Brother's Keeper II_Liam

by Stephanie St. Klaire

“Okay? So, she went a little sassy and gave you attitude?” Declan, the oldest of the clan questioned.

  “Worse,” Liam fired back with a shake of his head.

  Luke, Liam’s twin brother, who was also his polar opposite, turned red in the face. “Boys? It’s boys, isn’t it? I told you school was a bad idea. There’s boys all over that place.”

  “School isn’t an option, Luke. He can’t not let her go. Besides, she’s already smarter than all of us. Thank God she only got her dad’s smarts and not his ugly mug,” Wylie teased.

  “Yeah, she looks like Carigan. Acts like her too, especially the Ragin’ part,” Dace added with a laugh, referring to their sister Carigan, who lived in McKenzie Ridge. Reagan was the spitting image of her aunt Cari.

  Liam crossed his arms and leaned into the table, propping himself on his elbows while he stared off. “She has her ma’s heart though. Everything good about her is her ma.”

  A somber moment of silence filled the space as they each took a moment and remembered Cassidy. She had been like a sister to all of them, each of them deeply wounded by her loss. All eyes skirted to Liam, who took it worst of all and still struggled daily with her absence. He was given a lot of grace over the years, his brothers picking up the pieces, time and time again, for him.

  “Rage,” Liam said, “she’s not a little one anymore. She uh…you know. Had a…girl issue tonight.”

  “Girl issue? What, like her nail broke?” Declan asked.

  “No, like…growing up girl stuff.” Liam reeled his hand in front of him as if that would lead them to what he was eluding to.

  Wylie shook his head and furrowed his brow, tilting his chair to balance on the rear legs with his arms crossed. “Growing up? I don’t follow…”

  Each of the brothers sat scratching their heads, trying to figure out what he could possibly be talking about and not saying.

  “Like…shaving her legs or something? Girls do that,” Declan chided.

  “I-I don’t know if she does that. Do you think she does? Is she old enough?” Liam hadn’t even thought of that. Why would he. There were some things that he just didn’t need to know and that he was certain Felicity took care of.

  “Are we seriously talking about this?” Luke chimed in. “One of you is about to pop an ovary from thinking too hard over this. Just spit it out, Liam. Jesus!”

  “She started her period!” Liam said, louder than he intended.

  “Oh man,” Wylie said, nodding behind Liam where Colleen O’Reilly stood after serving a round of dark brews, eyes wide with giddiness dancing in her expression.

  “Shit. She’s going to want to talk about it. Look away, and maybe she won’t come over here,” Liam said, ducking his head.

  Because Colleen was…Colleen, she did just as expected and practically leaped over tables of people to get to her boys.

  Clapping her hands with joy, Colleen asked in what was a failed attempt at whispering, “Did I just hear you say…”

  “Yes, Ma. You heard me right, and we aren’t talking about this because…it’s weird!” Liam scolded.

  “Well, boyo,” Colleen said with Irish flare and her hands firmly placed on her hips, “you’ll be watchin’ how ya speak to me. There’s nothin’ weird about it. She’s a young lady now. We’ll see what your Da has to say ‘bout it.”

  “Sorry, Ma. You’re right. I’m sure Da would like to discuss this with you. He likes to keep tabs and all,” Liam replied.

  Colleen huffed her way to the kitchen where her husband, Magnus, was and filled him in. It wasn’t their best idea because like them, Magnus wasn’t likely to discuss Reagan’s news. It was probably the last thing he wanted to know too, but he worshipped the ground his wife walked on and would let her have her say. When he sent a threatening look to their table through the kitchen pass-through window while Colleen’s head bobbed as fast as her arms flailed, they couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Nice save, bro. You know Da gets even, right?” Declan laughed. “So, the face. Spill.”

  Liam ran his hands through his hair, creating a disheveled look that wasn’t common for him, “Felicity.”

  “I knew it!” Wylie clapped his hands in satisfaction as he leaned forward, no longer tilting backward on the chair’s hind legs. “What did it finally take? Were you just a little too asshole for her? She finally got tired of you looking right through her all the time?”

  Dace tossed his beer back, enjoying a long pull, his satisfied grin rimming the bottle. “He won’t be looking through her now. He won’t see her at all with that swollen eye.”

  “She’s about due for a raise. I say we owe her for this,” Declan teased.

  Luke found less humor in the battered appearance left by Felicity. Felicity all but skipped everywhere and tossed glitter along the way. He couldn’t recall a single curse word leaving her mouth. Sure, she was a no nonsense tough girl when her job required it, but even then, she smiled doing it and probably had a deep desire to apologize when she was done handing someone a well-deserved ass kicking. Considering the condition of Liam’s face, and apparently his ribs, given the wince he had just displayed when he leaned back, Felicity’s behavior was out of character.

  “You scared her,” Luke deadpanned.

  “I…well, I mean… How did you know?” Liam asked, wondering if Luke was exercising some sort of twin telepathy.

  “She wouldn’t hurt a fly – unless she was threatened or protecting someone who needed her protection,” Luke rebutted, thinking back to the most recent case she worked in the field.

