by L. A. Casey
“Hey sweetness,” he answered on the second ring.
“Hey sweetness,” I heard his brothers mimic him in the background.
Amusement filled me.
“Your brothers are children.”
“I’m aware of it, and so are they,” Ryder said then cursed at his brothers to keep it down.
“What are you doin’ tonight?” I asked on a chuckle.
“Darkness,” Ryder replied. “Dominic has a fight.”
Oh, I inwardly squealed, this was perfect.
“Brilliant,” I gushed. “I’m goin’ there tonight, too.”
“With who?” Ryder questioned, his voice was deep and it had me rubbing my thighs together.
I licked my suddenly dry lips and answered, “Me sister.”
Silence.
“You’re going to introduce us?” he asked after a few moments.
I gnawed on my lower lip. “Yeah, I want ‘er to meet you.”
“Shit,” he breathed. “I’m nervous now, thanks.”
I unexpectedly laughed. “Think about how I feel! I’m scared shitless, I’ve never done this with ‘er before.”
“We’ve got this,” Ryder assured me. “I’ll be extra sweet and won’t invade her space like you said, I’ll let her warm up to me in her own way.”
I let out a relieved breath. “That will help.”
“Don’t worry, Bran, she’ll love me.”
I hoped so, because I loved him, and it would kill me if Bronagh didn’t accept him.
Dominic Slater is Nico. The little bastard who had been hassling my little sister in school, and had caused nothing but problems for her over the last few months was my boyfriend’s little brother. I had an atrocious moment were I let my raging emotions take over my body and I did something really bad. Deplorable really. I punched Dominic in the face, in front of his other brothers, and Ryder broke up with me because of it.
I wasn’t proud of my actions, but I didn’t exactly regret them either, which didn’t help my situation in the slightest.
It was not how I expected my night to go. I shook my head as recapped what happened and before I could feel real emotion, I downed the remainder on my Vodka and Coke. I swayed a little and laughed at myself, wondering how many drinks I had consumed but couldn’t think of a number.
I was pretty sure it was close to double digits though.
“Are you okay?” I asked Bronagh as the lights of the club came on signalling everyone to get the hell out and go home.
She nodded and laughed for no reason.
“You’re drruuunnnkkkkk,” I sang, giggling.
She placed a hand on her forehead. “It’s so warm in here, I’m roastin’.”
I took her hand in mine and tugged her towards the exit of the club. We laughed as we stumbled up the stairs. I felt good until the cool fresh air hit me. One-second I remember talking to The Destroyer kid that Dominic/Nico fought on the platform in Darkness then the next I was heaving and slumping down with my eyes closed. I groaned when I felt myself being lifted into the air.
“Bee?” I mumbled.
“Not Bee.”
I forced my eyes open and looked up.
I curled my lips upward in disgust. “Put. Me. Down.”
Ryder glanced down at me and said, “Make me.”
I tried to lift my hand to do just that, but I couldn’t, I could only lean my head back against his arm and moan as my head spun.
“You drank too fucking much,” my ex-boyfriend growled. “I’ve been watching you all night, you knocked back glass after glass.”
I humourlessly laughed. “I had an eventful night, I needed to take the edge off.”
“Fucking hell, Branna,” he angrily replied, his grip on me tightening.
“Why do you even care?” I hissed and tried to swat at him again, but failed. “You broke up with me, remember?”
“I remember,” he replied on a grunt. “And I didn’t mean it.”
“Sounded to me like you meant it.” I countered.
I was met with silence as Ryder walked, holding me against his chest like I weighed nothing. I grunted and groaned when a car door was opened and I was placed in the back seat.
“Alec,” Ryder grumbled. “You drive.”
“This is becoming a pattern,” Alec muttered.
“Just do it,” Ryder hissed.
“Jesus, okay. Should I find something for the backseat in case she gets sick?” Alec asked, and I felt like his wary eyes were on me.
