Page 55 of Tainted Essence
Yippee.
I try to discreetly look around for Anya but Gage’s growl draws my attention back to them. I shoot the three in front of me a grin which they don’t return.
“There is a lot of testosterone in here,” I say, trying to break the tension filled silence but fail.
“You want me to break your fucking jaw, don’t you?” Gage snarls.
I scrunch my face. “Why would you do that?”
“Because we all saw what the fuck you did to his daughter, our niece.” I cringe at Bishop’s admission. I try to move and rub the back of my neck but Knight glares at me from the side so I drop my arm back to my lap and sigh.
“So, what happens now?” I ask, losing all traces of humor to my voice.
“You take that cunt to Ireland after we say our goodbyes and then you never come back,” King says.
Fuck this!
I shift forward and rest my arms on the tops of my thighs and lock eyes with Gage, ignoring the others, this is between me and him not the rest.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“Yes, you are,” he grits out as he mimics my position trying to taunt me into losing my cool.
“No, I’m not. You want me to tuck tail and run like a scared little bitch, then you are going to have a do a lot fucking better than this.” I motion with my hands toward his brothers and brother-in-law.
“You think a little shit stain like you is good enough for my daughter?” It’s a rhetorical question but I answer it anyway.
“No, I’m not.” He tries to mask his surprise but fails. “You all know what I do for a living, you know firsthand what Knox, Xander and I have done to get to where we are. We fought for everything we have, clawed our fucking way out of the gutter and fought any fucker who got in our way. I have a temper unmatched by my best friends and will lose it sometimes, but never at her. I am a street rat and I’m fucking proud of that. I wasn’t born with a golden spoon in my mouth. I’m a piece of shit and I can admit that but there will never be another person in this fucking world who will care about her as much as I do.”
“Care, not love?” Gage taunts.
I scoff. “No offense but none of you ugly fuckers will be the first to hear me utter those words for the first time in my life, she will be.” I see Bishop fighting to keep from smiling out of the corner of my eye. Unlike his older brother, King fails to hide it as he turns to look out the window.
“Not only did the universe bless me with a granddaughter to fuck with my son, she also blessed me with someone who can fuck with you,” Bishop says as he claps Gage on the back, the latter just continuing to glare at me like I am the bane of his existence.
“I’ll make you a deal, honor it and you just may get what you want.” His tone sets my nerves on edge and the sparkle in Gage’s eyes tells me that’s exactly what he wants.
“Name your terms,” I counter. When he finishes laying out his terms, a part of me does want to tuck tail and run but my Slayer is worth every ounce of pain this is going to cause me. I can feel his brothers and Vincent staring at me, waiting for me to deny his offer but I won’t. “I agree to your terms but you will agree to mine as well.” His nostrils flare but I push on. “When her mother gets in the ring with her, I need to be there.”
He opens his mouth to deny me, I can see it in his eyes but he doesn't get a chance. Anya appears beside Vincent and speaks. “Agreed. She returns back to the States tomorrow with Luka, we fight then.”
Destiny
I feel bad for Uncle Luka being stuck with me but I didn’t want to head home with my parents. I need a day to myself and being the great guy that Uncle Luka is, he offered to stay back with me. When London learned I wasn’t going home with the others, she ditched her stage five clinger fiancé and came and hung out in my hotel room with me. It sucked having to say goodbye to her but she had to go back to Greece to help Artemis since Cronos was nowhere to be found.
Honestly, I was avoiding the inevitable. I knew going home meant that shit was final, after leaving him the way I did I know there is no coming back from that. I talked a big game and said things I didn’t really mean but it wasn’t like he objected and said I was wrong. He let me leave and that was the sign I needed, I wasn’t enough for him to fight for and that’s okay. One day someone will fight for me and it just fucking hurts that it won’t be him.
“We going home, kid?” Uncle Luka asks from his seat beside me. I shake my head.
“I have too much energy after sitting on the plane for so long, can you take me to the gym, please?” He smiles and shakes his head.
“You and your mom are so much alike it’s actually scary.” I smile and relish in the compliment. It’s not often I’m compared to my mom, normally I always get told I’m so much like my dad. We travel in comfortable silence, that’s the greatest thing about Uncle Luka, he never pushes but he’s always there if we ever need him. I’ve always wondered if he had a special someone in his life, none of us have ever seen him with a woman, but he’s really private and says he likes it that way so Uncle Rook can’t give him shit. “You know with your mom being the new Pakhan, you will have a guard on you 24/7?”
I sigh and press my head against the cool glass. “Yeah. I figured as much, let’s hope this one is a female.”
“Why?” he asks curiously.
I turn and pin him with a dry stare. “Don’t play coy. I know you all got to see the evidence of what happened with my last guard.” He shudders in revulsion.