  It had been under the radar. She hadn’t told the brothers she was there, but she came through and helped protect Declan and Lydia’s son, Jax, from a dangerous cartel leader out for revenge. Underneath her wool cardigans, ponytail, and dark framed glasses, lived a hardcore badass.

  “She’s been acting weird,” Liam confessed.

  “Or you’re acting weird. You’ve always been a little…weird,” Luke fired back.

  Liam rolled his eyes. “She’s been sneaking around and even sneaking out.”

  “How do you know she’s sneaking…unless you’re watching her?” Luke’s grin broadened, knowing he was making his twin uncomfortable.

  “I’m watching because it’s unusual behavior for her. She’s…hiding something,” Liam defended.

  “Hiding something? Like…maybe a guy?” Wylie ribbed.

  Liam shook his head, stretching his hands out in front of him in dramatic effect. “No. No, Felicity isn’t like that.”

  The brothers snickered. Everyone knew Felicity and Liam were like peas in a pod and perfect for each other – everyone except Liam.

  “Isn’t what? Into guys?”

  “Jesus, Dace. Of course, she is. She’s just not into any, right now.” Unable to get his point across and fed up with the smartass remarks, Liam was ready to leave the table.

  “Then? How did you end up getting your ass kicked by a girl half your size?” Luke was already bored with the conversation, and making Liam squirm was getting boring. It was time to get to the core of the problem because that’s exactly what they had…a hot-headed problem.

  “Look. I’ve been watching her. I know. I know…creepy. I’m a stalker. She already said all of that. She’s been planning to meet with someone – wandering into odd places and ducking in the shadows. Tonight, I followed her to the Foundry District…and not the good part.”

  That had the boys’ attention. The Foundry District was one of the oldest parts of town. It lined the old industrial waterfront on the north side of the city. It hosted a variety of brick buildings and warehouses, even the old docks and ship yard.

  Crime had been so bad in that area that the city dumped a shitload of money into revitalization, converting it to a new urban living community. Very Portland. Though much progress had been made, you still needed to stay on the right side of the street and out of the shadows at night because it was still a work in progress. Not a place for Felicity to wander at midnight.

>   “What the fuck. What was she doing down there alone?” Declan’s concern was evident in his tone as it was with the rest of the brothers as they all sat quiet and expressionless – they were in work mode.

  “No clue. I tailed her for several blocks, but I think she made me right away. She took me around the same block a couple times.”

  “Good girl,” Luke said with a pleased smile. “She remembered her training.”

  “Yeah, a little too good,” Liam added, pointing to his swollen face. “She dipped into an alley and disappeared on me, got me from behind and kicked my ass until she got too tired. She was pissed when she realized it was me.”

  “Who did she think you were, princess?” Dace laughed.

  “Fuck off. She wouldn’t tell me. She just left me there to deal with a bastard pissing on my car while she took off.”

  “Not so tough in the bad part of town, huh. Maybe City should have walked you to your car, bro,” Wylie teased.

  “Yeah, there goes that raise we were considering. What was she thinking, leaving your pussy unprotected over there?”

  “Seriously, Dace? You’re such an asshole,” Liam chided, tossing peanuts at his brother from the bucket on their table.

  “All right, all right.” Luke’s voice boomed, getting back to the subject at hand. “I agree that it’s fucking creepy that you watch her – just ask her out and get it over with – but you might be on to something. None of that sounds like City.”

  Declan nodded at Luke’s assessment. “We piss a lot of people off with what we do. She could be a target or something. We’re the only family City has now, and as much as I know she’d try to protect us, it’s our job to protect her. Let’s keep eyes on her.”

  “Agreed. Since Liam’s clandestine skills are lacking…” Sarcasm rolled off Luke’s words as he continued, “we’ll all take turns tailing her if she slips out again. Numb Nuts over here can watch her from his lair and play dispatch.”

  Liam flipped his brother off at both the insult and mention of the lair. The office the brothers ran Brother’s Keeper Security out of was known as the lair – Liam’s kingdom of cyber everything and where he spent most of his time.

  “Fine by me! You dick’s can play chase in the ghetto. I’d rather do other shit anyway.”

  “Like sit in your chair and watch her from all of your camera’s…we get it. Easier to yank your…”

  “Don’t fucking say it, Wylie.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Liam was on edge. He had been watching Felicity for days and was no closer to answers than he had been during their back-alley fray. Though they were all watching her, there wasn’t a single lead. Maybe she had help, or perhaps they were looking in all the wrong places, falling for the crumbs she wanted them to follow rather than those that lead to answers. She was smart – almost too smart. That’s why she worked for them, after all.

  He leaned back in his chair, arms stretched behind his head, as he recalled their encounter when he arrived home after drinks with his brothers a few nights before. Felicity had been waiting for him. Apparently, she was finally ready to discuss what happened that night in the alley. Instead, she chewed his ass.

  He went over the events of that night, her words telling him to back off – it was none of his business. Even her claim that there was nothing unusual going on – he was just finally noticing her. Oh no, he thought. He noticed her a long time ago. That was the problem.

