Dominic
A Saint Brothers Novel
Book One
Kristan Belle
Copyright © 2015 Kristan Belle
First published 2015 Createspace.
Cover Photograph © Adobe Stock
Cover Design © Kristan Belle
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents and places are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or deceased, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this digital publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, nor circulated in physical form without prior consent of the author.
This book is intended for mature readers due to explicit language, sexual scenes and violence.
Acknowledgements
As always a massive thank you to my beta readers, reading circle and the rest of the pack!
A HUGE thank you to Linzi my rock chick! We read, we write, we rock! Simple!
A BIG thank you to Heidi, you know how much I appreciate you, dontcha?!
And to YOU reading this – thank you for supporting me X
Chapter One
Fallon
This was the last place on earth I wanted to be right now. I was shattered after another hard shift at work, was scheduled to cover a shift later tonight and my parents wouldn’t take no for an answer. So there I was at the Golf and Country Club, surrounded by people I didn’t particularly like and counting down the minutes until I could escape.
Yeah, yeah. I was twenty nine and in full control of my life and shouldn’t be ruled by my parents. But, honestly? Sometimes it was easier to give in to them rather than have them riding my back all the time. I was all about the easy life. A couple of hours tonight would get them off my case for a little while, so while it was still boring me to tears now, it would get me off the hook for the next couple of months, making my life infinitely easier.
I was a constant source of disappointment to my family. Nothing I ever did was good enough for them. It was mainly because I chose not to follow in their footsteps. Sitting around on my backside while I watched the money roll in while I did nothing to earn it wasn’t my idea of rewarding.
My father was the founder of one of the worlds’ largest and most successful search engines. Well, he was the money behind it and put his name to it, but in actual fact, he’d done next to nothing to help develop it. Again, it was a case of sitting on his ass, watching everyone else do the work and simply reaping the rewards.
But it wasn’t my father that was the problem. He was the one person in my family that I actually did get on with. It was my mother that thought I was wasting my life.
Just because I wanted to actually do something with my life, something that I loved and found worthwhile, I was some kind of failure and disappointment to them. It wasn’t a job that paid mega-bucks and I worked really shitty hours, but I loved my job. They saw nothing noble in the fact that I trained and worked hard. Being a nurse was something beneath them.
Here I was, surrounded by people just like my parents. Money oozed from their pores. It was my idea of an evening from hell.
“More champagne, Fallon dear?” My father asked as one of the waiters walked by with a sterling silver tray filled with champagne flutes.
“No thanks. I’m all good.” I held up the still full glass in my hand. I couldn’t stomach the stuff. The bubbles tickled my nose and I thought it tasted like cat piss.
My mother hated the way I spoke and the way I held myself. All those years of elocution lessons and private schools that taught me how to be a ‘lady’ were pretty much wasted on me. I may have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth but that didn’t mean I had to act like I had a platinum stick up my ass.
I knew about the real world. They were busy being surrounded by the protection of their money while the real world struggled. I was caught in the limbo in between and fighting to find the place where I belonged.
Conversation murmured around me, but I wasn’t part of it. I’d come here to do my duty and to make my parent’s happy for a change, but I wasn’t planning on enjoying it. I couldn’t think of anything more boring than having to talk to those people. Golf weekends and spa days? Pur-lease. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
“Would you like anything to eat?”
“No, dad. I’m fine.”
At least he was trying to talk to me. My mother hadn’t even deigned me with her presence as of yet. He smiled warmly as he walked off to mingle, knowing that my mother would demand he keep up the family image.
Out of my family, my dad was the best. At least he had a shred of humanity and normality about him. My mother and sister lived in some kind of moneyed-up fantasy world where no one could hurt them as long as they had their piles of cash to protect them.
My sister, Olivia, was lapping up the attention that was being lavished on her tonight. This was her idea of heaven. I don’t think I had ever seen her smiling so much. She was beaming from ear to ear.
This was the reason I had been dragged here. Olivia and Alex had just announced their engagement. It was just what my parents had been hoping for when the two of them had started dating. He was just the kind of guy that my mother hoped to see me with. Alex came from old money so according to everyone, they were the perfect match. He was a nice enough guy even if he was as boring as sin. There was no way I could settle for a marriage like that. All image and no substance.
I was happy enough for my parents that at least one of their kids wasn’t disappointing them. There was no way I was ever going to marry for money and no matter how many times my mother told me I would be happy with a man like Alex, I always told her she shouldn’t hold her breath.
Olivia and Alex looked like the perfect couple as they swept around the room graciously accepting words of congratulations from well-wishers. In my opinion, they looked like Barbie and Ken had come to life as they swanned around the room like the owned the place. Olivia looked princess perfect in her pale baby pink dress and flowing blonde hair. Alex complimented her perfectly with his wholesome traditional handsomeness. It was enough to make me want to puke.
