Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) (20 page)

Lucas growled and stepped closer to Justin, ready to beat
his ass, but Banetti spoke up, "Ah ah ah, Shade."

Then Justin made his last mistake of the night and pointed
his gun at
me
. I ignored him and turned my eyes back to Lucas and kept
them there. He was here and that's all that mattered to me. A gun pointing at
my head held no importance, only Lucas did. He was here and he was trying to
save me, even if that meant giving up everything else.

Seeing that gun pointed my way must have made him snap
because he lunged at Justin and knocked the weapon out of his hand before
punching him in the nose and kicking his feet out from under him, sending him
sprawling to the ground at my feet. Before Lucas could jump on him, though,
Justin kicked him in the gut and stood quickly, pulling out another gun that
had been strapped to his ankle. His arm swung around and pointed the weapon
straight at my head. He was only a few feet away and I could almost smell the
recently cleaned scent of metal.

"I'll shoot her, I swear to God," he panted, blood
pouring out of his now broken nose. "You let me go or I'll shoot her in
the head and then what will you have?"

Lucas looked back at me, his blue eyes telling me that
everything would be alright.

"I love you," I whispered, ignoring the pain in my
lip and cheeks from speaking.

Lucas didn't smile, but his eyes softened and his hands
relaxed before he turned back to Justin. "Go ahead and leave, Rains. My
business isn't with you anyway. I'll catch you later, though," he said
with a smirk and I almost laughed out loud at his cheesy pun.

Justin didn't hesitate, he turned tail and ran through the
darkness, but a few seconds later there was a crash and a grunt and I knew now
why Lucas didn't have a gun in his hand. There were plenty of them all around
us.

He had brought back up and must have been buying some time
for them to get organized.

"Move that gun away from her or everyone in this room
will fill you full of holes. They want to bad enough. It would only take a
little push," Lucas said severely, using the man's own words.

Banetti grinned widely, the steady hand holding his weapon
dropping to his side. He chuckled as if he didn't quite grasp the fact that he
was now going to prison. "You are a clever one aren't you? Justin assured
me he hadn't been followed and I know for a fact that no one saw him after he
ditched his car."

"We have our ways."

"And my men?"

"Probably in a squad car by now. I'm surprised you only
brought two, and left them outside even. Not well trained either. It only took
me a few seconds to get them down. You're getting careless, Banetti."

"And my drugs?"

"Does it matter? You already know Brannock moved
them."

"Ah, I see. Too bad you won't get to thank him for his
last minute thinking."

"He already did thank me," a voice with a slight
Irish brogue said from behind me and my chest heaved. This wasn't happening.

I saw Lucas smile when he caught the recognition on my face
and I sobbed.

Dad!

"Yes, my beauty. It's me."

"Daddy! You're… you're alive?" I gasped as I felt
his hand touch my forearm and heard the click of the handcuffs before the
pressure on my wrists was gone. My shoulder screamed when I tried to bring my
arms forward, but it didn't matter. My dad was alive.

"Yes, I'm alive. I'm sorry for deceiving you, but it
had to be done. Don't move now until we get a look at that shoulder, okay
love?"

Tears were streaming down my face as he came around to face
me. He looked tired and the concern in his dark blue eyes was so familiar and
it nearly broke me. I wanted to throw myself into his arms and let him carry me
away to safety like he had so many times when I was a little girl. He smiled at
me and his eyes glistened with tears.

"I should have known," I choked out. "You are
too stubborn to leave me like that."

"Aye, my beauty. I am," his voice strained and he
cleared his throat to cover the emotion. He slowly helped me move my arms to my
sides then wrapped himself around me in a hug, holding my shaking body in his
arms.

"I'll not leave you until I give you away to the man
who will take care of you for the rest of your life. I had thought it would be
a long time before that happened since your brothers… well, you know. But I
guess it might not be too long after all," he whispered in my ear.

