Conned (9 page)

"I think it's time for you to walk away, Kara. You ruin
my father's party and I'll-"

"I hope you have fun while you can, bitch!" Kara
growled as if she didn't even hear me talking. Her eyes were on the woman in my
arms and I tensed. "He may be a good lay, but he gets bored fast and with
you, I don't see it lasting much longer."

Where the fuck did that come from?

Ash stepped in front of us a half second later with Luke by
her side and the two of them began herding the evil witch away. I didn't care
enough to make sure they showed her the door and I looked back to Emily who was
looking down at her feet once more.

"Hey," I unwrapped my arms, but kept her close to
me and held her chin between my thumb and finger, lifting her face so she would
look at me. "You okay?"

She blinked up at me and nodded, her lips parted and begging
for mine again. But I couldn't let that happen. I kept telling myself the whole
thing had been a show, an act. That's all it was.

"That was awesome, by the way. I don't even think Ash
could have told her off that drastically," I chuckled and it earned me a
soft smile.

"I would have liked to see that. Ash doesn't need a
shield to protect her from people like that, she has all of you."

I wasn't sure what to say, so I just stood there staring at
her.

"I feel sorry for her," she mumbled and tried to
look away but I held her chin so she couldn't.

"For who?"

"Kara."

"Don't. She's always been that way and she'll never
change. I'm sorry you had to deal with her. I honestly didn't think anyone like
that would be here tonight. If I did, I would have probably tried to prepare
you."

She laughed and the uncertainty in her green eyes started to
fade, "I don't think anyone can be prepared for
that
. She wants you
bad, she just doesn't know how to go about getting you."

There was no reason for me to say what I did, but something
inside of me needed her to know that I may have been an asshole in the past -
something I no longer had an excuse for - but I wasn't the same man anymore. We
may be pretending, but a small part of me didn't have to. A small part of me
was already claiming her as mine and mine alone and that same part of me was
completely hers.

"I'm not available for anyone to get anyway. I'm taken
now. And she's got nothing on you."

She laughed again, thinking I was teasing her, playing along
with the act, and that's what I needed her to think. But I was serious. More
serious than ever before, but like everything else I was feeling, it didn't
matter.

She stared up at me, freezing the smile on her face and
leaning into my hand that had moved to cup her jaw.

I couldn't be hers and she couldn't be mine. I was only her
protector and she was only a witness in need of my protection.

Mine
.

"God, Emily. I…"

I wanted to lean in and kiss her again, taste her lips this
time and feel her response when I coaxed her to open for me. I wanted it more
than I wanted my next breath no matter what my head was telling me.

"Crisis averted!" Gus cheered from behind me.

Emily jumped and the movement pulled her face away from my
hold. I blinked a few times, my head clearing and the tightness in my chest
starting to fade.

Gus was standing there with a heaping plate of food in his
hand, reminding me that the whole Kara situation had interrupted us from
getting our own food and Emily still hadn't eaten.

"Why don't you grab your plate and go find my dad? I'll
be there in a minute, okay?" I took a step back from her and let her go.

"Okay," her voice cracked. Then she quickly turned
away and picked up the plate she had been working on a few minutes before and
made her way across the patio.

I watched her go. Took in the sway of her hips and the lines
of her body wrapped in white. I couldn't look away if I wanted to.

"Does it matter
now
?" Gus asked and instead
of being an ass, he actually sounded like he cared. Like he was worried about
me.

Once Emily was out of sight, I turned to my brother,
desperate to find a solution to the trouble I was in. We had been as close as
brothers could possibly be. He was one of my best friends and the only person
besides Luke that I could count on to help me out of a really tight spot. Yeah,
he gave me a hard time, but that's what brothers do. I knew he would take a
bullet for me and I would do the same for him.

Right now, I needed him to give it to me straight. Smack me
in the back of the head like he did when I was being a dumbass. Say the right words
to pull me out of the hole I was digging around myself.

He didn't say
anything
. He just stood there, waiting
for me to figure it out.

"It can't, Gus."

He nodded, a solemn expression covering his face as he set
his massive plate of food on the table next to him. He placed his hand on my
shoulder, and looked right into my eyes. "Maybe for once, you let
it."

"Damn it, Fergus. That's not what I need to hear and
why is everyone pushing this?" I snapped as I pulled away from his hand.
"I have a job to do. It's too dangerous to get attached."

He raised his hands in surrender, "I get it, brother. I
do. But we all see it. Even if you refuse to."

Mine
.

The one word that kept running through my head, proving that
what my brother was saying was exactly right.

***

Twenty five steps from truck to stairs. Ten stairs. Eighteen
steps from top of stairs to door of apartment.

We had moved all of our stuff into the new apartment, not
that there was very much, but Ash insisted on sending a number of pointless
things with Emily. Instead of helping her, I threw my few things into the spare
bedroom and ran away with the excuse of pacing the area. I'd already done it
about five times too many and ran out of reasons to stall going back inside.

Where Emily was.

I had been standing outside that apartment door for the last
five minutes, staring at the crooked '4' on the front of it and wishing I could
take off and leave her in there by herself. Never look back.

I couldn't hear her moving around in there, but I imagined
she
was
moving. Moving in that way that made my head spin. She may not
be wearing that white dress that clung to her curves, but she could be wearing
butcher paper and I would still know they were there. My fingers would still be
begging me to reach out to her and grab on.

After that kiss at the party, I could hardly think of
anything other than her soft lips every time I looked at her. It hadn't stopped
me from doing my job, but it certainly wasn't helping my frame of mind.

I raised my hand to the door knob, then dropped it back to
my side.

"Damn it."

