There was no indication of her wild passion now. Her hair was pulled back so that only the closest examination would have shown the streaks of vibrant colors. Her dress was simple, classic; dark but not black. No hat, no veil, no jewelry. Lexi wasn’t here for show. If anything she was embarrassed by their attention. And in her face, Ian saw true grief at the loss of her father.
“You should,” Jake said, with enough admonishment in his voice to make Ian turn to him.
“Yeah? And why is that?”
Jake gave him a knowing smile, but it wasn’t a friendly one. “She had it bad for you, bro. Used to drive the rest of us nuts. Especially Kieran.”
Ian blinked, the only indication of his total bafflement. “She did?”
“Oh, hell yes,” Jake said. “Until the night she caught you and Kayla together, anyway.”
Vague, hazy memories appeared in Ian’s mind. He was supposed to pick Kieran and Lexi up after a basketball game, a condition of getting use of the family car for the night. But Kayla had other plans for the car. She’d gone down on him while they waited in the parking lot. Thinking about it now, it seemed odd that she’d waited until she saw them coming out to do it. But he’d been seventeen then. He didn’t question an offer of head.
He still remembered the look on Lexi’s face when she’d seen them, could still hear Kieran’s curses ringing in his mind. Lexi had taken off running, Kieran tearing after her. Ian hadn’t understood then, but he did now. He’d bet anything that Kayla had known about Lexi’s crush, and had gone out of her way to hurt her.
Ian put his beer down and straightened, his eyes fixed on the far side of the bar. This had gone far enough. He’d done what he’d been asked to do. He needed to talk to Lexi. Now.
“Don’t even think about it,” Jake breathed in his ear. Jake had a knack for knowing what Ian was going to do before he did. It was a bit scary sometimes. “And get Kayla out of here before she causes another scene.”
Why was Kayla suddenly his responsibility, Ian wanted to know? But he already knew why. Because no one else wanted to deal with her. At one time, Jake had been the one to handle Kayla, but not even he wanted to risk the wrath of his new bride.
On the plus side, the sooner he got Kayla out of there, the sooner he could figure out how to get Lexi alone for a few minutes. His entire body tingled at the thought.
He grabbed his suit coat, reached for the keys, and turned to tell Kayla it was time to go. Except that Kayla was no longer where he’d left her. His stomach dropped when he saw her teetering over to where Lexi sat.
“Well, well, well,” Kayla said, her voice carrying clearly throughout the bar. “If it isn’t the little princess herself. Broke her daddy’s heart and then comes back to get her greedy little hands on her inheritance. Well you’re not getting anything, sweetheart, you hear me?”
The bar grew silent, and all eyes turned in her direction. The tension in the room increased tenfold; Ian saw his brothers stiffen. Thankfully, Jack had left a bit earlier to drive Patricia home and wasn’t there to witness Kayla’s latest scene.
Lexi kept her face neutral, but Ian could see the flames in her eyes. Could feel how much Kayla’s words were hurting her. He’d never been able to do that with anyone other than his brothers before, so that unexpected and intimate connection shook him a little.
Kieran shifted, positioning his body in front of Lexi’s. Shane stood slowly, catching Jake’s eye across the bar, but Lexi put her hand on his arm, stopping him from going any farther.
She looked so beautiful, Ian thought. The picture of class and composure, even in grief.
“I don’t want anything, Kayla,” she said, her voice calm and even, though weary.
“The hell you don’t,” Kayla sneered. “But then again, I got what you really wanted, didn’t I?” She shot a look back at Ian, her smile laced with more cruelty than he’d ever seen. She might have been pretty once, but her spitefulness made her ugly.
For the third time that day, Lexi’s eyes met Ian’s. In that moment, he would have given anything to change things, to take away the hurt he saw in her eyes. To hold her in his arms and feel the wonder of her heart beating against his. And it had nothing to do with sex.
