Page 4 of Sweet Vengeance (Sins of the Father #2)

Cillian

What is it about Ollie that he’s so fucking adorable?

Rory was right—it would be fun to keep Ollie.

Is it weird that I want to? Maybe it’s because I worry he’ll get himself in trouble.

Tiernan would never really hurt him unless he had to.

That’s the nature of what we do. Sometimes we don’t have a choice.

Sometimes certain things must be done, but again, I don’t think it would ever come to that.

It’s not that Tiernan cares about Ollie himself, but he cares about Dean.

Hurting Ollie would hurt Dean, and Tiernan would cut out his own heart before he did that.

Still, Ollie is a brave little shit. He opens his mouth when he shouldn’t, and the person on the other side might not always be as understanding.

“I’m gonna head to my dorm,” Aislin says when I join them outside Ollie’s building.

She has a room at the house where the rest of us live, but she’s steadfast in trying to have “a normal college experience.” Aislin resents the lifestyle our fathers brought us into, though I think she wants to hate it more than she actually does.

And while we all accept the benefits willingly, Aislin is determined to resist. I truly don’t get it—why would she want that when what we have is so fucking extraordinary?

“Hope your roommate doesn’t suck.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in for a noogie.

“What the fuck, Cil. Let me go.” She stomps on my foot, making pain shoot up through my leg, and I immediately let go.

“Ouch. What did you do that for?” I limp while Tiernan, Rory, and Dean laugh at me.

“Because you’re an asshole and you messed up my hair.” She runs her fingers through the long, black locks. “Also, I met my roommate earlier this morning, and she’s great.”

“Is she hot?” Rory asks.

“Actually yes, but you’re not allowed to touch her.” She looks at me. “You neither.”

I hold up my hands. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

Aislin rolls her eyes, then flips me off as she begins walking the other direction. God, I love her. Love all of them and this wild life we live.

“How did everything go?” Dean asks.

We all walked together to the campus, him going to see Ollie while Tiernan, Rory, and I had an appointment with the dean.

It’s something we do every year to make sure he still understands the rules and that there’s nothing we can’t do here if we want.

If he doesn’t fix it for us, then the cops and his nice little wife and kids will conveniently find out about the women he pays to fuck and the one he accidentally choked to death while doing it.

“Good. He knows his place, and he knows yours is with me,” Tiernan replies.

Everyone knows Dean is Tiernan’s, knows not to fuck with him, that he’s with us.

Dean is a badass motherfucker and doesn’t need Tiernan to take care of him, but I think a part of him secretly likes it.

We’ve been easing him into some aspects of what it’s like to be in our family, bringing him gradually into the fold.

“Fuck him. I don’t need shit from him,” Dean grumbles in his grumpy-ass way.

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t hurt to have everyone you can in your pocket,” I tell him. Dean is a leap-before-he-thinks kind of person, and that shit will get us killed.

We chat as we make it back to the large brick house that sits at the end of a long gravel driveway, away from the road. Rory presses the entry code, our shit already here from earlier.

“God, it feels good to be home.” There’s freedom in being out of Boston. We’re still under my father’s thumb—Sloan’s before him—but here we can do what we want, when we want, as long as we’re making money for the organization.

“I need to smoke a bowl,” Rory says.

“I’ll go get it.” I head toward the back of the house, down a long hallway, and unlock the secret door that leads to the underground level.

It’s where we keep the stuff no one is supposed to know about—enough drugs to put us in prison for a hundred lifetimes.

And though weed is legal here, you can’t buy it unless you’re twenty-one, so there’s a small market for it at school.

Still, it’s mostly the molly and coke that people go crazy for.

I walk past the locked gun cabinets filled with more firearms than we have anything to do with, then grab one of the baggies we’ve broken up for us and head back up.

Rory’s pacing the living room, while Dean and Tiernan are sitting on the oversize armchair that fits both of them, all over each other the way they always are.

“You two are the horniest sons of bitches I’ve ever known.”

Tiernan looks up from where he’s sucking on Dean’s neck. He grins. “Just marking what’s mine before classes tomorrow.”

“As if anyone would question it.” Rory sits on the couch, and I settle beside him.

“Jealous?” Dean asks.

“That you only get to fuck one person for the rest of your life? No.” Not that it has to be that way.

Sloan was never loyal to my aunt Fia. I’d like to pretend my dad was with my mom, but I have no way of knowing that.

Tiernan is definitely too possessive to ever let anyone touch Dean, and he always hated the way his dad cheated on his mom, so I know he won’t ever go behind Dean’s back.