“No,” Ryder replied to his brother as he got into the car and pulled me onto his lap. “We don’t live far away, I’ll hold her on my lap. Dominic has Bronagh.”
I heard male grumbling then a quick, “I call shot gun.”
It was Kane who spoke.
“The fuck?” Damien snapped. “Why do I have to sit between lover boys and the drunken sisters?”
“Because I called shot gun,” Kane quipped. “Are you deaf, little brother?”
“Fuck you,” Damien growled to Kane, making him laugh.
Reluctantly, Damien climbed into the middle of the backseat and adjusted himself when Dominic climbed in on the other side of him with my sister against his chest.
“If either of them puke on me, I’m dishing out dick shots.” Damien warned his brothers.
I laughed on Ryder’s lap and said, “Dick shots. I want to drink one of those.”
This caused all of the brothers to rumble with laughter.
“Dirty girl,” Ryder’s sexy voice murmured in my ear. “You can drink my dick shot anytime you like.”
I growled. “I’ll bite your dick off if you don’t get away from me.”
He snorted. “You’re lying on me, sweetness, not much I can do about getting away from you right now while we’re driving, is there?”
I tried to sit up but light-headedness prevented me from doing so.
“You shouldn’t have drank so much,” Ryder grumbled as he pressed his palm flat against my back and began to stroke up and down. The action soothed me instantly.
I closed my eyes as I leaned back against him. “You shouldn’t have broken up with me. It hurt, you know?”
I felt his lips on my bare shoulder.
“I didn’t mean it,” he murmured. “I take it back.”
“Too late,” I stated. “I’m already over you and lookin’ forward to me first single night out. I’ll be on the rebound so it’s sure to be a fun night.”
Ryder’s hold on me tightened. “I’ll spank your ass red and raw if you even dare.”
I hissed. “You’d like that, you perverted bastard.”
“You’d like it too, you perverted bastard.”
My temper flared when Ryder’s brothers laughed, again.
“Stop listenin’ to what we’re sayin’!” I snapped.
“What do you want us to do?” Dominic sarcastically asked. “Plug our ears?”
“Don’t you speak to me you little prick,” I growled like a predator. “You’ve been makin’ me sister’s life hell in school for no fuckin’ reason. She is a good kid, she never does anythin’ to hurt anyone and yet you targeted her! If you think the punch I gave you was bad, just wait until I get me hands on you now, you little wanker!”
“Well, fuck me,” Kane whistled from the front of the car. “I’d be scared if I were you, little brother. She’s going to kick your ass back to New York from the sound of things.”
“I can deal,” Dominic snorted, clearly not giving a damn that I was furious with him.
I screeched and extended my hands to grab him, but Damien being in the way made it difficult. I tried to push his head down so I could reach Dominic, but it only caused him to yelp and shout for me to stop.
“You sound like a little bitch,” Alec laughed from the driver’s seat.
Damien sat upright, lifted a hand to his head and rubbed where I shoved at him.
“Fuck you, asshole,” he growled. “Her nails were out.”
Ryder’s arms clamped aroun
d mine, pinning them to my body.
“Let. Go.”
“No,” came his immediate response. “I’m not letting you hurt my little brothers.”
“I don’t want to hurt both of them,” I spat. “Just one of them, the one that is about to be dickless.”
“Ryder,” Dominic snickered. “Control your woman.”
Oh, hell no.
“Oh, shit,” Ryder grumbled and applied more pressure to his hold on me when I went, what can only be described as, batshit crazy.
“I’m goin’ to kill you!” I bellowed.
Damien practically lay against Dominic and Bronagh as he watched me with widened eyes.
“This is both insanely hot and terrifying at the same time,” he muttered to his bully of a twin.
Dominic snickered, but I saw him nod in agreement. I was about to dish out some more insults his way, but I froze when I watched his focus turn from me, Damien and everyone else to Bronagh, and her alone. It shocked me how he looked at her; it was like she was his whole world. He lifted his hand and gently brushed her hair back out of her face. She lightly snored and it caused him to smile as he stared down at her, his eyes only blinking here and there, like he was trying to savour what she looked like when she was in his arms. I blinked when he leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead.
