Page 53 of Moonshine Lullabies

“I need to talk to Jessie-Lou,” he said, standing up.

“Well hold on now,” Hex declared, holding out a hand to me to settle in my seat as I’d almost got up to rock Cypress’ shit all over again.

“I think your sister’s been through quite enough at the moment,” he said. “I do believe much more, and she’s liable to break. We don’t want that.”

“What are you thinkin’?” I asked.

“I’ve got an idea or three,” Hex declared and I knew he might… he always did… “But right now, I do believe we need to prioritize some things.”

I leaned forward, past La Croix, and Cy did too, each of us looking at each other, glaring bloody murder at the other.

La Croix put his hand on Cy’s chest and looked him in the eye.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told ol’ Collier outside,” he said. “We can’t fight the Bayou Brethren and keep your sister and your nephew safe if we in here too busy fightin’ each other.”

Cy wiped blood off his chin and glared down the bar at me but begrudgingly nodded.

“I’m pissed at you,” I told Cy. “But I am in deep with your sister, and I just want better and what’s best for her. She’s gonna see it as an ultimate fuckin’ betrayal me even tellin’ you at all, let alone like this, but goddamnnit, I can see how this has been killin’ her. She’s all but dead inside with how y’all fuckin’ treat her.”

“An’ just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Cy demanded, fire sparking off in his eyes, which were just a shade or two darker ‘n his sister’s.

“Shit,” I sneered. “You ain’t even see it, not even now,” I said.

“Hey, stop it, the both of you,” Hex scolded.

“No, make your point, y’ fuckin’ know it all,” Cypress demanded.

“Not constructive!” Hex called out.

“Cy, you know Jessie-Lou better ‘n anyone,” La Croix said quietly. “Would she make something like this up?”

“No,” he said immediately.

“Do you not believe her?” La Croix demanded.

Cy cleared his throat. “I don’twant tobelieve her, no… but that ain’t the same thing. I believe somethin’ happened, yeah…” He looked uncomfortable as fuck and I wanted to tell him,that. That right there. Welcome to how she’s felt the last almost fifteen goddamn years since that pedo stole into her bedroom.

“Easy enough to get some definitive proof,” Hex said judiciously.

“How, without tipping this fuckin’ pedo off that we’re onto him?” I grated.

“This Trinity guy, he’s still around, yeah?” Hex asked.

“Yeah,” Cy answered.

“I’ll order up some of them genealogy DNA kit things you can take and send in online,” Hex said.

“Ain’t that playin’ with fire?” La Croix asked.

Hex sighed and leaned against the bar from the other side.

“We give one to the guy you thought was the baby daddy this entire time,” Hex said. “And yeah, it maybe is a little bit, because that means we gotta give one to Tate, too, but when the results link up and shows his baby daddy ain’t the father, you’ll have your answer, won’t you?”

I frowned. “How is this playin’ with fire for Cy?” I demanded.

“Shit,” Hex said. “Law Enforcement is all up in those genealogy sites, arrestin’ fellas that ain’t take no test based on the DNA their relatives turned in. They’ve caught all sorts of killers for unsolved homicides from the ‘70s and ‘80s and shit based on the DNA their kids and siblings turned in to learn if the fam is really from Ireland or not.”

Cypress shook his head and said the first decent thing I think I’d heard when it came to his sister thus far.

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