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But all I said was, “I'm not going to be there.”
Bubba came back, “There’s something else. After dad’s in the ground, I’m flying out to California to make amends with Maddie.”
Any other time, Bubba and I would have exchanged blows as we often did. As it was, with our father dead in the room in front of us, I left my brother to deal with his arrangements.
Fuck Maddie Mae. I still had to deal with my problem with Sky.
Chapter 19
Kingpin
When I got back to Royal Road, I went to the clubhouse to see how things went with restraining Goliath. But Sky was waiting for me. She left the bar and approached me.
“Where have you been all night? And all day?”
Taking her by the elbow, I steered her to my office. I wasn't in the mood for this. I wasn’t going to dare let her speak to me like that in front of my brothers, in front of the whores even. This fairytale we’d been living was over. I was no longer under her spell.
Inside, she went on again, “Which whore did you take to bed last night?”
“I wasn’t with any whores last night,” I said.
It was the god’s honest truth.
“I think it's best that I just leave and go back home to Fresno.”
Taking her upper arms, I got in her face. “You're not going anywhere. That child in your belly could very well be mine. Until we know, you are stuck here at Royal Road, whether you like it or not.”
“You’re keeping me here? Like a prisoner?”
“Get over it.”
Sky teared up. “Kingpin, I wish we could just talk about this. I love you. All that with Ralph, it didn't even happen. I didn’t tell him anything about you or Royal Road. Believe me, he’s asked for the info. I have all our texts. Proof, I ghosted him. You might have seen that video, but I had to say anything I could to get out of that situation. I said those things just to appease him.”
I didn't want to listen to anything she had to say. Of course, what she said right now made too much sense. She'd say anything to appease me right now too. But she didn't have to fuck him. I watched the video. He hadn’t forced her. She wanted to.
Sky went on, trying to explain, “That's why I asked you to come buy out my contract at Shakey’s in the first place. I wanted away from Ralph, away from that situation. He wanted me to sleep with his customers.”
“Sky, that's what a whore does,” I said, my voice flat.
“You're calling me a whore now?”
“Don't be daft.” I sounded just like my brother earlier. Spoke with just as much venom as he did. “You were stripping. Stripper, whore, same difference. At a club owned by the mob. What do you think would happen to those strippers? What do you think happens to any strippers? There's only one way to move up in that business.”
“I just wanted to dance.”
“Bullshit. That's what all the girls say, when actually they're just damaged goods looking for attention, wanting any attention they can get. Taking all the dick they can. Because actually one man's attention will never be enough for them. That’s why I don’t usually fuck around with you young ones.”
“Is that what you think of me? I wanted to dance because I used to dance. You know nothing about me. I danced ballet as a teen.”
“I do know Skye. And then in college your boyfriend killed himself and you went down a deep dark spiral. You moved to Nashville with your mom and continued down the drain. You became a stripper because of your cousin, Leo. Things are never your fault. You were looking for danger, for excitement. Some way to feel alive again. You came to Royal Road, and I made you feel alive again. This old motherfucker. My dick did it. And oh, I just wanted to fuck your mother, my high school sweetheart. The love of my goddamn life.”
What I didn’t tell Sky was it’d been easy way back when to obey her mother’s wishes and not have sex unless we married. It took me years to get over the abuses I suffered in Juvie. Maddie Mae was more than just the love of my life, pursuing her had been making up for lost time. I never fucked her, never married her. I had wanted to right a wrong.
“But you got in the way of all of that, didn't you? By the time my brother fucked up and your mother came crawling back to me, I’d fallen in love with you.”
“You’re mad you never boned my mom? Mom never really wanted you. Not like you are. She wanted whoever you’d been before. I want you.”
Sky’s words made too much sense again. I didn’t want to let go of my anger. I let go of her and turned around. I stepped away from her.