I hadn't been paying attention to anything else and I
realized that Banetti was now in handcuffs and being hauled away by Montgomery
and a few other officers. I looked around for Lucas, but didn't see him. The
room was still dark, but lights started to click on as my eyes roamed over the
many faces who had come to get me. Some were familiar and others looked like
they had just gotten out of the academy.

My brothers were close by and watching me and my dad with
sad grins on their faces. When they met my gaze, they tried to smile, but the
devastation broke through first. I must have looked awful and I turned my face
into my father's shoulder so they wouldn't have to look at me.

"I want to kill him. I trusted that man and he put his
hands on you and hurt you. I almost shot him the second I saw him."

"I'm okay, Daddy. I provoked a lot of it," I
sniffled.

He chuckled, "Yes, I heard that, Lucas, your brothers,
and I have been here for a little while. You should know better than that, but
I can't blame you for it. You're a Brannock, it's pretty much out of your
control at this point."

After a moment, he pulled back and started cutting through
the bindings on my ankles. My brothers were at my side and both helped to lift
me to my feet. My eyes darted over the faces again, looking for Lucas. My feet
twitched to run to him, but I couldn't find him.

"Let's get you to the ambulance, Ash. We need to take
care of this shoulder right away."

I nodded and started to take a step, but my legs were still
a bit numb and my energy was depleted. The physical strain my body had been
through had taken most of it, but the discovery that my father was still alive
nearly made me collapse in exhaustion.

I stumbled and my brothers caught me around the waist,
trying to avoid my injured shoulder. Before I could try again, strong arms
lifted me away from my brothers and cradled me against a familiar chest. His
scent swarmed me and I closed my eyes and soaked it in. This is where I belonged.

"I'll take her," Lucas muttered, his voice hoarse
and quiet with all the commotion going on around us.

My dad and brothers nodded, all showing their permission and
letting Lucas carry me away from them, but they didn't let him take me too far
before they jogged to catch up to us.

I rested my head on his shoulder and wished I could lift my
arm to touch his beautiful face. He was looking down at me, his light blue eyes
filled with concern.

"I'm so sorry, Ash."

I ignored the shooting pain running down my body and the
throbbing in my face and let the tears fall. "It's not your fault, Lucas.
I messed up."

He shook his head as he turned his body to maneuver us out
the open door. The flashing lights on the ambulance burned my tired eyes, but I
refused to close them.

"No, baby. I should have never left you alone."

"You didn't have a choice. You couldn't babysit me all
day, Lucas."

"I still should have -"

"Stop!" I demanded and he froze just before
reaching the back door of the ambulance. His eyes bore into mine, waiting and
searching for something he was desperate to find. "I don't blame you for
any
of this and neither should you. It's just something that happened. You did
everything in your power to prevent it, but it
needed
to happen or you
would have lost more good people in the future. It's over now. Please, just
don't torture yourself over it."

He nodded, but there was no relief in his expression and I
knew I would have to talk him down several more times before he accepted it. He
carried me over to an empty stretcher and sat me gently on top of it. I cradled
my arm against my body and winced at the pain.

Lucas lifted his hand and lightly cupped my swollen and
bruised jaw. "It hurts me to see you in so much pain," his eyes
hardening. "I wish I would have gotten here sooner, before that bastard
got the chance to…" He shook his head as his words trailed off then
dropped his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. "I love you,
Aislinn."

I didn't want to move away from him. I wanted to stay there
breathing the same air and feeling his touch until I withered away and died,
but someone beside us cleared his throat and we both turned.

My cousin Mark was standing there with his arms crossed over
his chest and an angry scowl on his face. "I hope you got a few in,
Ash."

I grinned and nodded. "Maybe not physically, but I
think I hurt his pride quite a bit. That's all that matters, right?"

He fought it, but the smile broke through and Mark chuckled,
"Not surprised in the least."

He started to clean my cuts and assess the damage that
Justin had done. "We'll need to get you to the hospital as soon as
possible. I'm sure your arm is going to need some major repair and…"

I stopped listening to him and just nodded as he continued
to talk. I watched my brothers and my father surround Lucas and all four of
them stared at me and listened to everything Mark had to say. They all looked
like they were about to renew their efforts to protect me and I had the feeling
I wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom without someone standing guard, but I
didn't care.

