Daddies Brat

Grey and Drake are there too. Their expressions calm and patient. Neither is wearing a shirt and their belt buckles are loose. I can’t help but let my eyes wander over their refined abs, the way their hips dip with that sexy V that has almost every woman wanting to follow the treasure trail.

And that’s when I see it. The scar left by the bullet.

Grey holds a hand out and I take it, loving how easily I slide into his arms.

“Sleep, well, baby?”

I nod, my hand coming up to settle over the scar. I press my palm down and shake away the tears. I turn my focus back to his question to help keep me from looking like a baby about to cry. “But I missed you when I woke.”

I hold a hand out for Drake and Sylan to come to me and they silently obey me.

Grey takes my hand away and presses a kiss to my palm. “What’s on your mind, beautiful” Sylan brushes my hair to the side.

So much for shaking off the past. I spill all my doubts and worries, everything I’ve kept pent up inside in one, huge word vomit.

“You all bleed for me.” I touch Grey’s scar first and then move to the one running the length of Drake’s cheek. Sylan’s knuckles held signs of gashes. “You fought off Marcus to protect me. Sylan, you literally beat them back while Drake took a knife to the face. Grey, you nearly paid with your life.”

Worry crosses their faces and I hold a hand up. “Let me finish. You bleed for me. No one has ever done something so selfless for me before.”

“You’ve come to mean the world to us. We would bleed if it protected you. Give every last drop of our blood.”

“And it seems we’ve touched your heart, too.”

Sylan passes the pad of his finger over three small letters I had tattooed in white ink over my heart.

“I did it the night after I left. I needed to make sure I never forgot the men who risked so much for a nobody.”

Grey pulls me to him, his body a glove around mine. A shield of protection I didn’t know I needed or wanted until this second.

“Fuck, baby, don’t cry. I can’t take tears, especially yours.”

I lean my head back to stare up at him. “They are happy tears. Until now I didn’t know where I fit in this world, if at all. You’ve given me a place and I’m not talking about four walls.”

The three men grin down at me all wearing roguish grins and I give them one back.

“Go, take your shower. Sylan and I’ll be right here when you get out.”

I shoo Grey and Drake toward the bathroom before the real waterworks threaten to kick in.

Sylan turns me toward the bed. “What’s this?” I ask, inhaling the smell of fresh fruit.

He doesn’t answer, only holds out a hand for me to join him, and I follow his silent command willingly. I slip my smaller hand into his larger one and sigh the second my skin glides over his.

He pulls on a pair of black dress slacks with the button open. Sexy as hell.

I settle in his lap and shimmy a little until I’m comfortable. “After all I put you through, it’s about time I feed you, mo chroi.”

The tray balanced on the edge of the bed beside us is topped off with all my favorite fruits.

“Open.” Sylan dips a fat strawberry in fluffy, deliciously sweet whipped cream, and I moan the second it hits my tongue. My second weakness, so it seems.

“Why are you back in your uniform? I thought I told you that you will no longer be going back to work at Sally’s.” He presses another strawberry to my lips.

“About that. I need to go home. I’m wearing this because I don’t exactly have anything else. And if I’m going to be here instead of there, I need more than my birthday suit to wear. I don’t think any of the men you have around here will appreciate seeing the bosses’ girl running around naked.” I blink up at him and witness his expression turn from day to night.

“I would kill them for daring to look.” He exhales. “I would hate to have to kill some of them, though.”

“Yeah, that would be a shame, Sy. Geez.” I slap at him playfully.

“You have a big family? Grey and Drake?”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

He nods, slipping a blueberry between my lips. I haven’t had such decadent food in so long and my taste buds are happy. Very happy.

“Blood brothers and over a dozen men who are considered part of our inner circle. We keep it small.”

“No sisters? I always wanted to have a sister to share girl talk with. Silly, I know, but you know.”

He seems to mull over my words before speaking. He’s quiet for several beats and when I think he has nothing else to add, his next words break my heart. “I had a sister. She was stubborn and wanted to grow up long before her time. She died because of that stubbornness.”

“I’m so sorry. That must have been very hard on your entire family.”

He pauses while dipping a piece of cantaloupe this time and holds my gaze. “That was the last catapult I needed to push me into the life I live now. I was weak then and couldn’t protect her. I’m not weak any longer, Katriona.”

He rubs small circles on my lower back as he speaks.

“Is that why you’re helping me? Because you couldn’t help your sister?”

He doesn’t answer, only continues to feed me in silence, and when I’ve finished one dish and he starts on another. I throw my hands up. “Stop.” I laugh, trying my best to lighten the mood a bit. I hate the dark somberness that has settled over us and want to get back on happier ground.

“Oh my goodness, Sy, you’re killing me. If I eat another I’m going to turn into a walking fruit basket, I swear.”

“Just trying to build up your strength for what we have planned for this evening.”

“Oh?” I ask, my brows doing a quick climb in surprise. “What have you had the time to plan?”

He takes my chin in his hand and devours my lips with his in a kiss so claiming I feel it soul deep.

Leaning in, he presses his forehead against mine. “You’re in danger of never leaving this room. Don’t tempt me to tie you to this bed.”

I almost fall for that devilish glint in his eye. “We do that and I know I’ll end up pregnant, and another day with you three between my legs and I won’t be able to walk.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing, mo chroi. As for the latter, well, I’d carry you to the ends of the world.”

