Page 57 of We The Depraved

We’d gone and really done it. I’d really forced a woman to marry me in front of God and in front of Texas. There had only been one little hiccup in an otherwise perfect day. Even the weather had cooperated. Hell, even the bride had cooperated, and she was a like a goddamn rattle snake from hell some days.

Nope, it hadn’t been the bride casting a darkened shadow but her little sister.

They were arguing in a corner and finally I’d had enough.

“Khrystina,” I’d said.

Her eyes had whipped around and looked at me.

“And fuck you, buddy!”

Goddamn it! There’s fucking two of those wild untamed horses, I thought.

Filling my lungs with a bit of air, I let it out. The ice cold beer in my hand reminded me to take a sip and I did so before speaking again.

“You might be about to turn eighteen, Missy. But you’re not going to keep talking to my wife like you are,” I quirked an eyebrow. “Not here and not on my property.”

Sage’s hand reaches out, a slight quiver in her touch and comes into contact with my shoulder. My gaze turns to her and she offers a smile.

“Khrystina has a right to be upset,” she looks back to her sister.

She’s boiling like a hot stew on a cold winter night and about to explode all over the place. The guests at the wedding are getting rowdy and drunk so I know not too many eyes are on us.

“We should leave soon,” I tell Sage.

“What?”

“Yeah, what?” Khrystina repeats.

She really is a little brat.

“Our honeymoon,” I pour more beer down my throat.

I don’t drink as often as I use to and so I know I need to stop at one. Something moves out the corner of my eye and I see my brother’s approaching.

“The photographer wants to capture a family portrait,” Darius says rather dryly.

“Mom would have enjoyed this,” Artur says looking around.

“Go set up, we’ll be a long in a moment,” I tell them. All three leave quickly to flag the photographer down.

Sage’s cell phone is ringing in the jean jacket she’s donned. She throws up her hand to take it, and then leaves me there with Khrystina. My new sister-in-law is not going to back down and I know she’s got some of Sage’s personality traits. Both stubborn as hell.

“What are your plans while you’re in town?”

She cuts her eyes at me. “I’m gonna make my sister’s life miserable as hell.”

I let out a chuckle. “You should give her a break.”

Khrystina doesn’t give a fuck about me if she’s knows anything about me at all. “A break? Mister, I met you all of five minutes ago. The day I turned thirteen, Sage saw to it that I was put in that fucking prison of a school. Now Daddy is dead and Big Sister is married to you…what break does she need? I looked you up, you know.”

Maybe she does know?

“And?”

“Rich fucking businessmen,” she shrugs and makes air quotes with her fingers. “Sage lucked up and is marrying some rich fucking douche.”

“Watch your mouth!” Sage’s voice fills my ears.