My mother came sweeping across the room to stand next to my father, linking her manicured hand through his arm. She turned to me, beaming, “Don’t they make the most wonderful couple? Olivia is simply blooming.” She threw me a scathing look, letting me know once again that she didn’t think my outfit was up to scratch.
“Blooming? Don’t people usually say something like that when a girl’s pregnant? Don’t tell me this is a shot-gun wedding?” I grinned.
“Fallon! Keep your voice down.” She admonished.
I couldn’t help laughing. My mother was all about appearances. There was no way that my darling little sister would do anything as scandalous as get pregnant before she said ‘I do’ in a church. It was just a bit of fun but my mother clearly didn’t share my sense of humour.
“I’ve got to go soon.” I tapped my mother on the arm to make sure I had her attention.
She turned to glare at me once again. “I suppose you think we should be grateful that you took five minutes out of your busy schedule to come here tonight?”
“You wanted me to come and I came.”
“And we all thought you might be a little happier for your sister. You’ve only just got here.”
“Some of us do have to work, you know.” I wanted to roll my eyes. We’d had this conversation so many times before. Apparently, I wasn’t very supportive of anything Olivia did, blah, blah, blah. My younger sister could do no wrong, following in my mother’s footsteps of finding a rich husband and
keeping up appearances. That just wasn’t the kind of future I was looking for.
“Fallon. I refuse to have this conversation with you again. You know exactly how I feel about you working in that place.”
“The hospital?” I smirked. She hated that I worked at the city hospital and not in some private hospital that paid me thousands more for doing the exact same job. Or even better, plastic surgery. I would have made a fortune off her friends if I’d decided to go into that field.
When I told my parents that I wanted to go into medicine, they had thought that it was just a whim, some silly notion that I’d get over. When I started to volunteer at the local hospital, they had a complete shit fit. Apparently, they were concerned about the kind of people I could come across in there. If I worked at the private hospital, I would obviously be working with a higher class of sick people. They were such snobs.
“Fallon. This is not the time or the place.” She flashed her plastic smile at someone of importance as they walked by before saying in a hushed tone, “You could have made more of an effort tonight. This is a big night for your sister and you look like you’ve just rolled out of bed and thrown on the first thing you came across.”
I looked down at myself. I couldn’t see what her problem was. The top I had on wasn’t too low cut or slutty and my trousers were straight legged, and well, quite boring. It clearly wasn’t good enough for her. It would never be good enough for her unless I spent half the day in the beauty salon with her and my sister.
She could think what she liked. I didn’t have the time or inclination to waste my day on that kind of thing. Sitting around while people primped my hair and messed with my nails was my idea of torture. Well, I loved people messing with my hair, but not to the extent my mother went to.
I got annoyed with her disapproving glare. “For Christ’s sake, mother. I look respectable. What more do you want?”
She shook her head at me disappointingly. “I raised you better than that. You’re speaking like those heathens you work with.”
“Give it a rest, mother.” I rolled my eyes.
“I’m just saying you could have made more of an effort.”
“Well, it is Olivia’s night. I didn’t think it would be fair to try and steal the limelight.”
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” My mother frowned, well, as much as she could with all that Botox.
Ignoring her disdain, I put the full glass of champagne on the tray as another waiter walked by, picking up a glass of water and downing it in one. My parents had spared no expense for the announcement party. Even the water had been imported.
And yes, this was just the announcement party. We would still have to get through the engagement celebrations and then the full weight of the wedding would descend. This kind of thing would be a twenty four seven obsession for my mother and sister for the considerable future and all kinds of ridiculous money would be thrown at it.
At least this might take the heat off of me for a while. If they had something positive to focus on, they might get off my back for a change. I’d heard from an early age about how I should find myself a nice young man to take care of me, especially since I started working. They thought if I had a man to look after me, I wouldn’t have to be so stubborn and independent.
My father wasn’t quite as bad as my mother, but he still didn’t approve. He was the face of a successful business that had been bought with his family’s old money, and my mother stood loyally by his side. My sister was the little princess who loved the high society life and was now marrying into another respectable family. She was their pride and joy, and the total opposite to me.
“I’m going to have to go home soon. I need to change before I go to work.” I glanced at my watch, wishing the time would tick by quicker.
My mother continued to look unimpressed. “You should stay. This is an important night for our family. For your sister. You should be here for the family.”
“No, it’s an important night for Olivia and Alex. They know I’m happy for them.”
“You should be here, with the family.” She insisted.
“I can’t just call in. People depend on me.”
“I’m sure they do.” She muttered. The kind of people who couldn’t pay for private surgery didn’t register on her radar.
