Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) (10 page)

Fergus shook his head like he was coming out of a trance and
looked apologetic. "Sorry, Luke. Habit, I guess."

Ash groaned and rolled her eyes again muttering to herself,
"I swear it will be like this for the rest of my life."

Con slammed his hand down on the counter and raised his
glass. "Remember the time Jonnie Timpo asked Ash on a date? She came home
and told Mom, so freaking excited about it. Dad overheard and paid me and Gus
fifty bucks a piece to scare the hell out of the kid before he could show up to
take her out."

"What?!" Ash cried. "He told me he had
Mono!"

Lucas looked away when she turned to him for confirmation.
He couldn't look her in the eye remembering that event
very
well. Ash
had just turned 16 and Jonnie Timpo was a twig and a pothead. Con and Gus had
come to him for ideas on how to get rid of the little twerp.

"Lucas?" she tried to get his attention, but he
kept looking around the kitchen trying to find an escape.

Gus started laughing like a hyena while Conall continued the
story.

"Oh, Ash. The plan would have never worked without
Lucas."

He moved to smack Conall, but the bastard was quick.

"We told the kid to leave you alone and never touch
you, but he expected that from us. He even expected the phone call from Dad
that he would cut his hands off if he even thought about touching you. Didn't
scare him at all, but Lucas…"

He tried to reach for him again, but Gus blocked him and Ash
tried to pull him back so she could hear the rest of the story. She was going
to be mad.

Conall continued, laughing now and swinging his arms to
block the punches coming his way. "Lucas here was the only one that could
get the job done."

"What did you say to him, Lucas?" Ash demanded.

He stopped trying to get to his so called 'friend' and
turned to face her.

"Yeah, Lucas? What
did
you say to him? You never
told us but it sure as fuck worked," Gus asked curiously.

"Do you
have
to swear like that all the time,
Gus Gus."

"Yes," he said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes again and damn if it wasn't
inconveniently turning him on more and more each time.

"Lucas?"

He sighed and glanced over at her brothers who were
anxiously waiting for his response.

"I, umm… I told him that…" he turned back to her
and her stormy grey eyes were boring into him and one of her eyebrows was
quirked as if she was daring him to lie to her. "I told him that the only
way he was going to take you on a date was if he could take me down. Said we
couldn't trust him to take you out if he couldn't protect you."

The boys raised their eyebrows, surprised it was so simple
and he thought it was over, but Ash wanted more.

"What did you do, Lucas?"

"I didn't do anything… he couldn't do it, so he
canceled the date."

"Yeah, but he didn't show up to school for three weeks!
That's why I believed that he had Mono."

"Oh, shit! That's right!" Fergus exclaimed.
"I remember seeing him at the homecoming game the next week, hiding out
behind the bleachers. He looked like he had been run over by a train."

"What?!" she yelled. She was getting angry and he
decided he needed to tell them all the truth.

"Hold on, baby, I'll tell you the whole story." He
raked a hand through his hair and tried not to panic. "He tried to take me
down and couldn't, but when I told him to cancel the date, he told me that if
your brothers couldn't stop him from getting in your pants, then I couldn't
either."

She gasped and her brothers stood straighter, not happy
about that little tidbit of information he never shared with them.

"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.

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.