Page 15 of Bittersweet Revenge (Sins of the Father #1)

Tiernan

T he last thing I should be focusing on is how close my sister is sitting to him.

He said he’s gay, not bi, so I have no reason to feel whatever the fuck this is I feel.

That doesn’t stop the urge I have to walk over and pull them apart, though.

I’ve never wanted to possess someone the way I do him.

I never cared who someone touched or kissed or fucked, but I’d wanted to kill the guy at the bar, and now I’m jealous of my sister. The person I love most in the world.

“You’re not talking,” I say, gripping the arms of the chair and trying to figure out how I can make this feeling go away.

“It was buried pretty deep,” Dean starts.

“If his family has money, you can bury anything with money.”

“Not from me.” Dean shrugs.

I don’t know how true that is, but obviously he’s talented. There’s no denying how useful that could be to me. We do all right, but for most things, we have to go through Torin, which means my father’s going to know.

Cillian chuckles. “You’re nearly as cocky as T.” He glances my way, and I ignore it, knowing he believes I’m different with Dean. I have no room to be anything other than a fuck buddy to him.

“Finish.”

We listen as Dean tells us what he found out, about the girl in Ohio. With every word, my grip on the chair gets tighter, my heart pounds harder against my chest.

There are a lot of things I’ll forgive and a lot of things I’ll do. There’s no doubt I’m a bad man, but one thing I will never accept, never condone, and never fucking do is take advantage of someone sexually.

I push to my feet. “He’s fucking dead.” He was dead anyway. We’ve already got most of it worked out, but there’s definitely no going back now.

“Tiernan,” Cillian says, head tilted slightly toward Dean. He’s right, of course. I need to watch what I say around him, but I fucking hate rapists.

“Good. He should be,” Dean says, and all three of us look at him. “What? He should be. He’s disgusting and doesn’t deserve to keep breathing.”

As fucked up as it is, it makes my dick twitch listening to him, hearing his vehemence, his anger when those words fall from his sexy mouth. “And what would you know about that, fighter? You ever killed someone?”

“Fuck off.” He stands.

“It’s just a question. I need to know what kind of man is spending time with my sister.”

“Shut up, T,” Aislin says.

“One who would do anything to protect her, which I assumed was you too, but maybe I was wrong.”

“Oh shit,” Cillian says, managing to wrap his arms around my waist just as I lunge at Dean. I still end up right in front of his face, so close, I feel Dean’s breath against my lips and know he must feel mine. “I swear you have a death wish, New Kid.” Cillian doesn’t let go of me.

“Look.” Dean eases back slightly. “I’m not trying to be a dick. Just… That shit is not okay with me. And it almost happened on my watch.”

“My sister isn’t your responsibility. She’s mine.”

“Um, fuck you both. I’m not either of your responsibilities. I can take care of myself.”

I don’t take my eyes off him, and I can see it…he cares about her. Maybe that should have been obvious, but when I look at him, see the sincerity in his angry stare, I know he would kill for her if he had to. He wouldn’t have stopped at the Bar if someone hadn’t stopped him.

I’m used to that in some ways. My world is violent. My family takes care of each other. But Dean isn’t family. He hardly knows her. And yet he cares about her.

“We don’t hurt people,” I lie to him. Cillian’s hold on me loosens, and then he steps back. “But I take care of my own.”

“How?” Dean asks.

“None of your fucking business. Also, you’re staying here tonight.”

He shakes his head. “The rest of them might listen to you, but I don’t.”

Aislin takes his hand. “Stay. I missed talking to you this week.”

And just like that, he relents. “Fine.”

I fight back a growl, jealousy licking up my spine again. He’s willing to stay for her but not me? Who gives a fuck? Why do I care about him?

“You can stay or go, little fighter. It’s up to you, but if you stay, I want you in my bed tonight.” I turn and walk away. “Cil. Come on.”

With a sigh, I hear my cousin, my oldest friend, follow me into the room I use as an office. I sit down, and he closes the door.

“What are you doing, T?”

“I gave him a choice, like I always do. If he doesn’t want to fuck me, he’ll go.”

“You know that’s not what I mean. You want him to stay in the house?

And you mentioned wanting that fucking sicko dead in front of him.

I thought it was funny at first, seeing you dance around him, but now I’m getting worried.

We don’t know him. We have a lot of fucking secrets he can’t find out about.

We have your dad breathing down our necks.

We’re planning a fucking murder behind the boss’s back, and trying to push a ton of coke, Molly, and K through this campus so said dad-slash-boss doesn’t lose his shit and fuck all four of us over.

Now isn’t the time for…whatever the fuck is happening. ”

“Nothing is happening.”

He frowns, his brows pulling together. “You like him.”

“I want to fuck him, like I said from the start.”

“You want to get to know him.”

I sigh, rest my elbows on the desk, forehead against my hand. This is Cillian. I can’t lie to him. It would never work. “I can’t be curious about someone?” I hate the truth in those words. I hate Dean for a reason I can’t explain, but I also want him just as much.

“Of course you can.”

“He kept Aislin safe. He cares about her. He’s fucking fierce. No goddamned fear of me or you.” He reads classics, and something tells me I could talk to him in ways I couldn’t with anyone else. That part I keep to myself.

He runs a hand through his hair and plops down in a chair. “No shit. It’s kinda wild. The fucker reminds me of you.” Cillian laughs.

“He could be beneficial to have around.”

“He could be. That doesn’t mean we don’t need to be careful, and that doesn’t mean we should trust him. Just…be careful. Hopefully you fuck your curiosity out of yourself and he goes on his way.”

