Spark: A Bad Boy's Second Chance Romance (Burns Brothers Book 3)

by Gillian Archer

  “Wha-at?” I all but whined. Why didn’t they get that a closed door meant I wanted to be left alone? I thought I’d made that clear Saturday morning. Although given that we’d kissed twice since then, I could see how it was confusing.

  I was certainly confused. About everything.

  “You can’t be here.” The guy standing next to Logan retorted with a glare. “We made it clear when we accepted your deposit on the job. You have no sprinkler or fire suppression system in service right now. No one can be inside the building except for the people working on said system.”

  Logan’s lips quirked when his buddy used the phrase said system. Nice to know he found it as obnoxious as I did.

  Logan tipped his head. “Paul, this is Sabrina. And the guy behind me with opinions about your paint job is Tommy.”

  Both guys turned and gave Logan a look like they’d never seen him before. Or maybe they’d never seen him act this way. Logan was…lighter. Relaxed almost. Given how he’d been a couple days ago, I could see how this new Logan was surprising to them.

  Hell, it was surprising to me too.

  “I uh, didn’t think you could hear me, ma’am.” Tommy sputtered as his cheeks filled with color.

  I waved a hand. “It’s fine. I’m used to getting shit from boys about my paint job. Doesn’t stop my engine from going zero to sixty in 3.6 seconds.”

  Logan’s coworkers gaped at me while Logan just smiled.

  “Sabrina’s used to pushing the Burns Brothers around.” Logan drawled. “You really think we got a hope in hell of telling her what to do?”

  Both guys gave him a blank look like they didn’t know what he was talking about.

  “I guess you guys haven’t watched their show?” Logan asked after a beat. “Badass Builds on the Urban channel?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Never heard of it.”

  “The motorcycle show?” Paul frowned. “Yeah, I’ve seen it. I don’t remember her though.”

  “You don’t think maybe there’s a reason for that?” Logan laughed. “If she can get her way and not be on camera with that group of hardheaded assholes, do you really think we have a chance to make her listen to us?”

  Tommy muffled a laugh while Paul glared.

  I threw Logan a glare too. “Make me? Really?”

  He just smiled back at me like he didn’t have a worry in the world.

  It was starting to unnerve me. Who was this newer, lighter Logan? He was almost the guy I knew before.

  Almost.

  “Maybe we could help with that.” Nathan’s voice rang down the hallway. “As one of those hardheaded assholes, I’d love to have a shot at giving her the boot.”

  Tommy gulped audibly but Logan’s eyes twinkled. Like he thought it was funny that my brothers had shown up—en masse—to give me shit, when really this was just another day in my life that ended in y.

  “What do you want, Nathan?” I groaned.

  “You’ve been keeping secrets again, Sabby.” Ryan sang from the back of the pack.

  Nathan laughed. “I don’t know why it’s such a surprise. She’s always hiding shit from us, like her boyfriends. Remember the way she tried to sneak around when she was dating that one guy—what was his name?”

  The sparkle died in Logan’s eyes as his face went blank.

  Nathan rolled his wrist. “Senior year in high school?”

  “Frederick something.” Ryan nodded along. “That guy was a douche.”

  “Really?” I asked as I stood with my hands splayed on the desk, glaring at the pack of assholes who’d invaded my safe haven. “You all are ridiculous. Sorry if I needed a few days to get my mind around this shit first. And I never introduced you to the guys I date because that’s the only way I can get laid.”

  All four of them groaned and covered their ears like they were surprised to hear that I had a sex life. Meanwhile Paul and Tommy were edging their way out of my packed office to the open door.

  Logan raised his hand. “Fellas, nobody can be here while we install the new system.”

  “And she can?” Austin asked with an indignant look. “Why didn’t you kick her out?”

  Logan raised his eyebrows. “Have you met her?”

  My brothers chortled like he’d told a hilarious joke.

  Asses.

  I glared at the lot of them. “Right. If all you misogynists could just see yourselves out and leave a girl to work in peace, that would be great.”

  “My bad, that was over the line.” Logan looked almost apologetic before he shrugged. “But everyone still has to go. You included.”

