Becoming A Vincent (The Wild Ones 1)

“And this is our son, Deacon,” she says. I scowl before I can stop myself, and his lips twitch.

Benson’s grip gets a little tighter on me too.

I notice a fifth face I hadn’t seen, and my stomach gets a little tighter.

“Our grandson, Ryder,” she goes on.

Grandson? I thought it wasn’t Benson’s kid. Or his brother’s…

Did his brother have a child with someone else?

His mother hesitates her introductions on the girl who is still regarding me with no expression at all.

“And this is John’s daughter, Sadie.”

Sadie.

It’s highly unlikely there are two Sadies in his life. He just forgot to mention that his ex is also his stepsister. And that she’s going to be here for a week. And that’s why it is complicated.

That’s why I couldn’t be here.

That’s why he didn’t tell me the whole story.

Just like that, the air is stolen from my lungs, and I cut my eyes toward Benson. It hurts to know he was going to spend the week with her, while shoving me to my side of the lake.

The only complications here were for him.

Unbelievable.

Benson’s hand tightens on me, but I shrug him off. Sadie makes an expression for the first time, and it’s a smile.

She knows.

I know.

And Benson knows.

We all know I’m an idiot.

Life is grand.

“As soon as you can move again, you can kill him,” I tell my brothers, walking toward the dock.

“Lilah!” Benson growls, following behind me.

“Don’t,” I say, blowing out a breath as I look at him. My eyes flick over his shoulder as he continues to stalk toward me. “Don’t embarrass me even more than I’ve already been embarrassed,” I add.

He stops, freezing to his spot, as the first tear falls from my eyes. Both of my brothers purposely shoulder by him on their way to me, and I shake my head.

“Lilah, I swear to you, this is not—”

“I’m sure it’s not,” I say quietly, desperately ready to get the hell out of here. “But I guess I would have known that if you’d bothered to tell me. I need to go.”

Hale reaches up, helping me into the boat, and Killian starts the motor. Just as he’s about to pull away, I turn around, aim my gun, and shoot Benson right in the nuts.

He drops to his knees, cupping his balls as his face turns red, and I smile as I wave, reminding him who I am.

Yeah.

That’s right.

I’m a Vincent.

We’re one corner of the Wild Ones.

He really should have seen that coming.

Bastard.

Chapter 19

Wild Ones Tip #567

Wild Women are worse than Wild Men. Because we’ll kill any fucker that puts their hands on a woman, which means they constantly have the upper hand.

You have to be creative to one-up those vicious, untouchable little women.

BENSON

“I take it you didn’t tell her Sadie was your stepsister,” Mom says on a sigh as I ice my balls down with frozen peas.

I grimace, shifting the peas. You don’t think about a tiny little BB hurting that badly. No wonder those pricks are so tough. They’ve been conditioned by Lilah all these years.

“No, I didn’t tell her that when I was sixteen you married my girlfriend’s father. I thought that would put a kink in our new relationship to learn the woman I proposed to and thought I’d knocked up was a permanent fixture in my life. I’m Lilah’s first real relationship because she’s hard as hell to get close to. Something like that just seemed like I was pushing too much too fast.”

She sighs as she stares out the window. “I blame myself for this mess. I didn’t mean to fall in love with John. Now you and your brother hate each other. The girl who broke your heart is still haunting your life, and it’s all my fault.”

“It’s not your fault you fell in love. And John has a blind spot for his daughter, just as you have a blind spot for us. As for Sadie haunting my life, that’s normally not an issue anymore. I should have told Lilah everything and hoped for the best. I just wanted more time to make sure she cared about me enough to overlook it. I should have known better than to think this wouldn’t backfire, and I should have stopped to think what she’d think if I didn’t explain why I didn’t want her over here.”

She turns to face me, her eyes sad.

“What are you going to do to get her back?” Mom asks with sincere concern.

I laugh humorlessly. “Everything I can. Don’t worry. I have a fail-safe plan if all else fails.”

Deacon walks in, no expression on his face.

“There’s someone at the door for you,” he says to me.

“Tell her Lilah and I are still together.”

His lips tug into a half smile. “It’s a guy. Says his name is Paul.”

My brow furrows, but before I can ask questions, Paul is walking in, eyeing my brother and mother. No one from Tomahawk has ever seen me with them, and I usually force my family to stay out of sight.