Relentless Habit: O-Town Series

by Karen Renee

  Anger shot through me. “That only happened with Audrey, and I was eighteen then, Pop. That’s not even the same thing with Cecilia. Told you that months ago.”

  He scooped up a spoonful of Frosty and nodded. “You’re right. I’ve realized Cecilia is far stronger than she gives herself credit for. Gabe mentioned you intend to live with her. That’s the real reason I’m telling you about your mother’s money. She was an only child, I don’t know if you remember that or not.”

  I sighed and shook my head.

  “Well, her mother passed five years ago, before her father, and he passed about ten months ago. It’s why she had been hounding me about making an approach to you boys. She inherited a substantial amount of money, just over three-quarters of a million dollars. She wants to divide it evenly among you three.”

  I opened my mouth to tell him she could keep it, but he knew me too well and spoke first. “No, sir. You think about it. And don’t tell Gabe. I’m having dinner with him tonight.”

  I sipped my coke wishing it were laced with whisky. Then I asked, “What about Vamp? He off-limits too?”

  Pop shook his head. “No. I would like to be the one to tell him, but I know you might need a sounding board so, go ahead.”

  A poisonous thought rattled through my mind. “So, she’s buying her way in with us?”

  His eyes flared at me. “No, Brock. She isn’t. After she established her practice, she paid me support and back support for you boys up until Gabe was eighteen. When he got his shit together and said he was going to live with you, she stepped up with more cash so you would be somewhere nicer. The inheritance money is just a windfall she would rather see distributed to the three of you.”

  I looked into my his deep blue eyes. “Two hundred and fifty G’s. That’s a lot of guilt, Pop.”

  He shook his head, and I swore he looked older than he was. “No, my son. Keeping her away means I kept your other grandparents away, too. It’s a lot of loss and heartache. And really, it’s neither of those things because it’s just money. I’m kicking myself for not letting her get some visitation seventeen years ago, even if it would have hurt you and Cary or tarnished the relationship she could have had with Gabe. Hell. Seems that last happened regardless of what I did. So, don’t look at the money as guilt.”

  BY THE END OF MY SHIFT, I was ready to check the weather. I didn’t know if it was a full moon or not, but seeing as I had assisted with four different traffic accidents on campus during the past three hours, I figured it had to be. Or something was in the water.

  All of the paperwork had to be filed before I could leave for the day, which meant I didn’t get home until after seven.

  Gabe wasn’t home yet, and I wasn’t sure when Cecilia would roll in either. I poured myself three fingers of Crown Royal, and peered inside the fridge for dinner ideas. While my drink was Canadian, I decided I’d have an Irish breakfast for dinner.

  After I set the ingredients on the counter, I downed some of the amber liquid and pulled out the skillet. That burn was like no other and damn sure took the edge off. Thinking about that made me wonder if it would bother Cecilia if she tasted it on me. Shit.

  While I puttered around getting the bacon going and sliced the tomatoes, I told my phone to call Vamp.

  He answered on the second ring. “Ain’t you heard enough from me in one day?”

  “You’d think, right? Had lunch with Pop today.”

  “BFD, man. You turnin’ into a pussy now that you’re gettin’ it regularly?”

  I shook my head. “Shut the fuck up, asshole. He wanted to talk to me about Mom. Guess she received some inheritance and wants to split it evenly between you, me, and Gabe.”

  “Again, what’s the big fuckin’ deal?”

  “I see this was a bad idea,” I said to the mushroom I was peeling.

  “No, I’m just tryin’ to extract your head out of your ass. She’s got money she wants to give us. Bring it on. Doesn’t change shit as far as I’m concerned. Plus, it can’t be that much.”

  “Two hundred fifty thousand seems like a lot to me, Vamp.”

  He whistled. “You shittin’ me?”

  I grunted. “Wish I were.”

  “You tell Gabe?”

  “No. Pop took him out to dinner tonight in order to tell him.”

  “Why am I on speaker, by the way?”

  “Because I just got home from the day from hell, and I’m makin’ dinner, which requires both my hands.”

