Karma (16 page)

Liza blew out a stream of air. “Well, he’s not leaving yet.”

“Why? Because he’s not dressed? Or because you haven’t finished yet?”

Now
she had her answer, and mortification swept over her. It was bad enough she had Dare witnessing yet another Brian moment, but now he was turning his anger on her. The brother she knew and loved would never talk to her like that before he started drinking.

“That’s it,” Dare muttered. Before Liza could react, he headed onto the porch. “It’s time for you to leave,” he informed her brother.

Brian narrowed his gaze. “It’s not your house.”

“I’m just repeating what your sister already said.”

Dare’s lazy shrug didn’t fool her and she glanced from man to man, trying to figure out the best way to diffuse the situation.

“It’s none of your business,” Brian said belligerently, still pushing Dare when it was obvious the man was a simmering volcano.

Unable to think of a solution, Liza reached out and grabbed Dare’s arm, hoping her touch would calm him
before he let Brian provoke him into doing something he’d regret.

Anger pulsed through Dare and he didn’t take his gaze off Liza’s brother, who stupidly kept pushing Dare, obviously hoping to goad him into a fight.

Liza’s nails dug into his forearm, but she didn’t have to worry. Dare wouldn’t do anything stupid. Still, someone had to shut this asshole up. Dare wouldn’t allow him to insult Liza.

And she’d asked him to leave more than once. “It wasn’t my business. Until you started insulting your sister. Now I’m making it my business. So you can leave now,” Dare said, deceptively calm.

“Or what?” Brian puffed up his shoulders with a sneering sense of bravado.

Dare glared at the man, giving him more time to sweat, which he was already doing. Profusely.

“Brian,
go
,” Liza pleaded.

“Like I said, or what?” The pigheaded man glared at Dare, not bothering to look at his sister.

At the station, when Dare was on duty, it was his job to deal with the trouble Brian McKnight caused and do it in a professional way. Nothing he was feeling now was remotely professional.

And Dare wasn’t on duty.

Still, he braced his hand on Liza’s back in an attempt to reassure her. “Or you’ll be looking at more trouble than you can handle,” he promised Brian.

The other man raised his hand as if ready to fight.

Dare shook his head at his stupidity. “It’s one thing to hit a defenseless woman, McKnight. It’s another to come after me.”

Brian’s eyes opened wide and regret flashed across his face. “Liza knows it was an accident.”

Dare raised an eyebrow.

Liza said nothing.

“Liza Lou, I just need to borrow some money,” he said in a little-boy voice. “Then I’ll go.”

Dare frowned, disgusted at the man’s gall.

“You just got paid on Friday,” Liza said, sounding stunned.

“I can’t explain now.” He shot another glare at Dare. “But I need your help.”

Dare knew he was getting a firsthand look at the brother-sister dynamic and he didn’t know how Liza handled the man.

Brian took a step toward his sister.

Dare blocked his way.

“Please, Liza?” Brian all but whined.

“Fine,” Liza said, stunning Dare as she turned and hurried back inside.

She returned a second later, giving him no time alone with her brother.

She had her wallet in hand and Dare’s eyes opened wide.

“Liza, come on. You know this isn’t a solution.”

She didn’t meet his gaze but instead fumbled with the wallet and pulled out all the bills inside. “Here,” she said, thrusting out her hand. “Take it. It’s all I’ve got on me. Now will you go?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Disappointment rippled through Dare at the exchange.

“I need to talk to you later, though,” Brian said.

Not a thank-you came from his mouth.

Liza remained silent.

Brian shot a smug and triumphant grin at Dare before heading for his car—a BMW 7 Series no less—and drove away.

Dare blew out a breath, unsure of what to think or say. He wanted to comfort Liza, but she’d just done the unthinkable, and inside he was torn.

Dare hated her brother with a passion born of years of regret, self-blame, and disgust. Brian’s behavior in the time since they were kids hadn’t allowed for Dare’s attitude to soften. Not even now.

Not even for Liza.

