The Complete Irreparable Boxed Set: Irreparable #1-2

by Sam Mariano

  “There was the one girl, the plant,” Ethan pointed out.

  “Yeah, but she’s dead,” Willow replied, casually considering what she was saying, what she had witnessed.

  Ethan grimaced, not wanting to consider the ways Willow must have desensitized since everything happened. They’d barely gotten past her nightmares, the last thing she needed was to stir up memories of that time.

  “I don’t think Willow can help you,” Ethan said, looking to Salvatore. “I’ll think back, look over my files, see if I can pull anything up, but… I think it’s best to leave Willow out of it.”

  “Well, we need to work quick,” Salvatore stated. “Morelli has a sister, as well, and there was an incident the other day… It’s possible they haven’t given up turning us against each other.”

  Back to frowning, Ethan said, “Why are you so worried about the Morellis?”

  “That’s none of your business.” Then, with a level glance at Willow, he added, “Just like your thing is none of Dad’s business, huh? All of this stays between us.”

  “Dad doesn’t know?”

  Salvatore shook his head, wordless, but immovable.

  “You don’t want me to tell him,” she said, catching on.

  “That would probably be for the best.”

  Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, she said, “Why?”

  Narrowing his right back, he said, “’Cause it sure would be a shame if it slipped my mind to keep your secrets.”

  “He said he wouldn’t come after Ethan again,” she stated.

  “He did,” Salvatore agreed. Without missing a beat, he added, “How’s that move to New York coming along?”

  Willow gave him a pointed, unamused scowl. “I’m not going to New York.”

  Ethan glanced in her direction. Her gaze flitted to his, but she couldn’t really have a moment with him while her stupid half-brother watched mockingly.

  “He doesn’t like Ethan. I can’t think of a single reason he would,” Salvatore pointed out. “He won’t come after him in a way you could link back to him, but hey, accidents happen, you know?”

  Willow’s gray eyes burned with rage. “An accident happens, I’ll set his whole world on fire.”

  Almost smiling, Salvatore said, “I believe you’d try. I imagine it’d be easier if we just avoided that whole scenario altogether.”

  Willow still looked trouble. “That’s not good enough. He’s going to find out about this, he’s going to… I won’t be able to keep Ethan a secret forever.”

  Gears turning, Ethan said, “I might have an idea.”

  Willow and Salvatore both looked at him expectantly.

  “Hire me for something legitimate. I can’t get my hands dirty with your criminal shit, but something like looking for Tito? I could do that. If your dad sees that I can be useful to him, he won’t want to kill me.”

  “Yeah, but as I just said, he doesn’t know about all this.”

  “He doesn’t have to know about all of it. The rest of the guys involved are dead—save for me—so say you’re looking for Tito to finish the job. Right?”

  Tilting his head in consideration, Salvatore said, “That might work. Actually, I could start sending some legitimate work your way, if you wanna work something out. We’ve got a few rental properties, we do background checks on future tenants—thorough ones, just to make sure our… other activities aren’t bleeding over into the legit stuff. I imagine you do those.”

  Nodding once, Ethan said, “I do.”

  “I don’t know about this,” Willow said, biting her lip. “Isn’t getting involved… I mean, I don’t want you to do anything that could jeopardize your livelihood.”

  “Sweet,” Salvatore mocked.

  “Actually, I just need him to be able to pay for my tuition in case my moms flip their shit when they find out about us,” she replied with a cheeky smile.

  Ethan snorted.

  Salvatore grinned. “I like that.”

  Willow shrugged, her smirk subsiding. “No, but seriously. Is that a safe idea?”

  Ethan said, “It should be okay, as long as I limit what I do for him to stuff like that. I’ll be careful. Just seems, since this is your family—”

  Willow grimaced. “Sorry.”

  Ethan smiled and continued, “—It might be best to try working something out. Establish a little good will. I’m going out on a limb here, but given the company you guys keep, I’m guessing utility trumps morals every day of the week.”

  Eyebrows rising, Salvatore nodded in acknowledgement. “That’s a good point.”

