Crux Untamed (Hades Hangmen 6)

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“So, Aubin? What’s your last name, sweetie?” my mamma asked.

“Breaux, ma’am. Aubin Breaux.”

Mamma’s face drained of blood. “I know your parents.” She forced a smile. “They’re best friends with mine.”

“The Moreaus.”

Mamma nodded. “I’m their daughter.”

“Mr. Moreau said you were dead to him.”

Mamma’s face paled, but she forced a smile. “No, sweetie. No matter what he says, I’m still here. Still his daughter.” She quickly left the room. I wanted to chase after her.

Aubin was still frowning. Then he looked at me. “So you’re Mr. Moreau’s grandson?”

“Yeah.”

“Does he know you’re here? That you even exist? He’s never once mentioned you.”

“Yeah,” I said, firmer. More pissed. “But we ain’t staying.” Aubin looked surprised. “We’re moving. Just as soon as my back has healed and my papa gets work elsewhere.”

I couldn’t wait.

Aubin got to his feet. Just as he was about to go, I said, “Epilepsy.” He froze, and then looked back at me. “I have epilepsy. I get seizures . . . That’s what happened to me the other night.” I didn’t know why I told him. He was the first person outside of my parents I ever did.

Aubin put his hat back on his head and tapped its lip. “Later, Valan.”

Then he left . . .

“He came around every day after that,” I said. Cowboy lay back on the bed again.

“You never saw your friends? The ones who hurt Hush?” Sia asked.

Cowboy shook his head. “They didn’t know why. Until they saw me with Val, when he was healed. They said nothing at the time. But when I got home that night, I was greeted by my father. ‘You a black-lover now, boy?’ he shouted. They were older parents. Didn’t think they could have kids, until I came by . . . real surprise.” He shook his head. “He might have been older, but he was a rancher and damn good with his fists.”

“He beat you.”

Cowboy nodded. “So bad I couldn’t move.”

“When he could, he snuck out and came to us.” I sighed. “I hadn’t seen him in days. By that point I saw him every day. I . . .” I dropped my head and tried not to sound pathetic. “I kinda came to lean on him. With my seizures . . . I never liked to go out much. Do much in public in case they hit.” I pointed at Cowboy. “He, with his loud mouth and who-gives-a-fuck attitude, helped me.” I glanced at Cowboy, knowing the gratitude I felt toward him would never repay how he’d saved me. “In a town where people only saw color—saw me as the half-breed boy who would be better off dead, a pollution, an abomination—he didn’t. He came to see me as his best friend. We did everything together, because he knew I needed him.”

“Plus, I was starting to outgrow our home pretty damn quick . . . I just didn’t care anymore. Val was the best person I’d ever met.” His eyes watered. “That, and his folks. People who took up for me, when my father nearly beat me to death. Folks who . . .” He looked away.

The lump in my throat was suffocating.

“They took you in?” Sia asked.

Cowboy nodded. The part of the story I wasn’t sure I could tell had arrived. I looked down at my hands to see they were shaking. I felt the burn patches on my arms like I had just gotten them yesterday, the blisters bubbling in the too-hot heat.

“He went to confront them,” I whispered, remembering my papa leaving the house. I felt a hand on my shoulder, squeezing in support. Cowboy sat to one side of me. Sia moved to the other. I kept my eyes on the comforter. “First, he went to Cowboy’s folks. Told them what he thought of them. Then he went to my grandparents.” Cold shivers ran down my back. “Turned out my grandmother, who was gradually getting better, had no idea we were even in town. My grandfather hadn’t told her. She’d been bedridden since her stroke.” I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. “She asked to meet my mamma the following night, asked my papa to pass on the invitation. She wanted to see her daughter again first. Then she wanted to meet me.”

“Did you ever meet her?” Sia said, caution in her voice.

Agony engulfed my face. It fucking cut through every inch of me. “No,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, as that night came back to haunt me once again. The one I never wanted to remember, but always did. The night everything just fell the fuck apart . . .