The realization knocked the breath out of him and forced him to take a long look inward. When he’d gotten involved with Liza, he’d pushed her relationship to her brother to the back of his mind, to a place where he could pretend they weren’t related and the past didn’t exist. Even after McKnight had coldcocked his own sister, Dare had merely stepped in to help the woman he wanted, blocking out the reality that just hit him square in the face.

With Liza came this son of a bitch. And Dare didn’t know if he had it in him to accept it.

Now or ever.

They headed back inside the house in silence. Dare couldn’t bring himself to speak, and even if he could, he didn’t know what to say. Last night had been incredible, the best sex of his life with a woman he’d wanted to know better. Today he couldn’t see past the chasm between them.

He headed upstairs to get his shirt, and when he returned Liza had finished cleaning up the breakfast she hadn’t eaten. She remained silent and he felt the hurt coming off her in waves. He knew he should say something to break the awful tension.

“All you did was enable him, you know.” Dare winced at the words that unwittingly spilled from his mouth. Not the best choice at the moment, but at least it was the truth.

She flinched. “It’s easy to judge something you can’t possibly understand.” She gathered her bag and her briefcase and together they walked out to their cars.

His Ford SUV was parked beside her white convertible. Nice but not something he could see her being too willing to repeat. Everything inside him rebelled at the thought of driving away and not seeing what else they could share, but the sight of her handing cash to her drunk alcoholic brother turned his stomach and brought up the past in vivid color.

The party. Brian throwing the punch at Stuart Rossman. His yell to either help clean up the mess before the cops
came or to get the hell out, stepping around the injured kid as he went into panic mode. And Dare himself following his friends as they ran for the door.

“He’s going to hurt someone—worse than he already hurt you—if he doesn’t get the help he needs,” Dare said.

“Do you really think I don’t know that?” Liza turned to glare at him, her big brown eyes full of pain and betrayal.

He swallowed hard, knowing that, yes, it was easier to give advice than to take it. “Then stop making it so easy for him to keep doing it. He’s got to hit rock bottom and if he has you to prop him back up, he never will.”

“He’s my brother,” she said, her voice cracking. “You might not have had a relationship with yours for over a decade, but I have. And Brian was there for me. He saved me when—” She caught herself and clammed up, gripping her briefcase harder in her hand. “He’s my brother,” she repeated.

As if that was enough of a reason.

But Dare stayed focused on her other words. “How did he save you?” he asked, wondering where, beyond blood ties, her loyalty came from.

Because as sure as he was standing here, Dare knew she didn’t condone her brother’s drinking or his behavior, no matter how much she enabled it by helping him.

“It’s nothing,” she said in an icy cold tone that stung.

The same words and tone he’d used when she’d asked about his tattoo. He didn’t miss the irony any more than he liked how it felt turned back on him.

His hand came to rest on the dark ink. It wasn’t just a tribal band. Inside was the date of the party, the date Dare had done nothing and someone died. It had been a way to honor the kid’s memory and to remind Dare of his promise to change how he lived his life. The inking of karma was a symbol for new beginnings without forgetting the sins of his past.

It wasn’t “nothing,” any more than whatever Liza was hiding from him now was. Still, he doubted they’d get anywhere
this morning. Not with tensions and hurt so high between them.

So when she turned to get into her car, he let her go.

He needed a breather and no doubt so did she. But he couldn’t shake the memory of how he’d hurt her this morning. Twice.

He’d promised himself he wouldn’t be another person who let her down and damned if he hadn’t gone and done just that.

Liza drove up to her office. Every time she approached the old building that she used to visit when her grandparents worked there, she smiled. Her grandfather had renovated an old large Victorian, turning it into office space. Liza usually got a kick of pride that she was now in charge. No such kick hit her this morning. Instead, she was numb. This morning with Dare had been nothing like the night before, and, as much as she hated to admit it, the fault had been hers. Well, her brother’s, technically, but in her mind it equaled the same thing. She couldn’t change who her family was any more than he could change his. As furious as she was with Dare for judging her, at the same time, she understood why he hated her brother.

The question was, would he grow to hate her too?

