Page 51 of Moonshine Lullabies

He tipped my chin up and kissed me soundly.

“I promise,” he told me and then he fled the nice warm bed.

I listened to him pull on his clothes and go out the door, waking up Tate on the couch to come lock the door behind him.

I sighed out, frustrated, but I knew the drill.

The club called, he answered. It was the way of things. I’d seen it with my brother for years.

CHAPTERTWENTY

Collier…

“I hear you an’ Cy may or may not have beef,” La Croix called by way of greeting when I got across the street. He spit on the ground from his perch on top of the picnic table and eyed me with his creepy inked-out eyes.

I nodded and asked, “Who came runnin’ to Daddy, first?” I asked. “Hex or Saint?”

LaCroix stared at me and finally, when I didn’t relent, he said, “It ain’t like that an’ you know it. We’re all on the same side, or did you forget that?”

I bowed my head, stuffing my hands into my jeans pockets and shook my head. “Nah, I ain’t forget… an’ the shit between me an’ Cy ain’t the end all of be all’s,” I told him. “But there’s sure to be a fight. Thereneedsto be a fight.”

He nodded and said, “Make it fuckin’ quick. We can’t hold these dumb fucks off and keep our girls and families safe if we’re fighting each other.”

I nodded. “Might need to remind Cy of that,” I said, and he raised an eyebrow. I shrugged and said, “We’ll see.”

“Don’t think I won’t,” he intoned, and I worked my jaw back and forth to loosen it up. After what he’d just told me, I only had one conclusion I could reach.

“I reckon you would,” I said, and he got up, trailing behind me as I went to the clubhouse door and hauled it open.

“How long it take for you to start fucking my sister?” Cy demanded, and I didn’t give him any fuckin’ quarter.

“Why? Not like you give a flyin’ fuck about her unless she’s doin’ something’ for you. You an’ your whole trash fuckin’ family with the way you treat her!”

“You son of a bitch!” he seethed, and he came at me.

Boy did it cause an uproar with the rest of the guys, but I didn’t much mind that. What I minded was makin’ damn sure that if I was fixin’ to get hit by one o’ the ham hocks Cy called his fists, that I was gonna get some fuckin’ licks in first.

“Real fuckin’ sweet of you to all of a sudden care about her now,” I grated as he let fly. I dodged back, once, twice, a third time, and I came on up on the inside and buried my fist in his gut.

He oofed, but it didn’t slow his tank ass down.

He popped me right in the mouth and I spit blood. He stood, chest heaving, and I flashed back on her face the night before, her private pain bubbling to the surface, the poison feelings of hopelessness and isolation, and her deepest and darkest secret pouring from her lips like the blood I spat now. All her pain and all that hurt from the internal injuries she carried foryears,all because her own fuckin’ family had failed to foster an environment where she felt safe enough to fuckin’ tell ‘em anything.

I tackled him and took him right off his feet into the coffee table and it crashed, collapsing under our combined weight right to the area rug underneath it.

I let fly with a bunch of jabs to his ribs as he tried to get some purchase, elbowing me in the back. It hurt, but I was too pissed to let up.

“She can’t trust you for shit!” I shouted.

“I’m her fuckin’ brother! Who the fuck are you to her?” he demanded.

“The man she can rely on in a pinch when she couldn’t count on you her whole fuckin’ life!” I screamed, as hands pulled me off of him. He worked at getting up and I let fly with my foot, catching him in the fucking mouth with the steel toe. He jerked back, his lip splitting wide and his hands going to his mouth to cover it.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he demanded.

“Tate’s father, you judgmental fuck!”

“What about that weasley little drug-addicted fuck?” he demanded.

---