  I glared at him and made sure that all my brothers knew I blamed them for ruining my peace. I punched a few buttons to save my work and shut down my computer before grabbing my purse out of my bottom drawer. “You all can go screw yourselves.”

  It would’ve been a great exit line if there weren’t five Neanderthals standing in my way—Logan leading the pack.

  “Sabrina. I didn’t—”

  “Is there something going on here?” Ryan interrupted with a frown, gesturing between me and Logan. “Are you two—”

  “No.” Logan cut in. He stepped away from me like I could contaminate him with the plague. “I didn’t mean to overstep earlier—I didn’t mean any disrespect. But I do have to ask that all of you vacate the premises. It’s against the fire code for you to be here.”

  “We’re going.” Ryan raised his palms in surrender. “Right, Sabby?”

  “I’m leaving, but I’m not going anywhere with you lot.” I shouldered my way past the men still hovering around my desk. “Because you guys—and Logan’s included in this by the way—can all got to hell.”

  “Sabrina! Wait!” Nathan hollered at my back as I hustled down the hallway.

  But I didn’t listen.

  I was pissed at everyone. Logan for being so hot and cold. And almost outing whatever we were to my brothers. And my brothers for being their bossy selves. Not to mention my mom and all the shit that’d rained down on me for the past week.

  But mostly importantly I was mad at Hope for not keeping my secret for even a couple of days. I got that Ryan was her fiancé, but she’d promised me she wouldn’t tell him about my dad.

  I had a bone to pick with her.

  Fortunately for me, I knew exactly where to find her.

  Tossing my shit into my car, I glared at the pack of men who’d followed me from the shop.

  Unfortunately for me, I had a feeling I’d have an audience for this confrontation.

  My anger didn’t lessen on the drive to Ryan and Hope’s condo. If anything, the Sacramento traffic only fueled my rage. Not to mention the way my brothers wove in and out of the lanes, taking stupid risks to keep close to me. And once they figured out where I was going, the guys pulled ahead to beat me to the condo

  “Come on, Sabrina.” Austin yelled from his parked bike a few spots over. “We’re gonna talk about this.”

  I slammed my door shut with more force than necessary. “You guys can talk about whatever the fuck you want to. I’m going to have a little conversation with Hope about how she needs to keep her mouth shut.”

  “Hope knew about your dad?” Ryan asked with a frown.

  “You don’t have to protect her, Ry.” I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I’m gonna hit her or anything. I’m just gonna give her a little piece of my mind. And then the five of us can talk.”

  “Hope didn’t tell us about your dad.” Dylan said as he came to stand beside his brothers. “We heard it from Aunt Wendy.”

  I froze.

  “HOPE!” Ryan bellowed as he whirled around and ran for his front door.

  “Shit.” I bit out as I followed behind. “Ryan, wait. I didn’t mean—”

  “I don’t give a damn.” Ryan paused only to unlock and open his front door then he stomped into his house. “She’s my fiancé and the mother of my child, and she owes her fucking allegiance to me. Not you.”

  I groaned. I was gonna owe Hope one hell of
an apology. “You’re ridiculous. I’m the one who was told her father wasn’t actually dead. Excuse me for going to the one person in my life who could understand what I was going through. I’m sorry that I asked her to keep it a secret, but I wasn’t ready to hash this out with you all. I’m still not.”

  Hope appeared at the end of the hall with wide eyes. “What’s going on? What’s all the shouting about? I just got Fliss to fall asleep. She was up teething all night. If one of you a-holes wake her up, so help me—”

  “I’m sorry, Hope.” I shook my head. “The guys all showed at my office pissed off, and I assumed you spilled the beans about my dad.”

  “What about your dad?” My best friend, Maddie, asked as she left the hall bathroom.

  This morning was officially insane. I waited a beat to see if my second-grade teacher would be the next one to magically appear, but apparently, she was the only person actually working today.

  “For the record, we weren’t pissed off,” Nathan said as he flopped down on the couch. “Or at least I wasn’t until that high-speed race to Ryan’s place.”

  “I thought it was fun.” Austin grinned as he joined Nathan on the couch. “Been a while since I went eighty on the city streets.”

