“She saved Kyle’s life.”
“She did. He was on his own for too long after his mother’s death. And then he was shuttled from foster home to foster home for more than two years when the state finally became aware of his situation and rescued him from it. But, sometimes, foster homes aren’t a rescue. There are some great foster parents out there, but there are also some where the child is worse off than he was at home.”
She was talking about a world that was far from my realm of understanding. I grew up in a world of privilege. But going through this mess with my dad and meeting Kyle, I was beginning to see that the world wasn’t all sweet-smelling roses.
“Our childhoods make us who we are as adults. Kyle and Ian and Kevin and Stacy could have let their bad childhoods turn them into bitter adults, but they didn’t. Abigail made sure of that. She made them feel loved and gave them a sense of self-worth. She helped them overcome their past.”
“I’m glad Kyle had someone like that,” I said most honestly.
Cassidy took my hand. “And now he has you.”
“I don’t know if I can live up to such a legacy.”
Cassidy smiled. “I thought the same thing. But they don’t need us to be Abigail. They just need us to love them.”
The awkwardness just suddenly melted away. We opened a bottle of wine and had a nice talk after that, about everything from being a part of the Callahan family to the best places to shop in Boston. It was nice. For the second time in two days, I felt almost like I had before my life imploded, before my dad lost everything. I felt like a happy newlywed gossiping with her new in-laws.
A big part of me wished that was really all this was.
Chapter 13
Kyle
I stood at the back of the warehouse, a gun in my hand as I waited for the trucks to arrive. This was probably the most dangerous part of my job. Following Jack around was probably the safest because no one was crazy enough to attack him while he was surrounded by his people. But this required me to be alone, to be in an incriminating location, to be vulnerable.
I didn’t like it.
I wondered how things were going with Amelia. I knew that Cassidy and Brianna could be overwhelming when they were together, but I was pretty sure Amelia could handle it. But, again, how much did I really know about her? We’d been married all of forty-eight hours. We’d known each other just a little more than forty-eight hours.
But I could always get a sense about people, and my sense told me that Amelia could hold her own with just about anyone.
I had a fucking headache. I reached up and brushed my hand against my forehead. It’d been plaguing me since the morning I woke up with Amelia in my bed, but it hadn’t been that bad until now. Because I was alone and could focus on it now, I supposed. I should have asked Ian for some aspirin. He always seemed to have some handy.
A horn honked somewhere on the other side of the building. That was the signal that the trucks had arrived.
I pushed the button that opened the towering doors behind me and watched as they came around the corner. The driver of the first truck lifted a hand to me, waving through the windshield. And then all hell broke out.
A shot rang down from the roof of the building across the alley. Then another. I ducked down and ran to the truck, yanking open the driver’s side door and pushing the driver out of the way as I slammed my foot into the accelerator. We had to get these trucks out of the open.
“Thanks, man,” the driver said as I parked the truck in the center of the warehouse and climbed out to check on the two others that should have followed us in. One was roaring to a stop beside the first, but there was no sign of the third.
I ran back to the doors just in time to see a group of Italians swarm the third truck.
I fired and one of the Italians fell. But the others spotted me and fired back. I managed to move around to the side of the truck as bullets followed me. I got a few more shots off, but there were too many of them.
And then another vehicle burst into the alley. Pops and Killian.
They fired through the windows of the car, rushing the truck. I managed to jump back just as they slammed into the side of the truck, taking out three of the Italians even as they pushed the truck sideways by a good five or six feet. I climbed into the cab of the truck, pulled the driver—who appeared to have taken a bullet to the head—out of the way and drove quickly into the garage, dragging Pops’ car behind me a few feet before the screech of metal indicated that we’d separated.
The trucks secured, I ran back outside, closing the massive doors behind me. Pops and Killian were under fire, but Ian had come around the other side of the warehouse, so we pretty much had the Italians on the run.
Adrenaline was rushing through my body as I realized I was out of bullets with the click of my gun as I fired repeatedly at the back of the last Italian.
“What the hell?” Ian said breathlessly as he joined me by the garage doors. “What was that all about?”
“They wanted the guns.”
“They weren’t trying so hard to get the guns. It’s more like they wanted to create a distraction.”
“Why would they do that?”
Ian shrugged.
Pops and Killian joined us, studying the mess of the front end of the Chevy they’d just been sitting in.
“Someone should call Jack,” Killian said.
None of us was really in a hurry to do that. Jack wouldn’t be happy with this latest disaster. But at least we saved the shipment that was stored in the back of the trucks. And he’d only lost one man this time. This time.
I took an Uber home, exhausted from the long day and wanting nothing better than something to eat and a couple of hours in my bed. The loft was quiet when I let myself in. There were wine glasses in the sink. Three. Again I wondered how well Amelia got on with Cassidy and Brianna. I hoped they didn’t make her feel too uncomfortable.
