Hot as Heller [The McAlisters of McKenna Downs 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Zoey Marcel

  Malachi visibly stiffened and his air became ice cold. “You should go to school and find yourself. If you stay you’ll only wind up more confused. You’ll hurt us both.”

  Sean’s eyes shut and his chest spasmed with grief. He felt like he was dying inside as he started crying again and hurried down the aisle.

  “Sean.” Malachi’s voice halted him, but Sean wouldn’t look back at him. “My opinion of you hasn’t changed. I’ll always be proud of you. My sons disappointed me. You never have.”

  The confession was bittersweet to his ears.

  “Until tonight,” Sean said ruefully with his back to him.

  “Even now. I’ll always regard you as my best friend.” There was a heavy pause. “You mean more to me than anyone.”

  The words ripped him open. They were medicine and poison.

  Sean rushed off, blinded by tears. He always knew it would end up like this, but it hadn’t stopped his stupid heart from hoping. Malachi had awakened and destroyed him, like a phoenix in reverse. The preacher was able to let him go, stand strong without touching him. Malachi didn’t love him.

  Chapter Twelve

  Upon entering the library in his home, Brighton McAlister froze when he saw Siegfried. The butler was putting books away on the shelves. Brighton used to throw them on the floor so he’d have to pick them up, or sometimes he’d put them back on the shelf out of order so Siegfried had to categorize and alphabetize them again.

  With how irritating of a pain in the ass he’d been during the nearly ten years that the butler had worked for his family, Brighton was surprised the guy even wanted him.

  He immediately turned to leave.

  “There’s no need to be frightened, little one,” Siegfried said softly. “You know me...intimately.”

  How dare he utter innuendos, yet pretend not to remember what he’d done? He wasn’t having it both ways.

  Brighton couldn’t breathe. He went weak in the knees. “I’m not afraid of you.”

  “Then close the door and be with me.”

  Brighton slowly looked over his shoulder at him.

  “I like to think we’re mates. Or is there some reason you’re avoiding me?”

  His fingers trembled where they grazed the doorknob. “You know why.”

  “Come over here and enlighten me.”

  It was strange to be ordered by a servant. The man’s hush sounded suggestive. His stomach churned and he grew faint. Closing the door, he hesitated, forehead resting against it with his eyes closed. He had to hear it from the other man. He’d been burying this for too long.

  “Is everything all right?” Siegfried asked.

  Facing him, he saw the man glancing over his shoulder at him with a book in his hand.

  Brighton took ginger steps toward him. “Kale wasn’t my first man, was he?”

  Siegfried paused with his back to him before setting a book on the shelf. “You would know that better than I.”

  Brighton drew closer so his face was in view. “The night after my twenty-first birthday I came home drunk. My family wasn’t here. You took me to bed.”

  Siegfried appeared composed as he kept putting books away. “It’s my duty to tuck you in when you’re too drunk to do so yourself.”

  “You fucked me.”

  The man sighed and faced him. “Brighton, we’ve been over this. I told you the next morning when you woke up with a hangover and falsely accused me, that you imagined it. You were satisfied with that answer. Why so distrusting now?”

  “Because of what happened recently.”

  Siegfried flashed him a mocking smirk and gathered more books. “It never happened.”

  “Yes, it did,” Brighton snapped before lowering his voice. “I’m not crazy.”

  “It sounds to me like you are.”

  “No. You’re just a liar. Is all of this because I kissed you when I was eighteen that one time when I was tipsy?”

  “If you remember correctly, sir, I told you it would be inappropriate for us to be intimate since I work for your father. You became embarrassed and apologized to me, and I swore never to tell anyone that you came onto me.”

  “Yeah, well, the way I remember it is you gave me more alcohol and then started making out with me, among other things.”

  Siegfried’s blue eyes glittered with enjoyment. “I acknowledge that you kissed me, but the rest is purely fantasy. I’m not offended to be the object of your obsession. It wouldn’t be the first time you tried to seduce a servant and then got them fired. Remember Anna?”

