Seeking Our Revenge

by Liberty Parker

  “Woman,” he growls at me. “Knock it the fuck off, now!”

  “Not happening, you misogynistic asshole!” We make it to the bedroom where an all-out brawl begins. He throws me over his head and I land on the bed, taking a few clumps of hair with me. I get up and charge him again, he rushes out to the hallway where I pursue him. I jump on him again and we go tumbling down the stairs where we land in front of Jonas and Silas. Butt ass naked, and they’re both looking down on us in amusement.

  “You kids fighting again?” Silas asks us, with humor in his voice.

  “Fuck off, Silas,” Atticus growls.

  “Live porn? Yeah, there’s a market for that,” Jonas muses.

  “This isn’t funny you two, I’m seriously contemplating murdering your brother!”

  “Well, we could help her hide the body, whatcha think, Silas?” Jonas questions. I can’t tell if he’s serious or not, so I beam a smile at him, letting him know I’m down with that.

  “Wait now, I’m your motherfucking brother, for fuck’s sake! Why are you taking her side, anyway?” Atticus asks.

  “Because, she cooks for us. And the house hasn’t been this spotless since the last housekeeper quit,” Jonas states, shrugging his shoulders. I mentally cheer at his words. Sue me, I’m bored, so I putter and clean in between cooking meals that more often than not, I eat alone.

  “Wanna tell us what this little foreplay display is about?” Silas asks us, breaking me out of my reverie.

  I break it down and tell them everything. Starting with the day he rescued me, and how I feel he’s belittled and demeaned me. Then when I say he didn’t use a condom, his brothers give him a look I can’t decipher.

  “Hmmm, Uncle Jonas. It’s got a nice ring to it, I think.”

  “She has gonorrhea!” he screams out, pointing an accusatory finger at me.

  “You motherfucker! I told you I was kidding!” I bellow.

  They step back and look at me. They’re acting as if I have brought the plague into their house. “It was a joke! It was supposed to fuck with his head because he forgot to wrap it up!”

  “So, no actual STD but I could still become an uncle?” Jonas asks.

  “I wasn’t the only one there! You could have stopped me and reminded me to use one!” Atticus hollers, getting in my face.

  “I don’t know, Jonas, I mean, he wants the doctor to come over and give me the morning after pill,” I sweetly say. Stick that in your fucking pipe, you asshole!

  “You want to kill a future Nelson!” Silas screams out. The tension in the room is suddenly so thick that you could cut through it with a knife. Jonas shakes his head in disappointment and Atticus looks as if a knife has been plunged into his chest.

  “I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Atticus mumbles, almost to himself. He looks like a scolded five-year old. His head is hung, he turns around and walks away from us and back up the stairs.

  “I don’t mind the view and all,” Jonas announces, “but maybe you should put some clothes on. You’ve come to be like a sister to me, and I can’t seem to enjoy the view.” I chuckle as I attempt to stand and keep things covered. Both men thankfully turn their backs and I hurry up the stairs to get dressed. Damn, now I have to go in the same room as him because that’s where all of my clothes are.

  I walk in the room and he turns his back on me. So, we’re going to play the ignoring game? Fine, works for me. Once I get dressed, I grab all of my clothes and place them in a pile. I know they’ve got extra bedrooms, and I for one will not stay somewhere I’m not welcome. I grab them all in my arms and march out of the room.

  “Jonas! I need my own room…stat!” He comes up the stairs, and looks at me in question, but then proceeds to walk down the hallway.

  “This one is the biggest and has its own bathroom. You can stay in here,” he says opening a door down the hall, a few doors down from Atticus’ room.

  “A shoe box would work for me, as long as I don’t have to see his smug face.”

  “Alrighty then.” I can see how uncomfortable he is. “Well, the drawers and closet are cleaned out, so make yourself at home.”

