Page 141 of Devour

She says it like my father’s death just opened her up for a fucking promotion.

“Get out.” I’m sitting up now, and I don’t care that my side is screaming at me. “Get the fuck out of my room.”

“Don’t be dramatic, Saylor.” She drops her hand and looks at me like I’m throwing a tantrum. “I’m trying to help you understand—”

“Understand what?” My voice is rising, and I can’t stop it. “That my father is dead and you’re already planning whose life you’re going to make miserable next? Have fun with that, Mom. I don’t give a shit.”

Jessica’s jaw tightens. “I had to plan. I had to look perfect and flirt with men and make sure that if we found ourselves in this situation, I could pull an even higher-ranking husband. Everything I’ve ever done has been for this family—”

“You haven’t done a goddamn thing for this family! You’ve done things for yourself, and the rest of us have always just been in your way!”

She brings her hand to her chest as if she has the audacity to be offended. “Saylor—”

“Get OUT! Get the fuck out!”

The door opens behind her, and Axl fills the doorframe. His eyes move from me to my mother, his eyebrows pinched together.

“What the fuck is going on here?” His voice is calm, but his eyes aren’t. He crosses the room to me and positions himself between me and my mother.

“Axl, this is a family matter—”

“I’m her fucking family, and she just told you to leave.” He points to the door. “So you’d better leave on your own. Or I’ll make you do it.”

My mother stares at him. For the first time since she walked into this room, she doesn’t seem to know what to say.

“Fine.” She picks up her purse and straightens her dress like none of this bothers her. “When you’re ready to play the game and need your mother, you know where to find me.”

She walks out without looking back. Her heels click down the hallway, and I release a relieved sigh as the sound fades.

Axl turns to me. His hands are fists at his sides. “What the fuck did she say to you?”

“Nothing that matters.” My hands are still shaking from how I wanted to slap the shit out of her. “She’s nothing, Axl.”

He sits on the edge of the bed and pulls me against his chest. I press my face into his shirt, and his arms close around me as I breathe him in. I don’t cry. I’d have to give enough of a shit about her to cry.

Reese stands quietly and squeezes my shoulder. “I’d better go find my husband. I’ll make sure you get my number so we can talk some more.”

The door clicks shut behind Reese. Axl’s hand moves to the back of my head, and he holds me against his chest. I can feel his heart racing from how pissed he is at my mother.

My mother is wrong about me. She’s wrong about Axl. She’s wrong about everything she thinks she knows about me—what I’m worth and what I should want.

And she’s fucking wrong about this being my fault. I didn’t ask to be born into this secret society or for my father to traffic women or for my brother to rape me. She has no fucking idea the shit I’ve been through, and I know I’m much fucking stronger than her.

Axl’s arms tighten around me. “Whatever she said, it’s bullshit.”

I press closer to him and close my eyes. “I love you.”

And loving this man makes me even fucking stronger.

CHAPTER 60

SAYLOR

Priest is sitting on the empty bed beside mine with his left arm wrapped from shoulder to wrist, eating Jell-O with his right hand and acting as if nothing happened. He’s pretty much refused to stay in bed. Priest and I are both getting cleared to go home later today. Axl arranged a place for us since he didn’t want us at the Talon mansion.

I’d be happy to never go there again. Same as my parents’ house. I just want to start fresh.

“Be glad it wasn’t your right hand,” Axl tells him from the chair beside me, which he hasn’t left for hours. His hand is on my thigh over the blanket, and his thumb traces circles against my leg without thinking about it.