My dad was alive. Something I still hadn't quite believed,
but the more I looked at him, the more it sank in and the tears filled my eyes
all over again. I hadn't lost him.

My brothers were there with Lucas, all standing with their
arms crossed over their broad chests and dangerous expressions on their
handsome faces. Just like old times and I wasn't alone.

Lucas

It was taking everything he had not to walk over to the
squad car holding Justin Rains and throw his fist into the little shit's face
again. When he had first seen Ash sitting there tied to a damn metal beam,
unconscious and bruised, he nearly lost it. Conall and Fergus are the only
reason that bastard was still alive and the only reason they were able to
finally arrest Banetti.

Lucas had started to lunge forward when she had finally
lifted her head and he saw her eyes nearly swollen shut and blood dripping from
her lip. Her brothers were holding on by a thread, but they held him back and
they all waited.

The conversation was recorded and Banetti had given them
enough to put him behind bars, but they still needed more to keep him there.
That was something Lucas was looking forward to. Justin was going to give them
everything
or he would end up looking worse than Ash.

When Lucas had seen William Brannock standing in the middle
of his kitchen flanked by his two boys, he thought he was still sleeping next
to Ash and the whole day had just been one horrible nightmare. Then Liam
started to talk and he had gotten dizzy all over again.

The captain had been alive when the paramedics came in and
lucky for him, Mark had been the first one to see him. He had regained
consciousness for a minute while they were strapping him onto the stretcher and
he had told Mark to find a way to fake his death if he survived. Told him it
was the only way to keep Ash safe for a little longer.

Mark hadn't questioned the man and the other medics didn't
question Mark. They took him to the hospital under the pretense that he was in
critical condition and Mark had altered his chart so he would be treated under
a different name. The gunshot wound wasn't fatal, but he had lost a lot of
blood and was in the hospital for several days with nobody the wiser.

Well, except for his boys. Mark had called them immediately
and told them what was going on. They had already booked their flights before
Ash and Lucas even spoke with them the next morning. Ash was going to be
furious when she found out.

When Lucas asked him why he did it, his answer was simple.

"I needed them to think they had to start from square
one, buy us a little more time to find Rains. Plus, I knew you would do
everything in your power to protect my girl."

He understood why he did it. It was the same reason they had
staged his arrest. To get him out of the picture and make them focus on
something else.

The man had been busy since his fake death. He had already
figured out that Lucas was being set up from the very beginning. The log book
down in evidence was his first clue and he connected everything else shortly
after. With a leak in the department, he knew that the drugs they had
confiscated were going to be taken if he didn't act soon, so he had moved them.
The drugs had never left the building, but they had been hidden well. He had
called his superiors while he was in the hospital and told them what was going
on. They had arranged everything from the funeral to the ruse of a new captain.

The trackers had been Liam's last attempt to make sure
things were in order, but they had gotten to him before he could get one on
every badge.

"It was pure luck that I had gotten it on Justin's and
I had just put it on Ash's locket when they showed up. That's why I was in her
room," he explained to Lucas.

That's when Gibbs had finally called again and told him that
Ash's tracker had stopped by the port and they were in an empty warehouse. He
had already called for backup and Lucas, Conall, Fergus, and Liam were in the
car in the next minute, each of them loaded up and ready for a firefight. Liam
didn't think it would come to that, but Lucas wasn't going to take that chance.

When they had finally arrived and saw Justin and Banetti
talking, with Ash unconscious beside them, Lucas had felt the first sign of
relief. It would be over quickly. They just needed to buy a little more time
for back up to arrive so they could take Banetti down without incident.

He remembered the happiness in Ash's eyes when she saw him
as he stepped out of the shadows. He had felt like a God when she had looked at
him with so much love and he had to keep telling his body to stay where he was
and not take her in his arms. Then, when she had heard her father's voice…
Lucas would never forget the look on her face.

