissing her, and she seemed to feel the same way. Or maybe she didn’t notice my little niece standing in the doorway with her face all screwed up.
“Ewww! Mom! Uncle Knox is kissing someone on the front porch!”
I finally dragged my lips away from Violet and ruffled Lilith’s hair. “Tattletale! You going to let us in? Or are you the bouncer I’m going to have to fight later once I’ve had too many drinks and made some bad decisions?”
Her face lit up, and she brought tiny fists up either side of her cute face. “We’re definitely going to fight.”
This kid was always ready for violence, unlike her older, much gentler brother.
Violet laughed at the small girl pummeling my thigh with her tiny punches.
But I gave my niece a sidelong glance. “I worry about you. I fear your parents might have started something by calling you Lilith.”
The tiny demon herself didn’t stop her attack to acknowledge me further, and I knew my brother was going to be pissed I’d encouraged her violent streak. So I picked the pipsqueak up in one arm, throwing her over my shoulder so her hair dangled down my back and her shouts of violence turned to giggles of laughter.
I wrapped my free hand around Violet’s fingers and towed her along the hallway, into my parents’ home.
Everyone was in the living room, all four of my brothers squished onto the three-seater couch, Suzanne cross-legged on the floor with Blake, my dad in an armchair with my mom perched on the arm.
And Grandma Ruth sitting on the lap of a man I vaguely recognized.
