“It seemed logical at the time.” Placing two sandwiches on each plate, he picked them up and took them to the table, placing them opposite each other. “There’s a carton of Iced Coffee in the ‘fridge.”
While Shea got the carton, Aaron retrieved two glasses and followed her back to the table where she filled both glasses with the milky drink.
Attention focussed on her, Aaron started eating.
Shea took a bite of sandwich and chewed, her gaze distant as she thought back. Swallowing, she took a sip of Iced Coffee, setting the glass back on the table before looking at him. “Did what I thought was right, went up the ladder. Got a ripping and a warning that my job was on the line. Next thing I know I’m getting the shit jobs, being snubbed by some co-workers, and then the clincher - I get this medication order to give a patient a vaccination from what I suspected was a dodgy batch. It was expired months before and wasn’t a brand I was familiar with. I refused on the grounds that if I gave it and something happened I was the one facing a coroner’s court for giving it. I wasn’t prepared to do it.”
“Takes guts to refuse an order.”
“Guts? I was so scared I was shaking. I have no idea if one of the other nurses gave it because I was so upset I actually went home. Cried like a baby. You know, I honestly thought my workmates would back me up but not one person rang or called around to see if I was okay. It was the weekend and here I am running Cole around to his mate’s house, and I see one of the doctors with his brother, who just happened to be a lawyer - thank you very much, that was so not comforting - in his car and they both just look at me right before the lawyer lifted his hand, made the motion of a gun going off.” Shea shook her head. “I knew it was over then. I’d done my dash. I went back to work on the Monday and the cold shoulder I got from the manager would have made ice skating possible in hell. One of the junior doctors warned me not to cause more waves. Then I noticed that my name had been forged in one of the drug books, that someone had given a dodgy vaccination and signed my name to it. I panicked. I didn’t know who to turn to, who to trust. My only friends were at the clinic and none of them wanted to know.” Shea gave a tight smile. “Let’s just say that when you decide to blow the whistle on a large organisation with its finger in so many pies, the shit really hits the fan. I went to an outside agency for help, tried to follow the guidelines, but it spiralled into a hellish time. Suddenly I’ve got news reporters knocking on my door, the word’s gotten out, people at the clinic have lost their jobs, I’m getting threats of legal action, abusive phone calls, you name it. Popular clinic, well-known doctors and their angry staff versus one nurse? It’s a no-brainer.”
Gut tightening at the misery in her eyes, Aaron watched her over the rim of the glass. If he tried to comfort her now she’d stop talking, shrug it off. This was too important to her - to him - to lose this opportunity. So instead of hugging her close he simply nodded, his gaze direct but soft, encouraging.
“It was an ugly time,” Shea said slowly. “I lost my job, I was ostracized. A five minute novelty to outsiders that was months of misery for me. And for Cole. He suffered at school, too. Some of his friends backed him but he got into several bloody fights standing up for me. Poor kid, it wasn’t his fault.” Gazing sightlessly at the sandwich, she picked at the crust, flaking crumbs off onto the table. “Not easy having a whistleblower for a sister. Sure, some kids thought it was cool, I was this rebel, but others… It was only ever I and Cole, our parents died and I’ve brought Cole up since he was six years old. Now I’d caused this ruckus and our quiet life was over. In fact, it was a living hell.” She sighed. “Anyway, after the dust had settled and I’d been cleared of wrong-doing the clinic was closed down, people lost their jobs, two of the doctors lost their registration. Now I’m the whistleblower and I’m black banned from every hospital and clinic in my home state. In fact, who is going to give me a recommendation? Whistleblowers, Aaron, might be lauded as heroes by some of the public not affected by the results, but by employers? I’d done my dash. Career over.” With a sudden shrug, Shea picked up the glass of Iced Coffee, took several mouthfuls. “Whatever. I decided the only way was to start anew, so we sold the house that was still mortgaged, paid it out and banked the rest, then we packed up, shifted to a small outback town where I managed to get a job cleaning at the local pub for a sleazy employer, cash money, no questions asked. He was happy to rip off the tax department and I wanted to stay incognito. It was all I could do to keep food on the table, to keep Cole in school, a roof over our heads and heck, I even had three mad cats to feed. I met Clare there, a travelling clairvoyant, and I saw my opportunity to learn a trade of sorts. Luckily Clare took a liking to Cole, especially after he researched the methods she was using and sprung her as a fake during a reading she did on me. My brother is one smart little cookie, he twigged what she was doing and told me. We faced her up, he proved it, and luckily she thought it a great joke. We struck a bargain - in return for keeping her secret, she taught me the tricks. Once I knew what I needed, Cole and I left everything behind and shifted across Australia. That’s me in a nutshell - Shea Winters, washed-up whistleblower, aka Stella Donahue, Clairvoyant, Psychic, Medium and fake.” Her smile was tight. “Got my own business, roof over our heads, I don’t rely on anyone, and I, who faced everything to reveal the truth, now make a living by conning people. Shit.” Her eyes filled with tears suddenly. “How the mighty have fallen. Wouldn’t the newspapers have a field day with that?”