  Brighton felt guilty. “Yeah, I remember, but she was the only one I slept with.”

  “I understand why your mind embellishes on what you wished had happened between us. No one has ever told you no, so when someone finally did you invented these wild fantasies of losing your anal virginity to me, snogging, and mutual oral sex to make yourself feel better.”

  He raised his eyes, cold with epiphany. “I never said there was oral sex.”

  Siegfried’s mask slipped momentarily before he resumed his book-stacking. “My mistake.”

  “You know there was,” Brighton said numbly.

  “Lucky guess.”

  “No. If those memories are only fantasies, then how come I only have them when I’m drunk here and not when I’m anywhere else?”

  The butler gave him a flirtatious smile. “Perhaps you find the close proximity to me arousing.”

  “You’re a liar and a monster.” Brighton headed for the door. “My dad’s gonna know it.”

  Siegfried grabbed him from behind, clapping a hand over his mouth to muffle his squeals. “No one would believe you. You’re not exactly known for your honesty.”

  Brighton got pissed and scared when he was pinned against the wall, face crammed against it with the man standing behind him, holding him still.

  “If you’re going to tell your father about the way I took advantage of the opportunity you gave me, perhaps someone should inform him of how much you enjoyed it. You remember that, don’t you?”

  He tried not to.

  “All these years you’ve been a little shit, ordering me around. No respect. Do you think if you were as intelligent as Cole or as wholesome as David that those things would have happened to you?” Siegfried murmured darkly into his ear. “You’ve always been such a brat and a slut. You deserved everything I did to you and you got off on it.”

  “I was drunk,” Brighton said when the guy moved his hand. “Let me go or I’ll—”

  Siegfried covered his mouth again. “You’ll never tell a soul. If you do I’ll take you away from here and you’ll never see your family and lovers again. I’ll keep you somewhere no one will find us and make you my sex slave. Is that what you want?”

  Brighton shook his head as best as he could. The threat frightened him.

  “Then don’t defy me.” Siegfried’s nose nuzzled his ear. “You’re too free-spirited. I always thought someone would do well to break you and bend you to their will.”

  Brighton struggled, frustrated that he couldn’t move and furious at the challenge to his rebellion.

  “Be a good boy for me and I just might reward you...when you’re sober.”

  He went cold, cringing when the guy’s tongue flicked against his earlobe before Siegfried let him go.

  Brighton staggered away from him toward the door.

  “You have to admit we are good together, little one.”

  He shuddered, opening the door. “You’re gonna pay for this.”

  Siegfried gave him a black look. “I’d watch what I say if I were you.”

  “You’re not the boss of me.”

  “I will be.”

  That sinister smile gave him chills. Brighton hurried out of the room, mind grappling for a plan. He had to find some way to get the butler fired without it looking suspicious. Something told him Siegfried’s retribution would be costly otherwise.

  * * * *

  David McAlister clicked the fire button on his mouse. “Oh yeah
? Take that, bastard.”

  The whole room was pretty much devoted to the computer gods. He hosted many of his LAN parties here with his nerd friends.

  The sweet sounds of machine guns, men cursing, and all sorts of blood-pumping goodness came from his handy speakers.

  His online buddies skulked with him into the building in the game. The enemy was going down. He shot. Bullets went flying. He heard his friends flipping out at the swarm of baddies coming toward them.

  “Get them! Get them!” Shorty shouted.

  “Oh shit! No! Run for your lives!” Jim shrieked in between laughter.

  “Throw a grenade, Dale,” David urged. “Not at the fucking wall!”

  “No!” they all yelled at once.

  A sonic boom came with a whiteout on the screen and then his character toppled over. More like exploded as the enemy came over and stepped on him.

  Words from the other team were typed out onto his screen, reflective of all the “What the fuckery” he’d read in many YouTube comments.

