by KB Winters
I laughed. She wanted me as much as she didn’t want to want me. It was confusing as fuck, but for now, I was going with it. “You started it, I just wanted a simple goodnight kiss.”
She snorted and pushed at me chest. “Sure you did.”
The click of a lighter had us both looking around, where a cute little nurse leaned up against the wall, pulling on a long cigarette. She laughed. “Didn’t mean to interrupt, but when you need a smoke, you need it. I know, it’s totally cliché that a medical professional is smoking, but this job is stressful.”
“No judgments here, Candace,” Ivy told her kindly. “Whatever gets you through a shift, right?”
“Exactly. Though I guess your method of celebrating your brother waking up is better than a stick of nicotine.”
It took a second for her words to register, and by the time they did, I had to run to catch up with Ivy who was already running toward the entrance.
“Uh, thanks for the info,” I called over my shoulder as I ran to keep up with Ivy.
“No problem. Good luck.” Her amusement sounded behind me, but I ignored it because even though I knew Ivy would deny it until her dying breath, she needed someone with her.
“Ivy, wait up!”
“I can’t,” she said, both of us in the lobby now. She stepped into the elevator, pressing the buttons with more force than required to get the car moving. “I have to get to Ian. Thanks for dinner,” she shouted as I stepped into the elevator with her. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going with you, what does it look like?”
“I’m fine, Shae. I don’t need my hand held and I don’t need a shoulder to cry on or anything like that. I’m going to check on Ian, make sure he’s all right and figure out what the hell happened. That’s it.”
That was what her mouth said, but the lines around her eyes and mouth pointed to tension. Fear. She was scared to death for her brother and dammit, I had a feeling his predicament was all my fault.
“If you’re fine on your own then imagine how much better you’ll be with these broad shoulders to lean on.”
I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against my chest, dropping a kiss on top of her head that made her gasp. It was stupid to indulge in such an affectionate gesture I wasn’t sure I meant. But something about this chick brought all of my protective instincts to the surface.
“Gee, Shae, your modesty is overwhelming.” But I noticed that she didn’t pull away. If anything, she leaned against me just a little bit more, and it felt fucking amazing.
“My modesty is one of my best qualities. My family tells me so all the time.” That full bodied laugh sounded again and the press of her tits against my side did things to my cock it shouldn’t. At least not as we stepped out into the ICU where they were keeping Ian.
Ivy rushed out of the elevator and ran down the hall to her brother’s room.
“Ian!” she called. Her long strawberry blonde hair floating behind her was the last thing I saw before she disappeared into the room, but I followed slowly, giving them a few moments of alone time.
I could hear her saying, “I’m so happy you’re awake!” when I stepped into the room.
The doctors and nurses were still working on removing the tubes and monitors and getting him to gently return to consciousness. I gathered coming out of a medically induced coma was a little more involved than waking up from a nap.
I stood by Ivy, though I’m not sure she was aware of me and eventually Ian opened his eyes. I heard Ivy gasp, and I know it was relief, but the doctor explained he needed to test his level of impairment.
WTF? After all this, her brother wouldn’t be as good as new? I couldn’t tell what was going through Ivy’s head, but I could imagine that when the doctor turned from the bed and said you can speak to him but don’t wear him out, she almost fainted. I had to help her walk up to his bed or she would have hit the floor.
Ivy let out a sob when she took her brother’s hand. “You scared the holy hell out of me Ian! I thought you were … God!”
The gut-wrenching sounds of her sobs tore at my insides, but I ignored the urge to run. She cried and cried for several long moments, giving me time to size Ian up.
He looked like the nerdy boy next door, just as Ivy had described him. In fact, I bet he was an easy target for those Milano pussies. But even though he was still groggy and able to only say a few words, I could tell from the way he assessed me, trying to figure out where I belonged in all this, he was smarter than his actions suggested.
“I’m fine, Ivy,” he said in a voice raw from the tubes. “I swear. You can ask the doctor yourself.”
“Oh, I will, Ian. I’m just so glad you’re alive.” Ivy straightened, smoothing small hands down her rumpled day-old outfit.
“The nurse said I can’t tire you out. But before I go, can you tell me one thing. We need to know who did this to you. Do you have enough strength to tell me what happened? Just give me a clue so we can find the bastards.”
Ian was still on oxygen, and he took deep breaths but indicated he wanted to continue. He spoke haltingly, but managed a piece of the story before we were kicked out of his room.
“I was out with Kyle, Topher and Darnell. We went to the bar over by The Onyx Room.” Ian paused and swallowed hard. “Water.”
Ivy looked around but there weren’t any water pitchers or anything in the room. She squeezed his hand and said, “I’ll be right back.” And took off out the door.
She returned with a cup full of ice and a plastic spoon. “Here, suck on these.” She held the ice chips up to his mouth and he took it.
“More please.” He whispered.
Ivy gave him another spoonful and he coughed and cleared his throat, breathed in some more oxygen and continued. “So we’re halfway back to the car and two guys came out of nowhere.”
“What did they look like?” It wasn’t the right time to butt in, but I needed to know if this was a random act of violence or if it was my fault.
