Chapter 19

I glaredat the hinged brace on my leg. The doctor who worked for the Sabbatini mob had insisted that I'd reinjured my knee enough that I needed to go back into a brace. As much as I hated it and fought against it, one look from Oisín and I'd relented.

We spent a few more days in the lakeside cabin at Mr. Killough's expense before we flew home to New York City. It wasn't until a week later, after going back to our regularly scheduled games that included tying me up and putting the shock collar back on me, that Oisín asked about my family.

"What?" I blinked at him from where I lounged on the couch in front of the TV. My leg was stretched out along the cushions, and Oisín was behind me, letting me lean on his chest as we watched a show about Pablo Escobar. Oisín claimed the only reason he wanted to watch it was "Daddy" Pedro Pascal, but to be honest, I still didn't know which actor he was hot for.

"Tell me about your family," Oisín murmured, his tone very serious, which was strange for him. "Your brothers. And you have a sister who lives in the Jamaica area right? That's where you hid the drugs you stole."

I grunted. "Sister" was a subjective word when it came to Rina. Yeah, we shared blood and she was my parents' kid, too, but she'd only ever been interested in me when I could give her cash. She'd been a nurse once, when she was younger, but then she'd gotten hooked on Oxy and it all went downhill from there.

"Rina's my sister." I shrugged and stared at the screen again, not comprehending what was happening in the show now that my mind was caught in the thoughts of my family. "She's older by ten years. An oops baby and the reason my parents married."

"They weren't happy, then?" He clucked his tongue. "A tale as old as time. An unhappy married couple."

I chuckled. "They did okay until Dad joined the Killough Company and got himself a side piece. Then Mom blamed the mob and hated Dad."

"Because a man can't be ruled by his own dick? His job has something to do with it?" The amusement in his voice made me smile.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I listened to her? That I hated the Irish because of Dad?" I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, and he carded his fingers through my hair, nails scraping hard over my scalp with the perfect combination of pleasure and pain.

"No. You hating the Irish even though you're one of us? I would never have guessed."

I snorted out a laugh.

"Is that why you pilfered Sloan's drugs?"

"I guess. Fuck if I know what goes through my head sometimes. I went through a breakup about a year before I did it. I couldn't even get it up after that shitshow." I winced. I hadn't quite meant to divulge my secrets to him, but who was he going to tell? No one cared about my sex life. "You're the first one I got hard for. But what the fuck ever. My head was a mess back then, and I got this grand idea to start my own drug business. Fuck Mr. Killough over. Guess that didn't work out, did it?" I glanced down at the fresh scars littered across my chest and abs, the shape of Aspen Kavanagh's blades forever etched in my skin.

"Well, you belong to me now. At least I got a good beast who fucks like a fiend as a result of your poor decisions." He flicked his tongue over the curve of my ear, and I smirked. "Tell me about your brothers."

He wrapped his arm around my chest from behind, and I stroked my thumb over the knob of his wrist thoughtfully. "There's Tom, he's sixteen. Rebellious but fucking smart as hell. That kid'll be a doctor. Even though I'm nine years older, we're close. He was ten when Dad died from an overdose, so I was the man of the house."

I gritted my teeth at the memory of finding out about Dad's death. Mom had been more angry than sad and had put a lot of pressure on me immediately. "Do better," she'd told me angrily. "Be better than he was."

"My younger brother is Sammy. He's ten. He doesn't remember Dad that well, so I'm all he's ever had." I shifted my leg and flinched as a shooting pain traveled up from my knee. Fucking bastard. "He likes trains and cars and wants to be a mechanic when he grows up."

"And your mother?" There was a sharpness in Oisín's tone, as if he already knew about her.

"Is a woman scorned. She loved my father, and he disappointed her." I tilted my head back to stare at him upside down. "And as far as she's concerned, every Irishman is at fault for it."

"So, you won't be introducing me as your Master anytime soon?" he teased.

I barked out a laugh. "She would kill you quicker than I ever would, especially after seeing me this way." I nodded down at my permanently scarred body. Even though Oisín wasn't the cause of it, she wouldn't care. She'd take out her fury on the first Irishman from the Killough Company she came across.

"She sounds fun." He chuckled. "Let's go visit them tomorrow."

"What?" I shot up from his chest and turned to look at him. I dropped my feet onto the floor a little too hard, and another burst of pain blasted up my leg, causing me to chomp down on my bottom lip to stop myself from yelling out. "Are you crazy?"

"Haven't we established this?" he drawled in a bored voice. "I haven't grown any saner since St. Loren."

"My mother would eat you alive, Oi—Master." The name didn't come naturally, but I was learning. It was strange to acknowledge that I liked calling him that.

"She's not my type." He laid his arm along the length of the couch and grinned. "You, however, can eat me whenever you want."