I look at him, all humor aside, and I know he’s telling the truth. He leans in and takes my lips with his. A soft brush and then something a little deeper that speaks volumes more than anything either of us could say.

“This feels right.” The words don’t do the stirring emotions in me justice. I take his face between my palms and look him in the eye. “I want you to know that.”

His gaze is dark and intent. “Forget about leaving here. Let’s stay. I’ll buy you all new stuff. You don’t need anything from your old life. I’ll give you everything you want and more.” He nuzzles me close and rubs the tip of his nose against mine.

I wish I had known my life would someday be brightened by men who want me so much that they’ll do anything to keep me safe.

“It’s not that simple, Sy. I owe people an explanation of where I am and I can’t just not return for my things. Sally depends on me. I can’t let her down. I either need to cover until someone can fill in for me, or at least tell her I’m okay. I don’t have much, but what I have is worth something to me, and I have possessions that money can’t buy. Things my mother gave me. Plus clothes that are not an ugly yellow or polyester.” I give a pointed look at my current state of clothing.

“Drake, Grey, and two of my enforcers will accompany you. You have one hour before I want you back safe in my arms. Or I’ll come looking.”

I know he means well, so I don’t call him out on his high-handedness. I draw in a shaky breath unsure of the answer to my next question but needing it all the same. “Why are you doing all this for me?”

He wraps his arms around me and locks me in his embrace. He nods his head as if telling himself it’s okay to share a deep part of him. I feel like I am about to be shown a hidden side of Sylan he doesn’t share with many and I give him all of my attention.

“When your father walked through our doors needing money, believe it or not I felt a change coming. We all did. It had been building for a while and I was growing restless more so than Grey and Drake. In less than twenty-four hours after signing with your father, we made a plan to get you to work for us so we could keep you close. Months of watching you did something to us. We fell in love with a woman who didn’t know we existed. Then when you left we had men trailing your every move. You were not so good at covering your trail so they did it for you at our behest. Why do you think the shitty landlord of yours never kicked you out no matter how late you were with rent? It tore me up inside not to swoop in and take you back, but we had to wait. Bide our time until your father couldn’t hurt you anymore. Only it was his righthand man who we should have been watching. Each of us took turns sitting outside your apartment building making sure no one bothered you. Sally didn’t send those boxes of food from her diner.”

As he speaks, Sylan’s gaze drifts off to the corner of the room, his gaze glassy and distant before turning back to me with laser focus.

“It was you,” I whisper, eyes wide. I can’t determine if I was in awe of his kindness or of Sally’s ability to lie to my face when I asked her and then hugged her tight.

“We’ve put enough evil men in the ground to know an angel when we meet one. The men and I did what we could. It took incredible strength not to put a bullet in your father’s head for what he did to you and your mother. Every night I spent in my car I crafted ways to put him six feet under, and then I would see your shadow move in the window and my soul would calm, and I would be at peace for another little while.”

I’m having a hard time taking in what he’s telling me. “Did you kill my father? You can tell me the truth. I won’t be mad.”

“No. But don’t for a minute think we didn’t want to. When I speak, you will only get the truth. Do you understand?”

His eyes are on me and he gauges my reaction to his words. “And Sally? She was never my friend?”

“She was. Is. She looked out for you because I asked her to. Our associates are far and wide, but that’s where my influence ended. Everything else you have with her is genuine. You have my word.”

I nod but don’t really understand the whole picture.

“This is all so much. First Nikki and now Sally.”

“You have to understand, we have nothing less than respect for you. And love.”

My eyes widen and so does my heart.

“Love?” I ask in a hushed whisper, afraid I didn’t hear him right.

“Love, mo chroi. I’ve never said that word outside my family. You’re my first. You belong to us entirely, and no one will take you from us.”

It’s crazy but I love him too. Him, Grey and Drake. My heart hurts right along with his, and I’m honored he’s opened up to me.

“Now you know something about me. You don’t have to say anything. Not until you’re sure.”

I nod, and he presses his lips to my forehead. “My father was a good man. But he couldn’t save my sister who was hell-bent on doing things her way. She fell in with a bad crowd out of high school and she died on the streets a junkie and prostitute for the likes of men like Marcus. And your father. When you get to know our business, you’ll see I don’t tolerate that shit and why I will never work with a man like him.”

Disgust coats his words and he stands, taking me with him, and gently places me on my feet.

Everything about his demeanor says he doesn’t like the idea of me stepping outside his walls but I can tell he doesn’t want to scare me off by controlling my moves either. I don’t for a minute believe he would stand in my way if I were to walk out those doors. It’s a delicate balance, I know, and I don’t like this any more than he does. But I won’t live in fear either.

I rise to the tips of my toes and place a small kiss on his cheek. Light stubble has grown in, and I’m momentarily distracted by the urge to find out what that kind of friction would feel like between my legs.

“I can hear your thoughts without you saying a word. Later, I promise.”

“You really are the devil, my Irish mobster. I’ll be back before you realize I’m gone.”

“Doubtful.”

“Oh?”

He takes me in his arms. “Yes. Because where you go, I go.” He turns to the bathroom, raising his voice. “Grey, Drake, hurry the fuck up already.”

Turning back to me he says, “I’ve changed my mind. Now let’s go get what you can’t live without so we can get back here and part those pillowy soft lips of yours with my already aching cock.”

A thrill runs through me. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”