“I can’t promise I won’t tell him because we have a rule about not keeping secrets, but I can promise I will keep him safe. I will stop him from doing anything that might endanger his life. We will stop him. Sinner will not harm a hair on Galen’s head.”
“Do you love my son, Harlow?”
“I … I don’t know,” I honestly admit. “I have strong feelings for him, but things are complicated between us, and we’re still working it out.”
“Nothing can happen to him.” Tears fill her eyes. “He is all I have left.”
My eyes probe hers for the truth, and I see it there and the love shining brightly for him. “Then fight harder! If you die, it will break him for good. Don’t you see that?”
“I want to,” she sobs. “I want to so much, but you don’t understand. These thoughts in my head, these voices whispering in my ear, they never stop, they never leave me alone, and I’m haunted by all my failings, and I just need to make it stop.” She reclaims her hand, rubbing it back and forth across her chest. “It’s never been about not loving my son enough, because if that was all it took, I would be clean and sober.”
“You’re right. I don’t understand. And I want to help you, only because that helps your son, but I will never understand how a mother can selfishly choose to block out life rather than helping her own flesh and blood, but maybe, I’m the warped one.”
If she thought she’d gain my sympathy, she can think again. I know what it’s like to have voices and thoughts screaming in your head. I’ve often wondered what would’ve happened if Dad hadn’t been there, supporting and helping me every step of the way. I think Alisha has just given me my first answer.
No amount of support and help works unless the person is willing to support and help themselves.
Alisha has Galen’s love and support, but it wasn’t enough because she didn’t want to help herself.
I know now I would’ve been okay without Dad. The journey would’ve been tougher, but I would’ve come through it in the end because I didn’t want to be a victim.
I’m a survivor, and I will always choose to live.
“Sinner forced your father to have an affair with me,” she says, seemingly deciding I can be trusted. “It was a few months after your kidnapping,” she adds, confirming she knew who had taken me, and my regard for her sinks even lower. “He threatened to kill you if he didn’t do it.”
“And this was all about my mom? Some fucked-up plan to get her back?”
She bobs her head, taking a sip of water. It dribbles down her chin, slipping under her pajama top. “It has always been about Giana. Sinner has loved her with this obsessive need from the moment they met. It was always unhealthy, and I tried to warn her so many times, but she was in love, and she couldn’t see what the rest of us could see. That he was batshit crazy and a loose cannon but so fucking smart, and that scared me.”
“Did you meet Galen’s dad through my mom?”
She smiles sadly. “I did. Nix was nothing like his younger brother. He had a good heart. At least, before Neo stuck his claws in.” Her features harden. “It was Neo who introduced Nix and me to drugs. He rarely partook, and he forbid your mom from touching the stuff. We were idiots to not see the writing on the wall. By the time I realized, it was too late.”
She scrubs at her eyes, sniffing. “Anyway, with your dad, Sinner had him over a barrel. No one takes anything from Neo Lennox and lives to tell the tale. If he was insane before he lost your mom, he was completely psychotic after she married Trey. He threatened Trey from the very start. Told him he’d kill Giana. Forced your father to work for The Sainthood and then used that to threaten his career and his family. Trey tried to walk away, and they kidnapped you as a warning.”
I gulp my lukewarm coffee, waiting for her to continue.
“But Sinner wasn’t done punishing Trey. He told him to start an affair with me or he’d kill you next time.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to prove to Giana that she’d chosen the wrong man, and he wanted to hurt Nix.”
“Why would you agree to that?” She looks down at the table, and I swallow back bile. “For money,” I surmise.
“For drugs,” she whispers.
I shake my head, utterly disgusted. “And your husband knew?”
“Not at first, but I had to tell him when I got pregnant. That shouldn’t have happened because Trey always used condoms.”
I slam my coffee down and count to ten in my head. I do not want to hear this.
This fucking woman.
“What happened next?” I clip out, barely keeping it together.
“I got money from your dad, and Sinner trotted off to Giana to break up her marriage.”
I sit up straighter, jerking my head up. “Wait? My mom knew?”
