Page 16 of Sweet Vengeance (Sins of the Father #2)

“I got you dinner,” I add, wondering why in the hell I’ve suddenly become such a caretaker with this guy.

“Oh.” His gaze darts to the bag of food and then back to me. “That was nice. You didn’t have to do that.”

It’s clear he thinks that was the sole reason I left, and maybe I should be okay with it, but the last thing I want is Ollie thinking I’m anything other than who I am.

“Well, I was hungry, and I was already out there selling. The people who share your building are good customers.” I wink, and he scowls.

“You have drugs in my dorm. You can’t have those here, Cillian. You need to take them back home. Now.”

“Fine. Then you need to come back and stay there with me. I have shit to do, and that doesn’t change while I’m here with you.” The words might sound harsh, but they’re true.

There’s no hiding Ollie’s slight shudder, the fear he’s trying to hide. Still, he squares his shoulders and says, “Selling drugs is wrong.”

“I know. It’s still my job. But I’m also the man who won’t let anyone fucking touch you, and I’m not the kind of man who would do what those guys did to you last night.

Maybe you still don’t see it, maybe it will never matter to you, but there’s honor in who I am and how I do things—just not in the way you’re used to or one you can accept.

” I pick up the bag of food and set it on the small, two-person table.

“Now, are we eating dinner or what? You need food in your stomach, or you’ll make yourself sick. ”

I feel his eyes on me, feel them heat my skin in a way I’m completely unfamiliar with. When I glance over my shoulder, Ollie nods, then joins me at the table.

I get rid of my backpack, and pull our food out, setting his in front of one chair and mine in front of the other, before going to his small fridge and pulling out a bottle of water for each of us. Neither of us talks at first, Ollie picking at his food while I dive in, fucking starving.

“I still don’t want you to kill them,” he finally says.

“I already said I wouldn’t.” It’s still a lie. Maybe one day he’ll find out and hate me for it, which honestly is probably for the best.

“I’ll pay you back…for dinner. They left the cash in my wallet.”

“I don’t need your money.”

“Well, I need to give it to you.”

I shrug. “Your loss.”

He doesn’t say anything else, and once he’s done eating, he gets the money and I stuff it in my pocket. It’s not worth the argument.

Ollie calls his work to let them know he won’t be back for a while, then sits at his desk with his laptop and books spread out in front of him. I relax on his bed. It’s against the wall, which I lean on. “You’re really into school.”

“Why would I be here if I wasn’t?”

I chuckle. “I’m not. Tiernan is. He’s into all these weird-ass fucking books that are supposed to be so philosophical and shit like that.

He hated it when he was pre-law, but now that he’s a literature major, he’s here for more reasons than just getting the chance to be away from home.

” Being away from home and with Tiernan and Rory are the only reasons I’m here getting a business degree.

“Why did he go into law in the first place?”

“He didn’t have a choice.”

“Why would he not have a choice?”

“Because not everyone was raised like you.”

For the first time in what feels like too long, he looks at me. “Do you have a choice?”

“Yes. My father doesn’t give a fuck about me—not that Tiernan’s did about him, in the traditional sense, that is. I could disappear off the face of the earth, and my dad wouldn’t notice.” My skin prickles uncomfortably.

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“You know him?”

He rolls his eyes, but then they soften. “That’s why you’re the way you are with Tiernan, Rory, Aislin, and Dean? I’m assuming you treat Aislin and Dean the way you do Rory and Tiernan. You hold on tightly to them because he didn’t hold tightly to you.”

What feels like a ten-ton brick lands in the middle of my chest. He’s not supposed to see that. He’s sure as hell not supposed to talk to me about it. “Way to call me out on my shit.” I run a hand through my hair, which immediately falls onto my forehead again.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think sometimes before I speak. I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s fine. It is what it is. There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for Tiernan, Rory, and Aislin. Now that circle includes Dean because he’s Tiernan’s, and anything happening to him would hurt Tiernan.”

“Well, I mean, he doesn’t belong to Tiernan.”

I grin. “You don’t know how things work for them.” I shrug. “Anyway, Tiernan has Dean now, which is good for him.”

“Which makes you and Rory closer?”

“Me and Rory were already close. We didn’t start fucking people together when Tiernan met Dean.”

“That’s not what I…” He gives a shy grin. “Okay, it is what I was thinking. I think you’re secretly in love with him. Maybe you don’t even realize it yourself.”

“I’m not and never could be. I’m telling you it’s not like that. Rory is my person. He’ll be my person for the rest of my life. The bond is thicker than the romantic bullshit people cling to. I don’t want to talk about that shit anymore.” It’s like Ollie has this secret way of opening me up.

“Can I ask you one more question?”

I shrug. Why fucking not? I’ve already told him more than I should and more than I would anyone else.

“Your mom?”

My whole body stiffens, like those two words inject ice into my veins. “Dead.” It happened so damn long ago that sometimes I forget what life was like with her. Forget the way she made my dad smile, made me feel loved…made our world softer.

“Mine too,” Ollie admits, voice soft and full of hurt. It stings slightly that he doesn’t remember telling me, but he’d been half-asleep and on pain meds. “I loved her so much. We both did—me and my dad, I mean. I thought it would kill me when she died…I thought it would kill him.”

