Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) Read online

  "I lost it. No one talks about you like that and gets away with it. Even then."

  "So that's why Dad pulled you aside," Conall stated. "I remember he had to make a whole lot of phone calls that day, but I thought it was regular work."

  Lucas shook his head. Liam was trying to placate Jonnie's parents but they weren't having it. They wanted Lucas' head, so he pulled out the big guns.

  "He told the Timpo's, who were ready to press charges, that he would go to the school and question every girl Jonnie had ever been seen with whether or not he had forced himself on them," he said cautiously. "They decided to let it be after that."

  The three of them looked shocked, especially Ash, but then she also looked like she wanted to kiss him, which he didn't think was a good idea in front of her brothers since they both apparently still felt the need to hit him.

  He took another deep breath and looked at his best friends, "Then he gave me a hundred bucks and told me never to speak of it again. Otherwise, I would have told you and let you rough the little punk up all over again."

  They both burst out laughing.

  Con lifted his glass again, the rest of them following suit. Even Ash looked like she was proud of him. "Dad knew how to bribe. Spent who knows how much money getting us to do shit he couldn't, without getting caught by Mom. The man was generous."

  "Generous!" they all repeated and tipped their glasses once more.

  Fergus refilled the glasses while they all turned to Ash.

  It was her turn.

  He wasn't sure what memory she would memorialize, but whatever it was, he hoped it was one he was a part of.

  Lucas already loved her more than he ever thought possible, but what she said next… well it was fucking beautiful.

  Chapter 7

  Ash

  My brothers had jumped into the memories faster than I thought they would. They looked deflated about Dad, but they were just like him, strong and proud. Never letting anything break them down. They wouldn't let his memory fade and neither would I.

  The way they looked at me, however, made me feel like I was a shattered plate of glass ready to fall apart at the slightest touch. I didn't feel that way, though. I felt rejuvenated.

  I know that sounds kind of morbid, but it's the truth. I was devastated from the loss, but in my family, a fallen one was a gift. It helped the rest of us appreciate life. At least, that's what Dad always tried to teach us over the years.

  Conall looked just like my dad, but a little bit thinner and more sculpted. He was slightly taller than Lucas, but didn't look imposing next to him. His dark brown hair was wavy and the longest he had ever had it before, curling around his ears and at his nape. His constant scruff looked like it belonged to a movie star along with the slight curl of his lips, the slightest hint of a smile, and his soft blue eyes were a reminder of how good of a man he was. Loyal and true.

  Fergus was the bad boy in the family if you hadn't already guessed it. He may have the face of a pretty boy, but it was all a ploy. He had lighter hair than the rest of the Brannock's, but that's because he spent a good seven years in the sun and the faintly bleached look never went away. He usually kept his hair longer, but it looked like he had just gotten it cut and it spiked at the top. His eyes were blue, but held my mother's grey around the edges, making them all the more striking. He was shorter than Lucas, but not by much, and he made up for it in attitude.

  My brothers and Lucas were all watching me, waiting for the first memory I would lift a glass to and I gave up my perusal of the last living members of my family. There were hundreds of memories running through my head, flitting back and forth, some that made a difference in my life and some that just felt good to remember. I couldn't decide which one to choose. That is until my eyes stopped on Lucas. He had a grin on his face, the crooked one that seemed to come so natural to him when my brothers were around. His eyes were bright from the whiskey and practically burned through me, like his stare was a touch I had never experienced before.

  It was.

  It was magnificent and it made me remember one of the greatest and worst days of my life. Worst because it was the first full birthday without Mom, greatest because it showed me how much my Dad loved me.

  "I remember my 18th birthday," I said slowly.

  Conall and Fergus looked at each other and shrugged, waiting for me to continue. Lucas didn't move, but his gaze burned hotter. He knew exactly what I was going to say.

  "Dad had just gotten home from work and was in the process of making my birthday dinner, when you two man whores," I paused, pointing at each of my brothers, "walked in with the two biggest skanks in town on your arms."

  Said man whores high fived each other without looking away from me.

  Typical.

  "I was furious that you two would even consider bringing girls to a family dinner let alone the two girls that were the biggest reason I didn't have any girlfriends because they told everyone I was a lesbian."

  Lucas coughed, trying to cover a laugh and I glared at him. He would have to explain himself later because I knew he had to be a part of that rumor from the look on his face, that or he had just never disputed it.

  "I knew Dad wasn't going to tell them to leave, but he was going to make sure they knew they weren't welcome. He knew exactly who they were."

  "Oh, wow, I remember that night. Amber and Jen never went out with us again after that," Conall pointed out.

  Fergus chimed in with my second favorite part of the story. "Yeah, he said that the only women he would fully welcome at his table with his family were respectable ones that - and I quote - 'didn't open their legs for anything with a pisser'."

  We all started laughing and I felt my eyes start to sting. Dad loved us all, but he had a special place in his heart for me.

  I turned to Lucas, who was sporting the dimples for the second time since I had gotten home, and still watching me closely. I kept my eyes on his as I continued.

  "Dad then turned to me and said, 'And I won't allow any man around this table who doesn't love you with his whole heart'," my voice cracking at the end. "I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me until now."