  He chuckled and it sounded sinister. “How is a day when you find out you’re gonna be two hundred and fifty G’s richer a day from hell?”

  I groaned. “Never mind. You wouldn’t understand. I assume you’ve heard Byron was taken into custody?”

  “Really? Couldn’t have happened to a better man.”

  “Paranoid about your phone lines, much?”

  “As the president of my club likes to say, better safe than sorry. Still gonna be livin’ with your girl?”

  “Yeah, I mean this whole situation forced this to happen, but I love havin’ her around. Plus, I’m leery about the two scumbags here in town. They haven’t fessed up to who they work for, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they make bail.”

  “God, you’re an uptight fucker. Hard to believe you’re the middle child sometimes.”

  I flipped the bacon, but turned my head to the phone so he could hear me. “What are you? Gettin’ in to the psycho-babble shit like dear old mom?”

  “Are we done here?” he asked, sounding exasperated.

  “Yeah. Later.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Never Good to Let One Get Away

  Cecilia

  When I opened the door to the apartment, I knew something was wrong. Brock stopped in the middle of putting eggs, bacon, and, if I wasn’t mistaken, tomatoes and mushrooms onto a plate. He smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Good gracious, are you okay, B-Rock?” I asked as I dropped my purse on an armchair in the living room.

  “Am now that you’re here, baby. You up for eggs? I made Irish breakfast for dinner.”

  His words sounded soft around the edges. Not quite slurred, but I knew he’d had a drink, or maybe two, if he was having beer.

  I grinned at him and poured myself a glass of orange juice. “Sure, but I’ll skip the mushrooms and beans if you’re serving those too.”

  “Fine, but you don’t know what you’re missing, Sunflower,” he muttered as he fixed my plate.

  “Do I need to make toast?”

  “Nope. Got it in the skillet now, it’ll be the last thing I put on our plates.”

  He took both plates to the table, went back into the kitchen and came back with a short tumbler with brown liquor in it.

  My eyes widened. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink anything stronger than beer. What’s wrong, honey?”

  He cut his grilled toast in half and put a fried egg on top of it. Before I got his big blue eyes, he took a massive bite of it and I took that for as much of an answer as words. Whatever was up wasn’t good.

  With the side of my fork, I cut one of my eggs in half and swirled a fried tomato in the yolk before eating it. We hadn’t been living together very long, but Brock had a helluva way with making breakfast. I looked back to him when I felt his gaze on me.

  “What?”

  “My mother has been assisting Pop with helping me, Gabe, and Vamp financially for the last seventeen years. Can you believe that shit?”

  I didn’t want to nod, so I tilted my head to the side, and then dipped my chin in acknowledgment. Having been at the offices of Dr. Scibearis, I knew she did well. Couldn’t say she was rolling in it or anything, but she damn sure charged a pretty penny and her digs reflected as much.

  “You got nothin’ to say to that?” Brock demanded, and I wondered if he’d had more than one drink based on the waves of attitude rolling off of him.

  “Honey, I don’t know what you want me to say. I used to be her patient, and while
I had insurance, I still had to pay her out of pocket, so I know she charges quite a bit. Which leads me to believe she does well for herself —at least financially.”

  He sighed heavily. “Right. Sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your head off.”

  “To your initial question though, I can believe she’s been helping your dad. He mentioned she wanted to approach you all when Gabe was ten years old, but he wouldn’t let her. If, for some crazy reason, I did something like that, I’d be all about providing in whatever way I could, so if the only way I could do it was financially... yeah, I would do that.”

  He lifted his chin at me and shoveled eggs and mushrooms into his mouth. I focused on my food, thinking this tense conversation might blow over, but he spoke.

  “She’s splitting an inheritance between the three of us. I told Pop it was guilt or her way of buying back into our lives, literally.”

  I nodded. “I can see that.”

  His head jerked. “You can?”

  “Well, yeah. I mean, you first saw her again the morning after we hooked up. I feel like it’s been a whirlwind between us, so I can only imagine how you feel with her, seeing as you’ve had what... three interactions with her since that day?”

