The Reckless Oath We Made(71)

Gentry walked over to the bed and rested the knuckles of his right hand against my thigh for a minute. Without even asking.

“He said what?”

“He said if we two would be bound together, I must trust thee.” He slid his knuckles up my leg until he got to the hem of my nightgown. I thought he might pull it down to cover me up. “That if my oath to thee was not idle words, I should lie with thee, and we would be bound together.”

“The black knight told you to have sex with me? As part of your oath?”

“Yea, my lady.”

I’d never thought of sex that way. Sometimes it was a chore, and a lot of times it was something to barter, like having a little money, even when I was broke. I relaxed my legs and Gentry pressed his hand between them, with just my panties separating us. I wondered, if we hadn’t had sex, would I have said yes to him coming to Missouri with me? Probably not, and I was glad not to be there alone.

“You want to come to bed and bond some more?” I said.

“Weren we elsewhere, somewhere safe, I would grind thee as a millstone grindeth grain to flour, but not here.”

I laughed, because he had the best dirty talk. Weird but filthy.

“No, probably not a good idea,” I said.

“Tho they be thy kin, my lady, I trust them not.”

Gentry was right. I trusted Dane about as far as I could throw him.





CHAPTER 34





Zee



In the morning, Gentry cooked breakfast. Omelets, hash browns, and biscuits that he made from scratch. I’d hoped it would only be Gentry, Uncle Alva, and me, but Dirk came up to the house as we were sitting down. He seemed excited at the idea of getting breakfast, and since Dane wasn’t there, he didn’t act stupid about Gentry cooking it. Uncle Alva had told me to wait til the morning to talk, so I hoped that was coming, but after he mopped his plate clean with half a biscuit and finished his coffee, he pushed back from the table.

“I gotta go into town for an appointment,” he said.

“How long will you be gone?” I said.

“I expect for a couple hours. Ain’t nothing changed since you was last here, so you make yourself at home.”

After they left, Gentry went upstairs to sleep and I wandered around the house. In the front room, Uncle Alva had the same record player that had belonged to my grandmother: an old console about the size of the couch. When I was a kid, there’d been a picture of my grandfather in his Klan robes hanging in that corner, but now there was just a square of wallpaper that wasn’t as sun-faded as the rest.

I looked around for some books, but all he had were old Reader’s Digest Condensed Novels. Since I’d already started it, I went out to the truck to get Yvain. The dog was sleeping, sprawled out like he was dead, but when I came down the steps, he jumped up and trotted toward me, dragging his chain.

“You mind your business, buddy, and I’ll mind mine,” I told him.

Out of curiosity, I took a peek behind the truck seat at what Gentry had stored back there. The usual stuff, like a roadside kit and the jack, but also a chain mail shirt, an axe, and a sword. I unsnapped the strap that kept the sword in its sheath and slid it out halfway. Unlike the “real swords” he and Rhys and Edrard fought with, this was a real sword. Like the one that hung over his bed, but a lot smaller. Shiny and sharp and dangerous looking.

“What do you want anyway, coming around here?” Dane said behind me.

I slid the sword into the sheath and slammed the seat back into place. With one hand I grabbed my book and with the other, I pushed the lock button down on the door. When I turned around, Dane was right there, so that I had to sidestep to close the door. I didn’t often have to look up at people, but Dane was at least half a foot taller than me.

“Like I said, I needed to get away and see family.”

“You ain’t seen my dad for almost twenty years, but now he’s family? You know he had to find out from the prison chaplain that Leroy died. Y’all didn’t even invite him to his brother’s funeral.”

“That was my mom’s business. Not mine,” I said, which wasn’t totally true. I hadn’t tried to get in touch with Uncle Alva when Dad died.

“But here you are, coming around like you’re looking for something. What are you up to? You know he ain’t got no money. You can’t get nothing off him.”

“I didn’t come looking for money.”

“Right. You just need your family at a time like this.”

I took a step sideways, planning to walk around Dane, but he cut me off.

“Why don’t you get the hell out of here and leave us be?” he said.

“Because Uncle Alva asked me to stay.”

“Because he can’t see what you’re up to.”

“What am I up to?” I said. To show him I wasn’t afraid, I took a step closer to him. Sure, he was taller, but he wasn’t that much bigger than me. His hygiene wasn’t great, either. Between his BO and his breath, I wished I’d kept my distance. His eyes were red and raw looking.

“You’re stirring up trouble. Go on home and wait for the cops to find them two jailbirds and LaReigne.”

“Oh, you didn’t forget that my sister’s been kidnapped?”

“That’s your problem,” he said. “Ain’t nothing Dad can do about that. So you need to mind your own business, and stay outta ours.”