Tristan punches me in the arm. I know he pulled back, but damn if it didn’t still sting. I resist the urge to rub at it. Don’t want him to know he got me good.
Jesus. I’m not exactly lacking in the muscle department, but each of his biceps are the size of my head.
“Can we go now?”
Without a word, he drives away from the curb and we continue on our way.
The house is dark when we pull up, and I’m glad—less people awake to notice a strange car parked on the street. I check my watch. It’s only eleven o’clock. Maybe Allegra took my advice and is back in the suite that I booked for her—the one right next to mine. Maybe she’s at least at a friend’s house.
Knowing her, though, I doubt it. She wouldn’t be her if she did what I told her to do.
“Now what?”
“I don’t know. Wait, I guess.”
“For what?”
“You’re annoying me.”
Tristan laughs. “You’re an idiot. You don’t even have a plan.”
“What do you want me to do? Go up and ring the bell and see if Theo is home then punch him in the face if he is?” I’m annoyed because he’s right. And I always have a plan. But Allegra throws everything that I know to be true out the window.
“It would beat just sitting here like a couple of creepy old men.” Tristan whistles, and I barely resist the urge to punch him.
“I just need to know if Allegra is home and safe. That’s all.”
“Call her.”
I huff. “I have, dumbass. Several times, but she’s not answering her phone.”
“What did you do to piss her off?”
I glare at him, wondering now why I invited him along. Oh yeah, right, I needed an unrecognizable car just in case Allegra looked out the window, and a voice of reason in case I decided to do something stupid. I should’ve remembered that Tristan has no voice of reason inside his buffed-up body and brain.
“You slept with her, didn’t you?” Tristan crows. God, I hate him. Not really. But kinda.
“Not open for discussion.” Scowling, I slam open the car door. “I’m going around back to see if she’s home.”
Tristan gets out too and whispers loudly. “You did, you motherfucker. I want details.” He follows me around to the backyard.
I don’t answer him but push through the thick hedges. A bramble scratches at the back of my hand, leaving a nice long red line. I’m going to start itching soon. After living here for a few weeks, I found out that I was allergic to the sap in the bushes. I’d escaped through them often enough.
Once we’re in the back, I look up at her bedroom window. It’s dark too. But she has to be home. Where else would she go?
I have to know. It’s going to kill me if I don’t. I can’t go back to the hotel now. I’ve crossed a line and I can’t go back.
“Give me a boost.” My voice is grim. If only my employees back in New York could see me now.
Tristan gives me his wide-eyes. “What? Are you crazy?”
“Just do it.” I push him toward the house so I can climb onto his back, then shoulders. That should give me enough lift to be able to climb onto the edge of her window and look in. She never sleeps with her blinds closed. In fact, I remember that she likes to sleep with her window open, so the breeze can gently caress her and so she can smell the oleander trees.
“Fine.”
Tristan bends over a little, and I plant my foot on his back, trying to find the best footing on his beefy shoulders, when I hear someone clear their throat from the shadows near the balcony off the kitchen.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Tristan stumbles sideways, as do I, and we both tumble onto the grass, like a freaking circus act.
I look up to see Allegra glaring down at us.
Tristan gives her a finger wave. “Hey, Killer. Been standing there long?”
Chapter Nine
SETH
The detonating sound of Metallica jolts me from a rather dead-like sleep. It took me hours to fall asleep after Allegra kicked Tristan and me out of her yard and I was forced to return to the hotel, tail between my legs, knowing that she was in that house with Theo.
I’d made Tristan stand watch. I’d had to promise him a lifetime of free pizza, but he’d done it.
God, the noise. Blindly I reach for my phone on the side table and pull it under the warm covers with me.
“Hello, Mother,” I mumble.
“Why are you still sleeping? It’s nearly noon.”
“I had a long night.” I roll onto my back and scrub at my face. I so don’t want to get up, but I know I have to. And this reminds me so much of the last time I was in Galveston, Mom waking me from a dead sleep after I’d stayed out partying.