Aaron’s heart clutched. He knew the story, had researched it well when he’d investigated her before the Willock Mansion Hotel opening, but hearing it from her, seeing the emotions cross her face - the sadness, the misery, the anger, and finally the shame and defiant lift of her chin - it was so different. Not that he hadn’t expected it would be, facing the flesh-and-blood human compared to just reading the dry data was vastly different. He’d experienced it before with previous security jobs he’d undertaken, reading the data then facing the criminal, but this was different.
This was Shea.
His woman with a tear slipping down her cheek.
Getting to his feet, he strode around the table.
Shea stood and met him, her arms going around his waist when he wrapped his arms around her and drew her against him, kissing her forehead, her lips, before tucking her head under his chin and just snuggling her close.
“My decision. I own it.” With a sigh she relaxed, sinking against him.
The clock ticked in the kitchen, the silence peaceful.
Shea didn’t cry, didn’t sniffle, so Aaron didn’t say a word, letting her know with his gesture that he accepted her as she was, something no one had done for a long time.
Except for Cole. Cole knew her, loved her, and was blurring the lines between helping his sister and invading privacy. Time enough to deal with that later, for now he had to allow her trust in him to grow and become complete.
It was as if she’d heard his thoughts. “The worst part is that Cole is following me down this pathway.” Lifting her head, she looked up at him. “At first it was okay, but now he’s trying his hand at hacking, looking for information on someone’s mobile. It’s an invasion of privacy that goes beyond what people willingly post on social media.”
“You’ve drawn a line. He’s crossed it.”
“Yeah. I have to sort that out. Only he can’t see the difference.”
“I’ll be addressing that when he and I have our little chat.” He noted her suddenly dubious expression. “I’m not taking your role of his guardian away, nor am I trying to supplant myself in your place, but I have him dead-to-rights on the hacking and that slides into privacy issues. I’m pointing out to him exactly what he’s done. It’ll address the same issues you have. And,” he dropped a kiss on her forehead, “I won’t be telling him you spoke to me about it.”
“I didn’t think you would.”
“Oh, really?”
“You’re not a tattletale.”
“So why the
frown?”
“You mean you don’t know?” Her eyebrows waggled. “Your top-secret hooky-spooky powers haven’t sucked it right out of my head?”
“Hooky-spooky? Have you been chatting to Luke who is lurking by the back door?”
Shea stiffened slightly as the back door swung open and Luke walked inside demanding, “How the hell did you know?”
“Iced Coffee’s on the table.”
“Well maybe I don’t want Iced Coffee,” Luke retorted, crossing to the ‘fridge to peer into the depths.
Jason moved into the room, his gaze shifting to Shea accompanied by a small nod. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”
Aaron allowed Shea to move out of his arms but he caught her elbow before she could back-pedal too far. Turning, he kept himself between her and the two men to give her time to regain some composure.