“I won’t be welcome there,” I said.

“So the fuck what?” Aubin argued. He threw his arm over my shoulders. His eye was still black from his papa’s beating. His lip was split. And he was carrying his upper body badly. A couple of his ribs were cracked. “It’s the biggest rodeo that comes this way. The real professionals.” Aubin hadn’t ridden since his papa had whooped his ass. “It’s huge. State-fair big. The chances of us running into them is small.”

I saw the excitement on Aubin’s face. I knew he’d miss it if I said no. But he lived for this stuff. “Fine. We’ll go.”

Aubin scrubbed my head with his knuckles. “Knew I’d get you liking horses eventually.”

“Wouldn’t go that far.” I got up and grabbed my coat.

“Where you going?” my papa asked when we walked into the kitchen. Boxes were strewn about the room. We were finally leaving this fucking place. In a few days, we’d be gone.

“Rodeo,” Aubin said happily. My papa raised an eyebrow.

“You got my kid to go watch people riding broncs?” He put his hand on my head. “You feeling okay, Val?” My mamma laughed as I shrugged him off. “Well, just make sure you’re back later tonight. Your mamma is meeting with your grandmother, which means you’re staying with me. Movie, junk food. Sounds ideal.” He looked at Aubin. “You staying tonight, Aubin?”

Aubin ducked his head. “My mama called too actually. Said I’d meet her at the diner. She wants to see me.”

My papa rubbed Aubin’s head. “You need me, you call.”

“Yes, sir.”

We filed out of the house and into Aubin’s truck. We hightailed it the twenty miles to the rodeo. By the time we got there it was late afternoon. As soon as I saw the stadium come into view, my stomach turned.

“You’ll be good,” Aubin reassured me, reading my mind. He put his hand on my leg. “Calm down.” He’d become good at that. Knowing when I was starting to stress out. Stress and anger were the two biggest triggers for my seizures.

I took in a deep breath and then let it out. Twenty minutes later we’d parked up and were heading inside. My heart pounded in my chest as we walked through the crowd. I was waiting for the shit I’d get from these people, but

it never came. We got a soda and a hot dog and watched the saddle broncs.

“There’s Lucious,” Aubin said. He pointed to a guy who was up next to ride. “Trained with him. We’ll go say hi to him in the stalls afterward.” Lucious got a good enough time to go through to day two, but he wasn’t at the top of the leaderboard.

I followed Aubin around the back of the stalls. It was quiet back here; most people were watching the main show. We’d barely made it into the empty stalls when we heard, “You have to be shitting me.”

I snapped my head to my right, and dread immediately filled my every bone when I saw Jase and all the rest of Aubin’s old friends walking toward us. Aubin pushed past me, keeping me behind him.

“Get the fuck on, Jase,” Aubin warned. I pushed Aubin’s arm away and stood right beside him. If trouble went down, I’d be right by his side.

Jase laughed. “You a coon-lover now, Aubin? I heard the rumors. Fuck, you fell off the rodeo scene in a flash. But I never expected the rumors to be true.” Jase pointed down to Aubin’s tattoo. “Mongrels weren’t your bag a few months ago.”

“Yeah, well, things change.”

Jase pointed right at my face. “You almost got us into deep shit.” He gestured to the others standing around him. “Tried to sell us out to the cops.” He shook his head. “Bad move, half-breed.”

I began to shake, the anger taking hold. Jase stepped forward, his three cronies following behind, and I ran at the asshole. I threw my fist into his face. Aubin was by my side, fighting too. But four on two was never a good match-up. It wasn’t long before we were on the ground. I glanced at Aub; he was pushing them off his healing face, once again getting battered and bruised.

“Hey!” a voice called out from the back of the stalls. Jase and the others took off at a run.

I stared at the ceiling, the rafters starting to tilt. “Aub,” I croaked, holding out my hand for him. I rolled my tongue in my mouth. “I taste metal.”