Page 88 of Sinner's Malice

“Yes, you do. You keep trying. That’s all she wants. There is no right or wrong when it comes to you two. Rules don’t apply. So you both are going to have to make them up as you go.”

“Like my curt replies. She hates that.”

Torment chuckled. “Gotta admit, brother, when I saw her lay into you the other day at the penthouse, I thought for sure I was going to have to step in and protect her. But I didn’t need to. You knew she was frustrated with you, and you let her say and do what she needed. You didn’t like it, but you did it all the same. I also saw the way she was with you. She didn’t belittle you, force you to do anything that you yourself weren’t comfortable with. Relationships are give and take, Malice. You get back what you put into it.”

“I don’t think I could have done it.”

“Done what?”

“Kill that bitch.” I whispered. “Other than my genetic material, she was the biggest nightmare I had. Almost every night, she would be there, laughing, as she forced me to do what she wanted. She was relentless, and I hate to admit this, but she scared me more than him.”

“Why?”

Turning to face my brother, I admitted, “Because she treated me as if I were her son, then beat me for it.”

“That’s why you don’t let anyone touch you. You correlate touch with pain.”

I nodded. “With my genetic material, I knew what to expect. He never deviated, but with her it was never the same. Sometimes she would take me out of the club, and we’d go to the movies, to dinner, or shopping. She would buy me things she thought I liked or needed. One time, she took me out of state. I stupidly thought she was taking me away from that awful place. She took me to some fancy concert in Atlanta. I had never seen anything so big before in my life. Everyone looked like fancy dolls, all glittery and shiny. Even me. She made sure I even looked the part. Everyone was so impressed with her. They lavished her with so much attention. They all thought it wonderful that she had brought her son to the premiere opening. I said nothing, of course. I was to be seen and not heard. I didn’t understand what was going on, and when the show started, I really didn’t understand. She took me to La Bohème. It was in French. I didn’t understand what they were saying, let alone singing. I knew I messed up, because when we returned to the hotel, she backhanded me hard. I fell and hit my head. That night, she almost killed me. She had to call Devlin to come get me.”

“How old were you?”

“I’d just turned seven.”

“Jesus Christ,” Torment muttered, shaking his head.

I got it. My past was a lot to take in. I could only imagine what he thought, listening to Arianwen. That was one of the reasons I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I didn’t want to burden my brothers with my problems.

Twenty-Four

Silver

The sun had barely risen when I found myself sitting at a table, drinking coffee and enjoying my book once again and planning on enjoying the quietness of the early morning before the crazies woke and drama ensued. While I was willing to admit I was behind most of the current club craziness, I wasn’t solely to blame.

When I woke this morning, I found myself in Malice’s room, in his bed, as he was once again wrapped around me tightly. I didn’t mind that part so much. What I minded was the fact he was fully clothed.

Then again, now that I thought about it, him being completely clothed wasn’t much of a shock. Where Malice was concerned, I learned early on in our messed-up relationship to just go with the flow and to not ask too many questions.

I remembered little after I killed that bitch. Just bits and pieces. Like him washing me again and putting me to bed. I vaguely remembered him speaking to someone or I could have dreamed that. Who knows? All I knew was that when I woke up this morning, I felt lighter, happier, freer in a way. Like I’d done something major and the tides were finally turning in my favor.

Reaching for my coffee cup, I looked up when the front door opened and in walked Bane. Groaning, I put my book down andsighed. “No. Go away. I don’t care what the problem is. This is my quiet time.”

“Good morning to you, too,” the shockingly sober doctor said, taking a seat at my table.

“You’ve already ruined one of my mornings this month. You are not ruining another. Go away.”

“Not here to cause problems, Silver.”

“I don’t believe you. What do you want? More importantly, why are you here at the ass crack of dawn?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Prescribe yourself a valium, then,” I clipped, taking a drink of my coffee. However, when Bane didn’t come back with one of his witty replies or snarky comments, I frowned. Placing my cup back on the table, I leaned back in my chair and said, “Alright. Talk to me.”

The man leaned forward, rubbing his hands down his face. Sighing, he lightly shook his head. “I’ve been wracking my brain for days now, trying to remember and I can’t. There is nothing there.”

“Remember what?”

“Iris Hughes,” he said, looking at me. “According to Mercy and Pippen, she was a club piece. One of Barney’s girls. Apparently she spent two months with me before she up and left.”