Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“Excuse me?”
“No, you’re not excused. It’s actually your fault he’s in this situation in the first place.”
“My fault?” I thought back to the reason for his call. “Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine physically, not too sure about mentally and emotionally. He’s gone soft in the head for you.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Like you don’t already know.”
“Know what?”
“That he's going to want to see you when he wakes up.”
“Is he in the hospital?”
“Of course not, he’s next door to you, tucked away in his bed.”
I frowned. “But I thought you said he’s unconscious?”
“He is.”
“Then why isn’t he at the hospital?”
“Too many questions.”
“And that’s one thing about your Brotherhood, huh? No questions allowed.”
“I didn’t call you to hear your shit, Hennessy. I called you because Onyx is the only brother I’ve ever had, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen him take a lashing for anyone.”
I gasped. “A lashing?”
“Are you a fucking parrot? Yes, a lashing.”
“Ay dios mío.”
“Yeah, no fucking shit. You’re going to have to call all your gods on this one, Amazon Princess. Your man is going to need the protection.”
“Against whom?”
“You.”
“Me?” I winced.
“Yeah, your little kiss cost him forty stitches.”
I gasped again.
“From ten lashes.”
I had to sit, trying to catch my bearings. My heart was pounding out of my chest, especially when he added…
* * *
“One for every sin.”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Hennessy: The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.
For the first time, I laid aside my stubbornness and actually cooked the food my uncle had bought me a month ago. From scratch, I prepared Onyx an Aguadito De Pollo. A hearty chicken soup to help him heal faster. Grabbing some lemon from the fridge, I poured the soup into a Tupperware and grabbed a spoon and a fork for him.
On my way out the door, I grabbed two Inca Kolas from the drink fridge. I packed it all in a heated lunch box, wanting the soup to stay as warm as possible as I made my way to his room.
To my shock, my uncle stopped me.
“Where are you going?” he questioned.
I didn’t stop. “Out.”
“Hennessy, you need to stay away from him.”
Now that stopped me dead in my tracks, snapping around. “It’s none of your business.”
“Try again.”
Reluctantly, I gave in. “It’s just soup.”
“It’s not just soup, and you know it as much as I do.”
“Tío—”
“You’re playing with fire, and he already got burned for you.”
“Don’t you mean lashed for me?” I didn’t hesitate. “Which is exactly why I’m bringing him this soup.”
“You’re not just bringing it. You made it for him.”
“Yeah, and I filled it with affirmations. Would you like me to tell you what spell I used for healing?”
“Hennessy…”
“You can’t stop me from visiting a friend.”
“Onyx doesn’t have friends outside of the Brotherhood.”
It was the first time he acknowledged he knew about them.
“And what exactly is the Brotherhood? Do you know what the first two initials mean?”
He thought about it for a second, admitting, “Blood Oath, Hennessy. That’s what they mean.”
My mind snapped back to the moment the man with the dagger mixed our blood and then to Deja asking me if he said anything as he performed it.
Did he perform a blood oath on me?
I must’ve made an expression. Tío noticed and made a face, but I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad.
“So B.O.B. stands for Blood Oath Brotherhood?”
He merely nodded.
“Is that who lashed him?” I searched his stare for more answers, only to come up empty.
Instead of continuing this debate, I spun around and left.
At the last second before I closed the garage door, Tío blessed, “Que Dios te bendiga y vaya contigo, mi niña.” He made the sign of the cross, expressing, “May God bless you and accompany you, my girl.”
I didn’t think anything of it. It was typical to hear when you left your house in Peru. It was usually accompanied by the cross being symbolized on your face, followed by a kiss on your cheek. If it were your direct family, especially your parents or grandparents, then it was more like a thousand kisses, not just one, displayed all over your face.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous on my walk over, mostly because I didn’t know how he’d react to me being there for him. I guess it depended on his mood. My guess was he was on some sort of drugs for the pain, so maybe I’d get the guy from Friday night. However, I was unsure which was worse, Jekyll or Hyde.
Swallowing hard, I used the back stairs to their estate like Caspian told me to, trying to go completely unnoticed. The last thing I wanted to do was answer any more questions or explain why I was there in the first place.
I watched Deja leave his room, slamming the door behind her.