“This is Stella.” Luke gave a friendly wave of greeting between Jason and Shea.
Jason nodded.
Aaron didn’t miss the fleeting, furtive glance she shot at him before smiling at Jason. No doubt she was waiting for him to correct Luke but Aaron didn’t say a word. It was her decision. On the other hand, if she expected him to call her ‘Stella’ then she had another think coming. Outside business hours, outside the shop, she was Shea. Stella was not standing in his kitchen.
“Don’t let us disturb you.” Jason’s expression was his usual mild pleasantness. “We won’t be staying long.”
“You’re not,” she assured him. “This is my only day off; I need to do the shopping and cleaning before Cole gets home.”
“Her brother,” Luke informed Jason before sticking his head back inside the ‘fridge to resume scrutinizing the contents.
Picking up the car keys, Shea started for the hallway only to stop when Aaron didn’t relinquish his hold on her elbow.
He moved up beside her. “I’ll see you to your car.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Without answering, he walked beside her, his hand shifting from her elbow to her back.
“You do know its daylight, the middle of the day and I’m a big girl, right? I have my own licence and everything.”
A muffled snort of laughter came from the kitchen behind them.
Looking up at Aaron with twinkling eyes, Shea whispered, “I’m old enough to sleep with big, silent, mysterious men, too.”
They were near the front door. In one movement Aaron stopped, flattened her against the wall and kissed her. Hard. Deep. And slow. Slow enough to draw out the kiss in a firm plundering of her mouth that left her gasping breathlessly and clinging to him.
Lifting his head, blood running hot but still in complete control, he locked her gaze with his while reaching sideways to flick open the lock. “There’s only one big, silent, mysterious man you’re sleeping with from now on, Shea.”
“Oh?” She looked delightfully buzzed, her eyes a little dreamy, her lips swollen from his kisses earlier and his very thorough kiss now.
“Me.” Straightening, he wound an arm around her waist to draw her forward before turning her around, opening the door and standing to one side, using his hand on her back to gently push her through onto the veranda. “Don’t forget it.”
The warm breeze obviously blew away the delicious haze and replaced it with a wicked glint that was very evident when she glanced back at him over her shoulder. “You think?”
It was easy and so very, very satisfying to reach out and give that curvy backside a light swat.
Laughing, she strode jauntily across the veranda and down the two steps.
Aaron watched her until she disappeared down the road in her little car. Once out of sight he shut the door and returned to the kitchen where Jason and Luke waited.
Luke was sitting in the kitchen chair finishing off Shea’s sandwiches, her glass refilled with Iced Coffee. Leaning against the kitchen bench, Jason drank a cold can of Coke.
Feeling both their gazes, Aaron calmly sat down and started eating. “What’s wrong with Dog?”
“How’d you know something was wrong with Dog?” Luke demanded.
It was fairly easy. Dog was Luke’s constant companion, so if he wasn’t with Luke something was wrong. But, as usual, Aaron loved messing with his brother’s head so he simply looked at him.
“Freaky,” Luke said, then sighed. “Poor little bastard’s at the vet getting a bad tooth removed.”
“He’ll be fine.”
“Is that what the spook talker told you?” Jason queried.
“And as I was going to say - holy shit, mate.” Luke raised both eyebrows. “You and the spook talker?”
Aaron regarded him serenely.
“I mean…” Luke grinned widely. “Man, you’ve never had a sheila in your house before. Apart from, you know, Mikki and Izzy and Aunt Lora and Elspeth.”
Aaron took another bite of sandwich.
Luke’s eyebrows bobbed up and down suggestively. “Got something to tell us?”
“No.”
“Ooohhhh!” Luke made a show of pressing one hand to his chest. “Was this more than just a sandwich? Huh? Is this more than just Iced Coffee - which, by the way, you’re out of. You need to do more shopping. Is this something serious? Like rip your shirt off…” His voice trailed away.