  David looked up when he realized someone had come in. Brighton stood there with his hands in his jeans pockets.

  David took one earpiece out. “Hey, buddy. What’s up?”

  “You got a minute?”

  “Yeah, sure. Go again, guys. Smitty, you’re dead,” David said into the microphone before giving Brighton his attention, kind of. “What do you need?”

  “It’s about Siegfried.”

  “What about him?” David snorted when he saw the weapon his friend had chosen. “Really, Jim, a knife? We’re in a bloody war and you’re running around knifing people? What the hell, man?”

  It sounded like Brighton sighed.

  David cleared his throat. “Sorry. What about Cole?”

  “Siegfried.”

  “Right, him. What about him?”

  “I need you to talk to Dad for me.”

  “What for? How long’s it take to go to the bathroom, Shorty? Grape soda, huh? That sounds good, actually. Hang on a second.” David paused to listen to his youngest brother. “Sorry, everybody’s talking at once.”

  “Siegfried needs to go.”

  “Where?”

  “To hell!” Brighton spun for the door.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a second. I’m sorry I was distracted. I thought you liked Siegfried. What did he do to piss you off?”

  “I don’t have to have a reason to fire him.”

  “Dad’s in charge of firing people. If you want the butler to go, you’ll have to talk to him. Although for the record, you might want to quit getting servants fired for annoying you. Dad’s pretty sick of it.”

  “I haven’t done that in a long time.”

  The game started.

  “Yeah, well, don’t fall back into that now,” David said, focusing on his screen.

  “I can’t talk to Dad about this.” Brighton poked the desk. “He won’t fire Siegfried if he knows it was my idea. It has to be you.”

  “Popcorn? And you didn’t make us some?”

  “Listen to me, asshole!” He pounded the desk with his little fist.

  “Hey! Watch it. If you want Dad to let someone go, then just ask him. It’s not my fault he doesn’t take you at your word because of all the lies you’ve told and the servants you’ve wrongfully gotten fired.”

  Brighton’s face fell.

  David softened his tone. “Look, I’m not gonna get tangled in your little scheme. Whatever Siegfried did to you, just get over it.”

  Brighton lunged for him.

  “What the—?” David shoved him off. “Behave yourself, pissy. You’ve got a funny way of asking for favors. Just tell me why you want him fired.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Then I’m not helping.” David got back to his game, annoyed with the fiery punk.

  “I think he likes Danielle,” Brighton finally said.

  “Just because Chuck wanted her doesn’t mean Siegfried does. I think he’s asexual. I’ve never seen him go on dates or anything.” David grinned. “Not you, Jim. I didn’t realize I was pressing the button on that part. What’d you hear? Asexual? Figures. Like anybody would believe you are.”

  “I saw him sniffing her panties,” Brighton said decisively. “I think he was perving on them.”

  “Was he?” David asked flippantly. “Shorty, what are you doing? You don’t just run around punching the air. What the hell is the matter with you?”

  A shadow told him someone had walked into the room.

  “Would you like more Pepsi, sir?” Siegfried asked him.

  “Yeah, would you? Thanks.” David gave him an acknowledging glance before refocusing on the screen.

  From his peripheral vision he saw Siegfried look over at Brighton for a moment before leaving the room.

  “Smitty, you grenade-lovin’ fuck, you’re going down,” David threatened with a grin. He frowned when Brighton covered the mic.

  “I said Siegfried was sniffing Danielle’s panties.”

  David blinked at this. “No.”

  “It’s true. We need to let him go before he cops a feel with her like Chuck did.”

  He studied Brighton closely, wondering why he was lying. David knew that face. It was “Daddy, fire this servant that got annoyed when I made messes for them to clean up. Oh, that one told me off, or snitched on me. Send him away.”

  David sighed. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thanks, man.” Brighton slapped him on the back and then headed for the door. “I appreciate you talking to him for me.”

  David crept into a room in his computer game. “Yeah, I’ll talk to Siegfried for you.”