I rolled my eyes and stared at him for a long moment, taking in the fading bruises on his face that had become a sickly greenish yellow. I'd been glad to see them disappearing, bringing back his smooth, flawless skin. "I mean it. Mom will kill you if you enter her house."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." He crooked his finger at me. "Now come here and give me a kiss, Beastie, and you can eat me the way I like."

I groaned.

* * *

That's how we ended up in front of Mom's tiny place on the outskirts of New York City. It was a shithole, with weathered vinyl exterior. Cracks in the shape of spiderwebs stretched out across the narrow windows. The metal chain-link fence was flimsy and the grass overgrown. It was as though she hadn't attempted to take care of it at all while I was gone. Two wooden steps led up to the rickety old white front door with its boarded-up window.

She'd moved out here with my brothers after Dad had died, hoping to get away from the mob life. While she'd told me how much she hated that I'd begun working for the Killough Company, she still allowed me to visit and take care of the boys and her house when it needed maintenance. Was this mess her fault or mine?

Oisín stared up at the house, a thoughtful expression on his face as he raised the collar on his gray wool coat, and a ball of shame curled in my stomach. I wasn't embarrassed about being poor, because we'd always been that way, but after seeing Oisín's home, there was a level of awareness there now—I wasn't good enough to be his beast.

"This is it," I mumbled, sending the front door a glare. Shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I huffed out a breath, watching as the fog twirled in the air. Today was colder than it had been in a while and I suspected it would start snowing later if it stayed this way. I shivered. I should've gone for a coat instead of a hoodie.

"Let's go say hello."

Before I could dissuade him from the stupidest move ever, the front door flung open, and my lanky sixteen-year-old brother stepped over the threshold onto the small porch. He stared at us, mouth pulled into a tight line. Tom looked like Mom more than me and Dad, with dark blond hair that he wore around his shoulders and a narrow face. His chin was hairless and his eyes were a light blue. Our Swedish blood had more power in his appearance than mine.

"She's dead." Tom crossed his arms, his tone breezy, like he was talking about the weather.

My spine went stiff. "What?" Ignoring Oisín, I limped through the metal gate and stopped at the bottom of the steps. "What do you mean she's dead? Mom?"

"Yeah." Tom's glare intensified, a hatred so pure that it dug a hole into my soul. "You killed her."

I stumbled backward, nearly losing my balance. I would've fallen if Oisín hadn't been there to grab my arm. "How?"

"Some assholes came looking for you. Apparently, you owed them drugs. They said that they'd helped you steal from Mr. Killough and you'd promised to start a rival business. Mom defended you, told them to go to hell." A sheen of tears filled his eyes and guilt scraped roughly at my insides until I felt hollow. "They shot her in the head because she didn't know where you were. The only reason they didn't kill me and Sam was so that I could relay the message to you." The corner of his mouth twisted angrily. "Are you happy?"

The numbness spread, drowning my entire nervous system until I had to remind myself to breathe.

Tom's lips trembled. "Now they're shipping us off to Aunt Denise's house in Colorado. Fucking Colorado, Reed. I don't want to go to Colorado."

"Don't then," I snapped. "I'll take care of you. I'll be yours and Sammy's guardian."

He laughed abruptly and pointed at me. "We don't want anything to do with you. You're dangerous, as bad as Dad. Mom always said you were no better than him. Now look at her! Dead!"

"Who's at the door, Tommy?"

A familiar woman's voice had me stiffening as Aunt Denise came outside. She paused at the sight of me, her eyes going comically wide. Like Tom, her appearance was almost identical to Mom's; although, it made sense with Denise because she was Mom's twin sister. She had the same blond locks pulled loosely into a bun and vivid blue eyes. Unlike Mom, she was kind and gentle. Maybe going with her would be the best idea for Tom and Sam. I still lived a dangerous life, and I was Oisín's property.

"Reed." Relief slid over her soft face. "We thought something had happened to you. There was no sign of you after your mom...."

The shock burrowed deeper, and I couldn't find any words to say to her. Fuck. I'd killed my mother through my stupidity. I'd completely forgotten about the guys who I'd promised to partner with, the ones waiting for the delivery of the drugs. I hadn't expected them to go to Mom's house. I'd gotten into bed with the wrong crew.

Oisín's hand flattened on my back, between my shoulders, and a sense of awareness slowly returned to me as I focused on the weight of his palm. He stepped to my side and held out his hand up the stairs to Aunt Denise. "I'm Oisín. Reed's partner."

Partner.That could mean a million things.

Aunt Denise didn't think twice about shaking his hand, but Tom frowned at me, eyebrows furrowing close together on his forehead.

"What kind of business are you both in?" Aunt Denise asked with a sweet smile. She had no idea I'd been part of a mob, just like she didn't know about Dad. What did she think happened to Mom? How long would Tom keep that secret?