But he couldn’t. Damn it all, he couldn’t. Not here. Not now. Not in front of his family. He’d embarrass Lexi, and that was the last thing she needed.
“For Christ’s sake, get her the fuck out of here,” Jake hissed in his ear.
The only thing Ian could do was put a stop to the flow of vile things still spewing from Kayla’s mouth, so he would. He crossed the floor. “Time to go, Kayla,” he said, hating what he was forced to do.
“See, princess?” Kayla taunted as she wrapped herself around Ian. “He still wants me.”
Ian had never wanted to strike a woman as badly as he did then, but his father had raised him better than that. Instead, he removed her hands and propelled her toward the door. But the look on Lexi’s face was burned into his mind forever. The hurt, the betrayal in her eyes seared his heart.
It was the second time in his life she had given him that look. He would not survive a third.
Chapter Seven
“Stay with me,” Kayla pouted as she tried to pull Ian into her house. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
He’d gotten her safely to her door, but that was as far as he was going. Ian peeled her hands off of him. “No, Kayla.”
“It’s her, isn’t it?” she spat, her eyes narrowed to slits. “Little Miss Perfect. You feel sorry for her, just like everyone else.”
“You’re drunk. Go to bed.”
“Come with me.”
“Good night, Kayla.” Ian turned on his heel and walked away, ignoring any further pleas before he really lost his temper.
Ian rushed back to the Pub, but Lexi had already left with Kieran. Ian felt like punching something. He needed to see her, even if it was only for a few minutes. He had to know she was alright, had to at least try to explain to her that none of what Kayla had said was true.
Clearly Lexi hadn’t told anyone about their time together last night, and given the day’s events, that was probably a good thing. Tensions had been running high as it was, and she buried her father, for Christ’s sake. If there had been any hint that he had spent the night in her bed... well, he didn’t even want to think of what Kayla would have done with that information, let alone his father and brothers.
Keeping their little secret off the radar made things more difficult, but not impossible. For now at least, discretion was paramount, for both of their sakes. But he would be visiting her soon.
They had a lot to discuss, and he had a lot of questions. He hadn’t recognized her at first, but was the same true on her end? Had she known who he was all along? Or was that something that she realized afterwards? And why had she turned him down at first, only to surrender so completely to him later?
And dear Lord, had she surrendered to him! Never had a woman taken him so well and given so much in return. Ian got an odd feeling in his chest every time he thought about it.
Was it possible that Lexi still had feelings for him, even after all these years? The more he thought about it, the more he believed that to be the case. It was in every touch, every word, every nuance of their time together. That’s what had made the night so spectacular. His brief time with Lexi went beyond the lust and physical needs he was accustomed to. Plenty of women had said they cared for him, but he had never felt the pure concentrated power of the real thing before. Now he had, and he was afraid that nothing else would ever do.
Except he feared it might already be too late.
Ian bided his time, waiting for Kieran to return. He sat with his family, nursing his beer and half-listening to their conversations, his eyes kept glancing toward the door every so often. Once Kieran was back he would slip away and see her again.
“Give it up, Ian,” Shane said finally, when everyone else had grown tired of his single-syllabled answers and gone to sho
ot darts. “Kier’s not coming back tonight. Dad told him to stay with her, to make sure she was okay.”
Ian turned to Shane, his gaze intent. Anyone else might have been intimidated, but Shane only smiled. “You haven’t taken your eyes off that door since you got back,” he explained.
Ian shrugged, containing his exhale. Shane was the equivalent of a human lie detector. It would do no good to deny it. The most he could hope for was to provide a little redirection, at least until he knew what the hell was going on.
“So what’s her story? Lexi, I mean.”
Shane grinned widely, and Ian knew he’d made the smart choice. Shane wouldn’t have believed for a moment that Ian wasn’t thinking about her. At least this way it sounded like a legitimate inquiry, as opposed to something a lover might ask. He would hit his beloved computers later and know everything there was to know about Lexi O’Connell, a.k.a. Alexis Kattapoulos, but Shane would have the interesting personal insights he couldn’t get anywhere else.
“Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to ask. Saw you looking at her all day.” At Ian’s surprised look, he added, “But don’t sweat it. You weren’t alone. There wasn’t a man there who wasn’t checking her out for one reason or another.”
So far, this conversation was not doing anything to settle his unease.
“Alexis O’Connell, only daughter of Brian and Adonia O’Connell,” Shane began, slipping into his subject analysis mode. Shane’s mind was like a computer, storing images and data effortlessly. It was one of the things that made him such a genius.
“Adonia?” Ian questioned. It was not a common name.
“She was Greek,” Shane told him. “Brian met her on one of his tours in the Mediterranean.” Ian nodded. That explained a lot, especially her daughter’s goddess-like features.
“Adonia died when Lexi was only a few years old, leaving Brian to single-parent before it was socially acceptable. When Lexi hit junior high, Brian thought his daughter would benefit from having a woman around. Enter Patricia Jennings with her own daughter, Kayla. They married, and it was the classic Cinderella story.” Shane grinned. “Guess who the ugly stepsister is?”
Ian bit the inside of his lip, something he only did when deep in thought. “Let me guess. The dad was clueless, right?”
Shane’s expression grew more serious. His brows creased together and his eyes lost a bit more of their teasing twinkle. “Not so much. According to Dad, he realized his mistake right away, but he’d already married Patricia, and he was a devout Catholic. Nothing short of a burning bush was going to make him renege on his vows.”
“Not even concern for his daughter?” Ian found it hard to believe that a father could ignore that kind of behavior, especially against someone as innocent and loving as Lexi. Not to mention that old-generation Irish men were known for being extremely protective of their women and children.
A shadow fell over Shane’s face. “There’s a lot more to it than that,” he said cryptically. Before Ian could ask what he meant, Shane continued. “You really don’t remember anything about her, do you?” he asked, considering Ian thoughtfully. “Lexi would never put her father in that sort of a position - where he would have to choose one over the other. She did the next best thing. She started hanging around us. Instant big brothers.” He grinned. “Except for you, of course. We kept her far away from you.”
“Yeah? And why is that?”
“For one thing, you only thought with your dick back then. Christ, Ian, some things never change.”
Ian scowled and shot him a withering look, but he knew it was true. There were some things he was not especially proud of.
“But for another,” Shane continued, “Lexi had it bad for you, man. She couldn’t be in the same room with you without starting to stutter and knocking things over. It was kind of embarrassing, really. Glad she’s past that.”
“Yeah,” Ian said, his voice sounding strange even to his own ears. Shane shot him a suspicious glance.
“Hey, where were you last night anyway?” Shane asked suddenly. Too suddenly for Ian’s comfort.
“With someone.” He kept his eyes on Shane purposefully. Now was not the time for one of Shane’s psychic bursts of insight. He needed to keep his answers truthful without revealing everything. He slammed his mental shields down around the images of Lexi now permanently burned into his brain. Images of her so adorable and shy on the bus; of her eyes lighting up with excitement at the burgers he’d brought her; her body flushed and hot and slick for him; the look on her face when she made love to him with her mouth...
“Well, duh,” Shane said, interrupting Ian’s recollections. “Whoever she was, she did a number on you. You’ve been walking around in a daze all day.” He paused, sitting back and tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I know it wasn’t Kayla.”
Ian looked up sharply. Why did everyone assume he’d be with Kayla? And how did Shane know he wasn’t?
“She came around looking for you,” Shane answered, correctly guessing at least one of Ian’s questions. “Got real pissy when we said we didn’t know where you were.”
“Whatever.” Ian was tired of Kayla. Really, really tired. And he had no desire to discuss her any more. “So why’d she leave?”
“’Cause no one else around here can stand her company for more than five minutes. And Taryn scares us, man.”
What? It took him a moment to figure out what Shane was talking about. “No, you moron, not Kayla. Lexi. Why did Lexi blow town?”