Ian looked at me, his face suspicious and full of questions. “And who are you?”
“A concerned friend.”
Ivy stepped between us and I wondered who she was trying to protect, him or me. “Shae is a friend, Ian, and he did some asking around to find out what happened. Do you remember anything about the guys who did this to you?”
Ian nodded, and I could tell he didn’t have much juice left, but he said, “Yeah, there were two of them. Greek or Italian, I think.” His blue eyes bore into me, and I knew the answer without hearing the rest of it. “They knew all about my sister and some guy called Shae.”
Shit. Ivy glared at me, angry as hell and ready to fuck me up.
“Shit.” It came out like a command. “I’ll get some protection for you right away,” I said to no one in particular and pulled out my phone, ready to call in reinforcements.
They might not want my help but Ivy and Ian needed it, and they would get it.
Chapter Seventeen
Ivy
“He seems like a nice guy.” Each hour that passed, Ian seemed perkier, more energetic, but that wasn’t saying much. At least he was conscious and coherent.
By now his smirk had returned that I usually wanted to smack right off his stupid damn face. Now I just told myself to cool it. Ian was getting better. That was what counted. I shuddered to think how close I had come to losing him.
Shae had left the room a while ago, talking quietly into his phone, probably ordering one of his father’s security men to get to Ian’s room.
“He is,” I said quietly and without showing my true feelings after seeing confirmation in Shae’s eyes that he was the reason my brother had got his ass kicked.
Not even that was true, not really. I was angry as hell with myself because it was my fault for getting involved with a guy I met while he was thrown from a van in the middle of the night.
“Seems like it, you know because of the guys who beat the hell out of me just to get to him. Apparentl
y.”
Oh that was rich, coming from him. “Guys who wouldn’t have been able to get to you if you hadn’t decided to leave the hospital just to have a little fun.”
And here we were again, my anger at Shae resurfacing, but clearly I was still pissed off at Ian, too. “Don’t even try to put this on me, Ian. You acting like a child is why you’re in this situation so don’t forget that!”
“Don’t you think I know that?”
As outrage bubbled out of me, his monitors went crazy, beeping and screeching and doing pretty much everything in their power to tell the whole world I was yelling at my brother. Who’d just woken up from a coma. Damn, I sucked at being a big sister. I needed to just shut up and be thankful my brother was awake.
“Actually I’m not sure what you know, other than I’m smothering you, Ian. Like you pointed out, you’re a grown man and free to do what you want. No matter how stupid it is. But if you want to prove that, maybe don’t do stupid shit like leaving the hospital to drink beer with your buddies before the doctor tells you to.”
“I got it, okay?”
“Everything all right in here?” Another nurse, a young black woman with an adorable pixie style cut stepped inside, a concern on her cocoa brown face.
“Yep. Just a little disagreement between siblings.” I smiled sweetly to alleviate her worry.
“Your brother needs to rest,” she said, her words stern and edged with something that sounded a lot like anger.
“You’re right. He does.” I turned to Ian and gave him one final look that was equal parts love and disgust.
“I’m leaving right now, so don’t worry, nurse. The patient is all yours.”
I picked up my bag and got ready to get the hell out of there. Home was where I needed to be. Alone with just me and my thoughts.
“Ivy, wait.”
I gave him a questioning look. “You need to get better Ian, and I’m not sure you can do that with me here. If you need anything, call.”
He nodded but I could see the pain in his eyes because they mirrored exactly the pain in my heart to leave my brother like this. “And if I don’t need anything?”
“Then maybe you can just call me to talk.” That might be nice for a change. For all Ian’s talk of needing space and independence, he rarely called or stopped by just to check on me. Usually he needed or wanted something like a meal or a load of laundry washed.
“I call,” he said defensively.
“Sure you do. When you remember the last time you did, let me know.” I pressed a kiss on his forehead, smoothed his wild curls and walked toward the door. “Love you, baby brother.”
“Love you too, sis. Even though you make my monitors go crazy.”
Ian flashed a good-natured smile that I returned before slipping out of his room. I searched the hall and didn’t see Shae, so I snuck out of the hospital altogether.
To the comfort, the silence of my own space.
Where I could obsess about the foolish decisions I’d made that contributed to my brother’s pain. And it was foolish. I was under no illusions about it. I made the choice to sleep with Shae without knowing much, hell anything, about him. I let him come to my house, where he was probably followed by the guys who beat him up and then gave Ian an ass-kicking, too.
“What in the hell was I thinking?” That was the question I kept asking myself all night and well into the next morning as I sat in the same spot at the end of the sofa and stared at the black TV screen. Why did I sleep with him? Why did I do it more than once?
It wasn’t just because it felt good, I knew that much. Sex for the sake of sex or a few hours of pleasure just wasn’t my style. With Shae, though, I hadn’t thought twice about it, that was if I was even thinking at all.
Something about all that bad boy goodness wrapped up in a sexy package that I just couldn’t resist. And it hurt someone I love.
It was unacceptable but it was also irrelevant because Shae and I had both agreed that we weren’t right together. We were strangers who got caught up in lust and nothing more.
Something I needed to remember no matter what happened next.