“It’s living in New York that’s doing it to you. You should move to somewhere quieter.”
“Actually, I’m not in New York.” I yawn, and then sit up, because she’s not going to like the next part. “I’m in Galveston.”
There’s silence on her end. At first I think she’s hung up, but I can hear her playing with her earring. It clinks against the phone. It’s a clear sign that she’s none too happy.
“Why on Earth, Seth?”
“There are some things I need to take care of.”
She sighs. “Is Allegra okay?”
I smile. She always had a soft spot for Allegra. I knew that she had loved her like a daughter and it had killed her when she finally left. Allegra had been right when she’d said that I had abandoned her, and Sam and my mom. I had. But what she didn’t know, what I didn’t tell Allegra, was that I had gotten back in contact with my mom when she’d left Galveston. I’d set her up with a cute little house on the beach in Palm Springs. We spend Christmases together, and I call her at least once a month. Thankfully she had forgiven me for what I’d done. And she’d made me promise to keep her updated on Allegra and Sam.
Because she was the one person who knew why I had done what I’d done to Theo. And she worried too.
“She’s good. She’s a feisty one.”
My mom chuckles. “That doesn’t surprise me. I bet she’s busting your balls.”
“Mom. Seriously.”
“What? I’m not allowed to say balls? That’s stupid. I’m a grown woman. I can say balls if I want to. I can say shit, fuck and cock, if I want too as well.”
“I’m hanging up. Why did you call me anyway?”
“I was just feeling lonely and wanted to hear your voice.”
She always knows how to guilt me. It’s one of her many fine qualities.
“I’ll call you later, okay? How about I fly in to see you after I’m done here? How would that be?”
She clucks her tongue. “Will a beautiful redhead be joining you?”
“Mom.”
She knows how I feel about Allegra. I didn’t even have to tell her, she just guessed. Maybe it wasn’t too hard to tell back then. I’d acted like a grade-A douchebag toward her, but still Mom knew.
And actually… I’d love to take Allegra to Palm Springs. I’d love to take her everywhere.
“What? Can’t I dream?” Yeah, she dreams all right. She wants grandbabies, and she’s not shy about letting me know.
“If I see Sam, do you want me to tell him you say hi?”
She chuckles. “Good deflection, my darling, but no, that ship has sailed.”
“You always tell me it’s never too late to fix things.”
“Well, sometimes it is.” She says goodbye and disconnects.
Well, I feel like crap now. My mom is usually cheery and upbeat, but there was such sadness in her voice at the end there, that I feel kind of horrible. Maybe she’s right. Maybe some things can’t be fixed.
Maybe it’s too late for me and Allegra, too.
I push that thought from my mind as my thumb hovers over Allegra’s number in my phone. I want to call her to make sure she’s all right, but I don’t want to scare her away any more than I already have. She promised m
e she would call if there was ever a problem, and so far my phone is silent, so I have to assume that means everything is good.
Plus there’s Tristan and the pizza bribe. So I figure somehow… I’d know.
Frustrated, I set my phone down on the table and roll out of bed. Despite getting no sleep whatsoever over the past couple of days, I actually can’t believe I did sleep so long. I’m not usually one for staying in bed, unless accompanied by a wet and willing woman—at least anymore. But the woman I want wants nothing to do with my bed. I have a lot to do if I want to change that. And even more to keep her there for the foreseeable future.
Now that I’ve had her, held her, kissed her, I can’t go on with my life without her in it. She is mine. I just have to figure out how to convince her that I mean to do whatever it takes to keep her. To do that though, I have to take care of the business I came here to deal with first.
Once dressed, I quickly eat the bacon and eggs I ordered and head down to the hotel parking garage. There are a few places I need to check so I can locate Theo. The last thing I can do is go knocking on the Flynns’ door and ask Sam if Theo can come out to play. I don’t want Sam to ever know that I had a hand in making his son disappear forever. I want it—no, need it—to appear as if he made that decision all on his own.