I made myself a quick sandwich, wolfing it down as I scanned the mail waiting for me in my study. The housekeeper had left it there, sitting neatly on the blotter in the middle of a desk I rarely ever used. Bills that my accountant had probably already paid and circulars for businesses I either already patronized or would never go to if hell froze over. A couple of swigs of beer and I was ready for bed.
Just another day.
But then she was there, lying quietly in the center of my bed, once again dressed in nothing more than a pair of panties and a cute little undershirt. She was on her side, her hair tangled around her face, her hands tucked under her cheek. Her undershirt was drawn up a little, revealing the tender, soft skin between the top of her panties and the bottom of her navel. I wanted to bury my face there; I wanted to do so many things to that incredibly beautiful girl. But exhaustion weighed heavy on my shoulders.
I washed up, striped to my boxers, and crawled into bed beside her.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay.” She moved closer to me, sliding her hand over my chest. “Your stepmom and sister are pretty funny.”
“Yeah?”
“They want to throw a party for us tomorrow night.”
I groaned, but I’d actually been expecting it. That’s how the Callahans did things. They threw a party for everything.
“It should be fun.”
“Yeah.” I ran my hand over the back of her head. “You like them?”
“I do.”
“Good.”
She moved closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She felt good in my arms. I’d always thought this cuddling bullshit was stupid, but it was actually relaxing. I held her and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep to the rhythm of her breathing.
Maybe this marriage thing wasn’t all that bad.
Chapter 14
Amelia
He gave me his credit card and told me to buy anything I wanted. He was off doing whatever it was he did, while I
was at the mall looking for some sort of suitable outfit to wear to his family party tonight. I hated to watch him walk away this morning, afraid that when I saw him again there would be more bruises, more damage to his gorgeous body. He assured me that he would be in an office all day, but how could I believe that when he was still sporting the bruises someone had given him yesterday?
Was it always like this? Would it always be like this?
I found myself thinking about the future, the long run, when in reality I wasn’t even sure we had anything like a future. He’d been insistent on an annulment just a few days ago. But, again, he hadn’t asked about the night we got married in a while. Maybe he’d forgotten about it. Maybe he didn’t care anymore how we got married.
And maybe pigs would fly one day.
He was going to ask. And I was going to have to tell him the truth.
I walked slowly through the department store and ran my fingers over the soft material of the dresses. He told me to get something comfortable but nice. I looked at a dozen dresses, tried on one or two, but I couldn’t decide what I should get. In my experience, nice and comfortable could mean any number of things. Should I get a long skirt? Short? Show cleavage? Hide it? Should it be a sober black or a bright red? White? Or maybe a soft green?
There were too many choices.
“May I help you?”
I turned and a tall, older woman I’d noticed when I first came into the store was standing just a few feet away. She looked like a matron from some strict all-girls school. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and nodded.
“I’m looking for something to wear to a party, but I’m not quite sure what I should get.”
“What kind of party?”
I giggled a little, a nervous giggle. “A meeting your in-laws for the first time kind of party?”
Her eyebrows rose slightly. She looked me over for a long second, her eyes lingering a little uncomfortably on my curves.
“How long have you been married?”
“Just a few days.”
“And your in-laws, do you know much about them? Are they conservative? What has your husband told you about them?”
I tilted my head to the side a little, thinking of what I did know of them.
“Well, my father-in-law is an executive. He’s the CEO of MCorp. And my mother-in-law is—”
“Wait. You’re married to one of the Callahan boys?”
Her whole demeanor seemed to change with that information. She studied me with new interest.
“Yes. Kyle.”
“If you’ll follow me, Mrs. Callahan,” she said, turning to lead the way through the store, “we’ll find you the perfect thing to wear.”
She took me into a private room at the back of the store where she instructed several young women. The next thing I knew, I’m sitting on a low couch, a glass of champagne in my hand, and a succession of models walking past me wearing clothing that might be appropriate to a party at the Callahan home.
I was definitely back to where I’d been ages ago. I was somebody of note, a person that people noticed. Kyle’s name changed my whole life. He put me out there again where my father’s name had become a talisman I was forced to bear.
I could get used to this.
Chapter 15
Kyle
We drove around most of the day, conducting business for both the Irish mob and MCorp. Jack was a very busy man. I had no idea how he managed to keep it all straight, or have time for his wife. I watched him, seeing the dark circles under his eyes and the downward tilt to his shoulders that didn’t used to be there. He’d wear himself completely out someday soon and he’d have to name a successor. I wondered if he’d given much thought to it.
“Where’s your wife?” he asked me over lunch.
“Shopping for something to wear tonight.”
“The party.” He looked up. “I nearly forgot about it, but I’m sure Caroline would have reminded me.”