He had wanted to go to her as soon as it was over, but she
needed to reunite with her father and Lucas had stepped away and gone straight
to Justin. The officers holding him knew exactly what was coming and both of
them turned their heads when Lucas swung a right hook into the bastards jaw and
another swift punch to his stomach.

None of his fellow officers would admit to seeing it. Justin
had betrayed them all.

Mark had just finished up his assessment and was loading her
into the ambulance to take her to the hospital when Liam clasped his shoulder.
"Go with her, son."

Lucas looked at him with surprise, "Don't you think she
would prefer it if you -"

The man shook his head adamantly and chuckled. "Are you
kidding me? I'm not ready for the verbal beating I'm going to get for
pretending to be dead. Especially when it actually sinks in that we all lied to
her. Plus, she needs
you
right now."

Lucas nodded and Liam slapped him on the back and shoved him
towards the open doors. "We'll meet you there."

He held Ash's hand the whole way to the hospital as she laid
on the stretcher with her eyes closed. She wasn't sleeping, but she said it
hurt too much to do anything else and he felt angry all over again.

When they got to the hospital, she was rolled away while he
tried to fill out as much information as he could before her family arrived.
They wouldn't let him go back at first, but when Liam showed up and flashed his
badge, the nurses didn't have a choice.

Ash was scheduled for surgery early the next morning so she
was waiting anxiously when he had stepped into the room.

"Did you know?" she asked, her scowl not so scary
with the bandages plastered all over her face.

"Know what?"

"About my dad. Did you know he was still alive?"

He shook his head and dragged the only chair in the room
next to the bed. "I had no clue. We went to the house right after we figured
out you had been taken and he was there."

"Did my brother's know?" she asked quickly.

Lucas hesitated. He didn't want to throw them under the bus,
but he wasn't going to lie to her anymore. "Yeah, they did. They knew
before we even talked to them that next morning."

She huffed and started to ramble, "I'm going to kick
their asses. How dare they keep that from me? I was going crazy about it
thinking that I was being inconsiderate when I just wanted to be with
you
.
I had just lost my father and I kept feeling like everything was okay. Like it
was just all some big misunderstanding and that dad would pop out and say
'surprise!', but when that never happened…" She trailed off and laid her
head back against the pillows and sighed. "I guess I thought it would
truly hit me once this was all over."

"Same here. I wish they would have told
me
, but
I'm glad they didn't. I trusted Justin. I might have slipped it and then where
would we be?"

She clasped his hand and squeezed, "I'm sorry about
Justin."

He shrugged, but didn't say anything. He was still fuming
about it and knew it would take a while for him to get passed it.

"Are you going to stay with me?"

"Of course," he replied and covered her hand with
both of his. "They couldn't make me leave."

She smiled and closed her eyes, "I'm exhausted. I need
to rest up so I'll be pumped to tear into my family."

Lucas laughed, "Will you promise to let me watch?"

Her smile widened, "Wouldn't want you to miss it."

She fell asleep a minute later with her hand still clutching
his.

Lucas spent most of the night in the chair next to her bed
while she slept restlessly. The pain medication had made her loopy, but sleep
didn't stick as easily as they told her it would. She woke up several times in
the night calling his name and he didn't hesitate to move to her side.

It was four in the morning when she finally begged him to
lie down next to her and hold her. He did his best to avoid the cords and IV
line and stretched out beside her. The nurses would probably yell at him for
it, but he didn't care. She was his to take care of and he'd be damned if
anyone tried to stop him.

She finally got a few more hours in before they took her
into surgery that morning. He waited with her brothers and father. They all
looked about as good as he did. Their eyes were bloodshot and they all looked
worn out. None of them had slept much since they didn't leave the hospital all
night and only left the waiting area to get something to eat or to grab some
coffee.

"Is she really mad?" Gus asked after a long stretch
of silence.

Lucas grinned, but kept his head down. "She wasn't too
mad, just a little confused, I guess. She said she was going to wait and see
how she feels later before she tears you all new assholes."

"Shit," Conall muttered under his breath.

