Redeemed (The Dark Redemption Series Book 2) (7 page)

“Don’t worry, baby,” I tell her, wrapping my arms around her. “I promise it’s not you. Just…be patient with him.”

“You sure you don’t mind?” she asks, winding her arms around my waist.

“Of course, I mind,” I tell her. Even now, after I was the one suggesting she seduce him, I want to yank my brother up by his neck and punch him in the face.

“But you said…”

“I know,” I grumble, my fingers yanking on a handful of my own hair. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle it. He deserves something…good in his life. Someone like you,” I tell Blair, relaxing a smidge when I brush my lips over her temple.

“Someone like
me
?” she exclaims, pulling away from me. “I’m the whole reason his life was shit!”

“No, you’re not,” I tell her back as she wanders aimlessly around the room. “What are you looking for?”

“My clothes,” she replies.

Heading back into the bathroom, Aden’s in the shower when I snatch up my clothes and the dress and panties Blair was wearing yesterday.

“You okay?” I call out to my brother.

“Yeah, fine,” he mutters, sounding the opposite.

“Here, baby,” I tell Blair when I walk back into the hotel room, offering her the clothing. “We need to find us all a change of clothes. Maybe Aden can run out after his shower.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she says, her eyes lowered, sounding about as chipper as Aden. These two are making me look like a pocket full of sunshine this morning.

“You hungry? Thirsty?” I ask.

“I’m starving,” she answers after slipping her dress on.

“Me too. Whatcha want?”

“Burger and fries. Maybe a milkshake, like the birthday cake kind I’ve seen on the commercials for
Zaxby’s
,” she says, sounding livelier now that we’re talking about food.

“We’ll see what we can do,” I promise her.

“I miss cake. My mom would make me a three-layer chocolate birthday cake every year for my birthday. They only served some sort of sponge cake every few weeks at the hospital, and it was dry and nasty like pretty much all the other food.”

“Sounds like prison,” I joke, and then belatedly realize that was the wrong thing to say when Blair lowers her eyes again and then goes over to curl up in the hotel chair, her arms wound protectively around her legs. She looks like the broken angel on my arm again, and I automatically know she’s withdrawing into herself again because of her misplaced guilt. Between her and my brother hiding out in the bathroom, these two are a fucking handful.

I get dressed and pace around the room while I wait for Aden to finish up his shower, too antsy to sit down. My empty fists clench at my side. God, I need a cigarette so bad I could claw my tired eyeballs out.

Finally, my brother emerges from the steamy bathroom.

“You gonna find us a car?” I ask him. “We need to move.” 

“Yeah, I’m on it,” he says.

“Could you also get us a change of clothes?”

“Sure, and the pharmacy. I’m the errand boy, catering to your every need,” he grumbles. Of course, he’s intent on going to get Blair the morning after pill or whatever.

Pulling his suit jacket back on over his wrinkled dress shirt, he covers the gun in the back of the pants that I didn’t even notice yesterday until he pulled it on those cops. Who would’ve thought that my brother and I would both end up packing heat despite our two different upbringings? There’s a big difference between him and me, though, because I know without asking that he’s never killed anyone with his gun before. If he had, he probably wouldn’t have any problem with ending his asshole foster father’s life.

“Thanks,” I tell him. “And when you get back, we can grab food on the way out of town.”

“Right. See you in a few,” he says before he walks out the door.

“Well, he’s a jolly fella,” I say to Blair.

“You two are quite a pair,” she says, her voice so flat that I’m not sure if she's serious or sarcastic.

The room feels stifling hot from the steamy air of the bathroom, so much so that I can barely catch my breath. Heading for the hotel door, I crack it open to inhale some cool, fresh air and to take a look around. There’s nothing but regular looking vehicles in the hotel parking lot. No one standing around, watching our room. So far so good. Maybe I'm paranoid for no reason.

“Where are your cigarettes?” Blair asks from the chair she’s still curled up in.

Shutting and locking the door again, I lean my back against it before I answer her. “I quit, or at least I’m trying to.” I know she hates it. And if she gets pregnant, that’s all the more reason not to be smoking around her.

“Why?” she asks, as if it’s not obvious.

“Because some prissy little girl turned her nose up at it,” I reply with a chuckle. “You didn’t have to use words for me to know you thought they were disgusting.”

“Oh,” she mutters. “Well, thank you.”

“Apparently, they cause cancer and shit too,” I joke. Which unfortunately reminds me of the situation back home that’s anything but funny…

Now that things are settling down, I need to call Jim and Paula and give them a heads-up about what’s going on. Pulling out my phone from my jean pocket, I hit the contact with their name.

“Hey, Brede,” Jim answers, sounding tired.

