Cocked: A Stepbrother Romance (36 page)

I smash the bag a few more times, exhaustion from my workout beginning to overtake me, and I take a few steps back, breathing hard.

“Good form,” I heard from over by the steps. I looked over and saw O’Brian standing there, grinning at me.

“Hey Boss. I was just working out.”

He shrugged, walking down into his own little private gym. He had it installed in the basement of his huge home, though he never used it himself. Sometimes I came over and gave the equipment a quick cleaning, and sometimes I even did a little circuit through the weight machines. I had no clue whether or not he was okay with it, but he never bothered me when I was down there.

“No kidding. I thought you were trying to fuck that bag.”

I grinned, though I wasn’t in the mood. “Been with uglier.”

He laughed. “I bet you have, kid. How’s my daughter?”

I clenched my jaw and began to unwrap my fists. “She’s fine, sir. Stubborn.”

“Yeah, stubborn. That’s why you’re dealing with her and I’m not.”

“Makes sense.”

“Look, I’m not going to be home much for the next few days. I’ll be around, but there’s a big deal with the Russians coming through that I need to work on. So you’ll have the place to yourselves.”

I nod. “Okay. Don’t worry about it. She’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, she will. Because if she’s not, you’ll pay for it.”

“I wouldn’t let that asshole touch her, no matter what.”

He nodded and stared at me for a second. “Speaking of him. I heard you spoke with the Italians.”

I flinched, almost as if he had hit me. It wasn’t exactly against the rules that I had gone and talked with Jimmy, but it was definitely something I should have cleared with O’Brian first.

“I’m sorry, sir. I should have told you.”

“Yeah, you should have.”

“It won’t happen again.”

He laughed. “Yeah, it will. More importantly, what did you find out?”

“Fabrizio is in the city. He contacted Brenna, actually, sent her some text. Trying to intimidate her. From what I can tell, he doesn’t know where she is, but it’s only a matter of time before he shakes it loose.”

O’Brian nodded thoughtfully. “It’s not exactly a secret that I live here.”

“Right, and plenty of the guys with the Italians know about this place.”

“What else did they say?”

“Well, they lost him. Fabrizio, I mean. They don’t know where he is.”

“Fucking Italians.”

I nodded. “But they’re looking. They want to avoid a war as much as we do.”

“Damn right they do. If this were one of the Don’s daughters with one of my boys, can you even imagine?”

I shook my head. “They’d tear up the city.”

“Idiots. They would. Fucking animals.”

“But they wouldn’t come after you.”

“No,” he said thoughtfully. “They wouldn’t.”

I hesitated, knowing it was time to tell him the last bit of information, but I was afraid of how he’d react. His little girl, married to a psycho from the Italian Mob. I could only imagine what it would be like for a parent to hear that sort of thing. Then again, maybe things couldn’t get any worse for him.

“There’s one more thing.”

“What is it? You look like you’re about to shit a pineapple.”

“She married him, sir.”

He was silent for a second, but his face didn’t change. I was afraid he was about to start screaming at me, or worse. I’d have to take a beating from him if that was what he wanted, though I’d never seen O’Brian get physical before.

Finally, he broke the silence. “That makes sense.”

I stared at him, surprised. “That wasn’t the reaction I expected.”

He laughed. “What can I say? I’m getting more jaded in my old age. But it makes sense. It would explain why Fabrizio is so intent on coming after her. He thinks he has a real claim.”

“But we both know he doesn’t. I mean, Bren doesn’t want anything to do with him. And it seems like the Italians are fine with that.”

O’Brian nodded thoughtfully. “You need to be extra careful now, Colin. Keep her around at all times. No more leaving her alone here. I’ll have some people cover your duties and shit, and if you’re needed somewhere important, I’ll send muscle over to watch her.”

I nodded. “That was my thought exactly.”

O’Brian clapped me on the shoulder, smiling. “Thanks, kid. Thanks for helping my family out with this.”

“Don’t thank me, sir. You know I’d do anything.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

He turned and began to walk back to the steps and I leaned back on my heels, contemplating the conversation. Before he got too far, though, he turned back and looked at me.