Oisín's eyes twinkled when I glanced at him. "Acquisitions. Our boss wants something, we make it happen." He looked at me, and the numbness leaked out of my body. "And I'm also Reed's partner at home, too."

Something clicked inside me, a piece of a puzzle sliding into place, and I raised my chin as I returned my attention to Aunt Denise. "He's my Master."

Silence reigned for a short moment, with Aunt Denise's gaze switching from me to Oisín and back again, before she finally spoke. "Master? I don't understand?"

Oisín laughed, easily rolling with the shift in conversation the way he always did. "Let's just say we're in a BDSM relationship. We don't want to make it more complicated than that." He pressed a kiss to my cheek and nipped at my flushed skin.

"You're gay?" Tom asked, the sharpness in his posture releasing until he was all sloped shoulders and sad grimaces. His melancholy held a weight over me that I always felt when it came to my brothers. They were my responsibility and I'd let them down. I should've tried harder to get back to them.

I shook my head. "No. Not gay. I...." I glanced at Oisín, lips pressed tightly together when he tilted his chin at me, giving me permission to tell the truth however I wanted. "I have no fucking idea what I am."

Oisín stroked a line down the length of my spine.

Aunt Denise shook her head. "This doesn't matter right now. Why don't you both come in for a cup of Joe, hmm? We've spent all morning packing up the boys' things and it'll take us another few days at least. I never realized how much they owned." She chuckled and gestured toward the door.

Tom pursed his mouth and the anger returned, a simmering rage so similar to Mom's that it fucked with every ounce of confidence I'd built up to come here.

"No," I said, earning a surprised look from all three of them. Despite snapping that one word, I had no idea what else to say. Speechless yet again.

Footsteps filled the inside of the house, and then Sammy showed his face at the door, his grin wide. "Reed! Hi!" He ran down to give me a hug, and I gave him one back. His eyes swept down me and stopped at my knee. "What happened there?" He pointed at the black hinged brace with concern. At least someone cared.

He'd created an epidemic, though, and Tom's and Aunt Denise's gazes were back on me, taking in my appearance as if for the first time. It was Tom who caught the missing fingers on my left hand.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Tom pointed at my nubbins.

Aunt Denise tsked. "Language, Tommy."

He glared at her. "Don't call me that. I hate that nickname."

The thing about my family was that we didn't have an entirely healthy relationship. When Tom was old enough, he'd learned about our mob connections and had been interested in joining the Killough Company, much to Mom's irritation. I'd kept him away because he was smart and could do anything he put his mind to.

Rina, our sister, only had connections to me. She no longer spoke to our mom and never made time for Tom or Sammy. Mom's anger controlled most of our family life. If she didn't like something, we all dealt with the consequences. It was strange to think she was no longer here.

Aunt Denise hadn't been part of our lives much, either. She'd married a nice guy in Colorado and hadn't traveled since she'd settled there. She didn't know how our lives ran here.

I knew I was in no situation to take them on, either. I was still Oisín's prisoner and always would be. If one day Oisín decided to kill me.... Well, I couldn't risk my brothers' lives.

I raised my chin. "Tom, you'll respect your aunt and go with her."

Tom's expression of betrayal was a kick to the gut so vicious that I nearly doubled over from the emotional pain. His entire face twisted and he shoved a finger in my direction. "You should've died with her. You're a coward."

"Tommy!" Aunt Denise went to grab him, but he spun around and stormed back into the house.

I swallowed and turned to Oisín. "Let's leave. Now." After a short moment, I added, "Please, Master."

Oisín tilted his head, then nodded. He hooked his arm around my elbow, and we left. I ignored Sammy's pleas to come back and gritted my teeth when I heard sobs and tears. This was for the best.

Oisín cleared his throat when we managed to get back into the car, me in the driver's seat.

"Are you happy?" I asked, slapping my hands around the steering wheel and gripping it hard. "Now that you've met my family? They're as fucked up as I am."

Oisín reached over and seized my chin, turning my face toward him. His stormy blue eyes glared into mine. "Family ties are a weakness, just like a romantic link. They are safer in Colorado, away from these men who are after you." He grinned, a feral glint in his gaze. "Tell me more about them."

I wanted to ask him about his family. Who were they? How did he end up in the Company? But I wasn't sure if we were at that point yet. I realized that I knew nothing about Oisín. He could still kill me any time he wanted, even if he'd softened up.

"Why do you want to know who they are?" I asked.

His smirk was downright terrifying. "Because, I do enjoy a good chase and torture. And I know you'd love to get revenge, wouldn't you?"

I nodded shortly.

He petted my cheek. "You're my beast, and if they are trying to hurt you, then they hurt me, and I don't take kindly to that." He leaned over to kiss my temple. "Let's test your animal qualities and go hunting."

I smiled, pleasure zinging through me. "Yes, Master."