It really made my blood boil. I had studied and worked my ass off for years and had finally achieved my goal. I was a nurse at the city hospital, doing what I had always wanted to do. How could anyone with a heart look down on that kind of job? Every single day I was helping people, healing the sick and patching up the wounded. Still, it wasn’t a glamorous or well-paid profession so my mother didn’t think it was worthy of my time.
“I need to say goodbye to dad.”
“Your father is talking to Alex’s parents.” My mother nodded her head in his direction and I set off without another word. I’d had more than enough of her for one night.
Waiting for a pause in the conversation, I tapped my father on the shoulder.
“Sweetheart, have you said hello to Ivor and Sara?” I smiled and shook their hands as was expected of me.
“So, Fallon, when will be hearing wedding bells from you?” Sara smiled.
I wanted to bang my head against a brick wall. If I’d heard that once tonight, I’d heard it a dozen times. “I think we’ll let everyone concentrate on Olivia and Alex’s special moment first.” I replied diplomatically. Turning back to my dad, I said, “I just came over to let you know I was leaving.”
“Are you working this evening?”
“Yeah. I’m on the late shift.” At least my dad wouldn’t give me too much grief about it, especially not in front of Alex’s parents. He did think I could do something different with my life, but he didn’t begrudge me my choice. I think he thought I’d do this for a while and then move on with my life and was humouring me.
“Stay safe.” And he kissed me on the cheek.
“Have you seen Olivia?”
He looked around, “I’m not sure where she is. Have you asked your mother?”
“I haven’t really got time to go hunting for her. Can you tell her I said goodbye?” As nasty as it sounded, I didn’t want to go out of my way to find my sister. I had come here and shown my face and that should be enough. She would be busy off flashing her engagement ring to everyone who crossed her path and I didn’t need to be blinded by her bling yet again.
Walking out into the fresh evening air, I was pleased that I had a good excuse to leave that place. Those sorts of functions weren’t my thing. I didn’t enjoy being surrounded by rich people who thought that they owned the world and everything in it. That wasn’t my idea of a good time.
Grinning to myself, I made my way over to my car. The piece of shit stood out like a sore thumb among all the luxury cars. It may be a rust bucket on wheels, but I’d paid for it myself and she ran like a dream, even if she was a bit on the noisy side. My mother had flipped when she saw it and immediately rang the car dealership, ordering me a top of the range SUV, but I loved my POS and refused to trade it for anything.
The drive back to my apartment was uneventful and I jumped in the shower before rushing back out to head to work. It was going to be a long night, but much preferable to staying at the golf club and watching my sister getting treated like royalty.
Walking into the hospital and going through my usual routine of checking in and changing into my scrubs, I got ready for a hard night. Weekends were the busiest and despite what my parents thought about it, I knew that I was doing something important with my life. With a small smile to myself, I threw myself into my work.
Dominic
“Here you go. You look like you need it.” Lauren said as she passed the glass over the bar.
A double Jack. Perfect. Just what I needed. Downing it in one, I relished the burn in my throat. “Thanks, darlin’.”
“You deserve more than that after today.”
“It was nothing out of the ordinary for me.” I
winked at her, trying to ease the tension. If anything, she would be the one that needed the drink, but she’d opted to throw herself back into her work. Keeping busy worked for Lauren.
“It was a big deal for me. Thank you. I can’t tell you how much.”
“Anytime.”
It hadn’t been a particularly hard day. It was more productive than anything. But I had the headache from hell working its way into my skull.
We were the kind of boys who were told we would amount to nothing when we had been back in school. It was kind of understandable. All four of us had quick tempers and we didn’t leave school with a handful of qualifications between us. But that shit isn’t the be-all and end-all. We had life experience. We had street smarts. And we had determination. When we wanted something, we went for it and let nothing get in our way, whether it was business or pussy, it was all the same. The Saint Brother’s always came out winners in the end.
Maze walked up to the bar, slipping onto the empty stool next to me. He looked as rough as hell. It wasn’t surprising really. He’d been up all night looking into some kind of new computer system they were installing at the office. He’d been working with Kellin and Austen since they started the business and handled all the digital work. Maze was a genuine computer whizz, which was how he got his name. He was like those goddamn mice that always got the cheese. Maze delivered without fail.
Maze had been working through the night and for most of the day on this new computer system. The dude was going to work himself into the ground. My brother’s wouldn’t be able to function without him working for them. They were the muscle and the connections and Maze had the know-how to make it work. They were a damn good team and the mix worked well.
None of us were dumb enough to think that he always kept to the legal routes when he was working a job, but he always got the right results so we weren’t going to complain. Sometimes you had to bend the law to get the job done. That was just the way of the world.
Dominic (Saint Brothers #1) Page 1