Tainted Bastard (Tainted Knights 4)

Sin sat on the couch, shirtless with a huge mug of coffee in his hands and an amused smirk on his face as he watched television.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as I sat down beside him.

He lifted his arm, and I accepted the silent invitation to come closer, putting my head on his chest and hugging his waist. “Emmie has been busy. She called me about an hour ago to turn on the news, and I’ve been entertained ever since.”

I looked at the flat screen, unsure what kind of entertainment he could be getting from watching the news. I hated the news. It was depressing, scary at times, and there was rarely anything good to report. But right then, there were flashing cameras and police surrounding an older man who was in what appeared to be an expensive suit walking out of a courthouse in cuffs.

“Who is that?”

“That would be Judge Blaylock. He just got arrested for a list of felonies I don’t even understand but keeps getting longer every time they talk about him.” I felt him kiss the top of my head. “It seems the judge has been dealing under the table. He presides mostly over custody cases, and he’s been taking bribes to rule in favor of whichever parent is willing to pay the most for their kids.”

“Is that really a big crime?”

“He could serve serious time for that, from what they keep reporting. But even if he doesn’t, he’s just lost his reputation and will be removed from the bench.”

“Good,” I grumbled, glaring at the man on the screen now. His face looked gray, his eyes bloodshot, and the way his shoulders were hunched forward appeared as if he were holding the weight of the world on them.

That man tried to make me break up with Sin. Tried to fill my head with lies that the man I loved had cheated on me.

Maybe I should have thanked him, though.

Because this whole thing had made Sin confess he loved me. Even if he had been saying the words regularly, I’d never heard them. It also made me realize that I did trust Sin. Because even as pissed as I’d been when I first saw those pictures, I didn’t automatically assume he’d cheated on me. They upset me, but I’d still been clearheaded enough to think about fixing the possible media freakshow for him.

“Hey,” Sin said, and I lifted my head. He kissed me, one of those knee-weakening soft brushes of his lips over mine. “What do you want to eat? I need to feed you so you can take your antibiotic at noon.”

I shrugged. “I’m okay with cereal.”

“I only keep that shit for you. You know that, right?”

I laughed but nodded. “I know. My baby likes to spoil me.”

He cupped the back of my head, his eyes drilling into mine. “That’s the first time you’ve ever said that. You never call me baby.”

“I never said I love you before last night either,” I reminded him. “But I do, Sin. So much it scares me.” Tears filled my eyes, and I tried to blink them away. “Don’t break my heart, mister, or I’ll let my soul sisters break your legs.”

His jaw clenched as he rubbed a thumb under my eye just as a tear spilled free. “I love you, Ro, and that terrifies me. Not just because I’ve never loved anyone before, but because you have the power to destroy me. So, don’t break my heart, sweet girl. Because I can’t survive without you.”

Sin brushed his lips over mine again before pushing to his feet. “Cereal?”

“Not yet,” I whined, pulling him back down beside me. He fell against the cushions, and I moved so I was straddling his lap. His eyes flared when my bare core was exposed and my heat pressed against his already hard cock. “Promise me something, here and now.”

“Anything.”

“Promise we won’t have secrets from each other ever again. No matter how big or small, even if it will hurt, we tell each other everything.”

He nodded. “I promise, baby.”

I bit my lip, my mind going back to something Barrie Lewis had said the night before. “The private detective guy said you had to do a paternity test.”

He groaned, shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t ever want to tell anyone about that, but yeah. Not long after Dad kicked Brandi out, she got pregnant. The time frame was close enough that I could have been the father. When she split from the guy she moved in with not long after the divorce, she tried to say their kid wasn’t his. It was years later, I was nineteen, and she showed up saying I was the kid’s father. It was scary as fuck, Ro. I was sweating bullets, praying I didn’t have to put up with that bitch for the rest of my life. I’d never thought about being a dad, but I sure as hell knew I wouldn’t want to be one to her spawn.”

“But you weren’t?”

“Nope. I got lucky, I guess. The baby was the new guy’s, some accountant, I think. I don’t remember. Didn’t care as long as I wasn’t the father. She had to share custody of the kid, and I was able to breathe easy again. Worst two weeks of my life.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. You had to relive her abuse all over again.” I hated that for him.

His head fell back onto the couch. “Yeah… I didn’t tell my dad about the DNA test.”