  Maddie had been staring at Nathan in that hopelessly obvious way of hers until Austin’s words sank in. “Eighty? Are you serious?” She whirled around and glared at me. “What the heck is wrong with you, Sabrina? Are you trying to kill yourself?”

  I buried my face in my hands. “Oh my god. This whole thing is getting blown out of proportion.” I counted to ten like we’d learned in Ryan’s anger management classes. Then again because I needed a few more seconds. Finally, I dropped my hands and took in the group. “No, Maddie. Austin was exaggerating. It’s morning rush hour; there’s no way I could go above twenty in town right now. And if anyone was trying to kill themselves it was these morons, weaving in and out of traffic on their bikes like they had a death wish.”

  The guys just scoffed like I was the one exaggerating.

  “Ryan Burns!” Hope shouted. “I thought we talked about this.”

  “Ooooh,” Nathan murmured. “Someone’s in trouble.”

  “Shut it.” Ryan bopped Nathan on the top of his head as he walked behind the couch to where Hope stood in the hallway with her arms crossed over her chest. “I wasn’t riding unsafe. Sabby overstated what’d happened. Right, Sabby?”

  I shrugged. “If it helps any, Ryan was at the back of the pack. Nathan was the one who was weaving in and out of traffic like an insane person.”

  Ryan winced. “I know how important it is to you that I ride safe and I was. I always do.”

  Austin coughed. “Whipped.”

  But Ryan couldn’t be deterred. He did some quick, soft talking, and soon Hope had melted into his arms, nuzzling the side of his neck.

  I smiled at the couple. Even if I was pissed off at my pack of brothers, I loved when I saw them all twitterpated. Which reminded me. I turned to Austin with a glare. “You’re one to talk. What would happen if I called Rachel and told her all about your guys’ high speed chase this morning?”

  “You wouldn’t.” Austin sat up with a ferocious frown.

  “Try me.” I bared my teeth in a semi-growl. “Now, can we get to the problem at hand? Unlike some people, I have actual work to do today.”

  “Um,” Maddie hovered anxiously next to the fireplace. “This seems like a family thing, so I’m just gonna go. We can do book club another time, ‘kay?”

  Book club. Right. Shit. Hope, Maddie, and I had formed an unofficial book club so we could get together and talk about our favorite romance novels. Since both Maddie and Hope had today off and the shop was closed for the sprinkler install, we’d picked today to meet.

  “Nah, stay.” Nathan waved a hand.

  Maddie bit her bottom lip to hide her smile.

  “You’re practically family anyway.”

  The smile fell off Maddie’s face. “Family,” she repeated in a whisper. “Right.”

  Sometimes my brothers could be so stupid. I didn’t know why Nathan couldn’t see the gorgeous, intelligent, and interested woman in front of him. Maddie had been in love with Nathan almost as long as I’d known her. Honestly sometimes I felt guilty about it because I’d been the one to bring the doofus into her life. I wish she’d moved on. She could and should do so much better.

  “Stay, Maddie. Please?” I asked. “It’ll save us some time so I don’t have to rehash this with you again. Although I probably will wanna talk to you about it later. Only with more interesting vocabulary.”

  Austin snorted. “Swearing is just a sign of a limited vocabulary.”

  “Actually,” Maddie interjected in a soft tone. “A 2015 study found that people who curse have a richer vocabulary than those who don’t.”

  All the guys turned and gave Maddie an appraising look.

  “I knew it!” Nathan crowed. “I’m a fucking genius.”

  I shook my head. “Can we just get on with it? Clearly you guys aren’t going anywhere.”

  Maddie took a seat on the far end of a sofa, away from everyone else. I wanted to go sit next to her, but I knew the added attention would only fluster her. Instead I grabbed a kitchen chair and dragged it into the room, stopping in front of the L shaped sofa.

  Not unlike a firing squad.

  “All right. Come on. Let me have it.” I sat with my arms crossed.

  Ryan came over and sat on the other end of the sofa, pulling Hope down onto his lap. I tried not to let the sweet vignette soften me toward him.

