Page 109 of Bound By Temptation

“Thank you,” I said into the phone, moving to the opposite side of the island and tossing my phone down to it. “You okay, Raid?”

“Was gonna ask you that.”

My brow quirked. “You worried about me, Raid?” I teased him.

The side of his lip tipped up. “Always, Indie. You’re family. Family watches out for family. Remember that.”

My head nodded as the warmth grew in my chest.

“Want ya to know. I searched everything I could. Then had Micah and Deke search. There is nothing left of Jacob. He has no other children. Went through all the women he’d ever been with that we could find, which fuck me was a lot, no children.”

“What about Blaine’s mother?”

“She passed on about a year ago. It was probably why he started looking for his bio dad.”

“He’s really gone then. Blaine, I mean.” I asked, leaning my hip against the countertop.

“Yeah. He’s gone.”

“Thank you, Raid. Can you thank the boys for me too?”

He nodded but seemed to have more on his mind.

“What’s up?” I asked him, curious.

“I’m so fuckin’ sorry, Indie. That tape that went around school…”

I made to say something, but he shook his head.

“No. Please give me this?”

I nodded, staying quiet.

“When Baker blackmailed me, I was pissed and let that cloud my judgment. I’d thought if Ax and I knew what we were doing that Baker would never actually put that tape out there considering it would be his ass too. Alas, he did. I’d wanted to talk to you. Wanted to tell you it was a line of shit and that Ax wasn’t in there and you had nothing to do with it. And I’m so fuckin’ sorry you were pulled into that mess. Wish I could go back and change shit. Wish I would’ve gone to the club sooner. I’d tried livin’ my life with no regrets, but leavin’ you to hang in the wind was my biggest. I’m so fuckin’ sorry, Indie.”

I moved around the counter and wrapped Raid in my arms, hugging him tight. “It hurt. Bad. Made my life hell for quite a while. It’s also something I’ll never forget. But I do forgive. It’s in the past, and we need to leave it there.”

“What the fuck?” Ax barked as I pulled away from Raid.

“You ruined a very good moment between me and your brother,” I barked.

“What. The. Fuck?” Ax said again.

“Knock it off.” I looked to Raid. “He’s being an Axhole.”

Raid burst out laughing, and a smile tipped my lips. “Axhole? I’m fuckin’ usin’ that one.”

Ax came and stood in front of me, my eyes lifting up to his that were burning hot. “Seriously, Ax? He was apologizing for high school, and you came in being yourself.”

Only then did he relax.

“You really think I’d hit on your brother?”

“No,” Ax replied, wrapping me in his arms. “Just got you back. Hate seein’ anyone holdin’ you in their arms.”

“And on that note, I’m out,” Raid said, slapping Ax on the shoulder.

“That wasn’t very nice. He’s your brother.”

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