Holy shit.This is some massive fucked-up stuff, ripping my past wide open.Ugh, why dwell on the past when my mother is dead anyway?I can’t stay here, not with one insanity after another.
“Aaaaand that’s my cue to leave.I definitely need coffee now.Better yet, another bottle of booze to knock out my brain and catch a few more hours of blissful sleep to process this craziness,” I grumble.
“Try chugging down two bottles of water along with a pinch of salt.It will dull the buzzing and you’ll regain your focus,” the guy behind Sevrin states.“Your mother used to do the same thing.”
“Great.Everyone seems to know my mother, or my freaking history.Whatever.”I’m over the whole insanity I landed myself in.“I’m leaving.”
“Yes, you’ll be leaving with us,” Sevrin states.
Swade pulls out a gun and is aiming it at Sevrin’s head who’s clearly not impressed.“She’s not going anywhere with you.”
“Excuse me,” I snap, getting more pissed by the second.“Sheis right here, and for the record, I’m not leaving with anyone.”
Sevrin turns to Fatal.“You called me about a lost daughter.I’m here to claim my sister’s kid and take her home where she belongs.”
Kid?Who the hell is Sevrin calling a...“Kid?You look like you’re my age, weirdo.Wait...how old was my mother when you were born?How old are your parents?”
“Not.Happening, asshole,” Swade grits and cocks his gun.
In what seems like the blink of an eye, Sevrin’s arm flashes forward and he’s holding Swade by the throat.A deafening gunshot rings out before Swade’s gun hits the floor.The guy behind Sevrin is now palming a gun and has it aimed at Fatal’s head.The tension right now feels as if the air was sucked right out of the room.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” I mutter.
“Remember where you are, Sevrin,” Fatal rumbles while Swade makes choking sounds.
His face is turning red and I’m really starting to worry.I reach out and grab the back of Fatal’s cut.
“Let him go, and just so you know?”Fatal reaches back and slides his arm around my waist to pull me against his side.“Norie isn’t yours to take either.”
“Norie.”Sevrin’s gaze meets mine.“She named you after our mother.”
“Senna...she loved her still...even...even if your parents...they turned their backs on her,” Swade croaks while struggling against Sevrin’s grip on his throat.
Sevrin shoves Swade away.“Senna was the one who turned her back on us, not the other way around.She had obligations, rules to follow.”
Swade spits at Sevrin’s feet.“Fucking arranged marriages.When a woman says no, it’s not happening.If she was your sister, you should have had her back, not made her feel as if she had no one on this fucking Earth.”
Sevrin grits his teeth.“I don’t have to explain shit to you.Now her...”He points a finger at me.“She is my concern, and I will explain to her why I’m here.”
This whole discussion is getting weirder by the damn second.I’d rather see more brain matter stuck on someone’s shoe, knowing they just killed a man, than having pieces ripped and flipped from my freaking past.
I swallow hard and lean into Fatal’s body.His scent of spice, fresh water, vanilla, along with a mix that’s all man is soothing the turmoil inside me.In this moment I do regret using my stun gun, because Fatal feels more like a beacon who is navigating me through this bullshit.
