He couldn’t deal with that shit right now. He needed to deal with the man standing there with a worried look on his face.
He should be fucking worried.
His asshole should be puckering tight right about now. Especially if he overheard any of the conversation.
Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.
How about the daughter of both?
Rev rushed toward Matthew and shouted, “Did you know?”
Rev could see the tremble in his uncle’s hand as he held it out in front of him like a stop sign. A useless, ineffective shield. “Let’s step outside, Brother Michael.”
Brother was right. Matthew was his actual half-brother.
His pulse pounded painfully at his temple from all the mental gymnastics. “Yeah, let’s, brother-uncle.” Grabbing a fistful of Matthew’s button-down shirt, Rev dragged him the few strides to the front door and flung it open.
“Rev!” Reilly called out, rushing after them and sounding more than a bit panicked.
“Stay in the house,” he ordered over his shoulder.
He continued to yank the older man along with him, making him stumble down the porch steps and into the yard, where Rev flung him to the grass.
“I’m not staying in this house alone! It creeps me out.”
“Reilly,” he growled, not in the mood for her to be a pain in his ass right now. “You don’t step off that porch.”
He had no idea if she argued or not because he blocked her out. Instead, he concentrated on the man before him in a heap on the ground, cowering in fear. The blood had drained from Matthew’s face, making his blue eyes more noticeable. The same blue eyes as his. As Saylor’s. He wasn’t dark blond like Rev’s mother, or Rev himself. Or even his grandfather… No… father.
What the fuck! He didn’t even know how to label his grandfather anymore. He was so damned confused.
No, Matthew’s hair wasn’t blond at all, it was the same color as Saylor’s.
Brown.
Like his grandmother’s. Wait. Was his grandmother still his grandmother? Christ!
His brain hurt. All he wanted to do was jam the heels of his palms into his eyes and collapse to the ground until everything stopped spinning around him. Until things made sense.
Or he woke up from this nightmare.
He didn’t. Instead, he reached down, grabbed the man’s wrinkled shirt again and hauled him to his feet.
“God help me. Don’t hurt me,” Matthew pleaded.
Rev sneered at him. “Did you fuckin’ know my sister was your daughter?”
“It’s… It’s a woman’s duty to bear children. A wife who can’t bear her husband any children is seen as a failure. We didn’t… We… She couldn’t go to anyone else. We had to keep it a secret. We had to keep it in the family.”
Apparently. They took “keeping it in the family” to a whole other level. A sick and twisted one.
“But women will be preserved through the bearing of children—”
“Don’t spout that shit at me. Don’t wanna fuckin’ hear it. You’re all fuckin’ hypocrites. Wanna know why you fucked—”
Matthew winced and cut him off quickly. “It’s also a man’s duty to create a family. Children are a heritage from the Lord—”
“Said I don’t wanna hear that bullshit. Want the truth.”
“Your mother couldn’t get pregnant. She asked me for help…”
Rev’s eyebrows just about launched free of his forehead. “And that’s how you helped her? By knockin’ her up ‘cause her husband couldn’t? What kind of sick motherfucker are you? This whole fuckin’ family’s whacked. Christ!”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.”
His head was about to explode off his neck. “That’s what you’re worried about? Me takin’ the Lord’s name in vain when you fucked your own sister?”
“No one was supposed to know. Not even your father.”
“Who isn’t my fuckin’ father! More fuckin’ family secrets!” he roared. “Does your wife know you had a child with your own fuckin’ sister, just so she wouldn’t be blamed for being a failure? How she appeared to her congregation was more important than getting pregnant by her own brother?” Maybe getting knocked up by her father hadn’t been a choice but fucking her brother sure the fuck was.
“It wasn’t like that!” Matthew exclaimed.
“Oh, okay, it happened by accident, then. You just accidentally busted a nut in your sister.”
Matthew’s face became dark and stormy. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
“It’s that easy, is it? Spout some bible passage, ask for forgiveness and all your sins are cleansed? This family is fucked. This whole thing is fucked. You’re all fucked!” Rev shouted, his pulse pounding at his temples. He jabbed a finger toward the house. “You let that man touch your niece…” Rev shook his head. “No! Your fuckin’ daughter!”
Matthew blanched. “He didn’t do anything differently than what our father did with Sister Rachel. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him… He was teaching her to—”