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Rogan has connections all over, especially with the motorcycle clubs. And while I don’t know if he knows about the Royal Bastards, it won’t be difficult for him to garner that information. As much as he’s an asshole, he’s crafty and will find out where I am eventually.
“Drink?” Sully ask as he turns to look at me from over his shoulder.
The fridge lights up his face as he watches my movements.
“Just water,” I reply as I settle on the sofa, sinking into the cushions as I sigh the day away. It’s been busy at work, my feet are sore, and all I want is to sleep, but this is important.
When Sully joins me, he’s holding a bottle of beer, and he hands me a glass of chilled water from the fridge. He sits beside me, facing me, and I turn to look at him. We’ve been sat on these cushions so many times before, but tonight it feels different. There’s more to this than just a couple enjoying time alone together.
“So, do you want to start, or would you like me to go first?” I ask him as I swig back the cool liquid.
Sully is silent for a long moment before he says, “When I was younger, it was just me and Ma. There were so many times over the years I wanted to give her a beautiful house. I wanted ta buy it so she never had to run again.”
His tone is dire, and my stomach twists with what’s coming next. I know this is difficult for him to talk about because he’s told me some of it before. But tonight, we’re going to dive even deeper.
“She was seein’ this arsehole fer a wee while. I was ten when he first came ta the house. A wee scrawny lad who didn’t know how ta fight. I was a kid who only had his mother to raise him. But the moment Conall walked into the house, I knew I would never call him Da. I hated him from the second I saw him. Somethin’ about him just didn’t sit right with me.”
“I can’t picture you as a skinny, young boy,” I whisper with a small smile on my lips.
Sully is over six-foot, with broad shoulders, long wavy hair, and a beard. He looks like a Viking, rather than the child he’s describing to me now.
“Aye, I was a runner. Kept me skinny fer a long while. But one night I woke up, heard them fightin’ and I got up out of bed. The floorboards were on my side that day—they didn’t creak as I made my way out of my bedroom and into the hallway. Ma and Conall were downstairs, and they were arguin’ about money. He’d taken some of her savin’s and used it fer gamblin’ debts. By then, he’d been around fer a couple years.”
“And he was staying with you?”
Sully nods. “Aye, fer the most part. There were nights he wouldn’t come home, which were the nights I was happiest. But I knew he was out fuckin’ whores in the city. Ma didn’t want ta believe it, but it was true. I’d heard the whispers about the bastard.”
My chest tightens when I take in the look on Sully’s face. There’s a darkness in his eyes, a rage that I know will never be gone. He hated the man in question, and I’ve no doubt now about what happened to him. But I don’t interrupt Sully’s story.
“That night I watched as the cunt hit Ma across the face. I saw red. There wasn’t anythin’ that could stop me from racin’ down those stairs and gettin’ in a hit of my own. My fist slammed into his back, and I lost all control. I kept hittin’ him, but the bastard was big, much bigger than me. And he punched me, knockin’ me out.”
A gasp falls from my lips as shock radiates through me like a wave crashing onto the shore.
“What? Oh my God.”
Sully nods, then shrugs. “Aye, it feckin’ hurt. When I woke up and opened my eyes, Ma was lyin’ on the floor beside me—her nose broken, blood drippin’ from her face, and a cut under her left eye that had swollen to the point she couldn’t see out of it.”
Tears well in my eyes, and I reach for his hand. He allows me to take it, and I hold on to Sully like he’s a lifeline, and I hope I can be one for him. I can’t imagine watching your mother go through that. But then I experienced much the same kind of abuse, only I didn’t have kids to witness it.
“I vowed ta kill the fecker,” Sully continues. “The next day, I woke up with a new plan in mind. I was goin’ta get the bastard back fer what he did. He still kept comin’ round the house. He would either coax Ma into takin’ him back, or he’d be fightin’ with her. It got worse and worse.”
