Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) (11 page)

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 wouldn'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.

He quickly covered his crotch with his hands and shook his
head. "No thank you. I'll keep my mouth shut."

Conall laughed loudly and Lucas snorted, "Yeah, uh
huh."

I walked into the kitchen just as Lucas bit into a granola
bar and bent down to tie his shoes.

"Do you not have time for breakfast?" I asked.

He shook his head and stood. "No, I gotta get going.
But you all help yourself to whatever you want." He grabbed my hand and
pulled me with him to the front door. He strapped on his shoulder harness,
clipped on his badge, and positioned his gun after checking it.

Same routine as Dad. Probably the same as all the other
detectives, too, but it reminded me of my father and I felt a lump form in my
throat.

Lucas wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against
his chest. I circled my arms around his neck and nuzzled my face into his
jacket. He smelled wonderful and it comforted me easily.

"I know you are already aware of this, but don't go to
your Dad's unless me or one of your brothers are with you, okay?"

I nodded, "I won't be going anywhere during the day at
all anyway. I'll let them take care of that stuff."

"Good. We can go running tonight if you would like.
Breathe some fresh air."

I pulled away and looked up into his bright blue eyes.
"Okay. It would be nice to get out tonight. I feel like I'm dragging a
bit."

He cupped my chin in his hand and moved his thumb over my
bottom lip that was still a little swollen from his kiss. "You have every
right to feel that way. You've been through a lot."

I didn't want to start crying so I took a cleansing breath and
closed my eyes, trying to focus on what needed to be done. Dad wouldn't have
wanted us to be depressed, he would have wanted us to appreciate life more and
live it.

I felt Lucas' lips brush against mine and opened my eyes. He
kissed me again, harder this time and licked my bottom lip before releasing me
and stepping back.

"I love you, Ash," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Lucas."

He moved me to the side so I wouldn't be visible and opened
the front door, shouting goodbyes to my brothers, then he was gone.

"You ready, little sis?" Fergus asked me from the
kitchen door.

I nodded and folded my arms across my stomach, holding the
pain inside.

He spread his arms open for me and I didn't hesitate to walk
right into them.

"It will all be alright, Ash. I promise."

They were the same words my father said to me and they made
me feel just as calm as they had that night.

***

The next two days went by in a blur of phone calls and
planning. My father's superiors helped take care of quite a bit of the
arrangements, but I wasn't given any of the details. Conall and Fergus told me
that it was simple enough that I didn't have to worry about it.

Which pissed me off a little, but I decided to pick my
battles.

When our cousin Mark told us it would be best to do a closed
casket, I flipped out a little bit. I still hadn't even seen my father's body
and no one was going to let me, but the last time I saw him didn't make me feel
like he needed a closed casket.

"I don't understand! We need
some
kind of
closure! Why are you guys fighting me so hard on this?" I yelled at my
brothers.

"Don't worry, kid," Conall said calmly. "It
will all be alright."

"Stop saying that!" I shouted back and stormed off
into Lucas' bedroom where I stayed the rest of the day.

We had been arguing for most of the day, all of us stressed
about the funeral the next morning. It was hard to be forgiving when all you
wanted to do was find and torture the people who shot Dad. My brothers kept
muttering quietly to each other then stopped whenever I walked into the room.
They were keeping something from me but I didn't give them the satisfaction of
letting them know how curious I actually was.

It was when Fergus told me what Mark had said that I
completely lost it. Accused them of shutting me out of one of the last things I
could do for my dad. I felt like the privilege had been taken away from me.

Lucas had come home and found me on his bed, crying my eyes
out. He laid next to me, holding me in his arms for I don't know how long
before convincing me to come out and eat some dinner with the rest of them. He
promised to make my brothers stay at my father's for the night so I could take
a break from them.

I loved them to death, but they always treated me like a
child. Like I couldn't handle life and everything that came with it and I
resented them for it. My whole life was spent letting them hold me back. Mom
would have chewed them out for it, but she wasn't around to do anything about
it anymore… and neither was Dad.

It was later that night and, like he promised, Lucas told my
brothers I needed a night to myself. They argued for a moment, but something
Lucas told them convinced them to give me some time. I didn't hear most of the
conversation, but the little bit that I caught at the end made me wonder if
they were planning something dangerous. Something stupid.

That's when I realized they weren't going to let me help.
And why should they? I had no experience with any of this stuff. The only thing
I was good for was being the upper hand.

