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A small smile tilted her lips again. I eased to a stop in front of Mabel’s, the only diner in town open when church was in session. In her sixty years of living, she never stepped foot into a church, and her parents never had either, according to her. When I asked her one time why she never left this fucking place, she said she enjoyed pissing off the people of the church, and she had to give the non-church-goers somewhere to eat on Sunday mornings and evenings.
People like her were rare to come by.
I turned the engine off and got out of the car, rounding the hood to get Lillian out. Her face twisted in discomfort as I lifted her from the car, her arms around my neck. “What’s wrong?” I asked her as I kicked my car door shut.
“Stomach cramp. I’ll be okay once I eat,” she assured me.
“Better be,” I rumbled, “or you’ll be attending your father’s funeral and visiting me in prison.”
She giggled as I used my shoulder to push open the door to the diner. Mabel was wiping down the front counter when I entered, but she beamed when she saw me. Then, she frowned. “Oh, fuck, is she okay?”
I nodded. “She needs to eat,” I said, easing Lily down into a booth. “Got anything she can snack on real quick while your cook whips something up? Need food that’s easy on her stomach.”
“I’ll grab some soup and a salad,” Mabel said. “Marvin!” she shouted at her cook. “Get me a bowl of soup and a salad!” She looked at us as she grabbed a cup from behind the counter. “What do you want to drink, sweetheart?”
“Water,” Lillian answered her, raising her voice a little so Mabel could hear her clearly. I ran my hand over her hair, hoping to soothe her.
I sat beside Lillian instead of on the other side. She leaned against me for support. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, smiling tightly at Mabel when she set the water in front of us. A moment after, Marvin came out of the kitchen with a bowl of soup and a salad. He set both items on the table, nodded once at me in respect, and dipped back into the kitchen. He wasn’t much of a talker, not that I could blame him. People in this town talked too fucking much.
“Want to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Mabel asked as Lillian pushed herself up closer to the table and picked up her spoon. I pressed my palm to her upper back so she had something to steady her.
“Good ol’ men of God,” I bit out.
Her features screwed up in distaste. “And people have the audacity to ask me why I don’t attend church on Sundays.” She harrumphed. “Ain’t nothing but a bunch of abusers,” she sneered.
I snorted. She wasn’t wrong. It twisted us all up inside and made us monsters. I wasn’t any different. Fuck, just take a look at what I’d done to Lillian. I still didn’t feel remorse for what I’d done to her.
But physically harming her was where I drew the line. I’d never mark her body out of rage.
“Working on getting out of it,” I told Mabel. “Just takes fucking time.” I shook my head. “Too much goddamn time for my liking.”
She stood when a couple came in and patted my shoulder. “You just continue keeping your brother and that there girl safe, you hear me?” With that, she walked off, smiling at the couple. I recognized them from around town, but they didn’t attend church, so I didn’t know them very well. They avoided us as much as the people of the church tended to avoid them.
I turned my attention to Lillian. “How are you feeling, babe?”
“Better,” she told me. She had some color back to her cheeks, and she was halfway through with the soup. “Thank you. Father’s going to blow a gasket when he finds out I ate before he gave me permission.”
I tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. “Let me deal with it,” I told her, softening my voice. “The only person you need to worry about pleasing is me, you hear me?”
Her cheeks colored, and I grinned. She sucked in a sharp breath of air when I slid my hand under her dress, teasing her inner thighs with the tip of my fingers. I grinned at her and removed my hand. She wasn’t in any shape to be dealing with what I wanted to do to her curvy little body.
“Be a good girl and eat all your food, and I’ll reward you for it later. Sound good?”
Her breath hitched in her throat, and with her entire body now the color of her cheeks, she shyly nodded her head. I relaxed back into the booth and crossed my arms over my chest, alternating my attention between her and the rest of the diner.
And trying not to picture every way I could make her asshole of a sperm donor pay for doing this to her.
ChapterFourteen
Amadeus
Ezra grunted, sweat running down his temples as his feet pounded against the track of the treadmill. He pumped his arms, aggressively running, trying to outrun the thoughts thrumming through his mind. I knew how he felt. How often had I come in here, working myself out to the point of exhaustion just so I could have some rest from the shit in my mind?
Too many damn times to count—that was how many.
“Bro, you okay?” I asked, smacking my hand on the cool-down button. He glared at me for interrupting his workout, but I just held out his towel. With a growl, he snatched it from me and began to wipe the sweat from his face.
“I’m fine,” he grunted as soon as his breathing was somewhat regulated. “Just dealing with shit. You know how it is.” I nodded. I did know. And it fucking sucked. “How’s Lillian? You haven’t said much about her lately.”
