Page 39 of The Family Pet

I slapped both of my hands over my mouth to keep from saying anything because I didn’t want Dad to know I was hiding down here, since that would lead to questions, but most importantly—I wanted to tell Uncle Bowie to do it.

13

BOWIE

Every nerve in my body was on full alert and the hair on the back of my arms stood high. I’d expected never to see Johnny again—or more like hoped he would stay away after running off with so much money—but he had once again proven me wrong with his lack of intelligence. I tensed, teeth clenched tightly as I stared at my brother. He’d always been shorter than me, and while I still had thick dark hair, at sixty he had a receding hairline creeping toward the middle of his head. I’d always put his bad luck down to karma.

“There are a lot of people who want to kill you in this city, Johnny. Coming back wasn’t the smartest move.” I rested my hand on Saint’s head to keep him under the desk. My protectiveness for him was the only reason I hadn’t stormed across the room and decked my brother. I needed Saint to stay hidden because he was the prize Johnny wanted, and I wasn’t going to give Saint to him.

“I heard you paid them all off.” He sent me a wide grin. “It’s not so dangerous anymore. Thanks for that.”

I laughed and so did he. After a few moments though, I stopped and pointed at him. “You’re a dead man.”

His smile swept off his face and he spread his arms. “Come on, Bowie. It’s not that bad.”

I picked up my cell from the desk—though the gun in my drawer looked tempting—and waved it at him. “One call to Ms. Winters and you won’t be saying that.”

“You paid her,” he argued. The confidence in his body language faded and his shoulders slumped. His jaw tightened. Good. I fucking hated when he was being an overconfident dick. Johnny had always gotten what he’d wanted, and my parents had given him everything on a silver platter. Not this time. They were dead, and I wasn’t going to do it for them.

“You betrayed her. She doesn’t give a fuck if she got the money from me. Ms. Winters doesn’t suffer fools, and you’re the biggest one of all. You took her cash and ran. Trust me, she’ll catch up with you.”

Saint pushed at my palm, and I shoved him back. He whimpered, and Johnny frowned toward the desk. He stepped forward, but I held up my hand with the phone in it.

“I double-dog dare you to come closer. I’ll make the call.” I smirked at him. I fucking loved having him by the balls.

He glared. “I’m your brother. You should be on my side.”

“Why?” I was genuinely curious. Johnny’s psyche was a strange oddity I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. I fully admitted that I was a bastard when I wanted to be, but I knew where I came from and how I got there. Johnny had this idea that everyone owed him something. That was our parents’ fault.

“Because you love me.” He froze when I unlocked my phone and scrolled down my contacts to Ms. Winters’s name. He couldn’t see whose number I’d found, but he could hazard a guess, I was sure.

“Love you?” I glanced very quickly at Saint and my gut tugged. The helpless and heartbroken expression on his face only made me angrier. Saint was mine and he’d been through enough hell because of Johnny. The only person allowed to make him cry now was me. Well, and Ridge. I narrowed my eyes on my brother. “Maybe once, when I thought the world of you, but you’re nothing now, Johnny. This city hates you and half of Vert Island wants to eat you for breakfast.” I shrugged. “Including me. The only reason I’m not putting a bullet through your heart is because I did love you once.”

Sometimes I wondered if Saint was Johnny’s child. They didn’t act alike at all. Saint was sweet and cuddly and ready to please. My pup deserved better than this piece of shit.

Johnny visibly swallowed and his mouth curved gently, like it used to when I was eighteen and he was thirty and convinced me to stick my cock in him. I had loved him. I would’ve done anything for him. I’d tried to convince him to run away from New Gothenburg and leave our parents and wealth behind, but he’d brushed me off and married Naomi instead.

“Come on, Wowie.”

I winced at the nickname. He hadn’t used that since before his wedding with the nightmare.

“Help me here. I’m only back in the city to get Saint. That’s all. I heard from someone that you know where he is.” He stretched out his arm toward me and a familiar disgust curled in the pit of my stomach. Anger throbbed in my temples.

“Saint isn’t yours anymore.” I dropped my phone on the desk and crossed my arms. “You left him here to take the brunt of the violence aimed at you. You knew they would come after you if they couldn’t find anyone to zero in on here. Everyone needed a target, so you conveniently left one behind. He doesn’t want anything to do with you.”

Johnny’s eyebrows crept up his forehead. “How do you know that? You’ve barely met my kid.”

I smirked again and poisonous pleasure simmered inside me. I held out my hand toward Saint. “Pup, come out here. Tell your father what I just told him.”

Saint hesitantly took my hand and crawled out from under my desk. He stood on wobbly legs, and when he glanced at his father, I took an insidious joy in the wide-eyed shock from Johnny as he examined the collar on Saint’s neck and the way his clothes were skewed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened before Johnny came in.

Saint cuddled up against my side and his bottom lip quivered, like he was caught between crying and wanting to yell at his father. I wouldn’t blame him for the latter.

Johnny’s gaze slid to the desk and wickedness welled in my chest when he finally saw the butt plug with the tail attached that had been in Saint’s ass. This time his mouth dropped open and he snapped his gaze back to us. “What the fuck, Bowie? Are you fucking my son?”

I wrapped an arm around Saint’s shoulder and tickled my finger across his neck. He shuddered and leaned in closer. “Saint’s my pup. I got him for my boy, Ridge. You remember your nephew, Ridge, don’t you?”

It couldn’t have gone better if I’d planned it. The door to my office opened again, and Ridge stepped inside. He paused when he saw Johnny, and he had a reaction similar to mine. His jaw tightened and he tensed. His nose scrunched as he gave Johnny a once-over.