Being alone with her wasn't a good idea, but I didn't have a
choice. When I found her once again at the party, laughing with my father as he
introduced her to his friends and colleagues, I made a decision. When we had to
put on a show, I would put on the best fucking show people had ever seen. No
one would be able to doubt that we were honestly together. When we were alone,
I would keep my distance. She had to know that it was just me doing my job.

And I had to keep telling myself that's
all
it was.

As the party had started to wind down, I kept up the act a
little longer than I probably should have, but it was an opportunity to finally
talk to her openly. We sat with my family around one of the tables stuffing our
faces with the cake Ash had been so proud of and Emily easily fit right in.
Seeing her talk with Ash like they were long lost friends and watching her
handle Gus better than anyone else could made me forget the reason we even
met. 

Before we all went our separate ways, Ash pulled me aside.

"You've been smiling more tonight, Con."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I smile all
the time."

"No. You don't."

"Doesn't matter."

She sighed, "You keep saying that, but it does."

Frustration built and for the first time, I actually
wanted
my sister to keep telling me what I didn't want to hear.

I thought about everything that had happened so far and it
didn't change the fact that I was still staring at the closed door, stalling. I
took a deep breath and forced myself to reach for the door knob again. It
turned before I could even touch it and the door swung open.

Emily's wide green eyes looked surprised when she saw me
standing there looking like a moron. Her hands were full, one holding a full garbage
bag and the other a broken box. It hit me all over again that I was going to be
living with her.

For a while.

Alone.

"What are you doing?"

I scratched the back of my neck and blinked down at her.
Damn,
why'd she have to be so pretty?
"Um, I was pacing."

"What
is
pacing exactly? You were gone before I
could ask," she grinned, flashing a glimpse of her white teeth, then
stepped aside to let me in.

"I've gotta know how many steps it takes to get to
different points around the apartment complex. Door to stairs, stairs to truck.
That kind of thing."

"Oh," she said with a nod, her brow furrowed.

"Just in case," I added.

"Makes sense."

I reached out for the garbage bag, but she pulled it back
and twisted her body away so I couldn't get to it. Her eyes narrowed at me and
she frowned, as if she wasn't sure I had good intentions.

If she only knew.

"What are you doing?"

I paused with my hand stretched out in front of me and my
fingers so close to her waist that I just needed to stretch them out and I
could touch her. But that would go against my rules.

Rules were made to be broken.

"Shut up," I mumbled under my breath.

"What?"

If she knew the things going through my head, would she run?
Would she let me touch her like she had at the party?

"I'm taking the garbage out for you," I said
slowly.

She looked so vulnerable as she watched me, waiting. Like
she was expecting me to say
"Just kidding".

"Why?"

I chuckled and reached for the bag again, she let me take it
this time. "Because I can and because it's safer if I do it, and because I
should."

She blinked up at me, then looked down at my hand as I
reached for the broken box and took it from her. "Oh."

I didn't have to ask to know that she'd probably never had
anyone take care of her. Her brother had most likely taken advantage of
whatever she gave him and never showed any gratitude. I may have set some rules
for myself while we were here, but that didn't mean I needed to treat her like
shit. Mom would come back to haunt me if I did.

My entire 'act like an asshole to keep her away' plan was
thrown out the door entirely.

"Why don't you call for some take out. Gus gave me a
couple menus to have on hand, they're on the counter. I'll take this stuff and
then come back and finish what I gotta do."

I turned away before she had a chance to disagree and felt
her eyes burning down my back as I made my way to the stairs. I was frustrated
and not just because there was a very palpable tension between us, but because
it was getting harder and harder for me to discover more and more about her
past and the kind of family she grew up with.

When Ash was born, Gus and I were typical older brothers. It
was exciting to have a baby in the house at first, but we mostly just wanted to
play. When Ash turned 3, she was the typical younger sister. Following us
around everywhere we went and begging to be included. It was after she fell
from the tree Gus, Luke, and I had been climbing and hit her head that things
changed drastically.

Mom and Dad rushed her to the doctor, leaving us to fend for
ourselves for a few hours. During that time, the three of us had a very serious
discussion.

The fear that had consumed us when we saw her fall was
nauseating and we never wanted to feel that way again. We vowed right then and
there to protect our little sister and never let anyone or anything ever hurt
her again. When they got back from the hospital, we told Mom and Dad what we
talked about and Dad shrugged and said we should have been doing that from the
beginning. It was our job to protect our sister and it was our job to protect
our mother when he couldn't.

Simple enough instruction for us and coming from Liam
Brannock, it was gold.

But Mom… she had burst into tears and pulled the three of us
into her arms. By then, Luke was used to Isabelle Brannock's loving nature and
the easy way she included him, but it was her words that locked in our concept
of family.

"Family is the only thing you have to turn to when life
throws you to the ground. A lot of people don't have that kind of unconditional
love, boys. We do and God doesn't ever ignore the love shared between brothers
and sisters, blood related or not," she said firmly as she looked at Luke.
"He immerses Himself in it and surrounds us with even more of that love.
No matter what happens in your lives, don't forget to look out for each
other."

She let us go and wiped her tears away, peering down at
three little boys who had determination written all over their faces.

"One day, all three of you will find a woman who loves
you unconditionally, the way your sister and I do. She'll see the way you
protect your family and she'll give you everything." She waved the three
of us away and tried to sound firm enough to lighten the mood, "Don't give
me any reason to warn that girl away."

Lost in my thoughts, I made my way back up to the apartment
after tossing the garbage in the dumpster. Something as simple as taking the
garbage out in our house had been praised by Mom and rewarded with gratitude.
Dad said, "The day your mother or sister have to do it on their own is the
day you've forgotten yourselves."