  Ethan nodded, glancing past Salvatore at the door. “Also, I do need to get out of here before her parents get home. Maybe we could resume this conversation at my office, with an actual appointment?”

  “I’ll have my people call your people,” he replied, dryly.

  Matter temporarily resolved, Salvatore made his exit as abruptly as his entrance.

  Shaking his head, a little shell shocked, Ethan said, “So, that was your brother.”

  “Half-brother,” Willow emphasized.

  Speak of the devil, Salvatore peeked his head back in. “Word of warning, you’re about to have a bad night.”

  Willow and Ethan both frowned, but Salvatore ducked back out, clearly uninterested in sticking around.

  Which became more understandable when, a moment later, Willow heard Lauren’s voice, thick with panic. “Willow!”

  “Fantastic,” Ethan muttered, quickly retrieving his shirt from the floor and yanking it on. He didn’t get it buttoned before Lauren and Ashlynn burst through the door, wearing complementary expressions of terror and fury.

  “What was he doing here?” Lauren asked, before her gaze fell on Ethan and her eyes widened. “And what is he doing here?”

  “I think we know what he’s doing here,” Ashlynn stated, her gaze piercing Ethan’s fingers, quickly working at the buttons of his open shirt. Her face paled a shade when she got to Willow, wearing a T-shirt and panties, but too afraid to walk away from Ethan to go retrieve more clothing.

  Ethan fought the urge to push her behind him, out of their view. Despite his rational comments earlier, he wasn’t entirely sure how they would react to catching him with their daughter again.

  He had no idea what to say. Ideas of things to tell them preemptively flew through his mind, but he couldn’t seem to push any words out of his mouth.

  “He was just leaving,” Willow finally said.

  Ashlynn’s eyebrows rose, but Lauren’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

  “He… he….” Lauren shook her head, overcome with bewildered rage. “What about Brian?”

  There was no point keeping up that charade. Swallowing, Willow admitted, “We broke up.”

  Lauren looked from Ethan back to Willow, mouth working, but seemingly at a loss.

  Deciding to speak up, Ethan said, “Listen, I know you don’t like me. I understand that. I hope in time you’ll change your opinion when you see how well I treat your daughter, how happy I make her, that I’m not the slimeball you think I am.”

  “I’m calling the police,” Ashlynn stated.

  “No!” Willow shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Stop it. Would you just…?” Trailing off, she shook her head, unsure what to even ask. When she had tried to reason with them before, it had been a failure every time. She’d used every argument she had at least three times and none of them worked.

  “I’ll leave,” Ethan stated, wanting to keep the peace… and also wanting to get the hell out of there.

  “We’ll be issuing a restraining order against you tomorrow,” Ashlynn stated.

  “That’s fine; Willow generally comes to my place anyway,” he stated.

  Ashlynn’s eyebrows rose, clearly not expecting that response.

  Willow grimaced, also not expecting that response.

  Ethan continued.

  “You can try to get a restraining order against me—I say try, because it’s not very l
ikely you’ll be able to get one. Your daughter is an adult dating another adult you don’t like, and that isn’t illegal. I haven’t threatened you, and regardless of what happened in Chicago when… I met Willow, there are no charges against me. I understand that’s shitty and unjust in a lot of ways, I understand that you have valid reasons for wanting to punish me, but trust me, I’ve faced consequences. Not in court, but I couldn’t sleep at night, reliving the horror of what happened there, how I hurt Willow. I lost my home, my family, the respect of most of the people I considered friends. I won’t come to your home again. You won’t hear from me again if you don’t want to. But I will see Willow. Any attempt on your part to get in the way of that at this point will fail. I’m not saying any of this to piss you off or disrespect you, but I love the hell out of your daughter, I think she’s amazing, and I’m not going to let anything or anyone get in the way of that.”

  “Not even your wife?” Ashlynn asked snidely.