“Of course, she did. That was the whole point of Neo’s plan. He thought she’d leave Trey and run straight back into his arms, but your mom is smart, Harlow. She knew Sinner was blackmailing your father.”
“Does she know Sinner kidnapped me?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. You’d have to ask her.”
“Why did my father have pictures of you high, fucking different men?”
Her face pales, and her lower lip wobbles. “I don’t know.” She brings the glass to her lips, but her hands are shaking so bad she can’t even swallow the water, and it trickles down her chin, down her pajamas, and on the table.
I move over beside her, holding the glass to her mouth, encouraging her to drink.
“You must think I’m terrible.”
She really doesn’t want to know what I think. “What I think doesn’t matter.”
“Sinner makes me do it!” she cries. “Drugs me up and pimps me out. It’s been going on for years although he hasn’t called on me lately.”
No surprise there. I’m betting the market for strung-out washed-up junkies is nonexistent.
Perhaps, that’s why she does it—dopes herself up to the eyeballs so she forgets. Damn, if I don’t feel guilty for my earlier uncharitable thoughts. This is way more messed up than I could ever have imagined.
Fucking hell. Sinner is the devil hiding in human form.
And my mom is fucking engaged to be married to him.
Acid crawls up my throat at the thought of what he has planned for her, and I can’t stand by and let it happen. I need to have an honest conversation with Mom.
I wrap my arm around Alisha’s back as she quietly sobs, and pity flows through me. What a mess she has made of her life. And Sinner has fed off her every weakness, snatched every opportunity to dig the hole deeper and wider.
How many families has Sinner fucked up? I’m even more determined to stop him now.
“I want it to stop, Harlow, but I don’t have any choice. If I don’t do what he says, he’ll kill Galen. He already took his father from me. I can’t lose my son too.”
Blood turns to ice in my veins. “What does that mean, Alisha?”
Her skeletal frame heaves as she cries. “I was the one who found Nix, and I always believed it was an accidental overdose until Neo told me he staged it to look like that. It seems Nix was stealing from him, saving money to take us overseas so we could finally get away from his poisonous brother, but Neo found out, because Neo always finds out, and he killed him for it.” Her tearstained eyes meet mine. “Neo killed his own brother, and he had no qualms about doing it. So, everything I do, I do for my son because hell will freeze before I let that bastard take my son’s life too.”
CHAPTER 28
Harlow
A LOUD CRASH from the hallway has us jumping from our seats and racing out of the kitchen to investigate. An ornate mahogany lamp table, most likely one of the few family heirlooms left, lies in pieces on the floor behind Galen. He’s slamming his fists into the wall, over and over, screaming obscenities.
“Oh no!” Alisha rushes to her son’s side. “How much did you hear?”
He ignores her, continuing to beat his fi
sts into the wall, his knuckles already torn and bleeding.
“Galen, please stop. Talk to me!” Alisha pleads.
“Now, you want to talk?!” he roars, spinning around, and the expression on his face is one of lethal rage. “That fucking psycho bastard murdered my father, and you didn’t think I should know that?!” His nostrils flare, and his entire body trembles and shakes as fury oozes from every pore.
“This is why,” Alisha sobs, clutching his arm. “You can’t go after him, Galen. He’ll kill you!”
“Not if I fucking kill him first,” he shouts. “Aaaggh.” He races to the spot where the broken table lies, lifting his leg and slamming it up and down on the jagged wooden pile, breaking it into smaller pieces, as he takes his aggression out on the ancient wood.
“Galen, please.” Alisha cries, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Go away, Mom. I can’t be around you right now.”
She hesitates, and I step up to her, urging her with my eyes. Her eyes beg me to help, and I reassure her as best I can because I’m not sure I can tame the storm inside her son. This has been an emotional day, and he’s reached his breaking point.
Alisha walks off, her shoulders slumped, her cries bouncing off the creepy dark-green walls.
“Galen.” I cautiously step up to him. “Stop.”
“Don’t fucking tell me what to do, Lo.” He slams his foot down on the splintered wooden pile, and I grab the back of his shirt, pulling him back.