  “Thank you,” I walk over and drop my clothes on the queen-sized bed. He leaves and I look around. The room is a decent size, with cream-colored walls. The furniture is a dark wood, and everything matches, something I am impressed by. The comforter set is a sage color and there are no extra pillows, which makes me grin. Time to shop some more, I see. I make a mental note to get my stuff from his bathroom once I know the coast is clear. I walk into the bathroom and note that they kept to the sage theme, as all the towels are the same shade as the comforter. It’ll do, I suppose.

  I refuse to acknowledge the ache that has settled in my chest at sleeping alone. I lay down on the comfortable bed and turn over burying my face in the pillow and I cry. I cry hard, for my sister, for the things he said to me, but most of all, I cry because I already miss the comfort of his strong arms.

  I’m an emotional wreck, and find myself so sleepy that I close my eyes.

  *

  “Piper, Destiny! Come here and talk to Momma for a minute,” I hear her call us from the living room. Destiny and I share a bedroom that’s so tiny, only a set of bunk beds and one dresser fits inside. I grab Destiny’s hand and we begin heading towards the living room. We play hopscotch with all the holes in the floor. It’s the only way we can not cry in fear every time we come this way.

  “Hurry it up, girls, I’ve got something important to tell you.”

  “We’re here, Momma.” I scurry over and stand in front of her, Destiny hiding behind my back as she always does. Momma’s breath smells funny. I hate it when she needs her special medicine because her head hurts.

  “I need to tell you girls the secret to life that I’ve recently learned. I wish someone had told me this when I was your age.”

  I’m looking around trying to look anywhere but Momma’s direction.

  “Look at me when I’m talking to you, Piper!” She grabs my chin, and yanks my head her way. “That’s better.” Destiny grabs a hold of my shirt from the back and I can feel her fingers shaking…Momma’s not nice when she’s had to take the bad smelling medicine. “Men, they are evil, they only want one thing from women. Remember these words for the rest of your life…if nothing else, don’t ever let anyone make you think they love you. Relationships don’t work, you girls—you always stick with each other, don’t let any man, any….well, don’t ever let anyone tear y’all apart. You’re all each other can ever depend on in this life. Family, they’re not always around, but you two, y’all stick close to each other and don’t ever leave one another.”

  “Piper’s my bestest-friend ever,” Destiny finds her voice and says. She’s still shaking, but has the courage to speak out so Momma knows she’s listening to her.

  “That’s good, Destiny, so very good. Don’t ever let anyone talk mean to you girls, always stand up for yourselves and give as good as you get. No one has the right to make you feel less than you are.”

  “No boy’s ever gonna get one on me Momma, I swear it.”

  *

  I jump from the bed, sweating profusely. I nearly forgot about that day. It’s buried deep in my subconscious, that’s the last day I remember my mom being lucid. She got lost in the bottle, and never recovered. We spent the rest of our childhood on food stamps, begging on the streets to pay the bills, and working in the back of kitchens doing dishes and other things girls of our ages could just so we could eat.

  I knew from a young age that Destiny was going places. I had street smarts, but she had book smarts. She is the most intelligent person I know. That one conversation I had with my mother changed my outlook on life and people. I didn’t rely on anyone but Destiny, and made sure that no one could break through the wall I put around my heart. I became a bit…mouthy…and likely pushed people away with my attitude, but I was safe.

  Until him.

  He has systematically broken down each and every wall in spite of
how I treat him.

  10

  Atticus

  I sit on my bed and think about what just happened. How did I let us get into this position? I know my anger was misdirected, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. Sometimes, I take my issues out on others around me, and the one that my anger should be directed at is myself. It’s why I don’t have friends, why I don’t give myself to anyone. It’s why being alone is the best thing for me.

  Even if it means I’m lonely.

  I know I can’t sit in here, a room that suddenly feels lonely and stale, and hide out forever, sulking and wallowing, in my self-proclaimed misery. So I go ahead and put on my socks, and then boots on my feet and head downstairs to seek out my brothers.

  Entering Jonas’ sanctuary, I ask, “Got anything yet?”

  He skeptically looks at me then asks, “You okay, man?”

  “Been better,” I honestly reply.

  “There’d be worse things than accepting you two are made for each other,” he states. He knows nothing of my relationship with Piper. Who does he think he is anyways, Dear Abby?

