“Chill, I’m just grabbing the scotch…” she whispers.
I release a little as she leans over and grabs it before taking her spot back on my lap.
Where the fuck she belongs. This queen doesn’t need a throne, she just needs my dick to sit on.
She unscrews the cap and flicks it off. “Yeah.” She shoots back another shot. “That guy I accidentally killed?” Accidentally. “Well, he’s the one who did it, and before any of you ask me a thousand questions, please understand that I don’t give a fuck what any of you say. Madison is my best friend. I would keep her secrets for lifetimes over if I have to, and before you say anything else—” Everyone shuts their mouths like they do when Tillie speaks. “You all live in glass houses if you hold the fact that I kept her secret above my head, considering you all bathe in the shit.”
I bite on my cheeks, attempting to hold in my laugh. My eyes find Brantley and he’s the same, barely hiding his smile behind his hand because aside from Tillie finally using her status to speak, my sister got raped. I need retribution, and Bishop, well—I look up at him and watch as he flops backward, his back hitting the wall. I’ve never seen Bishop like this, in all the years I’ve known him. His face is pale, like all the blood in his system has drained and poured itself into the wrath sector. He slowly slides down the wall, dropping to the floor. Fuck.
I rub my girl’s leg and then tap her, leaning into her ear. “Hop up, baby.”
She does, and when I stand, she takes my seat. I slowly step toward Bishop. I have to be careful with how I approach this.
“Also, I don’t know anything else, other than the fact that she said that he had manipulated her. Used something against her. Every time I would ask her about it, she would shut down. She made me swear to secrecy about it, but let’s be real, she didn’t really have to do that because I would have kept that secret anyway…”
I drop to the ground. “Hey…” I try to get Bishop’s attention, but his eyes are glassed over, fixed on something in front of him. Totally unfocused and away with the fairies. His face is a symbol of heart-shattering regret.
Fuck.
My hand flies to his chin and I grip it roughly, tilting his face to mine. I inch in until our noses touch. “Don’t let this fuck you. We will get her back, you will make it okay, and we will make them pay.”
His Adam’s apple bobs and he yanks his face out of my grip. “No.”
I cock my head, my eyes narrowing. “No?”
His jaw clenches. “This happened because of me.”
“—Bro.”
He cuts his eyes to mine. “No.”
“What the fuck do you mean no?” I snap at him. “We will get her back…”
Bishop laughs, his dark eyes coming up to mine. “IF she wanted to still be a part of this life, Nate? She would have fucking told me when it happened. We would have been able to deal with it correctly. Instead, she has done what Madison does and she has run. I’m done, dawg. I can’t chase her for the rest of my life.”
My heart pounds in my chest. There are all sorts of bullshit that is wrong with what he’s saying. First of all, good luck to Tillie if she ever tried to run from me because I’d kill us both before I’d let her live a life that didn’t have my existence around to tease her, second of all, this isn’t Bishop at all.
He stands, cracking his neck. When his eyes come to mine, I see in his dark depths how the flecks are burning with rage, but there’s something else.
He’s fucking tired.
“If and when she wants to come back to me, I’ll be here. Until then, she’s not my problem.” Then he shoves me away, taking a seat back on his chair like none of this happened.
He picks up his glass. “We will find out who that fuckwit was and who he was tied to. I’ll deal with them accordingly for fucking with someone who was mine, but from then onward, this, her, she ends here. Until further notice.”
Tillie’s eyes find mine, wide as saucers. I let out a soft growl and take my place back at the table, with Tillie right back on my dick.
Tillie is loading the dishwasher when I enter the kitchen, leaning against the doorway. She turns to face me.
“Hi.”
I’m tired, my damp clothes are stuck to me like a stage five clinger, and I need to sleep for a fucking lifetime, but I push off the door frame and make my way to her, my arm snaking around her waist until her back is crashing into my front.
“Come home with me.”
She stills, putting another plate into the dishwasher. “Nate.” She turns in my grip, her eyes coming to mine. I bring my other hand to rest behind the back of her throat, my fingers itching to pull her hair and fuck her until she’s blue. “We can’t do this,” she whispers, shaking her head.
“Do what?” I brush her off. “I asked you to come home, I didn’t drop to one knee. But if you need”—I run my fingers up her inner thigh, my index finger coming to the slit, over her damp panties—“me to drop to my knees and suck on your pussy, then done, because I’m fucking starving.”
I shuffle back and look down on her when she doesn’t answer me. Her lips are tucked between her teeth, her eyes closed.
“I can’t forgive you.”
I run my lips over hers. “You don’t have to forgive me to fuck my face, baby. We’ve had this discussion.” I grip the backs