He stumbles a little on his feet, and I use it to my advantage, pushing him across the hallway and up against the wall. Rage burns in his eyes, and I do the only thing I can think of—I slam my lips down firmly on his. He reacts immediately, slanting his mouth harshly over mine, tugging my lip into his mouth and biting down hard, drawing blood.
Our lips and tongues battle for supremacy while our bodies thrust against one another, against the wall. I sink my teeth into his neck, breaking skin, and a guttural growl escapes his mouth. “I’ll bleed for you now, Galen. We can bleed together.” I shove his sweatpants down his legs without waiting for a response. He’s not wearing boxers, and his cock springs up. He’s long and thick, and his angry head leaks precum. He kicks his sweats away, spreading his thighs, as he glares at me, channeling all his anger in my direction.
I slide to my knees, looking up at him as my hand wraps around his erection, pumping his shaft in quick strokes. “Give it all to me. Unleash the storm. I can handle it.” I don’t wait for him to reply, lowering my mouth to his cock and sucking him deep.
He’s the biggest of all the guys, and I can’t take him all the way in my mouth without triggering my gag reflex, but I stretch my mouth and take as much of him as I can, fisting the base of his cock as he rolls his hips, thrusting savagely into my mouth.
He winds my hair around his hand, using it to control his movements, as he yanks my head back a little, angling his hips and shoving deeper into my mouth. Tears leak from my eyes, and I graze my teeth along his length. He hisses, yanking my hair harder, and stinging pain rips across my scalp. My panties are soaked, and my core pulses with need as he continues to fuck my mouth with abandon. His face is contorted in angry slashes, and he’s lost to the moment as he violently thrusts in and out.
Without warning, he pulls me up by my hair, slinging me over his shoulder and slapping my ass. Liquid desire leaks from my pussy, and I moan while admiring his fine ass from this upside-down angle. He drops me on the table, pushing me down by my chest, and my head thuds off the hardwood, but I barely register the pain because my entire body is on fire and all I can think about is having his cock buried deep inside me.
He pulls my sneakers off and rips my leggings down my legs. I remove my hoodie and T-shirt as he whips his shirt over his head.
The bruises on his torso are faded, but I’m guessing he’s still in pain. Yet I don’t question it.
He needs this, and he’ll fuck through his pain.
Forcing my legs apart, he shoves his face between the apex of my thighs, and his tongue plunges into my heat while he pushes two fingers into my ass.
“Fuck!” I squirm on the table as scorching-hot flames lick at my skin and charge every nerve ending in my body. I’m lost to sensation as he works my body like a pro.
Grabbing his hair, I jerk my hips up as he eats me out, and I’m drowning in a sea of bliss, dancing on the edge of pleasure and pain. His fingers are rough in my ass, his tongue fierce, as he brings me to orgasm in record time. I’m screaming out his name as he flips me over, my hips banging painfully against the edge of the table, with stars still blurring my vision when he thrusts inside my cunt without warning.
I cry out as he fucks me without restraint, slamming into me so deep it feels like he’s invading my womb. His fingers dig into my hips and the top of my ass as he ruts into me like an out-of-control, wild savage.
And I am seriously fucked in the head, because I fucking love it.
“Harder,” I demand, gripping the edge of the table for support.
He lays his whole body down on top of me, pressing me into the table as his cock pounds in and out of my pussy. He bites my earlobe before trailing his teeth up and down my neck. He sucks and bites, and I cry out as a second climax crashes over me from nowhere. His hands wrap around my throat from behind, and he squeezes. “You like pain,” he grits out. “And I’ve got plenty of that to go around.”
When it feels like I might pass out from lack of oxygen and the crushing weight of his body, he eases off me, his hands gliding more gently down my back. “Fucking beautiful,” he rasps, viciously jamming his cock inside me, while moving his fingers around to the front of my body, finding my clit and rubbing it hard. “My beautiful avenging angel.” He bites my lower back, right where my ink covers the logo I hate so much. “We are going to destroy the world together.”
