Page 8
Story: Bloody Wedding
“No,” is my hesitant answer. “I haven’t.”
Dallas reaches behind him, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Let’s call him.”
Dad didn’t answer his phone any of the times that I did, but when Dallas dials the number?
He picks up on the second ring.
“Mr. Dougherty. It’s Dallas. I have someone who wants to talk to you.” Pulling the phone away from his ear, he jerks his chin at me. “Come on. Daddy wants to say ‘hi’.”
My stomach twists. The invitation was bad enough. But this? I don’t like this.
Still, I know better than to refuse. As defiantly as I can at the moment, I stalk over to him, snatching the phone before holding it up to my head. “Dad? Is that you?”
“Loni.”
It’s just my name. The nickname I stubbornly clung to after Mom died because she thought Avalon was too prissy and I was her Loni. The only one who’s called me that in years… until Dallas Collins followed me to this rundown Quick Stop.
It’s just my name, but I can hear the resignation in it.
My eyes shutter closed. “You knew about this.”
There’s a long pause on Dad’s end before he sighs. “I didn’t have a choice.”
I squeeze the phone, a rush of anger flashing through me. “Bullshit.”
“Loni—”
“No, Dad. You knew. You knew that they were after me and you didn’t tell me.”
The father of the bride who gives her away to her groom… even if he isn’t there to walk me down the aisle, no member of the Order could Claim me without getting both my father’s approval, and the head of the society’s.
Yeah. He knew.
Fuck.
Another sigh. “The Order protects me. I owe everything to the Owed. You know that.”
I bite down on the corner of my mouth. “You mean they own you. That it?”
“They’ll protect you, too, if you let them. If you don’t fight them.” Dad pauses, then adds, “You had your fun. Now it’s time to come home and do what you were born to do.”
My eyes snap open. “I’m not marrying Desmond St. James.”
“You don’t have to. But, Loni… if you refuse to be an Offering, Jack has threatened to end the Dougherty’s affiliation with the Order. As the head of our family, I’ll be cut off. I need you to understand what that would mean.”
Damn it.
I do. God, I wish I didn’t, but Ido. If Jack Collins has decided to let me be an Offering after all, if I don’t marry Desmond, I’m basically signing my father’s death warrant.
You don’t leave the Order of the Owed without repercussions. As an Offering, Jack could look the other waywhen I left. But Dad? He’s been a member since his induction forty years ago. He knows things that Jack wouldn’t allow a non-member to know so, when he says cut off, he means executed.
So that’s it. That’s why Dallas is here, and why Dad’s obviously been waiting for this call. I needed to know my options: either I give up my life, or I doom my dad to losing his.
Fuck!
Without saying goodbye, I end the call. Shoving his phone back into Dallas’s waiting hand, hoping like hell that his old scar twinges, I glare up at him.
He arches an eyebrow.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8 (Reading here)
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104