“Part of the reason. Though, the Originals were never into incest that we know of. Were they the best parents? Fuck no.”
“No,” Reilly agreed, “but from some of the stories that are told, they were into some other fucked up shit.”
“Yeah, the stories that are told. Sure there are much worse ones buried somewhere.”
“But the Originals are now gone,” she stated.
“Not all of them,” he reminded her quickly.
Right, Dutch and Ozzy were Originals and even wore the patch stating such. Trip and Judge, and some of the others, were positive more were out there, they just hadn’t been or didn’t want to be found.
Also, a few of the Fury members, along with some of the club sisters, were products of some of those Originals. Most with secrets as deep as Rev and Saylor’s.
When she got back to Manning Grove, she was going to give Saylor a bone-crushing bear hug. She’d just have to find a good excuse for it, so Saylor didn’t guess that Reilly knew the truth about her past. Or figure out that Reilly went with Rev to Coatesville.
Unfortunately, this trip would be one more secret thrown onto the ever-growing mountain of Fury secrets.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said, because she didn’t know what else to say to help take away the horrible memories from his childhood. “After you left, did you have any way to stay in touch with Saylor?” She grimaced. “Sarah, I mean.”
“Not really. When I could, I would go to her school and check on her there. Wasn’t often since I was barely survivin’ on my own. Once I turned eighteen, I could visit her at juvie without the threat of bein’ caught as a runaway, so it was a little easier.”
“When she was in school why didn’t you report to them what your father was doing?”
“Had no proof. I never saw what he did. I only could guess. And like I said, I was a runaway and didn’t want to be taken back. Anyway, who would believe me over adults? Saylor has never spoke of it. Not once. She acts like it never fuckin’ happened.”
“She’s probably repressed it. Hidden it away in her mind. It’s a coping mechanism.”
“The same as you?”
Chapter Nine
“What do you mean?” Reilly asked him.
She never talked about it. No one did.
Rev hadn’t been there. Thank fuck. That was the kind of shit that made nightmares. And Reilly had been the one to engage the actual button on the incinerator to do “the deed.” She had shoved past Deacon and slammed her palm on it to ignite the burners.
To burn a still conscious, breathing human being to death.
Did that motherfucker deserve it? No fucking doubt.
Still… It was disturbing.
He wondered if she had nightmares about it. About hearing a man scream as he was being incinerated.
But like Saylor, Reilly acted like it never happened. Maybe it was repressed memories, like she mentioned. “That day—”
She interrupted him. “Just because I don’t talk about it, doesn’t mean I don’t think about it. I think about it every damn day.” Her cheeks had turned a dark shade of pink. It wasn’t from embarrassment.
They found it difficult to embarrass the woman. No matter what was said by any of the guys, even when they busted her non-existent balls, she never was offended or embarrassed. She could take ball-busting as good as she could give it.
That attitude made him a little lusty over her, too. More than a little lusty.
“Not what he did to you. What you did to him,” he clarified.
“I didn’t do anything to him. He caused that himself. But if you want me to say something about that particular incident, then I’m glad I took the burden off Deacon. Nobody but me should’ve done it. And, as we all know… Paybacks are a fucking bitch.”
Normally, he’d grin at that last part but he got caught on the fact that she wanted to kill the motherfucker herself, so it wouldn’t be anyone else’s burden.
“I got everyone into that whole mess, so I wanted to be the one to get us out. I appreciate how everyone stepped in to help me even though you all hardly knew me.”
“Yeah, but Deke didn’t wanna make that motherfucker pay just ‘cause of you, it was for what he did to Reese, too.” Warren hurt both sisters. He had also hurt other women in the past and would’ve hurt others in the future if he’d been allowed to keep breathing. He was that much of a fucking piece of shit.
“Reese is my sister.” She slapped a hand to her chest, drawing his eyes to her tits for a brief second. Or two. His gaze rose when she finished with, “And I handled it for both of us.”
She certainly did. Like a fucking boss, too. Even so… “I shoulda killed that motherfucker. Shoulda fuckin’ killed him even before Deke and the others got there. As soon as he swung that fuckin’ baseball bat in your direction. Shoulda grabbed that bat and smashed his fuckin’ brains in. Just like he wanted to do to you.”
Then the fucker would’ve been dead and no one would’ve had the “burden” of pushing that button while he was still alive. Throwing the asshole into the furnace would’ve been only about getting rid of any evidence that Billy Warren ever existing. The same way they got rid of the Shirleys when any of his brothers pulled one off the mountain. Or used to.
That Shirley situation was currently in limbo until the feds did what the feds were going to do with them first.
“You weren’t there when he first showed up, remember? Rook and Whip were. Rook saved my damn life. Maybe I should’ve given him a thank-you blowie for that…”
A thank-you blowie?
“Are you fuckin’ serious?” he growled. She better not be fucking serious! It was bad enough when Rook got to be the one to hang all over her while taking the Instagram photos to draw Warren out of hiding. They had pretended to be hooking up and acted like it, too. Rev had to walk away every fucking time Rook had his hands all over her “for the camera.”
She rolled her eyes at his reaction. “I’m kidding. Rook would never get head from me because he’s an asshole. I’ve had my fill of those after dealing with the dead douchebag. Assholes are permanently off my blowjob list.”
She had a blowjob list?
She tilted her head and her blonde hair fell to the side. “And, anyway, what if you’d been arrested for bashing his head in? Saylor would be on her own right now. You’re her family, Rev. She needed you, she still needs you. You’re also the only one—well, besides me now—who knows about her past.”
Her past. He should’ve done something to stop that “past” back then. “Failed her.”
“No you didn’t. Kids shouldn’t be forced to make adult decisions. Reese was forced to do that and so were you.” She planted a hand on his stomach and he automatically sucked in his gut at the contact.
Her touch on his bare skin felt electrically charged. Like she could control his pulse with simply a touch. That same pulse started to pound somewhere it shouldn’t. Just from her warm, soft hand planted on his skin. From her big green eyes tipped up to his.
From her sinking her teeth into her plump, bottom lip.
He mentally groaned at how fucking tempting she was.