If not for Sam’s sake, then most definitely Allegra’s, although she knows the whole truth. If Theo leaves quietly on his own, it will spare her a whole lot of worry and grief. The problem can go away quickly and quietly before it gives her any more pain and suffering.
And though I’m quite sure that he’ll take the money, there’s one more alternative.
She wasn’t entirely wrong. I don’t want to do it…
But if I have to kill him to keep Allegra safe…
Then Theodore Flynn will cease to live above ground.
Keys in hand, I come off the elevator and round the corner. It feels good, knowing that this is almost over, one way or another.
That light feeling vanishes in a blink as I approach my car, coming to a complete halt. My car. What the fuck happened to my car?
I take a few slow steps forward. My heart thuds hard in my chest. My blood pressure starts to rise. By the time I am standing next to it, I see only red behind my eyes.
All four tires have been slashed. The side mirror hangs from a few wires, the glass shattered and scattered on the concrete. Words have been scratched into the black paint, probably with a sharp object like a pen knife. FUCK OFF. GO BACK TO NY. SHE’S MINE.
I don’t need to guess to know who did this. It shouldn’t surprise me that he discovered I was in town. And it wouldn’t have taken much, especially not for a criminal, to find out where I was staying. How he got into a locked garage with heavy surveillance is a bit of a mystery, but I’m sure he learned a helluva lot in prison.
I know I had.
Only two of those words bother me, the rest petty annoyances. She’s mine. They chill me to the core. I remember those words spat at me six years ago and I remember the vehemence in his eyes when he said them. I knew she wasn’t safe, and this just proves it to me.
Fingers cold, I take out my phone and call Allegra. It goes straight to her voice mail. Cursing, I call again. And again. I keep calling until finally she picks up.
Except it’s not her voice on the other end.
“Hello, brother.”
The Other Brother continues in Part 3: Illicit, available March 10 at vendors everywhere!
From two New York Times bestselling authors comes part two of the scandalous story started in The Other Brother Part 1: Forbidden…
Nothing has changed… and everything has.
I’ve tried to forget him. I know I never will. But that doesn’t mean I should welcome him back with open arms, right?
But the heat that once sparked between us has become an inferno. He’s changed… but so have I.
I don’t know if I can resist what was once so taboo. But first?
We have some seriously unfinished business to take care of.
The Other Brother is a novel told in three parts. This is part two of three.
**Contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. It is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+**
About the authors
Lauren Hawkeye/ Lauren Jameson never imagined that she’d wind up telling stories for a living… though when she looks back, it’s easy to see that she’s the only one who is surprised. Always “the kid who read all the time”, Lauren made up stories about her favorite characters once she’d finished a book… and once spent an entire year narrating her own life internally. No, really. But where she was just plain odd before publication, now she can at least claim to have an artistic temperament.
Lauren lives in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada with her husband, toddler, pit bull and idiot cat, though they do not live in an igloo, nor do they drive a dogsled. In her nonexistent spare time Lauren can be found knitting (her husband claims that her snobby yarn collection is exorbitant), reading anything she can get her hands on, or sweating her way through spin class. She loves to hear from her readers! You can contact Lauren through her website, www.laurenhawkeye.com or on Twitter @LaurenHJameson. And if you like chance at getting advanced copies of books, are interested in reviewing, or just want to chatter about hot men and interesting things, make sure to join the Reader Group that Lauren shares with the amazing Suzanne Rock on Facebook, Lauren Lovelies/ Suzanne and Ava’s Awesome Readers.
If you’re interested in e-mail alerts when Lauren has a new release, sign up for her newsletter here!
Other books by Lauren Hawkeye: New adult romance Three Little Words
Spring Fling (with Julia Kent, Sara Fawkes and Cathryn Fox) Love Me For Me
Love Me If You Dare
A Bride for a Billionaire
One Night With The Billionaire (coming soon) Contemporary BDSM romance Linger
Breathe
Blush
Surrender to Temptation
Fling (With Sara Fawkes and Cathryn Fox) Historical romance Seduced by the Gladiator
My Wicked Gladiators
Kindle Worlds Exclusive The Arrangement: The Chase
Dare to Love: The Billionaire’s Dare And more!
