by Snow, Jenika
The Heathen
Preacher Brothers, 2
Jenika Snow
THE HEATHEN (PREACHER BROTHERS, 2)
By Jenika Snow
www.JenikaSnow.com
[email protected]
Copyright © January 2020 by Jenika Snow
First ebook publication © January 2020 Jenika Snow
Cover design by: Lori Jackson
Content Editor: Kayla Robichaux
Proofreader: Sarah P: All Encompassing Books
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.
Contents
Synopsis
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
About the Author
Preacher Brothers. That’s what we were. A unit. The only family I had.
I’d never felt love, never felt like I belonged.
I buried what emotions I had lingering deep down, pushed them away until I was this stoic, apathetic machine. It’s how I survived, how I kept my brothers safe.
It’s how I showed them I cared, that I wasn’t a machine, a monster.
My history was one of violence, neglected by a parent who only wanted to train his sons to steal, to take from others.
It’s all we knew, so that’s how we continued to live long after the old man died and we were left to make our own lives.
Professional thieves.
That’s what I was, and I reveled in it.
I’d been such a recluse, taking care of my brothers as they grew up, making sure we had money, food to live. I never wanted or needed a woman… never even knew what it was like to touch, kiss… claim a female.
And that had been fine with me. Until now. Until she came into my life and refused to back down. Until I knew walking away from her would leave a hole in my heart.
Kimber.
Mine.
But I wasn’t a good man, and Kimber deserved better. I should have left. But I couldn't.
And I knew one thing for certain... not making her mine would only guarantee my complete ruin.
She was my downfall in the best of ways.
Chapter One
Cullen
I knew Dom’s woman had just come in, had heard the door open and shut. I didn’t give a fuck. She could hear this. She needed to hear this.
I didn’t even pretend to act like I wasn’t crazy. We all were. It was how we were raised, how we were molded.
It’s how we fucking survived.
The four of us were standing around the island in the kitchen, the heat and testosterone amped up. I leaned against the stove with my arms crossed, the ball cap I wore pulled down low, mainly because I didn’t want my grumpy-ass attitude to be obvious on my face. I slowly lifted my head and looked over at Amelia. Could practically see her shiver in response to my stare.
I didn’t like her, but it wasn’t because of who or how she portrayed herself, but because she’d been the first person to shake up our family.
She was taking my brother away from me, from us and our family. I might be solitary, be a creature of habit and live by my own rules, but fuck, Amelia had turned everything around, and I didn’t know how to process it.
“You can do whatever the fuck you want to do, Cullen, but it’s bullshit and you know it.” I listened to Wilder bitch, his voice clipped, terse, but kept my focus on Amelia, trying to think about what to do, what to say. How the hell should I act now? She was here to stay.
Wilder was angry, but I didn’t give a shit. The twins were dramatic and theatrical.
It didn’t matter that it was clear she wouldn’t turn us in and would keep her mouth shut. It didn’t matter Dom claimed her, loved her probably.
“I have to agree with Dom,” Frankie said, and I clenched my jaw and finally looked over at him. “I think this is just an excuse, because you’re still pissed about not getting your way with the girl.”
“Amelia,” Dom snapped. “Not girl. Amelia. Get it right next time.”
Frankie held up his hands in surrender, and I felt my muscles tense even more.
Yeah. Dom fucking loved her.
“If you want to leave, fine. But own up to why you’re doing it,” Wilder said, and I narrowed my eyes at him, growling low.
I stood there and said nothing, didn’t fucking respond. They could throw their temper tantrums all they wanted. It wouldn’t change the outcome. After a prolonged moment, only then did I exhale and just say what needed to be said. “Let’s make one thing clear.” I had my arms crossed over my chest, my baseball cap still pulled low, the shadow from the bill blocking out the overhead light. “I don’t give a shit that you found a piece of ass, Dom, or that you’re in love, or that you want to get married and have a houseful of kids.” I shrugged and looked at Dominik. “I don’t care if you’ve found your fairy tale happily ever after.”
No one said anything, and I felt Amelia’s gaze locked on me. I was glad she was here to listen to this, to witness it all.
“I need to get out of here, because we’ve been doing job after job. I’m going to the cabin to clear my head. When I know all of us are ready to focus, then we can start up again, yeah?” Although I phrase it like a question, I didn’t expect anyone to actually answer. I looked first at Wilder, then Frankie, and finally Dom.
I cleared my throat, feeling it get tight, my mouth becoming dry. Shit, those emotions I kept buried, I kept good and dead, were trying to make their way up.
