Shackled (The Lord Series) by Carlos novel Chapter 135

Mose

Rueben slams the back door of the kitchen as he enters the house. His belt is in his right hand, and his eyes glow red. Clearly, something happened with Olivia. Maybe he went ahead and strangled her to death with his belt? It wouldn’t surprise me, I have seen him unalive people with his belt many times. The last one was the fat, ugly ba stard who owned Speckles before us. He had the audacity to come here and demand we give her back to him. Of course, Rueben invited him in for a beer, and that f**king pig didn’t leave the house alive. He got what he deserved, but we had to change the table as his blood got all over it. I might have accidentally chopped his fingers for polluting my kitchen with his presence.

The kitchen is usually our gathering place, and in time, we fell into the habit of entering the house through the backdoor as it is closer to the stable. I prefer the front entrance because it has a porch, and I usually sit there alone with a beer as I unwind from a long day at the restaurant. As much as I love my job, when I get home, I am almost always exhausted, probably because I suffer from anemia. No matter how many times I go to the doctor, it always

returns.

Grabbing a beer from the fridge, Rueben sits at the table and slams his belt on top of it.

Tyson, who has his nose stuck in a book with a half-naked dude on the cover and a very cringy title, ‘My hot next-door neighbor,’ glances at the belt. I never understood how he could read trashy romance. Not only that, but he also writes books for women who lack men to d ick them well and live vicariously through his stories.

A few drops of blood are on the belt. “Did you kill her?” Tyson inquires.

Rueben takes a long sip from his beer. “I would have if not for Jasper stopping me. Again. The b itch tried to claw my

eye out.”

Diva starts howling, and Tyson goes to open the door to Rueben’s room.

“Do you want me to look at those scratches?” I ask Rueben.

“You should, I don’t trust that bi tch to be clean. G od knows what diseases I can catch from her.”

Rueben and I met soon after the death of his sister, and since then, I have been hearing about Olivia constantly. I imagined her… differently, but I don’t blame Rueben for thinking she has STDs. Not that he will catch anything from her scratching him, but he can still get an infection from germs found under fingernails.

From the state of Olivia’s pu ssy, I wouldn’t be surprised if she f**ked all the Dukes in the city, so getting her tested is the first thing we have to do. While I like pu ssy, I don’t want to risk my health for whatever twisted plot Rueben came up with to take down Senator Deymar.

Diva runs into the kitchen and jumps on Rueben, licking him a few times before settling under the table at his feet.

Rueben finally relaxes and leans back on his chair finishing his beer.

Tyson returns only to grab his book and say, “I am off to bed.”

“Night,” I say.

Mose

Rueben mumbles something as Tyson disappears into his office. He usually sleeps there on a pullout sofa, waking several times a night to take notes on ideas for his books.

After taking another sip of my beer, I stand and go grab the first aid kit from the bathroom next to the kitchen.

“And Ansel?” Rueben asks when I put the first aid kit on the table next to his beer.

Grabbing a pair of latex gloves, I say, “He is checking the horses and Juniper.”

Rueben stays still as I start to disinfect his wounds.

“Looks like she has claws,” I chuckle when he hisses as I clean the scratches with hydrogen peroxide.

“I will yank out her fingernails with hot pliers if she does it again.”

Once, he ripped open someone’s throat for saying something about his mother. I might love Rueben, but he is f**ked up in the head.

Ansel enters the house and after washing his hands, he too grabs a beer and joins us.

“What happened to your face?” Ansel asks.