Page 24 of Killian (The Doherty Mafia)
“I just didn’t care, I guess. I mean, I didn’t want to marry your uncle. But it’s not like I wanted to marry anyone. That is not the future life I hoped for. I guess what I’m saying is I just want to be alone.”
“I don’t talk to a lot of chicks about this, but the impression I have is that all they want to do is get married and get knocked up. Not always in that particular order either.”
Reese grinned and shook her head.
“Maybe they do, or at least the normal ones do. The ones who still have some hope. I don’t believe there’s any happiness to be found in marriage or a family.”
Why did I give a shit?
Yet, I found myself asking, “And why the fuck not?”
Maybe I took personal offense to what she said because I held my family in high regard.
“Because I’ve never witnessed one that’s worked.”
“Are you talking about your own family?”
“What family? Are you asking about my parents? Well, then, yeah. My biological father, the man who should have raised and protected me, couldn’t give a shit what happened to me or my mom.”
Reese turned her face away to stare at the wall. I thought maybe she was done talking to me about this, but apparently she wasn’t.
“My life with him was so shit that I was actually glad when Aldo found my mom and decided he was going to marry her. I thought my life was going to change.” At this point she chuckled coldly and turned to me again. “And it did. It changed completely.”
* * *
There was actually a part of me that didn’t want to find out about all the ways in which Reese’s life had changed after her mother married Aldo.
I guessed they weren’t good changes.
She had a bitter grin on her face as she ran her nails down her bare legs. Over and over again. She wasn’t being aggressive about it, but something told me she subconsciously wanted to scratch her past away.
“Aldo is not the kind of man who should ever be someone’s father. Or husband. He destroyed my mother’s life while she was alive, and mine along with that. He had complete control of us at all times.”
I didn’t have to ask her any specific questions to get a clear enough idea of what she meant.
Reese looked up at me and met my eyes.
“The two men who were supposed to be my role models in life; my biological father and Aldo have both made me believe that no man is ever capable of being faithful or good.”
She wasn’t smiling anymore. Instead, she glared at me from under her heavy lids. She looked intense, like she was capable of anything. For a moment I wondered if she was going to attack me. She didn’t. She just looked away and shook her head.
“But enough about me. You know my story now.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not your whole story,” I interjected.
She shrugged. “It’s enough for now. What about you? What about your story?”
“I don’t have one.”
She arched her eyebrows at that.
“You want me to believe that for a second? Neither of us are exactly normal people, Killian.”
I clenched my jaws tightly. Nothing in the world was going to make me bare my soul to her. I didn’t bare it to anybody and she meant nothing to me.
“What about you? Have you always dreamed of getting married and knocking a girl up? Taking a wife?”
I almost laughed out loud at that. Reese looked offended by the smirk on my face. Maybe it made her feel silly.
I stood up, grabbing the towel and bowl.
“I have shit to do.”
Her nostrils flared. Maybe she didn’t want me to leave just yet. I waited a bit to hear her say that, but she didn’t. She wasn’t going to stoop so low.
“You’re running away from the question,” she said instead.
I was already walking to the stairs.
“Remember to behave yourself, Reese.”
I went up to the door, locking it behind me. Outside in the daylight, I had to blink hard to adjust my vision to the light inside my house. I was still buzzing from being with Reese.
Not just because of how good the sex was, but because I hadn’t been able to tear away from her in time. That conversation was something else. I felt like she’d managed to get under my skin. If I was completely honest with myself, I was curious and concerned about her. That wasn’t a good thing.
I didn’t know how I would get her out from under my skin. But I wasn’t lying when I told her I had shit to do.
My father still expected results.
Fourteen
Reese
All of a sudden, it felt like so much had changed in the course of the last few hours. I still wasn’t sure of time.
I was back to being alone in the basement. Killian left in a hurry and even though he claimed he had shit to do, something told me he wanted to get away from me.