A definite shadow passed over Shane’s face this time. “Ah, right. Well, things got worse over at the O’Connells. Lexi was happy with us, and that pissed Kayla off. Seems that Kayla had a bit of a crush on you, too. And Jake. Me and Sean. Mick. And –“
Ian rolled his hand in a “get on with it” gesture. “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
“Well, the story goes that Kayla must have gone whining to mommy about it because one day, Patricia decided that with Lexi ‘maturing’ it wasn’t right for her to spend so much time with us, which, in retrospect, was probably a good thing, though none of us ever viewed her as anything more than a little sister. Brian apparently agreed, and told her she couldn’t hang out with us anymore. Kieran got really pissed – you know how close they were – and talked to Dad. Dad tried to talk some sense into Brian, but he just wouldn’t listen. Lex ran away a couple of times, but we always found her and brought her home.” Shane chuckled. “One time Kieran snuck her into his room to keep her from spending the night in the woods alone. Dad found out and nearly hit the roof.”
Something ugly reared in Ian’s chest. “Kieran and Lexi?”
“It wasn’t like that, man. Not everyone’s a whore like you.” Ian scowled again, but Shane went on. “Kier was just trying to protect her, give her a safe place to crash. We all were.”
Ian nodded, the pressure in his chest momentarily subsiding and then filling instead with something much heavier.
“But that’s not the whole story, is it?” Ian asked, the dread building in his gut.
“No. Something happened. And before you ask, I don’t know what. But it was bad, real bad. Next thing we know, Lexi’s gone and no one’s saying anything. It wasn’t even Brian that took her away – it was Dad that drove her to the airport that day and put her on a plane. That should tell you something.”
“And you have no idea why?”
Shane shook his head. “There were rumors, of course. Some said Lexi got herself pregnant and went to some distant relatives to have the baby. Others say she finally snapped and threatened Kayla and her mom and Brian had to send her away for help. But neither of those things are true,” Shane said emphatically. “No way, not Lex. She was protecting someone, and I’d bet my left nut it was one of us, probably Kieran.”
Shane drained the last of his beer, standing. “I’ve never seen anyone take the abuse she did and not fight back. She’d just get all quiet and go off by herself. Used to drive Kier crazy, but there’s no way she went postal, not her. And
as far as the pregnancy thing went, well, Lexi was a good girl, you know? Not to mention we would have beat the shit out of anyone who dared to change that.” He shot Ian a pointed glance. “That’s another reason we tried to keep her away from you. Dad would’ve been really pissed if we killed one of our own.”
Ian had the distinct impression that Shane was warning him that they still would. He’d been right in assuming his father and brothers would not take kindly to the knowledge of where Ian had been last night and what he’d been doing. Apparently those old protective instincts were very much alive and well. So he did the only thing he could for the moment: he ignored it.
Shane’s face grew very somber. “I do know that right before she disappeared, Lexi started missing a lot of school. And I overheard Kieran telling Dad that he’d seen some cuts and bruises on her that didn’t look right. Dad went to Brian again, told him he had to do something. Shortly after that, Lexi was gone. Apparently Kieran was the only one she told; the rest of us didn’t find out till later.”
“The official story was that Brian had sent her to stay with some distant relatives of his late wife’s. Wouldn’t tell anyone exactly where, Dad knew. She’d legally changed her name to her mother’s maiden name – Kattapoulos. He’s kept tabs on her all these years, sending her birthday cards and shit. That’s how he knew where to contact her about Brian’s death when no one else did.”
Shane paused, letting all that sink in. “Dad said she didn’t want to come back for the funeral, but he talked her into it. Told her that it was the right thing to do, that she’d regret it later if she didn’t pay her final respects, blah, blah, blah. But now, after seeing what happened today and tonight, I’m wondering if maybe she was right.” He shook his head. “She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, you know?”
First and Only: Callaghan Brothers, Book 2 Page 6