Chapter 2 #2
“It’s none of your concern. But why don’t you go get my son something to drink. Do something for him for once.”
“Your son can walk to the kitchen and get it himself. As he told me this morning.” She winked at me as she said it, helping my shoulders drop.
My lips quirked into a smile. “I was a bit of a bastard this morning, wasn’t I?” My mother was lucky Blakely had spoken first or I’d have kicked the woman out myself for daring to speak to Blakely like that.
“You had just done your PT, so you were in a mood. It’s okay.” She gave a pointed look to my mother that told me our argument had carried throughout the house.
“Dorian—” my mother began.
“Just go home. I’m not staying with you. God, I’m never staying with you.”
“And so you’re just going to live on your brother’s charity.”
“Yup. That sounds pretty good.” I turned to Blakely, grinning. “What do you say? Do you mind if I live here forever? Oh, maybe you can marry me as well, and we can get a whole poly going on. But not the way that Ford is with his husband. You know, as Aston’s my brother.”
“Why did you have to make it weird?” Blakely said as she walked into the room. She ran her hand through my hair and rolled her eyes. “But I’m not going to marry you. Aston’s possessive.”
I could practically feel the heated rage radiating off my mother as she moved forward. “I don’t understand you. Either of you. And then you just bring up Ford and his lifestyle.”
“Get out,” Blakely said, her voice sickly sweet. “Get out of my home. You’re not welcome here. Not if you’re going to talk about our family that way.”
My hands fisted at my sides. As much as I wanted to handle this myself, if I stepped in front of Blakely like I wanted to, my sister-in-law would kick my ass. I’d throw my mom out if my body had the energy, but I wasn’t about to step on Blakely’s toes.
“This is my son’s home. You just latch onto him.”
“You’re right. I think I really latched onto him when I learned how to give that perfect blowjob. It’s all about learning how to swallow and hollow your cheeks.”
I threw my head back and laughed, ignoring the pain in my side. The scars of the burns on my side ached, but after a year now, they were healing up well enough.
My mother looked as if she was ready to strangle Blakely, but I knew for a fact that Blakely could take her. Instead my mom picked up her purse and stomped out of the room.
“I cannot believe I just said that to your mother,” she said as she put her face in her hands. “I don’t think I’ve ever said anything like that in my life.”
“I love you more than you know. And I realize that a triad relationship really isn’t what you’re looking for, but if you ever leave Aston, I’m all yours.”
She shoved gently at my shoulder, and then took a step back, eyes wide. “Did I hurt you?”
I sighed, shaking my head. And just like that, reality was back. “No. You didn’t. Promise. I didn’t feel a twinge that time.”
“I just want you to be okay, Dorian.” Her eyes began to fill, and I cursed. I gripped the edge of the chair and forced myself to stand, ignoring the twinge. When I wrapped my arms around Blakely, she settled into me, but didn’t hug me back.
“The burns won’t get any worse if you hug me you know.”
“You just have to tell me if it’s too much,” she whispered. And then she wrapped her arms around my waist, settling her cheek on my chest.
I sighed. “Thanks for standing up for me.”
“I was mostly standing up for Ford,” she mumbled.
I chuckled, resting my cheek on the top of her head. “I don’t know why my mother’s getting worse day by day, but I’m sorry she was here at all.”
“She’s your mother. She should have a right to see you.”
“No. She shouldn’t.”
“Is there something I should know?” Aston asked dryly.
I looked over at my suave older brother as he strolled into the upstairs parlor where we all stood.
His hair was a bit longer than usual, and it looked like he had finger combed it back numerous times during the day.
He had undone his tie, his suit jacket long gone, and while he raised a brow at me, he truly only had eyes for his wife.
Fricking newlyweds.
Right after I had gotten out of the hospital, I could have stayed with any one of my family members.
Even Hudson offered to take me in. My brother was enough of a recluse that he didn’t like anybody near him, but his words hadn’t been a surprise.
He was a good man who’d seen shit no one wanted to deal with.
Even Kyler, the brother I barely knew and was currently out on a world tour since he was a damn rockstar, had offered to stay home and help me.
The siblings I hadn’t grown up with had each opened their homes for me, and I hadn’t been able to say yes.
Instead, I had stayed with my older brother, because sometimes you just needed the one you knew who could take your attitude. Or maybe I was just the little boy again, looking up to the one person who had been able to see through my lies to myself.
“I’m trying to steal her away, but she won’t have me.”
Aston shook his head and tugged Blakely to him. She freely went, and I didn’t try to hold her back. Mostly because I’d hurt myself if I did. From the way Aston was looking at me, I had a feeling he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Mine,” Aston bit out slowly.
“I do love being fought over like a dog toy,” Blakely added dryly.
“But like one of those homemade dog toys, not the mass-produced kind,” I put in.
“You are so weird. But I love you, Dorian. Do you want me to go get your pain pills? I know it’s almost time.”
Resentment split through me, but I put on a bright smile, trying my best to ignore it. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry.”
“No, let me help. You don’t have to go all the way downstairs.”
“I’ve got it, Blakely,” I snapped, and immediately regretted it.
It wasn’t Blakely’s fault I was in a pissed off mood.
“Dorian,” Aston’s voice cooled. I wanted to slither up and hide under that stare.
Blakely patted her husband’s chest. “It’s fine. I’m going to go start dinner. Come with me. I want to tell you the whole blowjob thing I talked about with your mother.”
Aston blinked slowly, and I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t smile. “Well, that’s one way to distract me. I’m very confused and I’m afraid I don’t want to know.”