He likes her.
I continued to stare at him, but jumped when Ryder spoke in my ear.
“Yeah,” he whispered, loosening his hold on me. “He cares about her. He has a funny way of showing it, but he’s trying, Branna. He doesn’t understand what he’s feeling and it’s taking him longer than he would like to express to her that he likes her. She fights him tooth and nail at every turn, and it’s bred into him to push back when he is backed into a corner. When she is hostile, he becomes hostile, too. I think it’s a bad match, but he likes her, and he can’t help that.”
“He needs to back off of her.”
“I agree, and we can talk about it tomorrow. She’ll be sober, and in my home so we’ll lump them together and figure it all out, okay?”
I reluctantly nodded.
“Thank you, darling.”
I tensed. “I’m not your darlin’, Ryder.”
“Yeah, darling, you are.”
I hated that I wanted to smile.
Alec pulled to a stop in front of his house and said, “Welcome to casa—”
“Slater,” his brothers finished. “We know.”
“Assholes.” Alec grumbled.
I snorted and it made Ryder smile as we exited the car. He kept a firm hold on me because even though I was coherent, my legs were quite unsteady.
Bloody Vodka, my mind grumbled.
“‘Bout time you showed up!” A male voice shouted, followed by laughter and cars screeching to a stop.
I looked around and when I took in all the people that were ambling up the driveway to Ryder’s house, I pressed back against his chest. His arms came around me, and his face nuzzled against my neck.
“Don’t be frightened,” he said into my ear. “We’re throwing a party to celebrate Dominic’s win at Darkness.”
A house party?
I went rigid. “Maybe me and me sister should leave—”
“Dominic is already inside with your sister.”
I broke out of Ryder’s hold and pushed through the crowd of people waiting to gain entry into his house. I heard him shout after me then curse when I didn’t turn and wait for him. I stumbled through the front door and shouted, “Bronagh!”
“I’m here!” I heard her call out.
I followed her voice over to the bottom of the stairs where she was now awake and standing up, but was still in Dominic’s hold. He kept his eyes on me as I neared them, and I saw annoyance flash across his face as I reached for my sister and took hold of her hand.
“We’re goin’ home, Bronagh.” I said firmly.
“She wants to stay here,” Dominic argued.
I cut my eyes to him and narrowed them. “I don’t give a flyin’ fuck what she wants, if I say she is goin’ home then she is goin’ home, you got that?”
Dominic set his jaw and nodded once so I turned my attention from him to my sister. She was giggling and turning into Dominic’s chest, which prompted me to release her from my hold. I was about to grab her again when hands grabbed hold of me.
“When I tell you to wait for me, you fucking wait.” Ryder’s voice growled as he wrapped his arms around me. “I don’t want to lose sight of you in a crowd of strangers.”
I struggled against him. “You shouldn’t have invited them to your house then, you bloody eejit!”
“I didn’t,” he countered. “Alec did.”
As if on cue, Alec shouted, “Paarrtttyyyyyy,” from someone where down the hall followed by loud, pulsing beats of music. The strangers in the house cheered.
Dominic laughed at his brother, but quickly turned his attention to Bronagh when she spoke to him. “I want to sleep with you,” she purred.
The lad’s entire body went rigid.
“Dominic,” my sister slurred. “Did you he-hear me? I wanna cuddle with you. Now.”
A switch flipped inside his head because without hesitation he hooked his arm around Bronagh’s waist, then bent down and slid his arm under her knees and lifted her. My sister squeaked the moment she became airborne and wrapped her arms around Dominic’s neck as he protectively tucked her into his chest. He turned then and hauled arse up the stairs.
“Dominic!” I growled after him, but he ignored me and took the stairs two at a time, with my laughing sister in his arms.
I made a move to shoot up the stairs after them, but hands clamped down on my hips.
I tensed. “Get away from me, Ryder.”