Fuck that.
There was the sound of shuffling feet, the air becoming hot and thick. My brothers could feel how tense things were.
I made this deep sound in the back of my throat and lowered my gaze to the ground, shaking my head. “I just need to get away, clear my mind.” Without saying anything else or looking at anyone, I left the kitchen, walking past Amelia.
I gripped the handle of the front door and just stood there for a second. All I heard was silence. I looked over my shoulder and gritted my teeth.
Getting away… that’s what I fucking needed.
* * *
I should have slowed down, pulled over until the storm subsided, until I could calm down. I felt just as turbulent as the raging weather, as the hail slamming down against my windshield, as electrifying as the lightning cracking through the sky.
I felt like my life was spinning out of control once more, as if I were that little boy unable to stop his father from hitting him, unable to fully protect my brothers.
Dom had found a woman he was happy with, and although she’d been this complication at first, something I knew I had to get rid of to save my brothers, our family, it was fucking clear she was his. He’d die for her.
He’d leave us for her.
I slammed my h
and on the steering wheel, feeling like I had no control, like I’d never be able to have order once more. I’d lived my life protecting them, watching over them, and cleaning up their messes. But they were grown now, living their own lives. Maybe I just needed to take a step back, reevaluate everything.
Find myself.
And so I had. I did.
I was going to go to the cabin, isolate myself there, make sure I was calm and level-headed, know my next step before I went back there. I wouldn’t abandon them. I’d never leave my brothers. They were everything I had. The only thing I had.
The rain pelted the car and road, my tires barely catching the asphalt when I took a sharp turn.
I took another turn then straightened out the car, my tires squealing on the wet pavement. I tightened my hold on the steering wheel, my emotions turbulent, consuming. I’d never been able to handle them when they did make an appearance, although I could hide them pretty fucking well.
I played that shit off like I was dead inside, and I supposed I was. But seeing Dom happy had a spark of something growing in me. His happiness made me fucking… happy.
Pretending I didn’t have a care in the world, didn’t give a shit about much of anything, was how I survived, how I kept everyone at arm’s length. It’s why I’d never been with a woman, had never claimed one as my own. I could’ve laughed at that fucking revelation.
Here I was, a thief, someone who’d gotten into plenty of fights, and had put plenty of men in the hospital. Hell, at one point I even thought I’d killed someone. I wasn’t a good man, never saw myself having a happily ever after. And if people thought I was fucking women and tossing them away, then I let them think that. What I wouldn’t let them know, what I wouldn’t admit, was the truth.
That I was a virgin, because I was afraid to get close to anybody, that I was afraid I’d hurt them, because I was so fucking messed up in the head. I’d given enough agony in my fucking life to last me an eternity. And so when I saw Dom happy, willing to give up anything and everything to be with Amelia, I didn’t know how to react, how to feel. And something in me had just snapped. Something in me had risen up violently, and I wanted to extinguish the threat.
And that was wrong of me. It was wrong of me to try to take something away from my brother that he held so dear, to take away that happiness he deserved tenfold.
I took another turn, my car skidding to the side before I was able to right it. The rain was coming down even harder, even more violent.
I should have turned the car around, should have apologized to my brothers for all the shit I put them through, not just because of the situation but in general. I knew I was a hard-ass, a bastard and asshole at the best of times. I was horrible at showing how I cared for them. The way I showed I loved them was beating the shit out of somebody who’d talked bad about them and picking up extra work when we were on a job, hell, giving them more of my cut and not telling them about it.
They were my baby brothers, and I’d do anything for them, but I couldn’t keep them under my wing forever.
I took another turn, should’ve slowed down. In fact, I should’ve just pulled off to the side of the road and waited the storm out. But my mind was racing, my thoughts cloudy. And I took the next turn way too fucking fast, my car hydroplaning, everything moving in slow motion. I tried to get the steering wheel corrected, tried to straighten out the car. But everything was spinning, the vehicle turning around and around before slamming into a tree and rolling into a ditch.
And right before my head smacked against the steering wheel, right before I knew what was going to happen, I thought about how I should’ve fucking turned around.
Chapter Two
Kimber
I was exhausted after working a double shift, and coupled with the shitty weather right now, I was really regretting even leaving the hospital. I should’ve just crashed in one of the staff rooms, face-planted on one of the crappy cots, and slept for the next twelve hours.
But I couldn’t stand one more minute in that place, and it had nothing to do with taking care of patients, and everything to do with the stressed atmosphere and bitchy attitudes of everyone around me.