His eyes took in the restaurant around him without any obvious movement. I got a kick out of watching him and my father do things like that. It was the old way, the way things were done when they were young. People these days, they didn’t take notice of anything. They were too busy staring at the screens of their phones. But I noticed. I liked to think I’d learned a little something from Jack and Pops.
“It’s dangerous handing a woman your credit card and telling her to go shopping,” Jack continued. “You should have sent her over to Valentina’s.”
“Yeah?”
“They run a line of credit over there. You could have called, told them what you wanted, and they would have made sure she walked out with only what you wanted.”
“I’ll remember that in the future.”
“You do that.” Jack set down his fork and looked over at me, really looking at me for the first time in a long while. “I can’t imagine you married. I always assumed you’d be the one who’d be smart enough to avoid that particular distraction.”
“She’s not a distraction.”
“If she isn’t, she isn’t worth the ink the marriage license is written with.” Jack smiled, softening the blow of his words. “I’m not worried about you, Kyle. You’re a good man. You always do what I ask of you.”
“Thank you, Jack.”
“What I meant was that I got married because it was the thing to do. You found a pretty woman who could keep your house, raise your kids, and allow you the freedom to go out and do what you wanted. But these days, all that’s not necessary. There’s not the stigma on a man populating the world outside of marriage anymore, you know?” He smiled again. “I was living vicariously through you, my friend, all those beautiful girls coming and going from your bed.”
“I guess you’ll have to live vicariously through Ian now.”
Jack nodded. “But Ian isn’t quite as…shall we say prolific? He’s been living sort of like a monk these last two or three years.”
I had noticed that Ian didn’t mention women as much recently, but I didn’t think much of it. Ian was a private kind of guy. He didn’t share what he did on his off time with many people.
“I’m looking forward to meeting her. She must be something to take you off the market.”
An image of Amelia lying asleep in my bed flashed through my mind. She was something, but I wasn’t sure she’d really gotten me off the market. In a few months, when things settled down with the Italians, when Pops’ reputation wasn’t so damaged, when things returned to normal, I was sure Amelia would be anxious to return to her own life. Until then, I guess we’d see where things went.
“I heard from Delaney,” Jack suddenly said.
“Yeah?”
Delaney was his daughter from some affair he had years ago. Like my father, Jack got around in the old days. The only difference was, Pops settled down into his marriage to Abigail. Jack never really did. He still cheated on Caroline as if sex was a commodity that he had to collect as quickly and as often as he possibly could…from as many different sources as possible. And, like a true businessman, he made a few mistakes, but he never failed to cover them up.
“She and Sean are in Tuscany as we speak. She said they just wanted to take some time, but they’d be back by the end of the month.”
“That’s good to know.”
Jack nodded. “You ever have a daughter, keep a close eye on her.”
“Sean’s a good guy.”
“He’s your brother, you have to say that. Me? I just see the guy who’s stolen my daughter’s heart and has the power to crush it.”
“He wouldn’t do that. Sean would be the one to get hurt before he’d hurt Delaney.”
“I certainly hope so. I missed out on enough of my daughter’s life.”
My eyebrows rose. Was Jack finally softening around the edges? In a way, I hoped so. But in light of what had been going on lately, I hoped not.
I got home an hour or so before we were due at Pops and Cassidy’s. The loft was quiet downstairs when I walked in.
I checked the mail, grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and headed up. Once again, Amelia was in my bedroom. This time, however, she had a half dozen bags spread around her, and she was holding one dress after another in front of her as she studied herself in the mirror.
“The blue one. It brings out the color of your eyes.”
She turned, that all too familiar blush creeping up her face. “I was hoping to be dressed before you came home.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
“I’m not disappointed. I just didn’t want you to see how obviously indecisive I am.”
“You’re a woman. Isn’t that a requirement?”
She tossed a crumpled bit of tissue paper at me, but she was laughing as she did it. Then she turned back to her purchases.
“I’ll send most of them back. I just…they took me into a private room and put on a show, and I felt almost obligated to buy more than one.”
“It’s fine.”
She glanced at me. “Tossing your family name around gets a girl quite a bit of attention.”
“You told people who you were?”
The amusement disappeared from her eyes. “Was I not supposed to?”
I took another bite from my apple and then tossed it into the small trashcan by the bed. I crossed the room and lifted a dress from the bed, holding it out where I could see it. Then another and another. She had good taste, my wife. Expensive taste. Some of the price tags were quite impressive. But I knew each one of these dresses would look fabulous on her gorgeous body.
I gestured to the blue again. “Wear that.”
I ducked into the bathroom and stripped for the shower. I could hear her rustling around out here, putting dresses away and shoving bags out of her way. I knew she was upset, but I didn’t know what to say to fix things. I didn’t know anything about relationships. I had enough trouble keeping myself out of trouble, let alone figuring out how to make someone else safe and happy.
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