Every conversation I started about helping them ended with
it being too risky for me. I was the only reason they had an upper hand in the
case at all. I heard the men that came into my house that night and they were
convinced that could be useful. So I was the upper hand for both sides. The bad
guys just didn't know it yet, or so we hoped.

My brothers were just about to walk out the door when Conall
turned and asked Lucas about a couple other detectives at the station.

"Have they been giving you anymore problems?"

Lucas shrugged, "Same as the last two days."

I stepped into their little circle and faced Lucas head on,
curious to find out what they were talking about. He hadn't really told me much
of anything. "What problems?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, tugging on it
before bringing it back to his side. A sign that something wasn't right.
"Gibbs and Montgomery want me off the Banetti case. They keep telling me
I'm compromised because of how close I was to your dad."

"What? That doesn't make any sense," I replied,
shocked that
anyone
would want Lucas Shade off of a case. He was the
best they had.

"Yeah, well, the night your father died, they showed up
at the scene and tried to strong arm their way onto the case. I thought it was
because they were just as mad about what happened to the captain as I was, but
they have been following me around, asking me all kinds of questions about
where I was that night and the nights before."

"You were with
me
."

"They don't know that, Ash."

Everything clicked then. These guys thought that Lucas had
something to do with my father's murder which would mean they thought he had
something to do with the leak. He wasn't going to give them an alibi because
that would mean telling them I had been around.

"I don't understand why they wouldn't trust you,"
I said slowly.

"Same reason I don't trust
them
. I figure, the
more they try to get me off the case, the more suspicious they become to me.
They keep telling me there's too much evidence against me, but they haven't
said much more. Gibbs has had it out for me ever since I took on Banetti and
would do whatever it took to push me off of it, but my partner, Justin Rains,
will back me up if it comes to that."

I was silent for the next few minutes as he and my brothers
finished up their goodbyes and what the plan was for the next day during the
funeral. The story they wanted to follow was simple.

They had arrived two days ago, I arrived tonight. I was
going to be flying out the day after the funeral, back to Ohio. It made me look
ignorant and bratty, not caring enough to show up early and stay later, but the
boys were convinced it wouldn't matter. There wasn't supposed to be anything
for me to stay for.

I decided to play devil's advocate and ask what the plan was
for the flight out. If someone was curious enough about me, they would want the
details. That's when they had gone online and purchased a plane ticket to Ohio
for the date they wanted.

A little extreme to me, but whatever. My opinion obviously
wasn't going to work out for them.

Lucas was wary about who was going to approach me at the
funeral and demanded that I not leave my brothers' sides for anything unless it
was to be at
his
side.

Something didn't feel right. The fact that I had to be so
suspicious when I should be honoring my father made me cagey. I didn't want to
be guarded to anyone who crossed my path, but it was what Lucas had asked of
me.

"Trust who I trust, who your brother's trust. It's the
safest way," he argued.

"Okay, then."

"Okay?" he had repeated cautiously. Conall and
Fergus looked a little wary of my response, too. They weren't used to me being
so acquiescent.

"Yes, Lucas. I trust
you
. I trust my brothers.
I'll get over it. I'm not happy about it, but what else am I going to do,
right? I've had lots of practice throughout my life obeying the demands of my
brothers, my father, even you. What's so different about it this time?" I
gave each of my brothers a hug as I said it and I meant it the way it came out,
sarcastic and bitter, but I planned on doing exactly what I had said I would.
Then, I made my way back into the kitchen and finished cleaning up.

"We aren't doing this to lock you up, Ash," Lucas
said from the doorway. He was propped against the door frame with his hands in
his pockets, watching me move from the table to the sink, rinsing off all the
dishes from dinner.

I didn't respond and not because I was being a woman about
it, but because I didn't want to say anything I would regret.

"We just want to keep you safe.
I
want to keep
you safe. If anything happened to you…"

I sighed and turned off the faucet, "I know. I'm just
not myself right now."

"You need to get out. Tomorrow will be good for you in
more ways than one. You'll get the closure you need, you'll get to say goodbye.
You'll get some fresh air."

I nodded but didn't turn to face him and I felt his eyes on
the back of my head.

"I know it sounds morbid, but since we aren't going to
have anyone over afterwards, we can take you out to do something fun."

"Remind me again why we aren't doing the social thing
afterwards."