  “Yeah,” he whispered.

  “Well, now there’s some amount of money with four, maybe five numbers involved, and –”

  “Six,” he muttered.

  “Pardon?”

  “Six figures. She’s giving each of us a quarter of a mil. If that ain’t supposed to buy her way back into my life, I don’t what the fuck is.”

  Wow. That was quite a bit of money. However, having spent so much time pouring my heart out to his mother —though I didn’t know she was his mother at the time— she didn’t strike me as the type to do that.

  I shook my head and tried to get back on track with what I was saying. “Not trying to argue with you here, but I don’t think that’s her motive. Still, you can accept or deny the money, and treat her separate from that. Take it one day at a time with her. I think she just wants a chance with all three of you.”

  His brow shot up and back down. “Unlikely I’ll turn down the cash. But you really think she deserves a chance?”

  I looked at the wall behind him while I bit my lower lip. When I looked back to him, I exhaled. “Listen, I know her professionally, but even so, she just doesn’t strike me as the type to buy her way in or guilt you into spending time with her. Plus, the only way you’re ever going to find out is to give her a fair shake and spend time with her.”

  He tossed back the rest of the whisky then put his glass down with a thunk. “I’ll have to sleep on that idea, baby. You unhappy with your food? You’ve hardly touched it.”

  I shook my head. “No, I’ve just been thinking and watching you, honey. You go shower or relax. I’ll clean up.”

  He shook his head. “No way, Sunflower. I’m anxious to see Gabe when he gets back.”

  My brows drew together. “Why?”

  “Pop took him out for dinner to tell him about the money and stuff. Can’t expect him to take it any better than I did.”

  I shrugged and popped some bacon into my mouth. “You’re right about that,” I said around it.

  Brock

  HAD CECILIA NOT BEEN in my life, I might have stayed up waiting for Gabe to get home. Luckily I didn’t, and even better Cecilia took care of me in some of the best ways a woman could. However, she had to report into the Magic Kingdom, which meant she left my bed far sooner than I would’ve liked. Since I had the day off, I skipped showering with her and caught a few more z’s.

  When I dragged my ass out to the living room, I saw Gabe’s bedroom door was wide open and I couldn’t hear him sawing logs. It had been a damn long time since he spent an entire night with a woman. And the few times he did it, nothing good ever came from it. I had my cell in hand to call him when a text came through from Cecilia.

  Got a text from Cassie. Hate to tell you this, but since you might still be sleeping, you should know Gabe spent the night at Cassie’s.

  My hand clenched around the phone, and I read the message again to make sure I had it right. Then it buzzed with another message.

  On the couch, by the way. Should’ve led with that. Sorry. <3 C

  I tore my other hand through my hair as I thought about the possible ramifications of Gabe staying at Cassie’s apartment. A while back, he’d spent the night —no, that wasn’t right— he’d had sex with Cassie’s roommate. They rolled into her place after four in the morning and he split before seven, but Cassie was up and making breakfast. Gabe had told me about their awkward run-in, but it had seemed they had swept it under the rug.

  I hung my head as a thought hit me. If he were the least bit smart, he would not have laid this shit on Cassie.

  Fuck.

  If those tables were turned, I absolutely would’ve laid it on a girl like her and I’d have gotten shitfaced before or during. With a sigh, I prayed he knew what the hell he was doing, even though I was pretty certain he did not.

  A knock on the door jolted me out of my thoughts and I was nearly certain it was Gabe, though I couldn’t imagine how he didn’t have his keys. Without checking the peephole, I threw the door open, ready to launch into my little brother, but Clint stood on the other side of the threshold.

  “What’re you doin’ here?” I demanded.

  “Well, hello and good morning to you too, asswipe,” he greeted.

  I leaned into the door while I gave him a dirty look. “Not the fuckin’ time, man.”

  He nodded. “Can I come in?”

  I jerked my chin up, and when he cleared the doorway, I threw the door to and engaged the deadbolt.

