Page 125 of That Sik Luv

“The one about Saint acting strange, being alone with him making you nervous...”

I sigh in disbelief, knowing it was all Aero’s doing. He knew this might happen. He knew everything and planned for it again. Three steps ahead of everyone, as always.

“I know what he did. Saw it with my own eyes,” Baret growls through gritted teeth, holding me tight. “I don’t care how it started. He won’t get away with this, Briony.”

His fury for me is comforting, but it only reiterates the fact that we aren’t blood. We aren’t related at all, and yet he still loves me wholeheartedly as his sister.

As if hearing the thoughts pouring from my mind, his expression turns sympathetic and he cups my cheeks, his nostrils flaring as if to ward off his own pain and struggle.

He knows. Baret knows. He knows more than he’s letting on. Maybe this was his reason for never staying with the church and paving his own way. Maybe this is why he’s always pulled away from our religion, yet stayed close enough to support me and my decisions. To watch over me in his own way. I have so many unanswered questions.

“He said to take this.” Baret eyes the guard before slipping me a tiny baggie with a single pill into my palm. His eyes snap back to mine and he nods towards the hallway. “Bathroom, now.”

Nerves have me on edge, unwilling to trust damn near anyone now that Aero’s gone. He must sense my confusion because he leans closer and whispers, “So you can continue to make your own rules.”

My own rules.

The last time I said that was when Aero and I were discussing birth control after our conversation about pregnancy. He got me a Plan B pill to take after everything went down, knowing I was off my pill and knowing the possibilities, but giving me the freedom to take my life into my own hands yet again. But how could Baret know? When did he...?

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to expose that prick for who he is,” Baret says, as if enraged at the event all over again.

Exposing a Westwood is harder than he thinks.

“They won’t believe you. No one will believe you, Bar. Just play the part,” I whisper in his embrace. “Play the part they want you to play while I figure this out the way I’m meant to.”

He shakes his head, but I part from him, making my way down the hallway.

“You’re not going anywhere!” the guard says in a gruff tone from the other side of the room, stepping towards me.

“I’m going to the bathroom!” I snap, my tears flowing again as I hold my top together, looking worse for wear.

The man pauses in place, his eyes softening slightly. “We’ve got a man out back and another at the front. You can’t escape even if, for some reason, you are stupid enough to try.”

“She needs to use the restroom, you pathetic fuck! Shut that hole in your ugly fucking face and let her piss!” Baret retorts.

They glare at each other as I continue my way down the hallway to the bathroom on the main floor. My mind is a mess of confusion and frustration as I try to contemplate how we’ll navigate ourselves out of this.

As I turn the corner into the bathroom, I hear whispers of a discussion happening outside the house through the screen of the back door. Sliding up along the wall in the shadows of the darkness, I peer down the hallway to ensure no eyes are on me, and lean in closer to listen.

“I fucked her. I fucked her dad. I’m done. It’s over.”

It’s Saint’s voice. The smell of cigarette smoke hits my nostrils and I see the shadows of both men standing on the back patio near the edge of the bushes.

“So what? It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. We’ve deleted your video and failed attempts. What matters is we are back in control of the situation you fumbled. We have him in our custody, and no one needs to know anything else about it. Baret will follow suit if he knows what’s good for him.”

Saint tried to record me? Aero must have known, which is why he stepped in and took over so coldly.

“What if she gets pregnant? I can’t become what I’m meant to if—“

“As if that’s ever stopped us,” Callum interrupts with a laugh. “We’ll make our own rules, and she will fall in line. She owes you that much.” I hear a back being slapped. “Be grateful, son. You got some fine pussy out of the deal and a fucking badge of honor before the induction. The congregation will be more than fine with the unanimous vote now.”

“I fucked up. I couldn’t get it done,” he says, sounding defeated.

My pulse pounds in my head, overwhelmed with fury.

“That’s why you gotta leave the thinking to me and stop trying to take matters into your own hands. You’ve fucked up enough.”

“I had her. I had her spread and ready, doing things to incriminate herself. I was so close, but thenhecame in and said this was the test. The same one you and the elders have always talked about. He got in my head.”

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