Defiant Queen (Mount Trilogy #2)

Jerry released them both after the awkwardly long embrace. The social worker was still beaming about her accomplishment of reuniting siblings.

“Well, I’ll leave y’all to get better acquainted.” She looked at Dixie. “You know the drill. Nothing new.”

Jerry laughed, and the bottom of his shirt lifted so his gut hung over his pants. “Nothing but a bump back up in that check we get every month, you mean.”

The social worker’s smile dimmed a few watts, but she nodded. “Of course.” She looked down at the two girls, but focused mostly on the new girl. “You have my number if you need to talk about anything for any reason. I hope you enjoy your new home, and I’m so glad you and Destiny are finally together again.”

“She’s gonna love it,” Jerry said.

As soon as the social worker drove away, Jerry wrapped his sausage-like fingers around Hope’s forearm. “I’ll show ya your new room. You’ll be right next to me and Dixie.”

“I can share with Destiny,” Hope said. “It’s no bother. I don’t need my own room.”

Jerry ran his tongue over his teeth again. “You’re too old to be sharing a room. We got plenty. Come on and don’t argue.”

That slimy, creepy feeling grew as Jerry dragged her up the stairs, probably headed to the room vacated by another foster kid before Destiny and I showed up within a few days of each other.

From what Jerry Jr. said, that one was a girl too. He was only seven, so he couldn’t tell me why she moved on, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Hope’s blue eyes, the exact match of Destiny’s, locked on me as the trash bag slapped against every step. I saw the fear. She knew she’d just walked into a keg of gunpowder, just waiting for a spark to explode in her face.

I didn’t break her stare until they turned the corner at the top of the steps, but I vowed in that moment that if that fat fuck touched her . . . all bets were off.



Hope slept in Destiny’s room instead of her own for the first week because Destiny cried whenever Hope left her sight.

Jerry’d had enough of it now. He was drunk and pissed tonight as he slammed his fist on the counter hard enough to make the cheap dishes rattle.

“You stop being a little crybaby. Hope ain’t goin’ nowhere, and she’s sleepin’ in her own damn room tonight whether you like it or not.”

I’d barely slept all week because I didn’t trust him. I was starting to feel drunk from the lack of it, and my schoolwork, which I didn’t bother much with anyway, was worse than ever. I’d spent more time in the principal’s office than in class since I started at this school. But they expected that from me, from all of us kids in the system. It was like they knew we were set up to fail from day one, so why even try.

All we were was crap.

For me, it was the truth. At least the way I was told, my ma had left me on the stairs of a church in the Quarter and a nun found me, covered in my own shit.

It was a pretty fitting start to how my life had gone. The stain of what I was, who I was, followed me everywhere I went.

Sometimes I wondered if my mama had bothered to name me herself before she left me, but it didn’t matter. The only name I’d had was the one the nun gave me—Michael. Just as generic as the rest of the bible names they give the thrown-away kids.

“No! Want my sissy!” Destiny cried.

Jerry grabbed her by her thin arm and hauled her closer while reaching for his belt buckle with the other hand. “You want to cry? I’ll give you something to cry about.”

Hope dropped to her knees in front of her sister, putting her at eye level with Jerry’s crotch. “It’s okay, Desi. I’ll just be a couple rooms away. I’ll still be here in the morning when you wake up. I’m not letting them split us up again. I promise.”

That promise told me Hope hadn’t been in the system as long as I’d thought. If she had, she’d know better than to make any promises. They were all bound to get broken.

Jerry kept his hold on Destiny and his belt buckle, but his attention shifted to Hope. Or rather, down Hope’s shirt.

Someone needed to buy the girl a bra, but I guaranteed she wouldn’t be getting one from Jerry.

“See, your sister knows how to behave like a good girl.” He ran his tongue across his teeth inside his mouth. “Real good.”

I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping again tonight.



Jerry waited until Destiny was asleep and Dixie had passed out in the living room before he made his move. My eyelids were dragged down by what felt like a ton of bricks, but as soon as the old wooden floors creaked, I knew he was on the move.

My blood pumped harder, faster, as I slid out of my doorway and skipped the creaking boards I’d memorized within days of my arrival. Moving silently had its advantages.

The hinges on the door, long since needing oil, squeaked as he pushed it open.

He went toward Hope’s bed, and from my position behind him, I saw her bolt up and clutch the covers to her chest like she’d held that trash bag.

Jerry lunged for her, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Don’t you fucking scream, or I’ll make paying your dues even more taxing, girl.”

Hope fought against him, but he shredded her threadbare shirt down the front and her tiny tits fell free. He reached for one and squeezed. His other hand disappeared.

“Get ready to pay your rent, girl. Your sister’s too. Unless you want me to take from her. Bet she cries just as pretty as you.”

Rage boiled in my empty belly, and I had to force back the urge to puke at his words. He didn’t deserve to live.

With the Louisville slugger he’d bought Jerry Jr. for Little League over my shoulder, I flexed my hands, adjusting my grip. I’d take an evil life to save an innocent soul any day of the week.

Jerry ripped back the covers all the way as I stepped through the doorway.

“Don’t you fucking touch her.”

Jerry whipped around to look at me, and Hope’s whimpers of fear filled my ears.

His gaze landed on the bat over my shoulder. “The fuck you think you’re gonna do with that, boy? Want me to shove it up your ass since you think you’re king shit?”

He moved faster than I would’ve thought possible, lurching his bulk off the bed and charging me like a bull, his dick swinging out of his dirty pants like a limp hot dog.

That motherfucker.

I didn’t think. I swung.

But Jerry ducked, and the bat slammed against the side of his neck. He stumbled backward until he crashed into the wall, his hands going to his throat. He slid to the floor as Hope silently cried in her bed, shaking with fear as she grasped the sheet to cover herself.

Jerry struggled to breathe as I stepped toward him, my disgust growing as I thought about what he would’ve done to her if I hadn’t been here. If he hadn’t dodged, I might have crushed his head like a melon with that first swing, but I was glad that didn’t happen. He didn’t deserve to go that easy or quickly.

A grown man trying to rape a fourteen-year-old girl deserved to die slowly, in as much pain as possible.