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” I growl. I don’t need a woman in my life on a full-time basis.

  “C’mon, you can sell your shit to someone else, because from where I’m sitting, you two are dancing around this whole thing.”

  “I don’t wanna talk about it, the only thing we need to discuss is finding Destiny and getting those two out of our lives.”

  “Thinking that’ll be easier said than done. She’s under your skin, Atticus.”

  “The hell she is! She’s a job, nothing more and nothing less.”

  “Mmhmm, can’t remember the last time I fucked a job.”

  “That’s because it’d be a little difficult to do with your electronics, brother,” I sneer. Low blow I know, but he needs to get out of my business, and worry about his own.

  “Touché,” he says, turning around and looking back at his screens.

  “Sorry, brother.” I find myself apologizing. He doesn’t recognize me, acting as if I’m not in the same room with him. I sigh, sit down on the spare chair in his room and bide my time. He’ll eventually cave and talk to me.

  “What have we got?” Silas asks, walking into the room.

  “A whole lot of nothing so far,” Jonas replies, his face glued to his monitors. “We may need someone to go into that bar to get close to that clown.”

  “Sinclair Robenstein?” I ask.

  “Yeah, that clown,” Jonas answers.

  “What do we know about him so far?”

  “Well, I can tell you he runs the safe houses, procures women, and loves redheads. Specifically, with blue eyes and hourglass figures. He takes them and keeps them for his personal use.”

  “Do we know any redheaded women?” I ask, because none of us are attracted to anything but blondes and brunettes.

  “I can always wear a wig and contacts,” comes from the one voice that I’m trying to avoid.

  “They know you, won’t work,” I respond.

  “It’s called a disguise, ever heard of it?” So, we’re back to the snarkiness…what the fuck ever.

  “It might work,” Silas muses, looking at her. “We can put some of the guys in there to keep shit from happening, since we’re known.”

  The need to protect her and keep her safe overwhelms me, but before I get a chance to object, there is already a plan forming.

  “She has the ability to make it work,” Jonas adds.

  “Yes, she does. So, we know he enjoys redheads with blue eyes. What else?”

  “The sluttier they dress the better.” I suddenly have a vision of her in a see-through top and short as fuck mini-skirt. Fuck me heels and a made-up face.

  “Oh! More shopping,” she exclaims. “Totally down with that. Let me get started. Slut clothes, huh?”

  Fuck me.

  Why did my brothers agree to this?

  Somehow, she’s inserted herself into this operation. And wouldn’t you know it, I’ll be her backup. Which means I’ll have an up close, and personal view to her show.

  “How short is ‘too short’ anyway?” she asks, breaking into my thoughts.

  “Should cover your ass at least, but you can’t go wrong with a garter-belt showing. Men love that shit,” Silas replies. I resist the urge to pull out my gun and kill him. He’s my fucking brother, but right now, my brain doesn’t compute that important fact.

  “Don’t forget heels,” Jonas adds. The two of them must have a death wish. They may find themselves becoming fish fodder if they keep this shit up. I’m already going to Hell, so adding them to my list of bad deeds is looking good.

  “Stilettos?”

  “Absolutely,” Silas states. “The higher you can wear, the better. You’re kinda short.” The fuck are they up to? I swear I’m going to cut their tongues from their mouths if they keep giving her ideas.

  “Yes, I’ve always wanted to play stripper, it’s been a fantasy of mine for a long time.” And now, I’m picturing her swinging around a pole, and swaying those hips in tune with the music.

  “Pole dancing is the new exercise, or so I’ve heard,” Jonas says. That’s it! I’ve had enough.

  “You both need to shut the fuck up before I take your asses downstairs for a little show and tell,” I growl out.

  “What’s the problem, Atticus? It’s not like you two are in a relationship or anything,” Silas states. That motherfucker! I give him a death glare and he has the gall to smirk at me! So this is how the game is going to be played? I can’t wait for the day to come that I can pay them back for these snarky innuendos. And I will, my memory is a vault full of information.

  “Yeah, we just fucked a few times,” she adds.