How do you do that? I want to ask. How does he so easily open up?

Ollie swipes at his eye, and I realize a tear leaked free. “God, you probably think I’m weak, don’t you? All that toxic masculinity. Real men don’t cry, right?”

“I don’t think you’re weak,” I admit. “I think in some ways, you’re stronger than me, stronger than most of the people I know, because you don’t hide that shit.”

“Whatever.”

“I’m serious.”

He watches me, and I don’t turn away from him, returning his stare just as intensely as Ollie is looking at me.

What is it he sees? A drug dealer? A murderer?

Both true, but there’s more to me than that.

There’s this quiet part of me that wants him to see the more, that hopes he’d like it, but I know it would be better for him if he didn’t think of me as anything other than those parts of me he hates.

Because I’ll always be those things. I’ll also be the guy who is lying to him right now about the men I plan to kill for him and the gun at the small of my back.

The guy who didn’t tell him I knew his mom died because he talked to me about her last night.

“I need to get my homework done.”

I nod, pick up my cell, and pretend to be interested in it while Ollie gives his attention to his assignment. It’s not worth fighting with him about the screen.

Every now and again, I feel him watching me, his attention leaving what he’s doing and focusing on me. I don’t call him out on it, don’t even make eye contact. It feels like giving him something I’m not supposed to give, to do that.

I’m not sure how much time passes, but eventually I say, “I need to shower. Thank fuck you have one in your room. I don’t know how people deal with that communal shit.”

Once off the bed, I grab my duffel bag.

“It’s not that bad.”

“It sounds like torture.”

He chuckles, and I like the fact that it’s me who made him do it.

I jerk off in Ollie’s shower because my dick is really in need of some attention.

When I get out, I try to wipe off the mirror with my hand, but it doesn’t work, fogging up right away, and I can’t see anything.

My gun is locked away in the box in my duffel, so I wrap a towel around my waist and open the door. “It’s hot as fuck in here.”

“Hmm. Oh…” I peek out to see Ollie watching me, his gaze like a soft caress across my skin. I don’t usually think of myself as the kind of guy who likes most things soft, but the way he’s looking at me could change my mind.

“See something you like, Kitten?”

“What? No.” He whips his head in the other direction, and I laugh. “Can you hurry? I need to shower too.”

“Do you need some help? I’d be willing to get back in there with you and wash your…back.”

“That was ridiculous.”

“Yes, but I imagine it was pretty cute too.”

“Absolutely not.” He gathers his things, putting them in his bag. It’s impossible to hide the bulge beneath his jeans. Ollie is packing, and he’s hard…because of me.

I really want to flirt with him some more, but if I do, I’m going to want to fuck him even more, and I can’t do that until he heals some, so I say, “Have at it.”

He frowns, stalls a moment, then seems to shake himself out of it. “Thanks for letting me use my own bathroom.”

I chuckle. He’s got to try and get some jab in.

Ollie slips into the bathroom. I tug on a pair of underwear, then toss my towel into the hamper.

Ollie’s shower is faster than mine, and unfortunately, he comes out wearing a T-shirt and pajama pants.

“Take your pain pills. We should ice you up one more time before bed.” I look around the room, opening the only closet I see. “Do you have blankets and pillows I can use to make a bed on the floor?”

“You don’t have to…do that. If you don’t want.”

I try to bite back my smile. “Do what? You’re going to have to spell it out for me.”

“Sleep on the floor. You can sleep on my bed…with me…only because you’re staying here and protecting me, though.”

“Aw, you’re breaking my heart. I was hoping it’s because you can’t get enough of me.”

“I don’t like you.”

“Sure you don’t.”

“Whatever.” Ollie walks over to the door, double- and triple-checking that it’s locked before letting out a deep breath.

With a sigh, I walk over to him, hook my finger beneath his chin, and tilt his head up. “No one is going to hurt you. I promise.”

His face is smooth. He shaved while he was in the bathroom, and while I like it, I also liked the slight stubble he had before. I wonder what it would feel like against my skin.

“I don’t like to be scared.”

“What do you say I teach you some things? Not right now, but once you’re healed.

Some fighting and defensive moves. Rory can help too.

He’s smaller, like you. He knows how to be scrappy.

He’s actually the best fighter out of all of us.

” Rory is shorter than the rest of us, and leaner, but he always comes out on top.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Look at it as you learning to take care of yourself.”

He nods, and then damned if he doesn’t lick his pink lips. That simple movement goes straight to my cock, and though I just nutted not too long ago, I’m ready to go again.

“Okay,” he says.

“You’re dangerous.”

“What do you mean?”

I pull away. “Nothing. Get into bed.”

I’m surprised when Ollie does as I say. I get the pills and more ice, then turn off the light. There’s a streetlamp right outside his window, a soft yellow glow spilling inside, so I can easily see to walk over to him.

I hand Ollie the pill, which he takes, then climb into bed with him, holding the ice to his ribs despite how fucking cold it is against my hand.

“I’m sorry…” he says, breath warm on my skin. “About your mom…and how your dad treats you. I couldn’t imagine that. My dad is my best friend. I don’t know what I would do without him.”

“Thank you. I’ve got everyone I need, though.”

I won’t ever let myself need anyone else…no matter how much I’m already starting to like him.