“Oh, by the way, speaking of family. The lawyers drew up those adoption papers. They’re in your room to sign.”

I blinked. I had totally forgotten about that. “They’re up there already?”

“Sure. Sign whenever you want and drop them off at my place.”

“Right, okay.”

He gave me another lingering look. “I’ll be in contact soon.”

I nodded, and then he was gone, back up the steps. I stood there in the quiet, mind buzzing with the implications. The papers were upstairs, which meant I was one step away from becoming the heir to the entire Mob. It would be a lot harder to take control than just that, but it would make it a lot easier when the time came.
But that would mean I would become Bren’s brother, at least legally,
I thought. I couldn’t help but hate that idea. Worse, I couldn’t help but think how she’d react to it.

As I slipped off my workout stuff and changed into dry clothes, a thought came to me completely out of nowhere.
What I’m doing is no better than what she did
. I was lying to her about the adoption issue, or at least I was keeping it from her. Bren had kept the marriage from me, but I was sure she'd had her own reasons. I didn’t even understand exactly why I was so angry with her, anyway.

I needed to tell her. And I needed to make things right between us, especially if I was going to keep protecting her.

Resolved, I headed upstairs.

I
scrolled through picture after picture of smiling couples in happy places, not really sure what they had to do with me. Sure, we were friends on Facebook, but other than that? They were all practically strangers, though strangers with lives that looked perfect. Then again, my life probably looked amazing on social media.

Leaning back against the headboard of my bed, I tossed my phone away and sighed. There wasn’t much to do in the house aside from screw around on the Internet and maybe watch movies. And Colin wasn’t making things any easier by being around, especially since I wanted to avoid him.

And suddenly I was a prisoner? I didn’t escape New York just to get stuck in my dad’s townhouse.

For a second, I wondered if anyone would even notice that I was trapped. Nick might, since we had been texting back and forth since we went to lunch, but even he would get used to me ducking out on plans with him.

Before I could decide what I wanted to do, there was a soft knock at my door.

“What?” I called out.

“It’s me.”

“I’m not interested, Colin.”

“Can we just talk for a second?”

I sighed again. Maybe we had left things in a bad place. I did have to deal with him whether I wanted to or not. I got up off the bed and walked across the room and pulled the door open.

Colin stood there in a tight, white v-neck T-shirt and short black gym shorts. Although they looked clean, he was still covered in sweat and had this intense look on his face. I stared at him for half a second, afraid my jaw was going to fall through the floor. He looked amazing, his muscles bulging and his hair all messed up.

“Where’d you just come from?” I asked.

“The basement.”

“What, is there a gym down there?”

He grinned. “Yeah, actually. Your dad put it in a year after you left.”

I shrugged and turned away. “Okay, what do we have to talk about?”

He followed me into my room and I sat down on the edge of the bed. He crossed his arms and looked down at me.

“I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Which part?”

“The part where I got pissed.”

“That’s not really an apology.”

“Look Bren. I have to protect you. We can’t be fighting all the time.”

“That’s just it—you don’t have to protect me.”

“Oh yeah? Then why are you even here?”

I blinked and looked down. He had me there. Truthfully, I was just pissed at him for judging me, as if I hadn’t gotten enough of that back in New York.

When I first dated Vince, all of my friends were shocked. What was I doing with a man like him? Before, I was interested in pretty normal guys, the straight-laced type: stand-up farm boys and cute suburban skaters with manners. But something about Vince swept me up and took me for a ride, and nobody could figure it out.

Much less me.

“Look, I know. I’m just sick of the judging.”

He nodded. “I get that.”

I looked up at him, at his intense expression and his crossed arms making his biceps bulge, and wished we could stop with the bullshit.

“Truce?”

He nodded. “Truce.”

“How did you find out about the marriage, anyway?”

He grinned and sat down next to me on the bed, leaning back on his hands. “I went to see the Italians earlier. Pissed your dad off a little bit, but it had to be done.”

I blinked. “You saw his family?”