  “We are in the process of divorcing. I deeply regret the position I put Willow in concerning all that, I regret hurting her, I regret hurting my wife, I regret all of the pain that resulted from it. I’ve felt the pain, too. I never wanted any of this. I’ve lived with the fallout every day of my life since then, and all of it without Willow. Now that I have her by my side, I’m not letting her go unless that’s what she wants. You can take her phone or car or college fund, you can take the very roof over her head—I can provide every one of those things if you do. What I can’t provide is a supportive relationship with her parents; only you can offer that. Just what I’ve seen from a distance, it seems like your relationship has already suffered from all this. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be a point of contention in your relationship. I want Willow happy, I want harmony in every area of her life. I don’t want to be the cause of anymore stress or pain. Whatever you think of me, I love your daughter, and her happiness is important to me. Assuming you feel the same way… maybe you can find it in your hearts to be just a little open-minded about me—I only need a sliver, I’ll earn the rest in time.”

  “Time,” Lauren repeated, looking a little skeptical.

  “I know how this could look,” Ethan acknowledged. “It isn’t that. Willow’s age, honestly, is more a drawback than any kind of ego stroke.”

  Encouraged by his speech, Willow laid a hand on his shoulder, leaning closer to him. That successfully drew her parents’ attention. “I hate the way things have been between us these last few months. I hate avoiding you and lying to you and living my whole life separate from you. It was never like that before, and some things that have changed in the course of all this may never change back, but that doesn’t have to be one of them. Don’t you want me to be happy? Don’t you want to be a part of that instead of an obstacle in the way of it? Because Ethan is right—I’m going to be with him, with or without your support, but I would really prefer to have it.”

  Her parents didn’t immediately respond, and the moment of silence seemed to stretch on forever.

  “I can’t stop loving him,” Willow told them, quietly. “And I don’t want to. And I’m not going to.”

  Ashlynn drew in a breath, seeming to consider. Lauren glanced at Ashlynn uncertainly, then her gaze drifted to Ethan before settling on Willow.

  “Of course we want you to be happy,” Lauren finally said, her voice low. “I just… don’t understand how you can… After what he did…” Seeing Willow was about to object, Lauren held up a hand “Whether he had a choice or not, I just don’t see how you can look at him and not see…”

  It wasn’t an unfair thing to struggle with, it just made Willow frustrated because Ethan was there. Knowing he still struggled with that himself sometimes, she didn’t want him to have to hear about it.

  “It’s complicated,” she told her mother. “I dealt with it in my own way, and Ethan helped me with that. You don’t have to understand it, just be happy that I’m better.”

  “Of course we’re happy that you’re better,” Ashlynn put in. “But we want you to move on with your life. Even if he was somehow able to help you through all that, okay, fine, but it’s over now, you’re about to move into the next chapter of your life. I mean, you’re just starting college, for Christ’s sake. You’re in different stages of life.”

  “I know that,” Willow acknowledged. “Every relationship has its obstacles.”

  “It seems like this one has more than its fair share,” Ashlynn pointed out.

  “Well, you two can help ease the burden of that one a bit,” she reminded them. “Don’t be one more obstacle in our path. Be my support system like you used to be. Accept that Ethan isn’t going anywhere.”

  Still reluctant, but visibly conflicted, Ashlynn said, “I have a lot of concerns.”

  Rolling her eyes indulgently, Willow said, “You usually do.”

  Lauren bit back a smile, cutting a sideways glance at her wife. “She has a point there.”

  More honestly than any of them expected, she added, “I’m terrified you’ll hurt her.”

  Ethan nodded once, understanding. “I won’t. I know what it looks like from the outside, but if you let Willow feel comfortable that you’re not going to try to break us up again, you’ll start to see that it’s just a normal relationship. Nothing sordid. I’m not going to hurt her. I’m honestly not that kind of man.”

  “He’s a pretty great man,” Willow put in, almost hopefully. “You’ll see.”

  The softer of the two, Lauren was the first to melt into a little smile. “I’d like that.”

  Ashlynn looked to Lauren, still reluctant, but seeing that she was losing her support. “I guess we could try.”

  Willow lit up, a grin splitting her face. “Really?”

