Page 74 of Banshee
“My mom was a housewife; Dad worked a blue-collar job. I have two brothers and a sister. Three nephews and two nieces. The all-American family.”
I wasn’t sure what point she was trying to make. As much as I wanted to, I wouldn’t ask her any questions.
“I just like sex.” She shrugged. “I came out here to go to college. And ended up at a party. When King made the offer that they were looking for girls to help around the club and keep the brothers company, I thought,Why not?” She blew out a harsh breath.
“I’m not here to piss people off. And I don’t shit where I eat. When a brother is taken, I don’t go near them again.” She turned to look at me. “I’ve never slept with Banshee.”
What?I could feel my brow scrunch at her statement, and she chuckled at my confusion.
“Banshee is almost my dad’s age. I don’t have daddy issues.”
I dropped my eyes to the floor. I was beginning to think maybe I did have daddy issues. Maybe the lack of a father’s love had done more damage than I realized. Except, I’d fallen in love with Banshee long before my father betrayed me.
“Shit, I didn’t mean that the way it came out.” She buried her face in her hands, then looked up again. “I’m a few years younger than you. Banshee is almost twenty years older than I am. I like talking to him. He reminds me of my dad, and I miss my family.”
“Why haven’t you gone home?”
“I hated it there. There are so many people, and believe it or not, the town I lived in had probably seven times more people than Diamond Creek, yet I felt like I couldn’t do anything without someone watching and telling my parents. I still talk to them, but they don’t know what I do out here. They think I’m a housekeeper. Which, in a way, I am.” She shrugged again, and I was starting to see how much I had misjudged her.
“I’m not sure I can forgive my father.”
There, I’d said it out loud.
“What did he do?”
“Basically, sold me off to a man who hated me.”
“Wow,” she whispered. “I mean, I’ve heard whispers about Kronos, and what an asshole he is. But the way people talk about him and your mom. And the things I’ve heard about how he went crazy in New York looking for your sister, I thought it was just disgruntled bikers who pissed him off and got a beatdown.”
“Yeah, well, that’s part of it. And he does love my mom. He’d die for her; kill for her.” He had killed for her. And Diana. But not me.
Me, he’d given away and forgotten about.
“But you don’t think he’d do the same for you?”
I shook my head. I knew he wouldn’t. He’d had the chance to, and he left me to fend for myself.
“They don’t know you’re here, do they?”
I shook my head again. “I don’t think so. I don’t know what Diana told them when she called.”
“Well, I’ll hang out up here with you while they beat the shit out of each other downstairs. One of the guys that came with them looks like he could hold his own.”
I huffed out a laugh. They could all hold their own. Every member of the Gods of Mayhem knew how to fight. They knew how to shoot, and they knew how to win. By any means necessary.
“You only saw one?”
“Your mom—at least I think it was your mom—came in first with one guy behind her. Big guy, tall. Dark hair. Tattoos covered every inch of skin I could see up to his neck.
“Poseidon,” I said.
“Are they all named after gods?”
I nodded. “They’re road names. My sister and I are named after goddesses, but not my brother. His name is Kane. I guessmy parents figured he’d end up with a road name, so they gave him a regular name.”
“Wait, Aspen is the name of a god? I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.”
I smiled at her. I had definitely judged Brandy unfairly. “Aspen isn’t my birth name. That was Irene.”