  Clint turned to me with wide eyes. “Christ. Who or what pissed in your Wheaties this morning? I’ve seen your girl and the way she looks at you. No way it was her. Or else you’re doin’ it all wrong.”

  I clenched my fists and unclenched them. “No. Gabe spent the night somewhere he probably shouldn’t have, and for reasons I’m not too fuckin’ thrilled about myself. What brings you by?”

  “Couple things. First, the good news. Whether or not those assholes were with Byron or Marco we’ll probably never know, but both of them have outstanding warrants. Felonies for both of ‘em. One’s bein’ extradited to Texas for attempted murder as well as assault and aggravated battery. The other is headed to west Tennessee for multiple counts of rape. So, with charges that serious, they’re being moved as we speak.”

  I wanted to feel relief, but for some reason my gut wouldn’t let me. I would always anticipate the other shoe to drop or another wave of thugs to be sent our way.

  Clint must have read my face because he shook his head at me meaningfully. “No, man. Let that shit go. Marco’s dead, so that’s done. As for Byron, he’s facing murder one. A new asshole — well, I shouldn’t say new— but someone everyone thought was small time has moved in and taken control of the turf and any of the girls who are still in play. He doesn’t even know who Cecilia is. His focus is on new talent, the younger the better, sadly. But, that’s not my gig. Probably oughta be, but I go where the money is. Until someone wants me to wade into that shit, I’m out. Besides, Green Cove is a good two and a half hours away. I don’t have time for that.”

  For the first time in weeks I felt the tightness in my chest loosen. It finally seemed as though this shit could be behind us. I remembered he said ‘a couple things’ brought him by.

  “Okay, that sounds like one thing. What’s the other thing that brought you and your rays of sunshine my way?”

  He screwed up his face into a fake smile for a moment. “You. You are the other thing that brought me by. Know you’re doin’ well in the internship program, mainly because your supervising officer has made that widely known to other agencies who keep up with that sort of thing.”

  That reeked of bullshit, but I hid my facial expression. “Really?”

  “Yeah, no. But I have sources who say you’re on the ball and ready t
o roll at a moment’s notice. Know I haven’t told you much about my job, other than the basic PI shit, but my boss is recruiting.”

  I took in a deep breath. “Clint–”

  “Just hear me out, Sullivan. He hasn’t said what type of position yet, but what I can say is best case, you get on in Orange County, you’ll start around forty K. That’s good and everything, but you work with Otero-Silva Investigations, you’ll start out far higher than that. Might not be the hotshot position you expected, but the money will be good.”

  I pressed my lips together and nodded.

  He cocked a brow at me, knowing I wasn’t convinced. “Just to say, most of the time, our hours are far superior, too. Can’t remember the last damn time I had a two in the morning call-out, so that’s always an added bonus.”

  My lips itched to give him a similar fake smile with a screwed up facial expression, but my brother chose that moment to open the door on us.

  I looked to him, and couldn’t hide my surprise at seeing him look so distraught.

  “What the fuck is your problem?” I asked.

  He blew out a breath, and a moment later he said, “I went to Cassie’s last night. She listened to me, but I was drinking. I kissed her, but she asked me to stop. I fell asleep on their couch. I thought for sure she’d be there this morning. She was long gone, and her roommate, being the bitch she is, wouldn’t tell me where she is or anything.”

  I fought grinning at him, let alone laughing. On one hand, he’d dug this grave for himself, but on the other hand I knew he’d been dealt quite a blow from our father at dinner.

  My thoughts were interrupted by Clint’s distinctive chuckling. “Love to stick around and hear this brotherly heart-to-heart, but I got a job to do, boys.” He shoved my shoulder. “Think about what I mentioned, Brock.” He leveled his gaze on Gabe. “As for you, man, get your shit together. Crazy as it sounds sometimes the truth comes out when we’re drunk. Think about that shit, ’cause I’ve been thinkin’ you’ve got more feelings for this Cassie chick than you’ve admitted for a long-ass time. You wait too long, you’re gonna let her get away.”