See her websites for complete booklists www.laurenhawkeye.com
www.laurenjameson.com
Tawny Stokes aka Vivi Anna is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author in paranormal romance, urban fantasy, scifi, and young adult. Since 2003, she’s written and published over 40 books for New York publishers such as Harlequin, Kensington and Avon. She’s also independently published several projects on her own. Vivi is also a screenwriter and TV writer and is one of the co-founders of #TVwriterchat.
If you enjoyed this story by Tawny Stokes/Vivi Anna, make sure to sign up for her newsletter http://bit.ly/1ywZH0H to hear about new releases, sales and other exciting events, or to keep in touch please refer to these links: Website: http://www.vivianna.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vivi_tawny
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Tumblr: http://tawnystokes.tumblr.com/
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Other books by Tawny Stokes/Vivi Anna:
Young Adult books as Tawny Stokes: STATIC
ELECTRIC
DEMONS OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
DATING AFTER DARK (WITH CLOWNS) CARNIVAL WORLD (written with Michael J Lee) New Adult Books as Tawny Stokes VIOLET IS BLUE
IVY IN BLOOM
DAHLIA BY DESIGN – coming soon Urban Fantasy Books as Vivi Anna Nina Decker series:
GLIMMER
DAWNING
PORTAL
New Adult Paranormal Romance as Vivi Anna Billionaires After Dark: The Vampire Affair series:
THE VAMPIRE AFFAIR (part one) THE VAMPIRE AFFAIR (part two) THE VAMPIRE AFFAIR (part three) THE VAMPIRE AFFAIR (part four) The Vampire Design series:
THE VAMPIRE DESIGN (part one) THE VAMPIRE DE
SIGN (part two) – coming soon The Werewolf Liaison series: THE WEREWOLF LIAISON (part one) – Bad to the Bone THE WEREWOLF LIAISON (part two) – Hungry Like the Wolf THE WEREWOLF LIAISON (part three) – Bad Moon Rising THE WEREWOLF LIAISON (part four) – Dark Side of the Moon – coming soon Valorian Chronicles (published with Harlequin Nocturne) BLOOD SECRETS
DARK LIES
VEILED TRUTH
MAHINA’S STORM
BEWITCHING HOUR
THE VAMPIRE’S QUEST
THE VAMPIRE’S KISS
HER DARK HEART
A WOLF’S HEART
The Fallen series (published with Harlequin Nocturne) HEART OF THE HUNTER
RELEASING THE HUNTER
SEDUCING THE HUNTER
PROTECTING THE HUNTER – coming soon League of Illusion (published with Carina Press) LEGACY
PROPHECY
DESTINY
ICE BOUND (published by Harlequin) Silver series (published by Avon) QUICK SILVER (Alluring Tales Volume 1) SILVER WATERS (Alluring Tales Volume 2)
Read on for an excerpt from Ivy in Bloom by Tawny Stokes
The last thing I expected as I walked across the Glendale campus to my economics class with a Venti Moccachino in my hand was to be completely humiliated and embarrassed in front of a bunch of strangers. But that was exactly what happened at 10:24 that morning.
It was a gorgeous day and I loathed spending it indoors, but in California almost every day was gorgeous, so it wasn’t like I was never going to have another day like this to spend working on my tan. I walked quickly across the center quad because as usual I was going to be late for class. It was quite possible that I had set a college record for the amount of tardies in the first year. In high school I had gotten that honor.
I was just about to open the door to the west hall, when I heard my name.
“Hey Ivy.”
I turned to see Derek, my boyfriend of the past three months, strutting up to me. And the boy did strut much like a peacock. The cock of the walk. At six foot two he pulled it off tremendously. I put up with it because he was extremely cute. He even had dimples in his cheeks when he grinned.
The Other Brother Part 2: Taboo: Stepbrother Billionaire Romance Page 6