“Hey, did I catch you at a bad time?” I ask.

“Oh, no, just haven’t been sleeping much,” he says. Of course, he has insomnia. He’s worried about his wife dying so I can see how it would be hard to sleep.

“Well, sorry to bother you, and I know you and Paula don’t need any more stress right now, but, um, I’m in some heat and it may be heading your way,” I warn him.

“Damn, Brede. What’s going on?” he asks, and I hate the sound of disappointment in his voice.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m on my way home.”

“Finally,” he says. “That’s good news.”

“I’m gonna have two people with me. We won’t stay there at the house, but we’ll get a hotel close by.”

“So who are you bringing?” he asks. “Paula’s gonna be so excited. It’ll be good for her to have something to take her mind off everything for a little while.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve found my brother.”

“Seriously? Holy shit, that’s great, Brede! I know you’ve missed Aden. How did you finally find him?”

“Our paths sort of…crossed,” I tell him. “And he had changed his name, which is why I couldn’t ever find Aden Rawls.”

“Oh, that’s awful. And that’s exactly why we never gave you the Willard name. In case your brother ever tried to find you, he wouldn’t have had that problem. It wasn’t because we didn’t want you to be one of us.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I say, my chest filling with warmth at his genuine words. They never treated me as anything less than their own son, which I’m thankful for now, even if I was a little shit to them those first few years. There was so much anger in me throughout my teenage years that it was hard for me to see past it to the effort they constantly made. While I was overseas in the army, I had a lot of quiet time to think back on the comforts of home, and how Paula and Jim went out of their way to show how much they cared about me. Once I was discharged, I tried to do better about expressing my gratitude for everything they’ve done for me.

“So, who’s the other person you’re bringing? Does your brother have a girlfriend?” Jim asks, and my eyes instantly go to Blair.

“No, she’s mine,” I say into the phone.

“Oh.
You
have a girlfriend?” he asks in surprise since that’s a word I’ve never used to describe a woman before. In high school I dated and fucked girls, but nothing more than that.

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend,” I say, causing Blair’s hazel eyes to widen. “I can’t wait for you and Paula to meet them both.”

“We can’t either,” he says followed by a chuckle. “Glad to see you finally starting to settle down. So, when do you expect to get to town?”

“Maybe tonight or in the morning,” I tell him, depending on how shit goes down. “Oh, and back to the reason I’m calling. Don’t answer the door for anyone, and try not to go out if you don’t have to, not until we get there, okay?”

“Shit, Brede. Do I need to load my rifle too?” he asks.

“That probably wouldn’t be a bad idea,” I advise him. “And I’ll call before we stop by so you don’t accidentally shoot one of us.”

Blowing out a breath I hear through the phone line, he says, “Now I’m seriously worried.”

“I could be overreacting,” I tell him with a cringe. “I just don’t want to leave you two in the dark in case I’m right.”

“Then I guess we’ll be prepared and see you soon.”

“Yeah.”

“We love you, Brede. Be safe.”

“Me too and will do,” I say before ending the call.

I’ve never told them I love them. Hell, I’ve never told anyone I love them because I didn’t think I was capable of such an emotion. Now, with Blair, I’m starting to think I just might be feeling it for the very first time.

Blair

“Girlfriend?” I ask with a grin when Brede ends the call with who I assume was his foster parents in Kentucky that he told me about.

“Ah, yeah,” he says, glancing away and looking uncomfortable as his fingers trail absently over his forearm. “I mean, you are the only living woman I’ve permanently tattooed into my skin.”

“Living?” I ask in confusion.

Coming closer to my chair, he lifts the cuff of his right t-shirt sleeve, revealing all of the tall, weeping angel on his upper arm.

“Your mother?” I ask him.

“Yeah. Not that I remember what she looked like, but I remember the pictures my dad had…”

“She was beautiful,” I tell him, standing up to run my fingers over her long dress. Remembering the prison bars and number on his other arm, my hand goes to it. “This for your dad?”

“It is,” he tells me. “I hated him after what happened because our whole family came apart, but I did look up to him before that. He was a good man, a good dad to us.”

“I think she was pregnant,” I blurt out.

“Who?” Brede asks, his brow furrowed.

“My mother, the day that she…”

“Wait. You think she was pregnant, like, with my dad’s baby?” he asks, his jaw hanging open.

I nod, sitting back down with my legs tucked underneath me.

“Last night, when I…blacked out, I was back there that day in the kitchen. I mean, I’ve relived the scene a thousand times or more, so I’m not sure how I missed it, but I think she was trying to tell my father she was pregnant. And he interrupted her, saying he knew it wasn’t his. Then he…” My body shivers at the reminder. “He stabbed her in the stomach.”

