Hypocrisy.
Deception.
Words he learned the true meaning of the older he got. When he looked back once he was free.
Now he recognized the brain-washing. The fight his parents took on to keep their children from having their own thoughts, their own beliefs. Their own free will.
Basically, their way was the only way. Any individual or differing thoughts would be beaten out of them.
With a switch, a belt, a large hand.
The “cleansings” didn’t last as long as the prayer circles.
Rev didn’t know which one he hated more. They were both miserable in their own way.
But it was what that bastard did to his sister that would never be forgivable. How his father took his sister’s cleansing a step further.
He needed to call her. Because he needed to share this with someone else. He couldn’t keep this to himself. If he did, he might explode.
He should order Reilly to go back inside. To go back to her office. To leave him the fuck alone. To let him deal with his personal demons by himself.
To allow him to keep his secrets as just that.
But he couldn’t tell her to go. Her being this quiet was a rarity since her attitude was normally larger than life. Surprisingly, that quiet strength as she leaned into him was what he needed right now.
Especially to make his next call.
He reached under the table, planted his hand on her thigh and squeezed. Her hand settled over his and they kept them there. Connected.
They both knew if someone came out and saw her arm around him, with his hand on her thigh, words would be said. Warnings given.
But at the moment he didn’t give a fuck.
Everyone else could fuck right off.
He stared at the phone in front of him. He left it on the table, scrolled through his contacts with one finger and found Saylor’s number. He pressed the Call symbol and then the speaker icon.
This should be a private conversation between him and his sister, but again, he didn’t give a fuck. In the back of his mind, he didn’t want to deal with this alone.
“I’m busy,” was Saylor’s abrupt answer.
“Busy doin’ what? Daisy’s at school.” Normally, he’d give her a rash of shit about her attitude, but he couldn’t muster up any right now.
However, her silence worried him.
“Busy doin’ what, Saylor? You up to no good?”
“Always,” she answered with a low chuckle.
He shook his head in frustration. “Don’t fuck up.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m serious, Saylor. You fuck up and Judge throws your ass out, you got nowhere to go.”
“I’ll just get my own place, then.”
Big dreams for both a broke and broken girl. “You can’t afford your own place.”
“I could if I got a real job.”
“Doin’ what you do is a real fuckin’ job, Saylor.” She had only recently obtained her GED due to Cassie’s insistence on it. Beyond that, and being a house mouse, his sister had no skills. At best, she’d get a job for minimum wage at some fast-food joint. At least being in Judge and Cassie’s household kept her busy, gave her responsibility and, even better, two more people looking out for her.
“It doesn’t pay anything, Mickey.”
“Judge gives you scratch.” It might not be a lot, but it was at least some spending money. Given too much, Rev worried what she’d do with it.
He did not want to find his sister OD’d in a fucking alley somewhere after snorting some hillbilly-made meth in order to forget the sins of their goddamn father.
“Yeah, like a damn allowance. Not enough to do anything fun.”
“Seriously, are you bitchin’ about your life right now?” Right now, it was the best she ever had. And she fucking knew it.
Her answer was more silence.
“Saylor.”
A long sigh. “No.”
“You got it good. It ain’t perfect but you’re part of a real family now. Family who cares about you and takes care of you. Don’t shit on that.”
“Did you only call me to remind me to behave?”
“Don’t expect you to behave. Expect you to respect Judge and Cassie’s household. Respect them.”
“Whatever, brother. So, that’s why you interrupted me?”
“From doin’ what?”
“Watching porn.”
He wasn’t sure how to react to that. But Reilly slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the noise that almost escaped. He twisted his head to see the corners of her eyes wrinkled up and tears in her eyes.
“What the fuck, Mickey!” came through the phone. “You actually thought I’d answer the phone in the middle of watching porn?” She laughed. “I was cleaning up the kitchen. And believe me, I love you, brother, but I’m not sharing my porn-watching schedule with you.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he grumbled.
Reilly made a cute little squeak and bumped her shoulder into his.
“Who’s listening in?”
“What?”
“You have me on speaker phone, I heard a female. Did you play hooky from work today to get laid instead?”
Jesus fuck. “No.” He shot another quick glance at the blonde smashed against him, her big soft tits now pressed into his arm. He did a quick check to see if her nipples were hard. “It’s Reilly.”