  The kitchen was quiet now. So quiet that I was sure all of them would hear my heart banging like drums in a marching band. Lucas didn't look away from me and the look on his face told me that he wanted to kiss me, but my brothers would probably forget themselves again.

  You see, Lucas had been sitting at the table that night, directly across from me. He had been watching me the same way he was watching me now, but I was too naïve to know what it meant at the time.

  He stepped toward me until our toes were touching and he raised his hand to gently cup my jaw before he spoke. "He was telling the truth, you know? He knew I loved you with my whole heart then and I love you even more now." He lifted his other hand to the place where my neck meets my shoulder and softly brushed his fingers over the skin. "And there isn't a God damn thing on this earth that could change it."

  His thumb swept under my eye as a hot tear fell and he bent his head until our lips were just a breath away.

  I saw my brothers out of the corner of my eye, standing like statues with both hands grabbing the other's shoulders. I assumed they were holding each other back, but I didn't care. When I felt his lips touch mine, everything around me faded. It was just me and Lucas and his lips, caressing mine. Nothing around us mattered, not in that moment.

  I realized then that I still hadn't told him that I loved him. He already knew and it was implied in our conversation that morning, but the words were going to burst out of me if I didn't speak them.

  I pulled back from the kiss - and let me tell you, it was difficult - and placed the palm of my hand over his heart. "I love you, too, Lucas. It's the only thing I know will be a constant in my life."

  He grinned and I felt the steady beat of his heart under my hand quicken, then he kissed me again, soft and chaste, and wrapped his arm around my waist before turning us to face
my brothers.

  They were still staring, but they looked happier now.

  I lifted my glass once again and raised it up towards the center of us. "William Brannock was a protector and a nuisance most of the time, but he was always honest. To a fault."

  "Honest," they all repeated and we each drank once more.

  That's how the rest of the night went. Each of us shared our best memories of Dad, including Lucas. His first one was a surprise to me. Apparently, Dad had taken him down a notch or two over the years in private, but he said that what the man had taught him was something he lived by now. He told him he needed to get his head on straight about me or drop me altogether because he wasn't going to let me settle for anything less than a man who knew what he would sacrifice for his woman.

  Everything.

  ***

  I woke the next morning with a horrible headache. That's what Tullamore Dew will do to you if you are one of the four included in emptying the bottle.

  I was sprawled out on Lucas' bed, not remembering how I got there, with my hair stuck to my face and drool trailing across my cheek, when the bathroom door opened and steam came pouring out.

  Lucas had been the responsible one, only having the first two glasses and making sure we all ate before we passed out. He was going to go in to the station while Con and Gus helped with my father's funeral arrangements and got up to speed on where Lucas was in the Banetti case. They were going to make a plan on how to smoke out the leak and see if they could shut it all down at the same time. I didn't know how, but my brothers would get it done.

  Last I saw them, though, it was after one in the morning and they were both about to pass out on a mattress that Lucas had laid out for them in the living room. They weren't going to be moving around any time soon. I had sat in the recliner and watched late night infomercials until I fell asleep.

  Lucas stepped out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips and my headache was gone in an instant.

  I know I had used the word 'glorious' to describe him before, but I honestly don't think I was being honest. He wasn't just glorious… he was magnificent. His shoulders were sculpted to near perfection, the muscles flexing as he held the towel in place. His chest looked hard and so utterly touchable that my fingers ached to stretch across it. It was his stomach, though, that made the slight stirring between my legs turn into a full on typhoon.

  His abs were rippled into a very real and very sexy six pack that I swear I would cut myself wide open on if they even came close to me.

  Oh, how I wanted them closer.

  I don't know how much time had passed, but I heard someone clearing their throat and the sound snapped me out of my trance. I looked up to his face and his skin was flushed, his eyes smoldering. His hair was even something out of a romance novel, messy and spiked up and dripping from the recent shower.

  "Don't look at me like that when your brothers are just down the hall, baby. Otherwise, I'll get my ass kicked for sure with the things that I'm planning on doing to you."

  Oh. My.

  I suddenly realized how I must have looked and quickly tried to brush my hair down with my still tired fingers.

  "Don't. You look beautiful in the morning, Ash."

  I scoffed, "Yeah, I guess if you like a rat's nest in the morning." My hair was knotted and I flinched when my fingers caught on it.

  "I guess I love rat's nests then," he muttered and sat down on the bed next to my hip. He pointed at the glass of water and pills sitting on the nightstand. "Take those."

  I blushed, because let's face it, who wouldn't blush when the most gorgeous man in the world is sitting on a bed next to you in nothing but a towel… with drops of water running down his chest still and the smell of his body wash hypnotizing you. I was too busy watching said drops of water and pouting when they crashed into the towel. Poor drops of water, they never even got close.

  Lucas growled, deep in his chest, and I looked up at him.

  "You're doing it again," he said, his voice deeper and huskier.

  "Sorry," I whispered.

  My hand was still stuck on the knot, but it wasn't making any attempt to untangle it. It just sat in my hair, frozen and unsure of what to do with itself.