Rory nods. “That’s what I’m sayin’.”

“Do I look like I’m suffering?” Tiernan asks, then kisses Dean’s throat again, and the truth is, no, he doesn’t.

My cousin is happier than I’ve ever seen him, and though it took me a while to get used to Dean being around, I’m thankful Tiernan has him.

I just hope like hell that love doesn’t shatter him the way it has so many other people I know.

“You gonna load the bong or what?” Rory nudges me with his arm. It’s already on the table, so he must have gotten it and put fresh water in it while I was downstairs.

Once everything is ready, I take the first hit, the familiar burning sensation settling into my lungs, then pass the bong to Rory. He does the same, giving it to Dean, then Tiernan. It doesn’t take us long to dust the bowl. I lean back against the couch and revel in the calmness I get when I smoke.

But just a few minutes later, Tiernan’s phone rings.

I stiffen immediately because we all know who it is.

He only gets notifications from his sister, mom, and Conan, who is part of our organization and close with Tiernan.

This ring is for my dad. How long has it been since he’s called me?

The truth is, I can’t even remember. And while I know that when he calls Tiernan, it’s for business, that doesn’t lessen the tightness I always feel in my chest, whether I want to feel it or not.

He scoots out from being so wrapped up in Dean and answers. “Hey. Everything okay?”

I try to take another hit from the bong, but I’m reminded we smoked it all.

I feel Dean’s gaze on me while Tiernan talks to my dad. Rory and Tiernan know I feel some kind of way about it, but it’s embarrassing that Dean sees it now too. Does Tiernan talk to him about it? Tell him my business?

The hairs on the back of my neck stand. “What?”

“Nothing.” Dean shrugs, but he knows. There’s no doubt in my mind.

Tiernan ends the call, watching me as he says, “We need to go take care of something.”

Rory sits up straighter. “Something where I get to hit someone?”

That gets Dean’s attention, and he’s suddenly on his feet. “I’m going too.”

“Of course you are. Always wanting to fucking fight.” Tiernan walks over and holds his hand out for me. I let him pull me to my feet.

“Do I need a gun?” Rory calls, already heading toward the door.

“Yes,” Tiernan answers. Dean and Rory both head upstairs as Tiernan pulls me closer, pressing his forehead to mine. “We good, cousin?”

“Yeah. Always. Why wouldn’t we be?” It’s not his fault my father doesn’t give a fuck about me.

“Your feelings are valid. Regardless of him, it’s always us. I’ll always be here for you…Rory, Dean, and Ash will as well. We don’t need anyone but each other.”

He’s right. I know he is, and I believe him. If push comes to shove, Tiernan would choose me over my father.

I reach up and hold his nape. “Thank you.”

“Nothing to thank me for,” Tiernan replies, and we pull away. Just as Rory and Dean come down, he says, “Now let’s go hurt some motherfuckers for putting their nose where it doesn’t belong.”

As much as it shouldn’t be, that’s exactly what I need.

“What’s going on?” Rory asks when we’re in the car.

“Some business shit gone wrong. Rian was blackmailing them, but the motherfuckers skipped town. The dumb fuckers used a card with one of their known aliases. They have a place only thirty minutes west of here. Rian wants us to take care of it.”

I try not to tense every time he says my father’s name.

“Killing them?” Dean asks.

“After we make them hurt,” Tiernan answers. It’s what we do, what we’ve always done, and if we don’t take care of these guys, then others will think we’re weak.

We can’t have that.

Tiernan gives us more information—there should only be two of them, hiding out. They’re pussies who abandoned their crew when they got in trouble with us.

The house is a tiny, dilapidated cabin. Dean kicks the door in, and the two men on the couch immediately try to jump over it and run outside.

I grab one by the hair, pull him back, and punch him in the face. Rory helps me with him, both of us beating the motherfucker’s ass, their guns on the table, out of reach. Dean and Tiernan are on the other one.

We make quick work of them, making them scream and cry, then taking bloody photos of them.

In the end, Tiernan shoots one of them. Rory goes for rock, paper, scissors with me for the other one, but I let him pull the trigger.

I’d do it in a second, wouldn’t hesitate, but I don’t get the same thrill out of it he does.

“You should have let me have one of them,” Dean says.

“Soon,” Tiernan promises. I know he’s trying to hold out as long as he can because he loves Dean and doesn’t want him to have to go down that road any earlier than he has to, but Dean is tough. He can handle it.

“That was fun.” Rory grins.

“You’re such a feral fucking gremlin,” I tease, wrapping my arm around him and laughing as we return to the car.