She shook off the heavy thoughts and headed straight for Peter’s office, wondering what was so urgent that he’d had to see her in person. It couldn’t be good.

“Peter?” she said as she knocked on his open office door.

“Come in!” He rose as she stepped inside. Liza ran a business-casual office, but Peter always presented himself in a three-piece suit and today was no different. “Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said, fixing his tie as he spoke.

“What’s so important?” she asked, not wanting to give him any indication that she assumed the problem had to do with her brother.

He glanced down at his desk where everything was meticulously organized, rifled through a few file folders and pulled out the one he was looking for. “There’s something unusual you need to see in Accounts Receivable,” he said.

“Brian’s department.” She kept her tone neutral.

“Yes. You see, we have two checks made out to Annabelle’s Antiques.” Peter handed her two photographed copies.

Liza recalled the purchase. “We bought antique window frames from them.” She’d chosen them herself. “Twenty-five hundred dollars a piece, as I recall.”

“So why were
two
five-thousand-dollar checks issued?” Peter asked.

Liza looked at the papers he’d handed to her, confirming his words at a glance. “Did you check with the bank to see if they were both cashed?”

“Of course.” Two red spots highlighted the man’s cheeks. “I’m always thorough.” He clearly bristled at her question.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Peter. I was just asking.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes. I inquired. Both checks were cashed. However, the signatures on the back of each are markedly different. Poor bank oversight if you ask me,” the man muttered.

Another glance at the next set of documents he handed her proved his assertion right. Both were signed in the name of Annabelle Block, but one had distinctly masculine handwriting on the endorsement. Handwriting similar to her brother’s.

She felt the heat of Peter’s stare as he waited for her to come to a conclusion. She’d already reached one that churned her already upset stomach. Just this morning Brian had come begging to borrow money and now…What was going on here? He’d issued two checks and cashed one himself?

Or was she jumping to unwarranted conclusions and maybe this was just an innocent mistake. She bit the inside of her cheek. Only her brother or Annabelle Block, the shop
owner would know. Liza needed to decide who to talk to first.

She glanced at Peter, who looked at her expectantly. “Thank you for being so thorough,” she said to her accountant, careful to feed his need for approval.

She didn’t want to alienate the man and put him on Brian’s trail. Even if Accounts Receivable was his department, they’d both been careful to skirt the issue and not mention his name. She’d like to keep it that way for now.

“I’m very grateful you called me in to see this,” she added.

“What do you want me to do?” Peter asked, obviously eager to help.

Liza gripped the papers tighter in her hand. She needed to look into this herself and if Brian was involved, figure out what he was up to before she involved the office or Peter directly.

She gave Peter a forced smile. “Just your normal work. I’ll take it from here.” She folded the papers he’d given her and put them in her oversized bag.

Liza glanced at her watch. “I have to get going. I have a meeting I’m going to be late for, but thanks again.”

“Well, if you change your mind, I’m happy to call the account in question.” Peter inclined his head, as usual, beaming with pride that he’d done his job so well.

Liza strode out of his office and was headed for the exit, preoccupied with thoughts of what Brian was up to and whether she should confront him outright or do a side investigation first.
Dare would know
. The errant thought brought her up short and she stopped in the entry hall.

She’d spent one night with him and she’d dropped defenses she’d spent years building, only to have him withdraw over the tattoo and then judge a situation he knew nothing about. He’d wormed his way in and hurt her in a short span of time.
Lesson learned,
Liza thought. Dare had nothing to do with her business or her problems with her brother.
So while the cop might well have answers she needed, Liza was capable of figuring out what to do on her own. She had no intention of relying on Dare Barron again for anything.

She pulled herself together and started for the door, bumping into Jeff as he entered through the other side.

Liza hadn’t seen him since the awkward “this isn’t a date” incident at the fair and she really wasn’t in the mood to deal with him now.

“Jeff, hi!” Liza said, hoping all she’d be facing was a quick conversation between co-workers.

“It’s good to see you,” he said, his gaze looking her over. “How’s your injury?”