Beautiful Lies (Breaking Belles #2) - Alta Hensley Page 0,37

favors,” she said.

I heard a deep sigh come from Sully; a sound I was getting quite used to. “Mrs. H… I really need to get ready for tonight.”

“Yes, you do. Which is why I’m here. Tonight is going to test the both of you, and you need to be there for that girl. She needs you. You need her.”

“I get it.”

“I don’t think you do, Sully. You put up this wall, but the Order is going to break it one way or the other. I just don’t want you to destroy that poor girl in the process.”

“I have no intention of hurting her. And for the record, I’m trying to be nicer.”

“Well, try harder,” Mrs. H said. “All I’m seeing is an ass. You’re better than that. You always have been. Don’t become your father.”

“I’m nothing like my father,” Sully barked.

“I beg to differ, sonny. You’ll let the darkness from his soul enter yours if you aren’t careful. You better learn to silence those vices of yours and how to soothe the hate in your veins.”

There was a short period of silence, and I wondered if Mrs. Hawthorne had left the room, but then heard her speak again.

“Stop fighting everyone, Sully. We aren’t all your enemies.”

“You would fight if you were in my position as well.”

“You aren’t the first young man to be going through this. But you are the first one to have such a foul disposition about it.”

“And you think what is happening is right?” he asked.

“It’s not for me to judge. But I will say this… it’s your ancestry. It’s your lineage. It’s your job to figure out how to adapt and overcome both. You can’t run from who you are. You can’t hide. I know you think running off to play surfer boy in California was a good way to do so. But you have responsibilities. You have a sister and a mother who need you now more than ever before.”

My ears perked up. Sully had briefly mentioned having a sister but gave very little details about her. Was she older or younger than him? He was always so closed off with me about his personal life or anything before he showed up at the Oleander.

“It’s time you step up and be a man. This Initiation in The Order of the Silver Ghost is about that. Being a man. It’s time.”

The door to the bedroom opened and then shut. Mrs. H had left.

I waited a few moments and then walked out of the bathroom not sure what kind of mood I would find Sully in. He struck me as the kind of man who didn’t appreciate being lectured by anyone, but I was pleasantly surprised to find him standing in his tuxedo, a hand in his pocket and a smile on his face when he saw me.

“You look amazing,” he said. “Really pretty.”

I looked down at my short dress and silver heels and smirked. “At least I’m not wearing a collar, a fox tail, or some other kinky costume.”

“Yet,” he countered with a wink. “The night is young.”

He extended the crook of his arm for me to take and led us out of the bedroom and to the ballroom. Even though I had done this walk many times, I still felt nervous. It was the unknowing. The surprise. I couldn’t prepare.

Sully was the first to speak when we entered the room. “Fuck.” His entire posture went stiff as a board.

I followed his gaze to a man sitting down next to a leather chair with a tattoo gun ready. The Elders stood around the tattoo station with canes in hands as if they were prepared to beat us if we said no to what was to come. The chandelier lights were dim and a fire burned in the large fireplace on the right side of the room that had yet to be lit since being here. It was like a scene from some fucked up black and white gothic movie.

“Are they going to tattoo us?” I asked, mentally preparing myself for it.

Sully released a deep breath and led us to the chair.

“Gentlemen,” he said to the Elders. “Is this where I get a pink butterfly tattooed on my ass?”

“Sully VanDoren,” an Elder spoke. “You are first.”

I expected Sully to put up a fight, but he surprised me when he sat down, pulled up his sleeve, and rested his wrist in front of the tattoo artist. It was clear he knew what was going to happen and had