  “Just because it was forgettable, doesn’t mean I want to see you dead.” There, take that you mouthy little shit.

  “Forgettable? We’ll see if that’s the case in nine-months…hmmm?” She just had to go there. Now, I wanna bend her over my lap and beat her ass raw.

  “Don’t worry, if my sperm makes a home in one of your eggs, I’ll make sure our kid is well cared for.”

  “Enough!” Silas bellows out, “you two need to grow up. Or did you two forget the reason for all of this is because there’s an innocent woman out there who needs our help?”

  “I didn’t forget,” Piper whispers, tears leaking from her eyes.

  “Me either, if we’re going to do this, let’s forget about our troubles and get her out of there. She is innocent in all of this and deserves our undivided attention,” I agree.

  “Then let’s get back to business. Piper, go order your clothes and Atticus, meet me in my office in ten so we can go over the blueprints of the bar and come up with the best plan and exit route,” Silas dismisses us.

  *

  Piper

  *

  I get the perfect outfit ordered, but my mind doesn’t stray far from the latest argument between me and Atticus. Was he implying he’d take our kid from me? I have no leg to stand on, no job, no home and no money waiting on me in the bank. How do I think I’d be able to feed or clothe a kid anyways? All I can do is hope that nothing comes from our forgetfulness and move on with my life.

  I don’t care if we are living under a bridge somewhere, as long as Destiny is safe and with me again, nothing else matters. Not even the man who haunts me in sleep or when I’m awake. We were doing so good, I just had to go and open my big fat mouth.

  And attacking him! Where the hell did that come from? I’m not meek by any means, but I’ve never been the one to strike first. I decide a bubble bath is in order since I’ve done my assigned ‘job’ so to speak. Maybe a nap after that so I can escape the movie that plays in my head.

  He may have thought I was a forgettable lay, but I’ll never forget him.

  His kisses.

  His touches.

  Him wrapping me in those strong, muscular arms. I’ve never felt so safe.

  Him making me come harder than I ever i
magined.

  I sigh, standing up from the chair at the desk where my borrowed laptop is stationed, and go and find something to change into after my bath. I want to be comfortable when I nap. I hate feeling confined, so I never rest in my daily attire.

  I wake up and stretch my aching limbs. Seems the stress of mine and Atticus’ issues is not only messing with my mind, but affecting my body as well. Of course, us tumbling down the stairs didn’t help my bruised body either. Fuck him, I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me suffer.

  Looking at the alarm clock, I notice it’s five-thirty. I get up and head down the stairs to cook dinner. Wanting something light, so I don’t lose the contents of my stomach later, I decide a grilled chicken Caesar salad will do quite nicely. And if they don’t like it they can kiss my ass!

  Lost in thought, I shriek when I hear, “He’s not a bad guy.”

  Spinning around, I see Jonas standing there, watching me. “Yeah, well, my experiences and beliefs differ from yours, obviously.”

  “We haven’t had the ideal life,” he tries to defend Atticus.

  “Have any of us? That’s not an excuse to treat people the way that he does.”

  “I seem to recall you giving it as good as you were getting it.” This is true, there’s something about Atticus that sets me on fire.

  I sigh because he’s right. “I don’t know why we rub each other the wrong way,” I admit.

  “Maybe because you’re both fighting this sizzling-spark, that’s so brightly lit everyone around y’all can see it but you two? Y’all are both pretending it doesn’t exist and are denying it with everything you’ve got?” he suggests.

  “Who knows? My priority is Destiny. What I might want in my life has to take a back seat right now. Besides, your brother said it himself —I’m a forgettable fuck.”

  Jonas starts laughing, and I know my mouth is gaping at his response. “You…you honestly bought that load of shit he was selling? Piper, you’ve not known him long, but I can tell you this for a fact, he’s the most relaxed he’s ever been since you came along.”

  “That’s him relaxed?” I question. Atticus walks around like he’s got a damn rocket ready for takeoff shoved up his ass, always assuming the worst of those around him, and Jonas is trying to say he’s been relaxed?