by Kasey Krane
It was mainly me talking. Tonight, Aidan wasn’t going to give me anything and I knew I couldn’t push him too hard and make him more suspicious.
When I finally sat back and took notice, we were the only customers left in the restaurant. I hadn’t noticed how so much time had gone by. We talked for hours and it was…nice.
Aidan was full of surprises and he gave me an experience tonight that I hadn’t expected from him. It brought a smile to my face.
The servers watched us, probably hoping we would leave soon—but they were too scared of Aidan to come up and say anything. Everybody in this town knew a Doherty when they saw one.
“I guess it’s time for us to go,” I suggested.
“We should do it before one of them pops a nerve,” he commented, glaring at the staff hovering near the doors.
He pulled a thick wad of bills and left it on the table. As we made our way out, he placed a hand on my hip, electrifying my body. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would kiss me again. I wanted him to kiss me again.
At that moment, I would have given him anything he asked for.
For a few hours, he had helped me forget about everything wrong in this world. I got lost in his deep blue eyes. I enjoyed talking to him, the way I had before. I could never talk to anybody else like that.
Outside the restaurant, he helped me back up on his bike. I was excited about wrapping my arms around him again, being close to him as he rode.
Before he got on the bike he looked into my eyes. I thought he was going to kiss me, but he held back.
“You shouldn’t have left, Leah,” he said in a gruff voice.
My nostrils flared. I knew he was right. I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have been so weak. I should have had the guts to stand up against my parents. I should have had the sense to tell Aidan the truth when I had a chance.
But it was too late for that now. Everything had changed.
“You’re right, Aidan. You’re right about everything,” I said.
Nine
Aidan
I had to meet with my brothers to discuss what was going on with Aldo Baron and this war we knew was coming.
Our father hadn’t called for the meeting so he wasn’t going to be there. We decided to meet up at Killian’s cabin in the woods where things would be a bit more private.
My dinner with Leah the previous night had been a revelation in a lot of ways. Firstly, I still wasn’t sure if I trusted her. There were so many things that were questionable. I couldn’t get past them or trust anything she said. Not even the stories she told me about the nursing home she supposedly worked at in the other town she lived.
Ever since I saw her meet the Baron guy, I couldn’t trust anything she said.
On the other hand, I had feelings for her.
Kissing her, holding her, spending time with her, giving her a ride on my bike—had all reinstated the fact that I still cared about her.
It confused me and now I regretted spending that time with her at all.
I regretted answering her call at the bar. Texting her back. Getting close to her again. Everything.
I had spent enough time hung up on her already. I didn’t know if I could do it all over again, because I was convinced she was playing a game.
Either way—I had to push everything to the corner for the morning while I spoke to my brothers. I already decided I wouldn’t tell them about Leah.
Maybe they would eventually have come to hear she was back in town and that I was seeing her. However, I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. More importantly, I didn’t want to tell them what I’d seen her do.
If they found out she had secret meetings with a Baron guy, they wouldn’t be as generous towards her as I had been.
I knew it would be a lot easier for me to dig up the truth if I had my brothers working on the case too, but that’s not what I wanted.
No matter what shit Leah was involved in with the Barons—I wanted to keep her safe. At least for a little while longer. Right now, the best way for me to protect her from the Dohertys, Barons and herself, was by keeping her a secret.
I needed to know more so I could act accordingly. And in the process, I knew I would fall deeper in my web of feelings for her.
I had no other choice. I would never forgive myself if I allowed her to get hurt…or worse…without me knowing the full truth.
That was how fucked up it was to have feelings for a woman. It was the reason why I never allowed myself to get involved with anyone else. I didn’t want or need any more liabilities.
Leah was enough for a lifetime.
Reese, Killian’s new woman, was the reason we were all in the shit we found ourselves in with the Barons.
She was Aldo Baron’s step daughter, whom he had traded off to our asshole uncle, Connor.
Killian, who acted completely out of character—decided to take it upon himself to save Reese from the abusive clutches of Connor.
The truth was, he wanted to fuck her and once he did, he fell for her. Connor died under mysterious circumstances that Killian and Reese didn’t want to discuss openly, but we all knew what really happened. They killed the bastard. Maybe it was an accident, but it happened.
And instead of returning Reese to her stepfather as was his right, Killian kept her. In fact, he’s marrying her.
Obviously, Aldo wasn’t happy about it. He wanted his property back.
Killian and the rest of us had stormed Aldo’s mansion to rescue Reese out of there. We’d staged a full scale shootout. Aldo wasn’t going to just forgive something like that. He was going to make us pay for our actions.
And now, a few weeks later, Reese was serving coffee and cookies to a room full of her future brothers-in-law. Killian sat at the centre chewing on a cookie, eyeing his woman as she moved around the room. He was like a puppy in love. If the situation with the Barons wasn’t such a shitshow, we would all be laughing at him for losing his mind.