Or maybe I was just too wound up from the two pots of coffee I’d ingested over the last twenty-four hours.
Either way I felt like shit and just wanted to get home.
I had one hand on the steering wheel, and took my other hand to rub an eye, feeling like there was sand in it, this grittiness that was from sleep deprivation and exhaustion and just feeling like I was dead on my feet.
As soon as I would get home, I thought about not even bothering to take off my scrubs, although I probably should. They were wrinkled and smelled of antiseptic, a sickly scent that took days to leave my nose.
All I thought about was how good my bed would feel, warm and soft and calling my name.
I shouldn’t have agreed to stay an extra shift at the community hospital, not if I was smart. But when Dr. Harris asked something of you, it was hard not to agree, not only because he was charming, but because if he wanted your help, it meant he respected what you did.
Franklin Township Community Hospital was perpetually short-staffed, and because I did have a caring heart and was a charge nurse, declining to stay put me in a bad spot and made me look less than dedicated.
It also made me feel like a piece of shit.
I was dedicated. I loved my job, loved the people I was able to take care of, watch over, and heal. But being an ER nurse meant I saw a lot of bodies come and go, some to another floor in the hospital so they could finish healing, others to the morgue. The latter was depressing. But I’d grown this thick skin over the years and was now able to put away that despair I felt when someone passed on my watch to the very depths of my body so it didn’t affect me in that moment.
“Shit,” I muttered, as the weather was turning to crap with each passing second. It was downpouring, this insane storm that made it nearly impossible to drive through. It was like I was navigating through water, dark and murky, my headlights not even penetrating a foot in front of me.
Maybe I should have pulled over and waited for it to subside a little, but hey, I just wanted to get home.
I slowed as I went to take a turn, the roads slick, my hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel. I sat up straighter in the seat and leaned forward to try to see the road better.
“Dammit,” I muttered as another turn came up, my car slightly hydroplaning when I pressed on the brake. “Shit.” My heart was racing as I righted the car. “Screw this,” I whispered as I pulled off to the side of the road to wait out the storm. I was not made for this type of weather, and sure as hell not drive in it.
After I had my car in Park and put the hazards on, I rested my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. The rain was starting to turn to snow, this slushy mixture that would no doubt turn to ice. The winter weather was so damn unpredictable this time of year.
The wind howled outside of the car, this banshee screech that was terrifying as much as it was annoying. I didn’t even know if the storm would let up, but I’d rather sit here and wait it out for however long it took than try and navigate the twisting roads.
I lifted my head and opened my eyes, about to turn the radio on, when the faint glow of what I swore were headlights came through a break in the storm. But the light was gone as fast as it had come when the slush in the air intensified.
I leaned forward even more and squinted my eyes as if that would make my vision clearer or somehow make the storm subside, even then I couldn’t verify if I’d actually seen a car. It was a long second when I saw nothing but murky whiteness from the storm. I was about to rest my head back in the seat again when the lights came through once more.
“What the hell?” They were definitely headlights from a vehicle, but they were lopsided. It was then I realized a car had gone off the side of the road. Instantly, my heart raced, and adrenaline rushed through my veins. Someone could be hurt. Someone definitely
needed help.
I adjusted my jacket, so it was zipped all the way up, and had my hood over my head. I leaned over and opened the glove box, rifling through papers until I found the small flashlight I kept in there. After making sure the batteries still worked in the damn thing, I shoved that and my cell in my pocket and took a deep breath. I needed to prepare myself for a second before I braved this weather.
“Just do it,” I mumbled and opened the door. The wind, sleet, and cold slammed into me so forcefully it was like a brutal slap to the face. I clenched my jaw and persisted forward, hanging onto the side of my car as I made my way toward the vehicle. I slipped several times, the ground beneath me wet and slick, dangerous, coupled with the steep decline of the hill. It made it almost impossible to walk normally.
The closer I got, the clearer the vehicle became. At first, I thought they were hazards flashing, but I recognized they were brake lights. I realized the lights hadn’t been flashing like I had first assumed, but because of the weather and the occasional blackout conditions, it appeared as though they had been blinking.
My heart was thundering the closer I got, and once I was within reaching distance, I grabbed onto the truck and braced myself against the torrential weather.
The vehicle was an SUV, big and sturdy, but not invincible against this type of weather.
My fingers were frozen as I braced my palm on the side of the truck, keeping my hands flat on the cold, hard metal. When I finally got to the driver’s side door, I gripped the handle and pulled it open, hanging onto it so I didn’t fall backward.