“You actually want to know this one.” I winked and Aston’s shoulders relaxed.
“You’re getting dinner with us, right? You’re not going to hide up here?”
“Aston,” Blakely whispered.
“Yeah. Don’t worry. I won’t become the crazy recluse in the attic. At least not yet.”
My brother shook his head. “Dorian. We only want what’s best for you.”
“That’s what everybody keeps saying.” And with that, I turned to go back to my room on the other side of the hall. Of all the homes that we Cages owned, this one was the largest. But considering we Cages needed to meet up en masse often, it was good that at least one of us had the space.
I closed the door behind me, ignoring the worrying whispers between the married couple.
I was exhausted, and it had nothing to do with PT that morning. No, I didn’t want to think about exactly what it had to do with.
I sank down into the comfortable chair in the corner that I knew Blakely had put up here so I would be able to sleep at some point. I hadn’t been able to sleep on my back at first, so the armchair La-Z-Boy had been my saving grace. But even having my feet up didn’t help keep away the nightmares.
My phone buzzed, as the family group chat went on about something or the other. I stopped paying attention. I used to be the one to instigate shit, but I wasn’t in the mood. I was tired, and I had no idea what the hell I was doing.
I hadn’t been lying when I told my mom that my managers were handling my four high-end bars.
The Golden Cage was the highest-end bar that I owned, and the clientele tended to be the wheelers and dealers of politics for the area.
Some came from Old Money; the others made a name for themselves.
Either way, the drinks were top notch and we’d spared no expense at making the place comfortable yet ornate.
I had three other places that varied in degrees, but they were still doing well.
And though I had told my mother my managers were handling everything, I still looked in on them, at least through emails and spreadsheets.
I wasn’t in the mood to be gawked at, so I didn’t go to each of them.
My managers could handle them without me.
Hell, I should have been letting that happen anyway.
I was the CEO. I didn’t need to show my face.
I ran a hand over the scar on my jawline, the one that would one day be covered with a beard. Most of my scars were underneath my clothes, so they wouldn’t be gawking for long. I didn’t want them to see. Didn’t want the questions. Those pitying looks.
And that meant I needed to get out of here.
Not just from work, but from the others.
Because the Cage family dinner would be happening at Aston’s soon, and I didn’t want to deal with that.
When dear old daddy had died, the true nastiness of his secrets had been revealed.
Meaning each of the Cages had found out they weren’t the only Cages in town.
I didn’t only have six siblings, I had eleven.
But of course dead old dad couldn’t just stick with a secret family. No he had to screw us in the end. In order for the family company to stay as is and not be divided into so many parts that thousands of people would lose their jobs and ways of life, we had to have family dinners once a month.
With three people from one side of the family and two from the other.
We had to document it and send it to our handy-dandy lawyer.
And once that was done in a couple of years, there would be more hoops to go through.
It was one of the worst wills ever in the history of time, and we still couldn’t get out of it.
My father was a mastermind and hypocritical asshole, and he didn’t stop there. Each one of us got a letter from our father. I knew some of us had opened ours, and others hadn’t received theirs from the lawyer yet.
I knew what was in Aston’s because he had showed us, but I didn’t know anyone else’s.
With a sigh I opened the hardback book I had been trying to read through the headaches and pulled out the letter that I barely cared about.
Dorian,
It’s time for you to realize who you really are. For you to stand up against the blood in your veins and the history of where you came from. It’s time for you to do something with your life for once. To stop being the playboy who fucks around and never amounts to anything.
Take this. Take what I wouldn’t bother giving the others. Do whatever you want with it. But you know what you need to do.
For once in your weak life, make me proud.
Loren Cage.
My lip lifted in a snarl, and I resisted the urge to crumple the paper.
I had never liked my father. And truly I never loved him. And what kind of thing was that to think of the dead? I didn’t really care about what my dad thought. But he had given me a way out.
Because in addition to the main will, there had been a side benefit just for me.
I took the keys from the night table and looked down at them in my hand. The weight of them far heavier than it should be.
With a sigh I stood up again, but too quickly. My knee gave out, and I cursed, falling forward. I tried to catch myself at the edge of the bed but missed and ended up on my side.
Pain spliced up my side, and I cursed through gritted teeth, trying to breathe through the acidic taste on my tongue. The sound of running on stairs echoed through the area, and I cursed, trying to sit up before Aston barged his way in the room. But I was too late.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re on the fucking floor, Dorian. Let me help.”
“I’ve got it! You don’t need to help the invalid. I’m fucking fine!” I shoved Aston away and forced myself to stand, straining my side in the process.
“Dorian. I love you. You’re hurting. Just let us help.”
I whirled on my brother, one of the people I loved most in the world, and tried not to throw a punch. Because maybe hitting someone I knew loved me back would make things better.
“I’m fine. Okay? You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve got this.”
“You always do. But you can lean on someone.”
“So says Aston Cage. The Cage.”
I could have cursed myself at that, from the way that Aston staggered back.
Our father had been The Cage. The asshole name that came with the responsibility of an empire. And all the weight of the disappointment and cruelty of our father.
“I’m going to go help Blakely with dinner. I’ll see you in a bit.”
I should have opened my mouth to say I was sorry, to do anything. But instead I watched him walk away and then looked down at the keys in my hand that I hadn’t dropped.
It was time to go because I couldn’t be here. Maybe I could be near her. After all, I had promised Joshua. I didn’t want to see that look on my brother’s face again. So maybe it was time to open up the closets and search for all of those skeletons.
Because I wasn’t going to do that here.
I just didn’t know if I was going to be able to figure out what the hell I was doing in Cage Lake either.