“Fuck. I’m so sorry you had to see that,” Brede says before he leans down and wraps me in his arms. “And I can’t believe…we would’ve had a brother or sister together?”

“Yeah,” I say on an exhale. “Could you imagine in an alternate universe, all of us growing up in a Brady Bunch family under one roof?”

Brede chuckles. “My dad would’ve probably ended up killing me for sleeping with my step-sister.”

I laugh against his chest, wishing we could have all had that life together.

“I also remembered you and Aden from the pool.”

“When I saw my dad, he told me you were the one we always saw there, and I never knew.”

“I didn’t know your names, but one of you would splash me in my face every chance he got, and the other circled me, pretending to be a shark, which I thought was hilarious.”

“I was the shark!” Brede says, pulling away to look down at me with a smile. “I guess I’ve always been the predator chasing you as my prey.”

“You have,” I reply, reaching for his shoulders to pull him down to me so I can kiss him. Eventually, Brede drops to his knees on the floor and then pulls me down so that I’m straddling his waist, with no panties since the ones from yesterday were ruined.

“You’re so damn tempting,” Brede says against my lips with one of his hands flat against my back, and the other sliding up my thigh, under my dress. “And tomorrow, this pussy is mine,” he promises, easing a fingertip over my clit before pulling it away, teasing me. But this kiss with him is different. While I want to pull his cock out of his pants and ride him, I also just like being held and kissed softly and sweetly.

Still on the floor making out is where Aden finds us some time later.

“Let’s go,” he says, setting a white bag on the bed. “You wanna take this first?” He tosses a box at us that Brede catches in the air with one hand before telling Aden we’ll be right out.

After he’s gone, Brede looks at the morning after pill box thoughtfully. I assume he’s reading the directions, before he says, “I don’t want you to take it.”

“What?” I ask in confusion.

“It’s your decision, and I know that you’re really fucking young and that life hasn’t been easy for you, but I promise you it’s gonna get better.”

Whoa. Is he seriously saying that he wants me to get
pregnant
?

“You look shocked,” he tells me, stroking his thumb over my cheek.

“Um…” Words fail me the first few tries because I’m too overwhelmed by his pronouncement. “So, does that mean that you’re gonna be sticking around indefinitely? What if it’s Aden’s?” I eventually ask.

“There’s no reason you should trust me after everything that’s happened. But I’m not going anywhere, even if it’s his. It doesn’t matter. Thinking about losing you…nothing has ever hurt so much,” he says with a shake of his head. Tearing open the side of the box, Brede removes the foil that holds a single, life-changing pill, and offers it to me. “Hell, maybe…maybe I’m just tired of dealing with so much death, and now I’m craving a little life. But here, you decide. ”

After I take the pill from his fingers, he lifts me off his lap and sits me on the floor next to him so he can get up. Rummaging through the big bag Aden brought in, Brede pulls on a clean pair of boxer briefs, jeans, and a white tee before slipping on his boots and signature black leather jacket.

“Come on out when you’re dressed and ready,” he says, tossing a clean dress, panties, and sandals down next to me before throwing his old clothes in the bag and walking out the door.

I sit there on the carpet with my back against the bed, holding the foil-covered pill in my hand. For most girls my age, the last thing they probably want is the weight of responsibility that comes with a baby, being tied down, while they lose out on the future they had planned of going to college and partying with friends. But after having nothing in my life but four walls for ten years, all I want is the comfort and stability of a regular family life. Even with all the possibilities in the world open to me, that’s what I want most. I may be crazy and naïve, but Brede is who I want for the rest of my life. Whether or not the wandering man is actually capable of being tied down to a wife and kids, I’m not entirely sure. But even if one day he takes off, I wouldn’t be left behind all alone. Part of him would still be there with me.

Getting to my feet, I change into the clean clothes, thankful to have shoes on my feet again, and grab my family’s photo album we brought in last night. Then I walk out the hotel door, finding Brede and Aden waiting in none other than a black mini-van with tinted windows. If they’re going for inconspicuous, this definitely works.

Shaking my head, I pull open the passenger sliding door and climb inside the bench seat beside Brede.

“Ready?” he asks, and I know his icy blue eyes are questioning more than am I just ready to go.

Reaching for his hand, I place the unopened foil holding the pill into his palm.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I tell him and Aden.

Without looking down, Brede flashes me a grin before slipping the pill into his front jean pocket.

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving,” I say, rubbing my grumbling stomach, and imagining what it might feel like in a few months, swollen with the life we created.

“Food first and then Kentucky,” Aden agrees, before backing out of the parking space and pulling away.