  He peeked up, but Brighton was already gone.

  * * * *

  David thought it was ludicrous. Siegfried had been with them for almost a decade. Of all their servants, he was one of the ones they trusted most. David’s father was even good friends with the butler. Siegfried had to have done something to piss Brighton off. The Englishman had never given any indication that he wanted Danielle.

  Walking into the dining room, he found Siegfried seated at the table polishing silver.

  “Mind if I talk with you for a minute?” David asked.

  “Of course not.”

  “Brighton made kind of a weird accusation against you.”

  “What might that be?” The guy didn’t even blink at this. He kept right on working while maintaining the same normal disposition.

  David made a face, feeling like an idiot for even asking him this. “He said he saw you going through Danielle’s underthings, or smelling them, or whatever. I’m not saying you did, but he wanted me to talk to you about it.”

  Siegfried’s demeanor became confusion and then unflinching awareness—the stark opposite of a guilty man trying to quickly raise a mask to conceal the truth in his nervous eyes.

  He sighed, setting the silverware down. “Did he?”

  “Yeah, did you?”

  “I would never render you such disrespect,” Siegfried answered. “Your fiancée is a fine girl, but I have no interest in her in that way. Even if I did, you all mean too much to me to ruin that.”

  “I know.” David shook his head. “I’m sorry. I figured Brighton just said that because you made him mad in some way. What’s wrong?”

  Siegfried seemed distressed. “He promised me he would change.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I assured him I wouldn’t tell so long as he promised to get help. I should have known he would try to have me terminated so he can persist in his vices in secret.”

  “What do you mean?”

  The butler heaved a reluctant sigh before rising. “Come with me, sir.”

  David followed him into the kitchen, wondering why the man started digging in the trash.

  “If he’s trying to be rid of me, then I highly doubt he intends to get the help he needs. Now I don’t know what to do.”

  He stilled when Siegfried pulled a small paper lunch sack out of the t
rashcan. Somehow he already knew, but he didn’t believe it.

  Siegfried pulled two small parcels from the sack and handed them to him. “I found these in Brighton’s room yesterday when I was putting his laundry away.”

  “Drugs.”

  “I’m afraid so, sir. I’m hardly an expert on illicit substances, but it doesn’t look like the marijuana your father found him with as a teenager. I didn’t want to believe it myself, but they appear to be two different kinds of drugs. That would explain those mood swings of his lately.”

  David unwrapped the contents to see what they were. “Now it all makes sense. No wonder he wants you gone.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not sure. Cole would know.”

  “I promised Brighton I wouldn’t say anything,” Siegfried reminded him.

  “My father needs to know about this. I don’t know what this stuff is, but it looks a lot harder than pot. Brighton needs help.”

  “I agree, but I feel terrible betraying his confidence.”

  “Don’t. He tried to get you fired and you still wanted to protect him. You’re a good man, Siegfried.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “I just don’t know where he would have gotten something this extreme.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” Siegfried reached into the bag and pulled out a note. “I’m afraid he got it from that man he’s been seeing.”

  David gaped down the note, stunned by what he read.

  Try both and tell me which one you like better. I can get you more of both if you like. Enjoy, little one.

  Love,

  Kale

  “He got this from Kale?” David whispered.

  “Yes, sir. I didn’t want to say anything since it isn’t my place, but I’ve always suspected that sooner or later that biker would get Brighton into trouble. After all, the Princes of Hell motorcycle gang isn’t exactly known for being an upstanding group.”

  “Thank you for telling me, Siegfried. My father needs to know about this.”

  Siegfried touched his arm. “Are you sure that’s best, sir? If Mr. McAlister hears about this he’ll forbid Brighton from ever seeing Kale again. It would break his poor young heart.”

  “Tough. The asshole gave my little brother drugs. He’s out.” David took the paper sack from him and stuck the items back inside. “I’m gonna show all this to my father.”