by Karen Renee
He moved past me and I shut the door.
“Something has to be done,” he said in a low tone.
“About our mother?” I asked.
He shook his head once, but said, “Well, that too, actually, but I was talkin’ about those assholes fuckin’ with your woman.”
“I agree, and charges of attempted kidnapping, assault–”
“Not what I’m talkin’ about, and you know it, Brock.”
Over the course of working on my degree, I had wondered how my brother’s outlaw ways might conflict with my desire to seek traditional justice. I never expected it to crop up because of my woman.
“They’re in custody,” I hedged.
His eyes hardened. “They’re peons, and don’t act like you don’t know it. Someone else is callin’ the shots, and that needs to be dealt with.”
I exhaled sharply. Even with all of her illegal activity, Cecilia did not approve of the Riot MC. And while she didn’t say it outright, I knew it needled her that she had them to thank for getting clear of her former life.
“You’re right, but I don’t want you or your MC brothers getting involved.”
He nodded slowly, but I knew he wasn’t acquiescing yet. “It wasn’t lost on any of us how you reacted to her being taken, and even if it had been, your reaction when she strutted back into the restaurant behind Clint couldn’t be missed at all.”
I fought rolling my eyes. “What’s your point?”
“You’re serious about her. I wanna know how serious.”
“I plan to live with her, but I haven’t even told her that yet.”
He dipped his chin. “That’s what I figured. She’s got problems, it means my brother’s got problems, and that doesn’t sit well with me. I did not like seein’ that asshole take fire at you. If I’d known shit like that was gonna happen, I’d have had my gun on me, but I didn’t.”
“It’s done, Vamp. Let it go.”
His lips pressed together in a hard line. Then, “Too late for that. I dropped by to let you know I set some things in motion.”
“Goddamn it,” I hissed.
“Marco’s trial ended in a mistrial last week, so he’s out.”
“You’re shitting me.”
Vamp shook his head. “Should’ve told you. He’s been busy trying to take down Byron, so I figured the goons would be busy helpin’ Marco with that shit.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over this.”
His eyes widened at me. “Watching you on the other side of some fucker’s gun, and I could’ve prevented that, is not something I won’t beat myself up over.”
“It isn’t your fault,” Cecilia said from the doorway of my bedroom.
She stood there wearing a dress shirt I’d left on the bed when trying to figure out what I was gonna wear tonight. I closed my eyes because she looked so damn good in my clothes, but also because I did not want her having anything to do with this conversation.
“Honey, how about you give me a few minutes with–”
“Nope,” she said with a firmness I hadn’t heard before.
“Cecilia,” I tried again, but she walked closer.
“It’s nobody’s fault but those assholes who were arrested. And of course whoever they report to, because they’re clearly doing someone else’s dirty work.”
Vamp stared at me for a while, and when I didn’t speak, he turned to her. “You should know Marco’s out. Mistrial. Word was he’s fighting Byron to get back his territory, so I don’t understand why they’re comin’ back for you...” Vamp trailed off when he saw the concerned look on Cecilia’s now pale face.
“They said Marco had a score to settle with me. I thought he was still locked up.”
She glanced down at her body and when I caught her eyes again, I knew she wanted to bolt.
“You’re staying here, Cecilia.”
Her eyes bugged out at me. “He tried to shoot you tonight, Brock!”
“It doesn’t matter.”
She spluttered and then her jaw dropped open before she whispered, “‘Doesn’t matter?’ Your father would not think it doesn’t matter. Hell, I walked out here to hear your own brother saying he was beating himself up over seein’ you facing down a gun.”
While she ranted, I had moved closer to her which allowed me to lunge at her and pull her close to me. I wrapped my arm around her waist and used my other hand to tip her chin up.
“I’m interning with a police department, Sunflower. I plan to go into the academy after I graduate. Odds are good that once I get a job, I’ll be on patrol and potentially facing down people holding guns. Maybe not frequently, but it’s bound to happen while I’m on a force.”