Even Jason blinked, his eyes scanning Aaron more intently.
“Jesus!” Luke’s mouth fell open.
Not a good look considering he still had bits of sandwich in there.
“Crap on a stick!” Luke swung to Jason. “He hasn’t got a shirt on!”
“Looks a little mussed, feet bare.” Their cousin grinned. “I went to the loo. His bed is unmade.”
“Unmade? At this time of the day?” Luke gave a bark of laughter. “Holy shit! Aaron! You and Stella! Seriously?”
His idiot youngest brother and his cousin might be laughing in delight, and no doubt would soon be hot on their mobiles to inform their women of the unexpectedness of his actions, but they didn’t know the half of it.
Aaron was dead serious about Shea.
~*~
Lying on his back on the sofa, Red snored. Loudly.
Sitting in the window, Carrot batted at the bottom of the blind, his body seen through the patterned lace curtain.
Ginger had his Sphinx pose going, his usual stern expression on his furry face, orange eyes balefully trained on the TV.
Curled into an armchair, Shea glanced at the clock on the wall. Five o’clock. Nervously, she crunched the fabric of the cushion between her hands before smoothing it out.
It was taking too long.
It was too long, wasn’t it?
Had something gone wrong?
Cole should have waited for her.
The savoury scent of the stew drifted through from the kitchen.
Trying to drag her attention back to the TV show, she sighed. It was no use. Dropping her head back against the chair, she slumped down.
Cole had phoned her right after school to announce that he was on his way to see Aaron. Without her. When she’d protested he’d informed her he was man enough to own up to his own mistakes, and he was man enough to face another man.
While time dragged past she finished the cleaning and made the stew, checking the time intermittently.
It was five thirty by the time Cole walked through the back door. Relieved, Shea hurried out of the lounge to greet him. Backpack hooked over one shoulder by a strap, he grinned at her.
Relieved that he wasn’t a crying mess, Shea walked around him, pretending to study him. “You’re alive.” Grabbing his wrist, she held his arm up. “No limbs missing.” Coming face to face with him, she angled her head. “No bruises, no black eye. No handcuffs. I’m taking it that all went well?”
“Yeah, it did.” He gave her an unexpected hug. “I’m really sorry, Shea. I promise not to be an idiot and endanger us by stupid, reckless actions.”
She hugged him back. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Releasing her, h
e hoicked the bag higher on his shoulder. “Aaron’s all right. Bit scary, but a good bloke.”
“Yes, he is.” Dying to ask what was said but loath to pry, Shea took two bowls out of the cupboard.
Cole, apparently, didn’t have any such reservations. “He told me he and you are going to be seeing each other.”
Wondering what her brother thought about this particular subject, she glanced sideways at him while taking the big spoon out of the drawer. “Um…yes.”
He was eyeing her closely. “After what happened, you’ve never trusted anyone enough to get this close.”
She’d always been truthful with him, so regardless of her suddenly rosy cheeks, Shea replied, “He’s one of those blokes.”
Cole raised his eyebrows in silent query.
“There’s something about him.” She started ladling stew into one of the bowls. “He’s trustworthy. I know it.”
“Do a reading on yourself?” Cole asked slyly.
“I’ll do a reading on you if you keep that up.”
“Ooohh, I’m scared.” He faked a shudder.
“It’d be very easy for me to accidentally drop the apple pie I bought for your dessert on the floor.”
Cole practically started drooling, his gaze shooting to the oven where the apple pie heated. “I take it all back.”
“I thought you might.”
“I’ll go dump this stuff and change, be right back.”
Relieved that Aaron and Cole’s talk had apparently gone so well, Shea relaxed, placing the bowl on the table before grabbing the next bowl.
Cole stuck his head around the door. “Oh, by the way, I told Aaron if he hurt you, he’d be answering to me.”
Turning, she gaped at him. “You what?”
“Just thought you should know.” He disappeared from view.
The Wells Brothers: Aaron Page 20