  Lucas reached up and tugged on my wrist, carefully pulling my fingers away from my hair and bringing them to his lips.

  "I love your morning look. Always have. It always looks like you had a rough night and someone completely ravished you. I like to imagine it was because of me."

  My breath caught in my throat as a rush of blood sent warmth across every inch of my skin. My core pulsed with the thought of him ravishing me. I wanted to be ravished.

  "Aislinn," he whispered and leaned in close enough that I could feel his minty breath on my face.

  "Mmmm?" I mumbled, at a loss for any words whatsoever. I was sure my breath smelled awful, but I didn't have time to care because Lucas pressed his lips to mine in a fierce kiss and pulled me onto his lap, gripping my hip with one hand and tunneling the other in my knotted hair.

  I may or may not have helped by crawling over his lap on my own, but it didn't matter. I was straddling Lucas Shade and the horrid barrier that was the towel didn't feel like a barrier at all against my tiny sleep shorts. He pressed me down over his hardness and we both moaned. I buried my fingers in his hair as he deepened the kiss and tightened his grip on my hip, caressing the skin peeking out with his calloused fingers.

  My hips rocked against him on their own. I had never done anything more with a man than let him touch my breasts. Maybe that's why I was always dumped so quickly, but it just never felt right. With Lucas, this felt perfect.

  I rocked again and he lifted his hips slightly to press against me sending pleasure straight to my core and throughout my body. My God, he had me so turned on that I was close to coming already.

  "Ash," he breathed when I rolled my hips again.

  I groaned, trying to reach for what I knew would come. I may not have ever had sex before, but I hadn't deprived myself over the years. It was few and far between, but on the nights where the loneliness felt like more than I could bear, I touched myself to the image of Lucas. I wouldn't need to use my imagination any more.

  "Ash," he repeated, this time kissing his way down my neck and moving a hand beneath the hem of my tank top to press against my burning skin. I gripped the back of his neck and didn't let him pull away.

  "Please," I begged him just before his hand reached the underside of my breast and stopped. "Please don't stop, Lucas. I'm not vulnerable. I need you, but only because I've always needed you."

  He dropped his forehead to my shoulder and groaned. "Baby, please don't tell me that now. Your brothers-"

  "Are still asleep and not getting up in the next few minutes. Please just touch me." I moved to grind my hips against him, so close, when his hand moved slowly over my bare breast and kneaded gently.

  I threw my head back and moaned at the heat moving to my core. No way… no man had ever truly touched my breasts before. Not when this is what it actually felt like.

  His mouth moved over my neck, nipping and licking his way to my ear. He gently bit my earlobe and muttered, "You're so beautiful. Damn it, I want you…"

  His other hand moved from my hip and tore my tank top over my head, bearing my breasts to him. His eyes glazed over as he gazed at them, watching his hand knead the tender flesh before he scraped his palm over my hardened nipple.

  "I knew you would be exquisite. I don't think I'll ever get enough of you."

  My heart slammed against my chest as I watched his head slowly bend down to kiss the swell of my breast.

  "Hey, Shady!" Fergus yelled on the other side of the door and slammed his fist against it a few times for good measure.

  We both froze, panting and clinging to each other.

  He cursed under his breath, but his blue eyes were still darkened from arousal and I wanted to shoot my brother. Just this once. I would shoot him in the knee so he wo
uldn't die, but at least he would get my point.

  "Shady? You in there? Is my sister in there with you? Your hands better not be anywhere near her, asshat."

  I heard Conall's voice, but couldn't understand what he was saying.

  Lucas dropped his forehead to my shoulder again and moved both hands to my waist, loosening his hold on me. My fingers reluctantly released the hair I had gripped between them and wrapped around his shoulders, hoping to give the comfort I knew he needed if he was feeling anything close to the way I was.

  Disappointed.

  Cheated!

  "I'm here, Share Bear. Ash is still in bed and I'm just about to head to work."

  "Don't call me - ugh! Good. Sorry, forgot that you and her were… shit, that's going to be hard to get used to."

  We both rolled our eyes and chuckled.

  "I'm sorry, baby," he whispered. "Maybe it's for the best."

  It was as if a bucket of ice cold water had been poured over me. I remembered the reason my brothers were even here and wanted to shoot myself in the knee.

  "Yeah, it probably is," I replied quickly.

  He stood and held the towel around his hips, heading straight for his closet without looking back at me. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and ensure that I wasn't really going to kill my brother. I snatched my tank top off the floor and awkwardly pulled it on before I threw open the bedroom door and glared into the face of my brother.

  "Whoa, Ash, what the hell happened to your hair?"

  I was about to start tearing into him when Conall spoke up from down the hall.

  "Leave her alone, Gus. You know how she is in the morning after a good night of drinking. I would hate to see you limp for the next week again."

  I heard a chuckle behind me and couldn't help but smile. Lucas put his hand on my hip as he passed me, already dressed for work, then smacked Fergus in the back of the head.

  "It was two weeks," Lucas said, loud enough for Conall to hear him. "And he deserved every second of it."

  Fergus scowled at me, but I just gave him my most dazzling smile and fluttered my eyelashes. "I would be happy to remind you again," I said sweetly.