She turned her head away from me and muttered, “It’s different when I’m the reason you’ve had someone shoot at you.”
Gently, I cupped her cheek and turned her gaze back to me. “Which is it, honey?”
“Which is what?”
I arched a brow. “You just told Vamp it wasn’t anyone’s fault but the assholes who’ve been arrested. Now, you say it’s your fault someone shot at me. Which is it? You can’t have it both ways, baby.”
Cecilia
DAMN THIS MAN AND HIS insufferable logic! I was stubborn, though, and looked at him determinedly. “It actually can be both ways, Brock. If you weren’t with me, that man wouldn’t have been able to shoot at you.”
His arm around my waist tightened and I thought I heard him growl, but Vamp spoke.
“And you’d be back in Marco’s hands already, but since my brother’s got an up-and-coming PI as his best bud, you lucked out not once, but twice. No, Cecilia, you can’t have it both ways. You were right the first time. It’s the fault of the bastard holding the gun, nobody else’s.”
I turned to Vamp ready to argue, but Brock turned my chin back to him. His eyes glimmered with an intensity I hadn’t seen before.
“It’s going to be fine. Those two have been arrested. I won’t let you use this shit as an excuse to push me away. Marco gets any where near you, he’s done.”
“He won’t get near her,” Vamp muttered.
I shifted out of Brock’s hold. “What does that mean? I can’t owe the Riot MC again.”
“He’s my brother. No way am I gonna let something happen to him, and from the way things are with you two, I suspect you’re gonna be part of the family sooner rather than later.”
My stomach pitched at that idea. I liked it. A lot. But I had no idea Brock was so serious about us. When I turned back to him, the intensity in those eyes was fierce.
“Part of the family?” I whispered.
His lips tipped up, and he slid a hand into my hair on the side of my head, his thumb stroking my cheekbone. “I want you living with me. And not just because there was a threat to you.”
The moment was broken by the scrape of a key in the lock. Gabe wandered inside, closed the door behind him, and stopped when he took in the scene.
“Jesus. If it weren’t for Vamp being here, you two would look like a freakin’ Hallmark movie.” He speared Vamp with his gaze. “What the hell are you doin’ here? And where’s Rainey?”
Vamp sighed. “Rainey’s with Pop and Marnie. Came by here to talk to Brock. Shit that happened tonight isn’t happening again.”
Gabe dipped his chin. “No, of course it isn’t. Those assholes were arrested.”
“Which sometimes don’t mean jack,” Vamp retorted.
“What’s your point, Vamp?” Gabe asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
Gabe folded his arms across his chest. “You mean, nothing as far as I know, so I’m not culpable and neither is Brock. Or Cecilia.”
One of Vamp’s shoulders shrugged. “Didn’t say that.” Then a playful glint hit Vamp’s eyes and he looked to me. “You’re cool with both of my brothers being your roommates?”
I closed my eyes and debated sending up a prayer for deliverance from three brothers goading one another, but I knew that was futile.
“Roommates? What’re you talkin’ about?” Gabe demanded, his voice a little louder.
Vamp smiled a shit-eating grin, made sexier by his silver lip-ring. “I’ll let Brock fill you in, little bro. I gotta run.”
“You asshole,” Brock muttered to him.
Vamp winked at me, but said to Brock. “Takes one to know one, isn’t that what you always said to me?”
“Fuck off and get outta here.”
Gabe closed the door behind Vamp and glowered at Brock. “We’re gettin’ a new roomie?”
Even though Brock turned his head, I still saw his eyeroll. There was a lengthy pause. I shuffled my feet and debated getting out of their hair, but Brock grabbed my hand and pulled me to his side. When he spoke, his gaze was fixed on his brother.
“Our lease is up in three months. I’m supposed to graduate in six weeks. I don’t know where my job hunt is gonna take me, but yeah. I want Cecilia to live with me. So, if that’s a problem with you, I move out sooner rather than when the lease is up.”