  The guys all looked at each other before Austin finally spoke. “Are you all right?”

  I blinked. Of all the things I thought the guys were going to say, that hadn’t made the top ten. “What?”

  Austin tipped his head. “I’m sorry we gave you so much shit this morning. But—”

  “In our defense, that’s how we cope.” Nathan interjected.

  “Right.” Austin agreed. “Although it kinda got out of hand with the whole highway chase.”

  Ryan grunted as Hope’s elbow dug into his stomach. “He’s exaggerating, sweetheart. Right, Austin?”

  “Sure, bro. Sure.” Austin shook his head and turned to face me again. “But really, Sabrina, how are you doing with all this? Can we—I don’t know—help with anything?”

  I didn’t even know how to reply to that. Tears burned my eyes. They might be overbearing assholes, but they were my family. They always had my back.

  “What dipshit McGee over there is trying to say.” Nathan sat forward with his arms braced on his knees. “Is that we’re here for you. This whole thing is so fucked up. I mean, I don’t even know what to think. Who the hell lies about that kinda thing? For twenty-six years. It’s just so fucked up.”

  “But we’re here for you, Sabby.” Dylan piped up. “We’re on your side.”

  I was too busy wiping at my teary eyes to be able to speak.

  “How did you guys find out?” Hope asked.

  Ryan sighed. “Aunt Wendy invited us all for breakfast this morning.”

  “Threatened, you mean,” Nathan murmured.

  Ryan shrugged. “The usual. But after we’d all plowed through the food, she told us that her and your dad had dated in high school and hooked up again after he’d separated from his wife. They were happy and together right up until the wife called with the news that she was pregnant. With his baby. Apparently, your dad chose to go back to his wife, and your mom chose not to tell him about you.”

  I sat back onto my chair with a sigh. “I uh, didn’t actually know all that detail. He and I hadn’t gotten around to talking about the past. Huh.”

  “So you’ve met him?” Nathan asked. “What’s he like?”

  I hitched a shoulder. “He seems nice. We met for brunch yesterday and talked a little bit. Mostly about unimportant stuff. He’d told me that he never knew about me. You guys are actually the reason that he found out. I guess he saw all the coverage abou
t Ryan’s stint in the hospital and the tv show. He put two and two together and decided to look me up. Actually, he looked Mom up first. Came over to her restaurant last week where I caught the tail end of their confrontation.” I bit my lip and sighed. “It wasn’t pretty. On any end. She said some things and I said some things. I haven’t really talked to her since.”

  “It’s gonna take some time.” Austin clasped his hands, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. “It’s pretty fucked up, even for the Burns family.”

  I gave him a bitter smile. “Probably why I’m a Wagner.”

  “You know what I mean.” Austin shook his head. “You’re every bit a part of this family. I’m not saying it right.”

  Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. “Hell, I feel pretty betrayed, and it’s not even my dad. She lied to all of us, Sabby. Held the way your dad supposedly died over our heads our whole lives, lecturing about the evils of alcohol.”

  “She didn’t want us turning out like him.” Ryan retorted, referring to their father. “George was drunk as a skunk the night he killed Mom. Aunt Wendy was probably worried we’d fall victim to his addiction too. That shit is genetic.”

  Nathan shrugged. “It was still pretty fucked up in my opinion. Personally, I didn’t need the pressure about not being like him. I know you and Dylan were too little, but I remember our lives before that night. The four of us know all about the loss of a parent since he murdered Mom. I can’t believe Wendy would knowingly deprive Sabrina of knowing her dad. It’s so fucked up. I don’t know if I’ll ever look at her the same again.”

  My eyes misted with tears as Nathan laid bare every thought that’d run through my mind the last few days.

  Because he was right. I didn’t know if I could ever forgive my mom.

  And that hurt me more than twenty-six years of her lies ever had.

  Chapter Ten

  Logan

  This was a bad idea. And I was someone who knew bad ideas very well.

  I stood on the sidewalk in front of the condo Sabrina used to live in and tried to work up the nerve to knock. I didn’t even know if this was where she still lived. Hell, given their tv deal she’d probably moved out the second the ink dried on the check. I know I would have.