“Damn fucking straight,” I rasp just as he roars out his release, spilling inside me, branding me for eternity.
We stay like that for a couple minutes, and the only sound in the kitchen is our joint ragged breathing. His hands roam my back, his fingers exploring the tattoo covering my skin.
“He’s fucking dead,” he says in a low tone, pulling out of me and helping me to straighten up.
I prop my butt against the table, watching as he walks to the hallway to retrieve his sweatpants. He snatches my clothes off the floor, along with this T-shirt, and hands them to me. “You can’t go after him now,” I say as I dress, watching him closely. Our angry fuck has only sliced the corners off his fury. “It needs to be planned.”
He slams his bloodied fist on the table. “How the fuck do you expect me to look at that fucking bastard without wanting to kill him?” He shakes his head. “I can’t do it.”
I slide off the table and grab his cheeks in my hands. “You can, and you will.”
“Fuck off, Lo. He was my father!” He pushes me away.
“He murdered mine too!” I yell. “And he’s playing some sick game with Mom and me, just like he’s doing to you and your mom. He kidnapped and tortured me, and I have to live with him!”
I reclaim the distance, placing my hands on his chest. “I hate him so much, Galen, and I cannot bear to look at his face, but I withstand it because I know he’s a smart fucker and he’s not killing any more Westbrooks.” I press a hard kiss to his lips. “Or Lennoxes,” I add in a softer tone. “I know you’re hurting. That you want him to pay, and he will. But we’ve got to be smart about this.”
“This will fuck with Saint’s head too,” he admits, pulling me in closer, and I’m relieved to see him regaining his control.
“Undoubtedly.”
Racing footsteps greet us from the hallway, and we turn in time to witness a frantic Alisha bounding through the door. “You need to get out of here!” she screeches. “They’re coming!” She shoves us toward the door at the far end of the kitchen, thrusting the Lexus keys at Galen. “You can’t be here. You’re not supposed to know about this. He’ll kill us all.”
She glances over her shoulder, shrieking as the glare from multiple headlights filters through the kitchen window. Tears stream down her face. “Go, please. Take Harlow to safety.”
That snaps Galen out of it. “What’s going on?”
“No time to explain.” She continues pushing us. “Use the back entrance to leave so they don’t see you.”
“What about you?” I ask.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll crawl back into bed, and they won’t come near me. They never do anymore.”
“Mom.” Galen’s voice cracks.
“I know, son. We’ll talk again. Soon.” She stretches up, kissing his cheek. “I love you so much, honey, and I need you to be safe, or else, it’s all been for nothing!” Her voice elevates a few notches again. She gives us another push. “So, go!”
I grab Galen’s arm, and we run out the side door as Alisha flees back out into the hallway. We race through the garage toward the SUV, and I thank our lucky stars Galen moved the car from the front of the house before we headed to bed. “Wait,” Galen whispers when we reach the Lexus. His eyes narrow, and I can almost see the wheels churning in his head.
My mind instantly syncs with his. “Good plan,” I say. “Let’s find out what they’re up to.”
He clasps my hand. “Keep behind me, and stay low. We can’t be spotted, so we’ll go around the back. There are no cameras there.”
I zip my hoodie up and creep out of the garage behind Galen. It’s still dark out as it’s the middle of the night, and the only illumination is the crescent moon high in the sky and the odd flickering outside light. We stay close to the wall, keeping our eyes and ears peeled, as we walk around the back of the property and past the empty pool and the pool house.
“Down,” Galen hisses as lights flood one of the rooms at the rear, spilling through the naked windows, casting a dim glow on the patio a few meters ahead. “They’re in the ballroom,” he whispers, and I hear the unspoken curiosity behind his words. There is nothing in that space anymore. Just an empty room with old chandeliers and heavy drapes. We crouch down, crawling until we reach the first ballroom window. “Stay down,” Galen whispers, popping his head up a little so he can see inside the room. “Holy fucking shit.”
The Sainthood : A Dark High School Romance (The Complete Series) Page 51