Gabe held his hands up in acknowledgment of Brock’s temper. “I didn’t say I have a problem with it. Took me by surprise, which is exactly what Vamp wanted it to do. But, were you planning to get out of this place at the end of the lease regardless?”
Brock shrugged. “Wasn’t sure. The thought crossed my mind, I just never talked to you or Pop about it.” My brows furrowed when he mentioned his father, but he kept speaking. “I figured life would point me in the direction I’m meant to go, and here we are. I know I want her livin’ with me. You wanna renew the lease, you’ll have to take that up with Pop.”
Gabe nodded. “Moving might not be a bad idea for me.”
“Chickenshit,” Brock declared.
I looked to him as my urge to get away from this conversation returned. Brock’s jaw was clenched. Turning to Gabe, I saw his lips pressed together as they stared at one another.
“Okay, well, uh, no matter what the decision ends up being, one of you needs to tell me what my rent payment will be.”
Brock looked at me. “Zilch.”
My head tilted. “Not zilch.”
“One third of utilities and you can do the grocery run the third week of the month,” Gabe put in.
My head shook. “No way. That’s not near enough for a place like this.”
“A woman doesn’t pay for the roof over my head,” Gabe retorted, the heat in his words nearly palpable.
“Just to add, you don’t pay for where we live. You want to contribute, fine. But it won’t be toward the rent or mortgage,” said Brock.
My arms itched to fold across my chest, but I fought it. I sensed this stemmed from their mother leaving them at such young ages, but hell if I was going to get into that right then.
“So noted,” I whispered.
MY EYES OPENED AND my body jolted because when I had laid down the lights were still on in Brock’s bedroom. I hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but I suspected my adrenaline had crashed, sending me to dreamland. With a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep.
The sheets rustled. “You asleep, Sunflower?” Brock whispered.
“Just woke up,” I whispered back.
“I’m sorry. Must’ve been when I climbed in here just now.”
I sighed, but tried to keep it quiet. His arm settled around my waist and he hauled my back flush with his chest. I found myself sighing again, but this one was content, so I didn’t try to hide it. Spooning with Brock was the best.
“You gonna be able to sleep?”
“I think so,” I murmured. Then a thought hit me, and it poured right out of my mouth. “Why would Gabe need to talk to your Pop about the lease?”
My body stiffened since I thought that was overstepping, but Brock squeezed me. “Relax. It’s okay to be curious about that. Uh, remember our first night and you asked if I worked full-time and you insinuated a student shouldn’t be able to afford this place?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean to insinuate anything. I was just impressed.”
He kissed the back of my neck. “Well, Pop helped with the security deposit when we first got here.”
I smiled. “Oh.”
“Yeah. But, he made it clear if we couldn’t live with one another or moved out because of a random chick or whatever, we had to pay him back.”
I rolled over. “So, I really do need to pay my fair share with the–”
“Baby, you are not a random chick. No way, no how. Plus... hell, I hesitate to tell you this, but you had Pop wrapped around your finger from the day you met him.”
“The hell I did,” I argued.
Brock chuckled. “Yeah. You did. Any other woman, after an obvious hook-up with one of us, she said, ‘I should get going.’ Pop would’ve held the door open for her with a smile on his face. You said that, but he insisted on you coming along and said something about it being a refreshing change of pace or some shit.”
I cast my mind back and realized Warren did say that!
“That doesn’t mean anything,” I hedged.
Brock forced his other arm under me so he held me fully. “Cecilia, Pop has been everything for me and Gabe. He played the role of ‘mom’ even though he was our dad. So when he didn’t step aside for you to leave, I knew he approved. Getting his stamp of approval right out of the gate and especially after the night we had. Fuck. I knew you could be it for me. With the exception of our two bumps in the road, that just keeps being proven to me over and over again.”