However, now with Leah back on the scene, it would be disingenuous of me to make fun of him when I couldn’t get her off my mind either.
Had someone put a curse on the Doherty brothers?
My brothers Colin and Brendan stood by the kitchen sink, holding cookies and mugs of coffee. They argued between themselves about something stupid. Tristan and Nolan sat at the table with Killian, looking uncomfortable in Reese’s presence.
While we had all accepted the fact that she was now a new member of the family, she still was practically a stranger. We were a close knit family who didn’t open up to outsiders easily. We all wanted to be supportive of Killian and his woman, but we needed to get to know her first.
Fortunately for Reese, our stepsister Isabelle had already taken a shining towards her and they had become close friends quickly.
“The two of you stop bickering so we can actually talk about something sensible,” Killian growled at Brendan and Colin.
Reese brought a tin of freshly baked cookies to the table and left it there before graciously stepping away.
“I think I’ll leave you boys to talk. I’m sure you don’t want me hanging about.” She smiled at us and Killian gave her a nod. He watched her closely as she left the room.
Nolan pounced on him immediately.
“You better know what you’re doing, man. You’ve started a war with the Barons.”
Killian glared at him with narrowed dark eyes.
“I was prepared for the consequences. I would do anything for that woman.”
I had to clench my hands into fists. The way Killian said it rang a bell. Five years ago—that was how I had felt about Leah. I would have done anything for her.
But did she still deserve that kind of loyalty from me?
“I have my boys working on finding him, but Aldo has gone into hiding,” Tristan said, dunking his cookie in the coffee. He was the only one in the family who ate his cookies like that. It made the rest of us cringe and he rolled his eyes at us.
“From what I’m hea
ring, Aldo is asking for meetings with the bosses of other families. He’s trying to rally troops,” Colin added.
Killian shook his head in disgust.
“He was going to trade Reese off to another old pervert for the sake of his business relations. He was going to use her as barter.” He spoke with his teeth clenched, his face turning purple with rage.
“But she’s here now and he’s not going to get to her,” I spoke up.
Killian looked at me. He needed the reminder, and his eyes finally began to soften.
“So we’re willing to withstand hellfire for the sake of this chick?” Nolan asked.
Killian whipped his head around to look at him and I stepped up closer to the table. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to separate these two. We rarely ever fought amongst ourselves, but Killian had made a decision that affected the whole family. So I knew where Nolan was coming from.
At the same time—I hid a secret that would affect the whole family too. Leah may have been working with the Barons, and trying to extract information by getting close to me. I allowed her to get close to me because like an idiot—I couldn’t control myself and wanted to keep seeing her.
I guessed that my brothers wouldn’t take too kindly if they found out about it.
“Yeah, we’ll withstand some hellfire, leave the city burning if we have to, right? We don’t leave a brother behind,” I growled.
Nolan looked up at me, suspicion and frustration marring his face.
“Leave the city burning? For a stupid decision?”
“Reese is his woman. He’s marrying her. She’s going to be a part of our family. A sister to us. Wouldn’t you burn the city down for Isabelle?” I continued.
Nolan gritted his teeth, sitting back in his chair dejectedly. He knew I had a point—as much as he didn’t want to admit it.
Killian watched me closely. Maybe he was even a little bit grateful. I gave him a nod and he nodded back.
“Instead of picking on each other, why don’t we focus on what needs to be done? How do we weaken the Barons and get other families on our side?” I said.
Ten
Leah
I didn’t expect Aidan to just show up at my apartment.
Every time I spent time with him—and even though our dinner together that night went well—I expected it to be our last time together.
It became quite apparent to me now that he struggled with his feelings as much as I did. I was sure he still hadn’t forgiven me for disappearing and not telling him. But at the same time, the more time we spent together—the more it reminded him of how good it used to be between us.
He felt the connection too.
I crossed my arms over my breasts, smiling softly up at him when I found him at my door.
“You’re back,” I remarked.
He stood with his hands in his pockets, glaring at me like it was my fault for dragging him here. He was struggling with what was the right thing to do.
“I just wanted to check on you. Make sure you’re doing okay. You seemed upset that day at the hospital with your mom. How is she?”
I tried not to stare into his blue eyes because I always found myself drowning in them. My fingertips tingled at the thought of stroking his rough beard. I loved the way it scratched my chin and cheeks when he kissed me.
I gulped and looked down at my feet nervously.
“She’s holding on. They don’t know how much longer she has. It could be a few weeks or a few months. I try to see her as often as I can.”
“So you’ve forgiven her for what she made you do? Force you to leave?” he asked.
“No. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her for that. But I can see she knows she was wrong. She wishes she hadn’t acted that way. I don’t want to abandon her in her last hours.”
Aidan quietly watched me. I didn’t know what was on his mind. Did he think I was just a foolish girl? Trapped in the emotional blackmail bubble my parents held me prisoner in?