They all looked a little nervous and it had nothing to do
with her surgery.

"How long before she is able to swing a punch?"
Gus asked.

Lucas shrugged, "Probably a while, but her legs are in
perfect condition. I would steer clear of her for a while."

"We didn't want to keep it from her, we just promised
Dad we would," he whined.

"Hey, don't pin this all on me," Liam piped in.
"I did what I had to do and I think she understands that. You were the
ones who didn't even attempt to make her feel better about it."

"And what were we supposed to say, Dad? She was with
Lucas most of the time anyway."

Lucas cringed and started to stand so he could avoid this
conversation.

"What do you mean she was with him? Didn't she stay at
home with you guys?"

Conall nodded, eager to point his father's anger in a
different direction, "For a few nights, but then Lucas came and got her
and she stayed with
him
.
Alone
."

He had almost cleared their reach, but Gus stood and blocked
his path, the traitor. Lucas would have to make sure he got extra time with Ash
when she was better.

"Is this true, Lucas? Did she stay with you
alone?"

He turned back and looked the man in the eyes, "Yes,
sir. She did. She snuck out of the house and I caught her out back."

"She snuck out?! How the hell did she do that?"

Lucas felt his lips twitch, but fought the smile. He would
focus on that little slip up for a moment. The boys both groaned, knowing they
were going to be screwed.

"She was very stealthy, sir. I guess your boys are
losing their touch," he added and let the grin take over.

His boys started to speak, but Liam Brannock raised his hand
to stop them and they immediately shut their mouths. "We will talk about
your lack of attention to detail later, boys. I need to speak with Lucas
alone."

They didn't hesitate. Both of them scurried off like a
couple of frightened squirrels and left him alone with their father whose
expression didn't give anything away. Lucas wasn't sure if he was mad or just
disappointed, both of which made him anxious.

"She's not a little girl anymore, Lucas. I've accepted
that and I know you and her have been skirting around each other for years. You
are the only man who I could ever trust to take care of her." He glanced
up at Lucas and gave him a hard look. "If you hurt her…"

"I'm going to marry her. Sir."

He hadn't planned on say that, but when he did, it felt
right. It was the truth. He was going to marry Aislinn. He loved her and
nothing would ever change that and it was time he did right by her and pulled
his head out and stepped up.

Liam's face didn't look surprised by his words either. He
just stared back at Lucas, his dark blue eyes twinkling, and then pulled him in
for a hug. "Good. That will make her happy," he croaked.

Before Lucas could say anything else, the man turned away
and wiped at his face. "I'm, uh, going to go speak with the boys
then," he muttered and started to walk away. "I won't be too hard on
them. They'll need a reason to forgive you eventually and you'll need to be on
their good side if you plan on marrying their baby sister."

Lucas shrugged, "I'm still prepared for the ass kicking
I know they want to give me."

Liam chuckled and exited through the same door his sons had
a few minutes ago.

He would wait until Ash was sleeping later before he could
get away to buy her a ring. He knew exactly what to get her and he just hoped
to God she was ready to say yes.

***

Ash

It was two days after my surgery when I was finally able to
go home. I had a feeling that Dad talked the doctor into keeping me a day
longer so he could avoid my wrath. Smart man. I hadn't felt any better about it
after my surgery and the pain that still lingered even after taking the pain
medication didn't help with my frustration. I understood why they had lied to
me, I could even admit that I was impressed. Didn't mean I couldn't be upset
for a little while longer.

My brothers both hung around the hospital most of the day,
but would leave early in the evening and do only God knows what. They made my
hospital stay entertaining if nothing else. Dad usually showed up early, before
I even woke up, and left in the early afternoon to go to the station. He was
getting things cleared up for retirement which I couldn't be happier about. He
had been at the job long enough and it was time he had some time to himself. He
usually came back to the hospital around dinner time and stayed for a couple of
hours, chatting with Lucas about work and before long, holding me while I cried
in his arms because I had missed him so badly. We didn't talk during those
crying sessions, but I think he understood.