I huff in response. “I don’t want anything more from him than that.”

“We’ll figure it out. Hopefully I don’t kill him.”

“Might be easier if you did.” I laugh. “This doesn’t go past me, you, Ash, and Rory.”

“Most things don’t.” He gives me a half grin. He’s always willing to keep my secrets, even if that means keeping them from his own father.

Which is partly why I already regret what I’m going to say next. “We’ll take care of the rapist on Saturday. I want you to take Dean out.”

His face goes red. “What? Fuck that. Why?”

“Because he needs an alibi. He fought with Jensen already, and if the cops hear our names, they should stay out of it, but that won’t be the same for him.”

“Then have Ash do it.”

I sigh. “She deserves this. It’s her kill. And Rory’s been following Jensen around to ensure he doesn’t hurt anyone else. He should get to be there.”

Cillian cocks his head, studying me. “You’ll let her do it?”

“I don’t want to. I want to protect her from it, but it’s her right…and she wants it. I’ll be there to make sure she’s okay.”

There’s no doubt in my mind that Cillian doesn’t like any of it, but he’ll always be by my side. “Your dad will kill you if he finds out.”

Yes, he will, but… “My dad would kill me if he found out a lot of things I’ve done…or will do.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I hope I do too.

“I got your back. Like always,” he adds.

He does. Cillian and Rory both always will. Why is the question I don’t have the answer to. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

He stiffens. “Why would you say that?”

“Because the things you do for me or with me could get you killed or thrown in prison.”

Cillian huffs, his body language changing, muscles relaxing.

“As if that wouldn’t be the case if I was doing this shit with my father?

Or your father? And hell, I do it with them too.

I’m not dumb. I know who the boss is, who has control, but we have our own shit going here.

We have our own fucking kingdom, where people are afraid of us.

Where we do what we want. I know the risks, and I take them because I love the power, T. Just like you.”

That’s what it so often goes back to, doesn’t it? The power. It’s…indescribable. It’s addicting, and sometimes, like with this motherfucker we’re dealing with now, we get to remove scum from the earth, someone who is even worse than we are.

“Fuck yes.”

Cillian gives me a wide grin. “Exactly.” He stands up. “I’m gonna get cleaned up and go swap places with Rory for a bit. He’ll stay out there for a month straight if he thinks it’ll score him some points.”

I chuckle. Rory is…a little wild, has a fuck-ton of energy he doesn’t know what to do with, but he wants nothing more than to do a good job.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

As soon as the door clicks quietly closed behind him, I pull out my phone and call my mom, not sure why I need to hear her voice, to check on her.

“This is a surprise. Aren’t you supposed to be in class?

” There’s a perkiness to her voice that doesn’t ring true, that she often tries to use in front of me and Aislin.

That she wears for my father and people they do business with.

But it’s never authentic. When was the last time she was truly happy?

While she tries to pretend it’s not happening, I’ve seen him suck the life out of her more and more over the years, and all it does is feed my hatred for my father.

“I have a cold.” I offer a fake cough.

“You’re supposed to be focusing on school. This is your time. I know you have…other things you need to do, but school comes first. This is your dream.”

I close my eyes, the soft pleading in her voice pressing down on the soft spots I shouldn’t have.

My father? He has none. It’s how he’s done so well for himself and why everyone knows it’s impossible to touch him.

It’s why I shouldn’t do any of the shit I do behind his back, but I’ve already accepted the fact that when I die, it’ll probably be at my father’s hand.

And that will kill my mom.

It’ll kill Aislin too.

“I’m doing well in school. It’s one day, and they know better than to let attendance affect my grade.”

She sighs, not liking that answer. I’ve always wondered how she ended up with him, but then, from stories I heard, the lifestyle might’ve seemed exciting in the beginning.

She didn’t grow up connected, she didn’t have much of anything, and here was this powerful, wealthy man who offered her the world. She took it, and now she’s miserable.

Rather than argue, she asks, “Are you reading anything good?”

“ The Count of Monte Cristo . I got it from a friend.” A friend? Why the fuck did I call him that? More importantly, why did I mention him to her at all?

“A friend, huh? You never talk about those unless it’s Rory and Cil. Does this mean they’re a special friend?”

The laugh tumbles easily from my lips. She’s one of the few people who can make me do that. “Ma, I can’t believe you fuckin’ said that. Special friend? What the hell is that shit?”

“Well, I don’t know what else to say. And this is exciting. Boy or girl?”

Fuck. I inadvertently stepped into a minefield. With each step I take, a bomb could go off. “He, and it’s not like that. He’s just some kid who likes to read and gets on every one of my nerves.”

“Uh-oh. Well, if he’s getting on your nerves, then you’re in even further than I thought.”

A jolt of panic makes my heart lurch. I’m getting real fucking tired of people around me saying I’m into Dean or that he’s mine. “That’s not for me.” I’ve seen what love has done to her. Changed her from this wild, vivid woman Uncle Rian tells me stories about, to someone so sad and alone.

“It will be someday, and when it happens, I know you’ll be good to them. That you’ll treat them the way they deserve.”

Shame nearly suffocates me, chokes me, cutting off my airflow. She wants to believe I’m better than I am. That I’m better than him. The biggest regret of my life is always going to be that I’m destined to let her down.

“I gotta go, Ma. I got shit to do.”

Her voice is softer, even more distant when she says, “Okay…thanks for calling. I love you, sweet boy.”

“I love you too.”