Rough & Raw (Notorious Devils Book 2) by Hayley Faiman

thanks is one thing, but to see this tiny malyshka prove her understanding of the situation is a completely different story. It just proves to me that their situation was beyond horrific. It was probably exactly like my own childhood.
    I could be pissed at Brentlee for bringing a baby into that environment, or I could praise her for leaving—something my own mother never did. I could hold my own shit over her, but I wouldn’t do that, not when it’s my fault she was even in that situation.
    Had I never left her, had I come back for her, had I been strong enough to keep her as mine — none of this shit would be happening now. She would have never married that prick. She’d have always been mine. She would have never been hurt and her baby, it would have been my baby, not that piece of shit’s.
    Fury and I gather the girls and put them in his big ass SUV. Normally, I wouldn’t let anybody drive me, anywhere; but I know Kentlee and Brentlee need some time together, and I didn’t want to split them up between vehicles.
    Once we take off down the road toward Boise, I chance a glance back at the girls, at my girls.
    They are mine.
    Stella’s little blonde curls and sweet smile.
    Brentlee’s long, straight, dark hair and lithe body.
    Mine .
    “You’re fucked, brother,” Fury murmurs beside me. A fact he’s already pointed out to me, just last night.
    “Yup,” I admit.
    “Magic fuckin’ pussy, I swear to Christ,” he chuckles.
    I ignore him. Brentlee’s already made it clear I won’t be getting in there anytime soon. I don’t want to push her, but I don’t want her to friend-zone me either. Something I could easily see her trying. No, I’m giving her a few weeks then I’m stakin’ my claim on her body, and she’s not going to have a fuckin’ choice. I only hope she comes willingly to me. It’ll be a fuck’ve a lot easier than me forcin’ the issue.
    “He’s had someone watching our place. You cannot come over to visit,” I hear Kentlee whispering to Brent in the backseat. It doesn’t ease my mind on the Scotty issue. I want that fucker buried and gone.
    “He won’t give up,” Brentlee says. I can hear the fear in her voice.
    I wish I could tell her to stand up and believe that she’s strong. She is so fuckin’ strong. Her walking out of that door and asking Fury for help, getting herself and her daughter out of that environment, it shows that she has more strength than most women. More strength than my own mother, that’s for fuckin’ sure.
    “Let him come at us guns blazin’,” Fury barks loudly.
    “ Pierce ,” Kentlee hisses.
    “I ain’t walkin’ on eggshells, baby girl,” he announces. I almost laugh at his I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude.
    “Well, maybe not in front of the kids then,” Kentlee mutters.
    “Stella knows what she’s seen. She’s not dumb. Just proved that shit not an hour ago. That fuckwad wants to come at me and my family, he’ll get exactly what he’s beggin’ for. No bones about it. Brentlee and Stella are under our protection. They’re family,” he states.
    “Fury,” Brentlee chokes out.
    I can’t look back at her. I can’t see the tears that I know are streaking down her cheeks. Not because of that piece of shit. Not because she has to rely on people for help. Not because she’s penniless and alone. Not because I left her and created this life for her. But because I’m the reason all that fuckin’ shit happened to her. The guilt of it all bubbles inside of me.
    It’s all my fuckin’ fault.
    Every bruise he ever gave her is my own goddamn fucking fault.

Brentlee
     
    E verybody is asleep in the car except for Fury and me. Even Bates is passed out with his head against the passenger window and his mouth slightly agape. He looks younger when he’s asleep, softer. Like he hasn’t been through hell and back.
    “You’re teetering on the edge there, darlin’,” Fury rumbles.
    “What do you mean?” I ask, looking down at my hands.
    “You’re