I felt his hot breath on my neck.
“Not a chance, sweetness,” he murmured into my neck and squeezed my flesh. “You’ll kill him if you get the chance, and I can’t allow that. It goes against the bro code.”
“Yeah, well, lettin’ some stranger haul me sister off to an isolated part of a big house is against the big sister code!”
“He. Won’t. Hurt. Her.”
I huffed. “He has done nothin’ but hurt ‘er since the moment he met ‘er!”
Ryder hissed when I dug my nails into the arms that were wrapped around my waist.
“That’s it,” he snapped.
He let go of me and for a spilt second I thought he backed off until I was swung around, picked up, and tossed over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
“Ryder Slater!” I snapped. “Put. Me. Down.”
“Destiny,” I heard Damien’s voice chuckle. “Dominic is busy right now, but I’m not. Why don’t you keep me company for a little while?”
These brothers were something fucking else!
I heard Ryder chuckle as he jogged up the stairs with me hanging upside down on his back. I screeched and used both of my hands to keep my boobs from spilling out of my top and I failed miserably because I heard some hooting from younger males who were situated at the bottom of the stairs.
I gave them the finger until they were out of sight.
One-second I was hanging upside down, then the next I was upright on my feet and inside Ryder’s bedroom. I steadied myself and backed away from him, keeping my gaze locked on his as he kicked the door closed with his foot.
“I’m not in a confined car space with you now. You can’t whisper in my ear and make me forget what happened tonight. We’re done,” I bit out. “I remember how you spat those words and how you pushed me off you in Darkness like I was nothing more than a piece of dirt.”
The muscles in Ryder’s jaw rolled back and forth.
“You punched my brother in the face,” he said, exasperated. “What was I supposed to do?”
I almost growled. “Your brother has made my sister’s life hell over the past few weeks!”
Ryder blinked. “He is the one who has been in two fights for her, and suspended from school over her. He i
sn’t the only guilty party here, Branna.”
I balled my hands into fists. “None of that would have happened if he had just left ‘er alone when she asked ‘im to the first fifty times!”
“I told you he doesn’t know how to handle her!” He snapped back. “He has never liked a girl before, not for longer than a few hours, anyway, but he likes Bronagh and he doesn’t know what to do about it. He has no clue how to approach her or how to behave around her, and it’s not his fault, it’s our upbringing.”
“What does how you were brought up have to do with how Dominic treats me sister?” I asked.
I saw the moment that Ryder closed up, and it pissed me off.
“Fine,” I growled. “Don’t talk, I didn’t want to hear your bullshit anyway.”
I made a move for the door, but froze when I realised Ryder firmly maintained his position in front of it and stared me down like a predator ready to pounce on its prey.
“What’s the matter, Branna?” he asked as he studied me from across the room. “Cat got your tongue.”
I nervously swallowed. “Fu… Fuck you.”
Ryder shot across space between us and got in my face.
“I intend to, sweetness,” he all but snarled. “I intend to fuck you until you can’t remember your own name.”
“No!” I spat and shoved at his firm chest. “We’re done, remember? D-O-N-E. Done!”
“You can say it, spell it, and write it across your damn forehead for all I care, because it’s not fucking true. We’re not done. We will never be done do you understand me? Never.”
My legs began to tremble.
“Ryder—”
“Branna.” He cut me off. “This isn’t up for debate, we aren’t done. Get over it.”
I balled my hands into fists. “You don’t just get to decide that we aren’t done after you already said we are. You’ll give me whiplash with your indecisiveness!”
He sighed, loudly. “We. Are. Not. Done. You’re my woman, and I’m your man. We’re boyfriend and girlfriend. We’re a couple. How many different ways do I have to say it for you to get it into that beautiful head of yours? We’re together. End. Of. Discussion.”
I growled. “I hate how… domineerin’ you are.”
Ryder grinned at me and I glared at him. I didn’t mean sexually, because we both knew how dominant he was during sex, I meant in every other aspect of his persona.