However, her silence worried him.
“Busy doin’ what, Saylor? You up to no good?”
“Always,” she answered with a low chuckle.
He shook his head in frustration. “Don’t fuck up.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m serious, Saylor. You fuck up and Judge throws your ass out, you got nowhere to go.”
“I’ll just get my own place, then.”
Big dreams for both a broke and broken girl. “You can’t afford your own place.”
“I could if I got a real job.”
“Doin’ what you do is a real fuckin’ job, Saylor.” She had only recently obtained her GED due to Cassie’s insistence on it. Beyond that, and being a house mouse, his sister had no skills. At best, she’d get a job for minimum wage at some fast-food joint. At least being in Judge and Cassie’s household kept her busy, gave her responsibility and, even better, two more people looking out for her.
“It doesn’t pay anything, Mickey.”
“Judge gives you scratch.” It might not be a lot, but it was at least some spending money. Given too much, Rev worried what she’d do with it.
He did not want to find his sister OD’d in a fucking alley somewhere after snorting some hillbilly-made meth in order to forget the sins of their goddamn father.
“Yeah, like a damn allowance. Not enough to do anything fun.”
“Seriously, are you bitchin’ about your life right now?” Right now, it was the best she ever had. And she fucking knew it.
Her answer was more silence.
“Saylor.”
A long sigh. “No.”
“You got it good. It ain’t perfect but you’re part of a real family now. Family who cares about you and takes care of you. Don’t shit on that.”
“Did you only call me to remind me to behave?”
“Don’t expect you to behave. Expect you to respect Judge and Cassie’s household. Respect them.”
“Whatever, brother. So, that’s why you interrupted me?”
“From doin’ what?”
“Watching porn.”
He wasn’t sure how to react to that. But Reilly slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle the noise that almost escaped. He twisted his head to see the corners of her eyes wrinkled up and tears in her eyes.
“What the fuck, Mickey!” came through the phone. “You actually thought I’d answer the phone in the middle of watching porn?” She laughed. “I was cleaning up the kitchen. And believe me, I love you, brother, but I’m not sharing my porn-watching schedule with you.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he grumbled.
Reilly made a cute little squeak and bumped her shoulder into his.
“Who’s listening in?”
“What?”
“You have me on speaker phone, I heard a female. Did you play hooky from work today to get laid instead?”
Jesus fuck. “No.” He shot another quick glance at the blonde smashed against him, her big soft tits now pressed into his arm. He did a quick check to see if her nipples were hard. “It’s Reilly.”
“Hey, sweet cheeks!” Saylor yelled through the phone.
“Hey, girl!” Reilly called back, now wearing a grin.
“Is my brother boning you right now?”
“No, we’re at the garage,” Reilly answered with an exaggerated pout. As if Saylor could see her. Rev shook his head.
“Oh, damn. I hoped you two would hook up.”
“Saylor. Jesus fuck. Don’t say shit like that,” Rev growled.
“Why? It’s true. You two would make beautiful babies.”
“Fuck! I ain’t havin’ babies. We’re not hookin’ up. That’s not why the fuck I’m callin’.”
She laughed. “So, then, spit it the hell out, big brother. Cassie wants me to put together some meal in the Crockpot—”
“Yeah, okay, don’t give a fuck about Crockpots. Got somethin’ more important to tell you.”
“What’s more important than Cream Cheese Chicken over rice? That shit is banging. Just like you two should be doing.”
“Didn’t know you wanted your brother to die,” Rev said dryly.
“Reilly, your pussy is worth dying for, right?” Saylor asked. “I bet she’s got a bomb ass pussy.”
“Saylor!” Rev yelled, now avoiding looking at Reilly who was laughing so hard she was crying. “Need to tell you somethin’. Stop fuckin’ around.”
“Okay, what? Spill. Wait. Hey, Reilly, you need to come to The Barn tonight. We need to get smashed and then have a contest on which one of us can get more of the guys to pop boners without us even touching them.”
“What the fuck,” Rev muttered. “She ain’t comin’ to The Barn for that shit. You two ain’t gettin’ smashed and you better not be fuckin’ with the guys like that. Especially those goddamn prospects. Don’t be the reason I gotta slice one of those fuckers’ throats for steppin’ out of line ‘cause you’re fuckin’ teasin’ them.”
“You’re no fun.”
Rev sucked in a long breath to cool off his temper.
“I’ll text you later,” Reilly said.
He twisted his head toward her. “The fuck you will.”
Reilly frowned.
So did he.
“Okay, I have shit to do. What do you want, brother, if you’re not calling me to tell me that you and Reilly are knocking boots?”
Rev sighed. He needed to get this conversation back on track so he could get it out and over with. “Got a phone call.”
“So?”
“Matthew called.”
Dead silence followed. After a few seconds, he heard a shuddered breath. Yeah, for Saylor, suddenly this phone call was no longer fun and games. “Why?”
“Said the motherfucker’s dyin’.”
Reilly jerked against him and the hand covering his on her thigh squeezed tight.
His sister simply answered with, “Good.”
“He wants me to go there.”
“He who?”
“Matthew.”
In the silence that followed, Rev could hear his own heartbeat in his ears.
Finally, Saylor asked quietly, “Just you?”
“Told them you were dead.”
Reilly gasped and Saylor made a choking sound.
Rev quickly added, “They don’t know you’re here with me,” to help prevent any panic.
It wasn’t fear or panic he heard in her voice, it was seething anger when she asked, “Why the fuck would they want you there? Why would he?”
Rev scraped a thumbnail across his forehead and sighed, struggling to keep his own anger in check. “Don’t know. Think our uncle contacted me on his own. Our wonderful, lovin’ father probably don’t know. ‘Cause I can’t imagine he asked for me.” If he asked for anyone, it would be for Saylor. Sarah.
“You’re not going, are you?”
He twisted a hand back and forth along the back of his neck. “Don’t know.”
“Well, I’m glad you told them I’m dead because there’s no way you’ll catch me near that fucking place. The next time I see that bastard, it’ll be in hell.”