Page 14 of Brutal Sin

“Bye, Brute.”

He closed his eyes with a sigh. “Bye, Janeane.”

Peaceful silence followed, and he welcomed it with building annoyance. The Vault was supposed to be his sanctuary. His domain. He owned the ground it was built on. Literally. He’d spent years cultivating the perfect environment for his gratification, only now, fucking had become a chore. There was no thrill. No chase. Most importantly, there was no respect.

Sex outside of the club wasn’t an option. He wouldn’t date, and he refused to waste time searching for women morally capable of enjoying an uninhibited one-night stand. He didn’t have the patience or the motivation. Instead, he’d had to settle on growing the list of rejected women inside the Vault. The ones who kept coming back for more. Over and over. Without remorse or dejection.

That shit wasn’t admirable. And it definitely wasn’t attractive. The more a woman chased him, the less respect he gave her in an effort to put her off his scent. Even then, his form of rejection seemed to smell like the latest best-selling fragrance to hit the market.

He couldn’t fuckingwin.

“This is bullshit.” He yanked open the filing cabinet and sorted unorganized invoices to distract himself from where he wanted to be. Where he shouldbe.

Another slicing beep sounded from his phone, and he slammed the cabinet shut in frustration. He pulled the cell from his pocket, the grind of his teeth harsh enough to cause damage. He’d turn the fucking thing off until morning. Then he’d get the number changed.

He was poised to shut down the device when it started to vibrate, the screen changing with an incoming call from an unknown number. His teeth should’ve cracked under the weight of hisrage.

“If this is another woman…” He pressed connect, his nostrils flaring as he placed the device at his ear. “What?”

There was a beat of silence. A delicious beat where he hoped he’d given the caller enough reason to change their mind about asking him to hook up. Or fuck. Or whatever version of a proposition they wanted touse.

“Bryan?”

Yep. Another fucking woman. “Who’sthis?”

“It’sTera.”

Tera?

He frowned. He only knew one woman by that name, and he had less enthusiasm to speak to her than he did with the scavengers at the Vault.

“Bryan?” Her voice was timid, less forthright than he remembered.

He ran a hand over his mouth and contemplated hanging up. “Yeah.”

“It’s your cousin, Tera.” She paused, probably expecting him to spread a welcome mat. The poor thing would be waiting a while. “Is this a good time totalk?”

He scoffed. How the fuck did he answer that? Was now a good time? Really? Was now, more than ten years after being cut from the family, a good time totalk?

“Sure.” He didn’t hide his animosity. “I’ve been hanging out for the perfect opportunity to catch up. Who knew it would be a random Saturday night, a lifetime after you all turned your backs onme?”

“Bryan…”

“Don’t fucking Bryan me. Tell me why you called so we can get this overwith.”

She sighed. “I called to ask you to comehome.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Not even if your mom issick?”

The rage disappeared. The bitterness, too. The world stopped. The sound of the club and the echo of his heartbeat pausing along with it. He thought this day would never come. That his family would always treat him like a pariah—unworthy of their attention. After a childhood chasing parents who tried to ignore his existence, he had finally been acknowledged.

“Bryan, are you still there?”

“I’m here.” He leaned against the filing cabinet, contemplating the need to hang up. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want tocare.

“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but she has terminal cancer.”

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