Eventually, he let out a deep breath and nodded.
“You’re a strong woman. Even stronger now than when I first knew you.”
I had to fight the tears that threatened to fill my eyes. He had no idea how much all this hurt me. He didn’t know what I was really going through. I wasn’t strong—I was desperate. I was a liar. I betrayed him.
“Anyway, I have to be somewhere else. I just wanted to check on you.”
He stepped away from the door and my heart thudded in my chest. I wished he didn’t leave. I wished he would never leave—but I didn’t have that kind of say in his life. I didn’t belong to him anymore.
As Aidan walked away, he stopped and turned to me again.
“And I’m sorry about trying to interrogate your mom at the hospital. I promise I’ll leave her alone. She deserves to be in peace, no matter what the truth is,” he said.
Five minutes after I’d shut the door, there was a knock again.
I rushed to it, expecting to find Aidan on the other side again. Maybe he couldn’t stay away and wanted to come in. I had a smile on my face as I opened the door, but it wasn’t him.
It was the guy who worked for Aldo Baron. The one who threatened me in the parking lot the last time.
This time he wanted our conversation to be completely private, and he pushed his way into my apartment, looking around like he expected to find something here.
“Lock the fucking door,” he hissed.
I locked it, turning to him with my knees shaking in fear of what he would do to me.
I didn’t even know his name—but I would never forget his eyes. They were beady and dark. He had thick eyebrows and bad breath.
“What did you two talk about? What did he say?” he asked.
So he had watched us. He knew Aidan was here to see me.
I wrapped my arms around my torso defensively.
“He just came to check on me. We spoke about my mother in the hospital. That’s all,” I murmured.
The guy lunged at me. I cried out when he grabbed a bunch of my hair and pulled me to the only mirror in the room. I shook as he made me stand in front of the mirror. He was behind me, keeping me pinned to him, his face tight and dark with anger.
“I want you to take a good look at yourself, at your pretty little face. The next time I see you and you tell me you have no information for me, your face isn’t going to look like this anymore.” He snarled at me. I could smell his bad breath again and it made me gag.
“I…I don’t know what you want…he doesn’t talk about himself. What information can I get from him?” I tried to keep cool. Not shake too much. Not whimper.
On the inside however, I shriveled up like a dry flower. I believed him when he said he was going to hurt me.
“Figure out a way to make him talk. We need information we can use against the Dohertys. Information we can blackmail them with. Business information. Everything you can fucking find.”
He released me so suddenly that I toppled backwards and fell on the floor. My butt hurt from the fall, but I said nothing. I just stayed there on the floor while he stood over me.
His eyes roamed over me, settled on my breasts. I saw his cock move in his pants. I wanted to cry, but I held strong.
He grunted and turned away.
“You don’t have much time left. If you prove yourself to be useless, we’re going to dispose of you quickly. You’re not walking away from this unless you give us what we need.”
He unlocked the door, slamming it shut behind him.
I was just relieved to still be alive.
I locked the door and checked the blinds to make sure I wasn’t being watched. Not like I could be sure.
The Baron men always watched me—they knew exactly what I was doing at all times. That much I was certain of by now.
Then I went to the shower and stood under the steady stream of hot water, trying to purge myself of everything.
I needed to cry and let everything out and the shower seemed to be the safest place to do
it in.
The Barons had made it very clear that they were losing patience with me. I had to get them some information on the Dohertys and I had to get it fast. I didn’t know what they would do if I couldn’t get the information.
I didn’t even know what they wanted exactly.
Aidan wasn’t willing to give me anything. He didn’t want to talk about himself, and I knew that if I pushed him too hard, asking questions about his family or the business—he would get suspicious. And then, I was in danger of facing the consequences of Aidan finding out I worked as a mole for the Barons.
I stood in the shower, crying and at the same time, trying to figure out what I could do to keep my mother safe. To keep all my secrets safe too.
Aidan definitely softened to me, even though he hadn’t forgiven me yet. Maybe I needed to push it further without making it too obvious. Maybe the only thing I could do at this point was to sleep with him.
If I could get into his apartment and then root through his personal belongings, maybe I’d find something I could give the Barons. And the best chance I had of getting into his apartment was to sleep with him.
I turned off the shower.
Realization began to sink in. Sleeping with Aidan meant opening myself up to the possibility of falling even deeper into the web of feelings I had for him.
The only chance I had of saving my heart from him was to keep my distance. Just that one kiss had sent me down a spiral of longing for him—if I had sex with him, I wouldn’t be able to ever recover.
Would he figure out what was really going on? What if I slept with him and he saw into my soul? What if I wasn’t able to keep my secrets from him any longer? He would never forgive me.
I managed to wrap a towel around myself before I broke down on the bathroom floor in another volley of tears.
I felt helpless and unsafe. I didn’t know what the future held for me.