I snorted. “‘Bumps in the road?’ Brock, the first bump, I’ll give you was a bump. The second one was not a bump. I don’t know what it was, but it was something way bigger than a freakin’ bump.”
He squeezed me and lightly kissed my lips. “It was, but it’s also done. I love you, Sunflower. And I saw how freaked you were when I said I want you to live with me, but I was serious. I want the next level with you.”
I inhaled, but my breath hitched midway. Then I admitted, “I want that too, but it scares the hell out of me.”
“Yeah. Scares me too, baby. But it’s like anything else in life. One day at a time, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
He shoved his face in my neck and asked against it, “You goin’ to sleep?”
“I’ll try.”
I felt his lips smile. “I could help you burn off some energy, you need me to. Had plans for you tonight after dinner. Have to take a raincheck on those plans, but I can wear you out a different way instead.”
Reaching between us, I found his cock was hard and firm. “I always sleep better when I’ve been worn out, B-Rock.”
He chuckled, and after some time we fell asleep, because we definitely wore each other out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Go with Your Gut
Brock
The officer overseeing my internship sent me home for the day at a quarter after four, and as I closed my car door my cell rang. Checking the display, I saw it was Clint. Before I answered, I started the car since it was ninety degrees outside and it had to be over a hundred in my Civic.
“Yo, man. What’s up?”
“Not much. You sure your girl doesn’t know these assholes who tried to nab her?”
My brows furrowed. “Yeah, but why do you ask?”
“Got a source inside the Sheriff’s office who tells me these guys are not talking. Claim no association to Marco. Say they didn’t tell Cecilia shit when they tried to take her.”
I shook my head. “Isn’t that to be expected? I mean, foot soldiers aren’t gonna give up their boss. And what difference does it make if they say they didn’t tell Cecilia it was Marco behind it? There are witnesses who saw them attempt to take her.”
Clint sighed. “You’re right, but my gut tells me this is bad.”
I gripped my steering wheel tighter. My gut hadn’t been telling much of anything, likely because I was too busy paying attention to my dick. Then again, Clint moved in circles I didn’t. At least, not yet. Regardless,
I felt safe letting him know about my brother.
“Vamp came by last night and said he set some things in motion, though he didn’t elaborate.”
Clint made a noise that crossed between a grunt and a hum of approval. “You mind if I call him? Not sure I have his current number, so if you can text me, that’d be good.”
I sighed. “Not if it means you get your hands dirty, man. Wouldn’t be right you gotta go before the regulations board for this shit.”
Clint exhaled sharply. “Newsflash, Sullivan. I fuckin’ hate it when someone gets away from me, and both of those creeps did it. They’re in custody, but my life purpose right now is to make them pay. Huge. I get a little dirty in the process, so be it. Won’t be the first time, and probably won’t be the last either.”
“Clint, you talk a good game, but...”
“No. I don’t talk any kind of game, Brock, and you know it. Now text me your brother’s number. Hell, you don’t do it, your little bro will.”
My phone beeped indicating the bastard hung up on me.
Shaking my head, I texted Vamp’s number to Clint, and immediately sent a text to Vamp warning him about Clint’s upcoming contact.
I put my car in gear and drove home. On the way home, I decided to stop by the grocery store and pick up stuff for dinner. It was a given that I would be home before Cecilia, but whether or not Gabe would be around was another story. I also had no way of knowing if he would want to eat with us or not. Unlike Cecilia’s roommates, Gabe and I shared all of our food.
I left the store with the makings for fajitas, black beans and rice, a twelve pack of Shock Top, and a case of Sprite Zero for my woman.
AT SIX-THIRTY MY PHONE buzzed with a text from Cecilia.
Heading home now, B-Rock. You want me to pick up take-out?
With her contact info pulled up, I hit the button to call her.
“You could’ve just texted back, you know,” she answered.
“Sunflower, is that any way to greet your man?”
The pause was long enough, I envisioned her dipping her head in embarrassment. “No, but I’m surprised that you wanted to call me.”