Chapter Eighteen
Shae
“This is fucking bullshit and we all know it, E-Dawg.” Just the thought of the fucking Milanos creeping around Ivy and her brother had me so heated I was ready to go fuck them up on my own, a stupid move that would get me killed if I was dumb enough to see it through.
“It is, Shae, but we have to be smart. Going off half-cocked because we’re pissed isn’t what Connelly’s do.” I knew Eamon was right but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear that shit.
“Yeah, I know.”
Rourke stepped up and stood beside me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We’ve got Shamrock at the hospital on the brother, and Fred is on his way to sit outside your girl’s house.”
“She’s not my girl.” The defense came automatically, making Rourke and Eamon smirk like assholes.
“Then explain to me why we’re wasting resources to protect this little girl and her brother?” Patrick’s outburst didn’t surprise me. He didn’t suffer fools gladly or any other way. The man didn’t have a sentimental bone in his body that extended to anyone outside the Family.
I turned to my father, incredulous. “How about because she saved my life when those assholes dropped me off at the ass end of the hospital? Who knows how long I would’ve been out there if not for her?”
Arms crossed and face angry, I stared at my dad and he stared back, a silent standoff that I wouldn’t be losing tonight. Not this fucking time.
Patrick nodded, his lips pulled into a tight grin. “Fine. They’ll have Connelly protection. I hope we don’t live to regret it,” he added, a threat I knew not to take lightly.
“We won’t,” I told him even though the ‘we’ in question was me and me alone. “Her brother is in this position because she helped me, and now the Milanos think she’s somehow connected to us.”
“And she isn’t?” I knew what he wanted to know, and I shook my head.
“She’s connected to me, but only since we met a few days ago. She knows my father is Patrick Connelly, and she thinks I’m some rich playboy who was slumming it with her.”
Patrick’s keen eyes narrowed, and a beat later a smile formed on his thin lips as a laugh erupted out of him. “Damn boy, you’ve got your work cut out for you if that face and your wealth can’t keep a woman satisfied.”
“Who the fuck said she wasn’t satisfied?”
That only made them all laugh like I’d told the funniest fucking joke around.
“Anyway, it’s complicated, but that doesn’t mean Ivy and Ian don’t deserve our help.”
“And they’ll have it,” Patrick said, already tired of this conversation from the sting in his voice. “Now can we talk about actual business?”
After a beat of silence, talk turned back to the family business from the casinos and game rooms to the whorehouses and restaurants with our fingerprints all over them. Then talk turned to the Milano family.
“They’ve been flashing cash all over town and talking shit to anyone willing to listen or pretend to listen,” Rourke said, practically vibrating with anger. We have to do something. Soon.”
Patrick nodded slowly, his eyes missing nothing as the future of the Connelly’s stared back at him. “I agree. Find out where the Milano pricks are hiding, and we’ll decide which of them to take out first.”
Eamon nodded his agreement. With his hands on his hips he could have been Patrick thirty years ago. “I think we should consider Gio. Frank’s the unstable one, most likely to make mistakes if he’s left on his own.”
Rourke nodded. “And the most likely to resent Daniel for being the favored son.”
“Power struggle within the organization can only spell good things for us,” Eamon added.
“That’s right, all of you. Rourke grab some men for surveillance tonight and find out where they’re staying. Eamon, I want you to see if t
hat bastard Lorenzo is in town and get me all the details, then meet up with Shae to make sure the Coconut Hut is ready for a Milano guest.”
My eyes lit up at Patrick’s words. The Coconut Hut was a now defunct suntan lotion factory. I’d convinced him to buy it a few years ago because it was just far enough out of town that nosy neighbors wouldn’t broadcast our business and just close enough to a major interstate that no sounds could be heard. Especially when the machines were grinding away.
“Sounds like a damn good plan.” I said.
“Glad you approve, son.” His sarcasm wasn’t lost on me, but I chose to ignore it because by this time tomorrow my knuckles and my knife would drip Milano blood. “Now get the hell outta here. Unlike you boys, I have a lady friend coming over.”
Eamon snorted. “You know a lady?”
“Let’s hope she only eats dinner like a lady,” he joked and wiggled his eyebrows for good measure. Just in case we didn’t get the sex joke.
Patrick snickered. “I’m headed home to pour bleach down my ears. Text me when you’re ready to meet up, E-money.”
Everyone laughed behind me like it was no big deal to hear Patrick talking about his sex life, but by the time I made it out to my car I noticed they were both headed to their rides as well.
Since I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with Eamon, I decided to go home but not alone, so I pulled out my phone. “Hey, Fred, I need a favor.”
“You!”
Ivy’s small hands pushed deep into my chest the moment she set those pretty deep blues on me. I could have pretended that she didn’t push with more force than expected, but it caught me off guard. “You are a heavy-handed asshole!”
“Ivy, calm—”
“No!” She pushed me again, using all her might. “Don’t tell me to calm down when you’ve sent one of your goons to manhandle me! To kidnap me.”
She pushed me again, clearly not ready to calm down. “Just because your daddy has more money than God doesn’t mean you get to have me placed where you want me. I’m not some fucking glass figurine you can own, Shae!”