  Lauren nodded enthusiastically, and Ashlynn offered a nod too, despite her pursed lips.

  Rushing forward, Willow hugged Lauren, then Ashlynn—the first time she’d hugged either of them since well before everything blew up with Ethan.

  That served to soften them up even more.

  “Well… maybe you could come over for dinner again one night, maybe one night this week,” Ashlynn offered.

  “Oh, yes,” Lauren agreed, as if there had never even been a horribly uncomfortable dinner with him before.

  “That way we can get to know you a little better,” Ashlynn added.

  “I would very much like that,” Ethan agreed, easily.

  “He seems to understand the value of family,” Lauren said to Ashlynn, as if they weren’t both standing there. “I like that.”

  Ashlynn rolled her eyes. Of course Lauren was already looking for reasons to like him now that she’d switched sides.

  Ashlynn remained skeptical. She wouldn’t be as easy to win over, but Ethan was confident he would manage it eventually.

  “Well, now that’s settled,” Willow said, putting a hand on him and nudging him toward the door.

  Smiling slightly as he allowed her to push him, Ethan said, “I guess I’m leaving now.”

  Ashlynn didn’t seem sorry to see him go, but Lauren offered a little wave.

  Once they got to the door, Willow pushed out a breath of relief. Still not fully dressed, she didn’t accompany him outside.

  “I’m sorry about… 75 percent of tonight,” she told him.

  “Hey, it would’ve come up eventually.”

  “You’re the best,” she informed him, flashing him an exaggeratedly moony smile.

  Leaning in to give her a brief kiss, he said, “Right back at ya.”

  Grabbing him by the shirt, she pulled him in for a longer, lingering kiss, then she released him and stepped back inside. “Bye,” she said, with a little teasing wave.

  Grinning like an idiot, he just watched until she shut the door.

  ---

  “Explain this to me again.”

  Ethan was lying on the couch in his apartment, popping chocolate covered raisins into his mouth.

  Glancing up from her laptop to look at the television, she s
aid, “They went to law school together and they both liked each other, but of course neither of them knew, because why would two attractive, smart people with a lot in common like each other? And then her more assertive bestie, that’s Kate Hudson, was all, ‘if you’re not going to ask her out, you should ask me out—”

  Rolling his eyes lightly, Ethan interrupted, “No, not this horrible, horrible movie—that internship thing you’re doing over there.”

  “Oh,” she said, her eyes going back to her laptop. Her finger moved across the touchpad and she brought up the email she had just received, the one that distracted Ethan from the glory of their current chick flick. “Okay, that’s a little less convoluted.”

  “Go figure.”

  “Only a little though,” she added. “So, I didn’t really mention it, because… you know, obvious reasons, but since I didn’t want to go to New York but I also didn’t want to lose out on a great opportunity, I decided to try to use my offer to work for Celine Holland as leverage and get a position here. It hasn’t resulted in a bunch of gallery owners leaping at the chance, though.”

  Cracking a smile, he said, “Their loss.”

  She smiled and rolled her eyes. “Sure. But I did some digging and found a Chicago based gallery owner who has bad blood with Celine Holland. On a chance, I emailed her with the same goal in mind, thinking, hey, you never know, maybe she dislikes Celine enough to want to steal away her intern?” Tapping the touchpad with emphasis, Willow looked back at him and grinned. “And what do you know, she emailed me back saying she would love to meet with me, and I have an interview with her on Thursday.”

  Grinning, Ethan said, “That was smart, and that’s incredible.”

  “It’s just an interview though, so you never know. But I was talking to Kendra at work, even though I hate talking to her about stuff because she’s such a gossip. Anyway, since she sticks her nose in everyone’s business, she told me the owner of our restaurant has a sister-in-law who is big on the New York art scene now, but she used to live in Chicago and she’s bound to still have plenty of contacts here. So I’m thinking if this one doesn’t pan out, maybe I can even ask Aaron and see if he might know of any leads. Worst case scenario he doesn’t, but… I’m feeling pretty optimistic about things. I think it’s all going to work out.”