He completely ignored my questions. “He’s a grown-ass man. I’m not his keeper—”
“You were mine. But seeing as you did such an amazing job of raising me, I guess I couldn’t expect any less.”
I shook my head, once again disappointed by the turn in events.
“Tell me, Uncle… if you didn’t want me, then why did you take me in? Why not just leave me in foster care? My parents didn’t have a will. It’s not like you were obligated. So, why? Why go through all the trouble and burden to raise me if you didn’t want me?” I asked for the first time, needing the answer to the question that consumed my very being since the day he brought me back to his penthouse.
“We’re family, Briggs. You’re my niece whether you want to be or not. No matter what you think of me, I would never turn my back on my family. Ever,” he spoke with conviction.
“You have a very deluded sense of the word family, Uncle.”
“I raised you the only way I knew how,” he rasped out almost in a sad tone I’d never heard before, causing me to jerk back from the sudden emotion in his voice.
“Do you even love me?” I blurted, raising my eyebrows as soon as the question left my mouth.
He didn’t falter. “I loved your mother, and you’re a part of her,” he simply stated.
“I stopped trying to understand you fucking decades ago. But if you want to finally do something for me, then you’ll let us go. If he has any chance of living a normal life, I need to get him out of here. Away from you.”
Silence.
“Please… please… Uncle.”
I would beg him on my hands and knees if I needed to.
“You will always be my niece, Briggs, and I will always be your uncle… in any life you choose,” he forewarned and immediately hung up before I had the chance to say anything.
I didn’t give it anymore thought, walking back into the apartment I looked over at a sleeping Austin.
Finally feeling hopeful.
<>Austin<>
I woke up at the crack of dawn with a sleeping Briggs in my arms. I couldn’t remember the last time I watched her sleep. She was usually out of bed before me and that was if she even slept at all. She was lying on my arm, curled around it like a stuffed animal. Her memory blanket placed on top of both of us.
She was a sight for sore fucking eyes.
She looked like an angel with her hair spread out on the pillow and her pink pouty lip that she loved to bite was sticking out.
Damn, I was a lucky son of a bitch.
It had been over two weeks since I stopped using. I wasn’t even taking pain pills. And I owed it all to the woman in my arms. For the first time in over a decade I was completely sober.
It was the craziest fucking feeling. Ever.
It was like I had been on a roller coaster for years and it finally came to a halt. Except I couldn’t find my balance no matter where or how I stood, and I would be lying if I said it didn’t scare me. There were triggers all around me.
Fuck, this apartment alone was a trigger.
A part of me felt like I was just living in the gray area, hoping that I would soon find the black or white. I didn’t want to relapse. I swear on my love for Briggs that I wanted to stay sober, but it was such unfamiliar territory for me.
As if it were a new world, one that I hadn’t existed in since before my car accident. Somewhere along the way I let the darkness and the demons, creep in through the cracks.
I never thought people could become so weak to the point of letting anything control their lives. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever become one of them. I knew I was slowly killing myself from the first time that needle went into my arm. There was no going back for me. There was no going forward either. I was at a standstill with no place to go but down into the dark abyss of addiction.
Being able to see our baby girl didn’t help, all it did was add fuel to my already burning fire. Taking down everything in its wake.
Including Briggs.
She was burning alive because I was already dead.
I couldn’t even remember the last time I touched her, the last time I fucking tasted her, or the last time we fucked. Let alone made love. I used to pretty much live inside, her day in and day out. It was my favorite place to be. Buried balls deep inside her.
I could see her nipples through the cream color satin of her tank top that had rose up while she slept. I softly caressed her stomach with my knuckles, leaving goosebumps in their wake. She felt like silk against my fingers as I slowly made my way down to the edge of her panties, slipping my fingers into her warm welcoming heat.
She stirred, and her body told me to keep going even though her eyes were still closed. My fingers moved slowly at first, and with each elevated breath that escaped from her lips, I moved them faster and more precise.
She moaned, fluttering her eyes open.
“What’s going—”