“Not his family. His people.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Did you guys run around with them much?”

I shook my head. “No, not really. He kept me separate from all that.”

“Probably because they wouldn’t have approved of an Irish girl.”

She laughed. “How could they not approve of me?”

“Clearly they’d be crazy not to, but you know how the Mob is.”

“Yeah, a bunch of thick-skulled idiots.”

“That hurts.”

“It’s supposed to.”

He grinned at me and shrugged. “Well, this thick-skulled idiot figured out your secret.”

“Okay, maybe you’re not
all
brain dead.”

“Most of us are, though.”

I felt myself relaxing around him for the first time in a while. He had such an easy way about him when his guard was down, and as soon as we had spoken our words of truce, he seemed to completely loosen up.

“So, what happens now?”

“Now, you kill time until we can find your husband.”

I cringed. “Don’t call him that.”

“What? It’s true.”

“I know, but it won’t be true for long.”

“I thought you couldn’t leave a Made Man?”

I gave him a look. “Cut it out.”

His grin got bigger. “Can’t take it anymore?”

I laughed and pushed his arm softly. “I can still take it.”

“Yeah, I bet you can.”

I rolled my eyes. “Good one. Really clever.”

He adjusted himself and moved closer to me. I could feel the heat rolling off of him in waves and I didn’t mind it at all.

“Like I said, I’m just a thick-skulled idiot.”

“True. You’re practically an ape.”

He paused and stared at me, his lips parting slightly. I could feel something begin to shift inside of me, something strong and overwhelming, as I looked into his intense eyes. I wanted to reach out and touch his face, to feel the stubble along his chin, maybe touch one of his full lips. There was concern there, and I knew he was worried about me. But the truth was, I wasn’t worried about myself, not since I had seen him come out of the shower in nothing but a towel.

“Bren, look, there’s something I should say.”

“No, it’s fine.”

I moved closer and pressed my body against his.

“I thought we shouldn’t do this,” he said.

He wrapped his strong arms around me.

“You smell terrible,” I said, making a face.

The truth was, he smelled amazing, and I felt myself practically shaking at his touch.

He grinned. “I don’t see you moving.”

“I’m just too lazy I guess.”

“Listen—“

“Are you going to say we can’t?” I interrupted him.

For a second he looked like I had slapped him, and before I could apologize he pressed his face against mine and kissed me hard. My lips parted immediately, returning his passionate kiss, and I pressed my body up against him. I didn’t care what I was doing, I didn’t care that my dad thought we were like brother and sister, I didn’t care that I was technically married to a psycho. There was only the tingling intensity running through my core as his arms tightened and his tongue touched mine, flooding my mouth with his taste.

It was our second kiss, and it was better than the first, which I didn’t think was possible. Maybe it had something to do with the years-long anticipation, but I felt my entire spine and skull reacting to him. His lips were soft as his tongue roamed around mine, and his strong arms gripped me close against his skin. I melted into his embrace, letting the sensation of his kiss wash over me. It was just a kiss, only a kiss, except it wasn’t. I had waited years to feel it again, and it didn’t disappoint.

And as soon as it started, it was over.

At the other end of the bed, my phone started to buzz. For some reason, that tiny thing pulled us out of whatever spell we were under. I moved away softly and looked in its direction.

“Need to get that?” he said.

“Yeah, I should.” Though I wasn’t sure why.

His arms let me go as I climbed over him. At the other side of the bed, I unlocked the screen and checked the message. Staring back at me was exactly what I had expected and dreaded. It was from a number I didn’t recognize, but the message could only have come from one person.

2671438423: Think you can hide out at daddy’s place? Come on, Brenna.

I stared at the message and let the implications settle in.

“What’s wrong?” Colin asked.

I looked back at him and he must have seen the fear in my eyes. He held his hand out.

“Let me see.”

“Okay.” I handed him the phone, in shock.

He read the message, but his face was completely blank. After a few seconds, he looked back up at me.

“I’m getting you a new phone.”

I nodded numbly. How did he know where I was? How did he find me already?