  He was a widower. Noticing her was inappropriate professionally. It was also disrespectful to his wife’s memory. That’s what he told himself anyway. His watching her was nothing more than for security. Not only did he have a family to protect, but he had a business full of hot target clients to keep under the radar. Felicity wouldn’t betray his trust or that of his brothers, not willingly. But she might be swayed if she thought she was protecting them or even one of their clients.

  Her defensiveness was more out of character than the late-night escapades. Even after she stormed out of his apartment the night he followed her, she didn’t go home. She took the elevator to the lair. He watched her from his home office – until she blacked out the cameras and proceeded to put up firewalls around whatever she was doing online. More firewalls than one would expect. The kind that are booby trapped with cyber weapons like viruses that even he had trouble skating around.

  He knew Felicity was good. Hell, that’s why she worked for them. But she was too good in the one place she didn’t have to worry about safety, personal or cyber in nature. Watermark was one of the safest buildings there was – they made the Pentagon look like amateurs – until Liam established a contract with the government, anyway.

  Her questions were full of deflection and evasiveness. When he asked why she was sneaking around in dangerous neighborhoods, she asked why he was following her. When he questioned her late-night rendezvous, she asked why he cared. Then he asked her why she was answering questions with questions. She asked why he had so many questions. Then she called him a stalker. Red flags all over the fucking place.

  There was only one reason she would go to such lengths. Despite what she said, she was hiding something, or someone. That had already been established though. The who and why of it all had not. When he finally got past all of the obstacles she left him to hack through the night he confronted her, she was gone. There was nothing there to see or trace of where she’d been online. She’d even abandoned the lair and gone back to her apartment on his floor without him noticing.

  If he couldn’t detect or see her, who else was sliding by, he wondered? Or, had that just been her way of flipping him the bird, hacker style. Showing him just what she was capable of that he only gets to see what she lets him see.

  “Do you still want Dick, Liam?”

  Liam was quickly pulled from his thoughts by Declan’s jolting question. It was then that he realized his eyes had been fixed on Felicity for who knew how long. She sat at the other end of the long row of pushed together tables at the O’Reilly’s Pub. The Pub closed early on Sunday. It was tradition. If you were referred to as anyone who closely resembled family, your presence was expected. Nobody dared to cross the family matriarch. It was safer to dance with the devil himself than miss one of Colleen O’Reilly’s Sunday dinners.

  This was one time he wished he had actually been listening to his brother’s bullshit because he didn’t know how to answer his brother. Yet again, Felicity was flooding his mind and taking up his time for all the wrong reasons. Now Liam hoped like hell there was more to the question than whether or not he wanted Dick, and that the Dick, Declan was referring to, was indeed his dog.

  “Wh-what?” he stammered as he sat straighter, finally pulling his view to Declan.

  Declan traced where Liam’s gaze had fallen and grinned when his landed-on Felicity.

  Mischief dancing in his eyes, Declan turned to Liam with raised brows but was quickly diffused by the don’t you fucking dare look Liam tossed back his way.

  “I was saying… I’m heading out with Ronan and Ryker tomorrow to help Landry with his case. Lydia won’t be back from Florida with Eva for another week, maybe two. You still able to take Dick for me?”

  Ronan and Ryker were O’Reillys, cousins from Deception Pass, Washington. While the brothers worked in high end security, the cousins were elite bounty hunters. They didn’t chase bond jumpers who missed a court date over something like possessions charges or even theft. They went after the world’s most dangerous and menacing criminals for anyone who could afford the fee. They, along with their sister Sheridan, often helped out with Brother’s Keeper Security business and vice versa since their clientele tended to overlap.

  This bounty was an under the radar government contract for Carter Landry, U.S. Attorney. He prosecuted special cases that required a little more grit and discretion. He often called on the O’Reilly clan. They were not only amongst the most skilled, but he trusted them. In their lines of work, trust was gold. They had all served together at some point in their careers
– they were like family.

  “Oh, yeah. Reagan is excited to have him, actually,” Liam said with a nod. “Me, not so much. I hope he’s had some training since last time.”

  Dick was Declan’s dog. He was big and ugly as sin, but the kids and all the ladies loved him. Though he was a mutt, he had to have Great Dane or something of that size in him because his size alone nearly classified him as a horse. Dick wasn’t all that bright, but he was protective to a fault and had incredible instincts, when it suited him. When he misbehaved in public, his name caught attention. Yelling Dick in a park earned a person a lot of side eye. An unfortunate name for an unfortunate looking beast that everyone loved.

  “He’s had training…it just doesn’t stick. His listening is selective, only listens to kids and most women.” Declan tossed his hands in the air with a shrug. “You’ll probably need City.”

  “Felicity,” Liam fired back, arms crossed.

  Declan’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Excuse me?”

  “Felicity. Her name is Felicity,” Liam said matter-of-factly, his gaze burning into Felicity.

  “Talking about me down there, Liam?”

  “Not really. Just telling Dec your name is Felicity, not City.” Liam shrugged.

  Rolling her eyes, Felicity sighed as the rest of the brothers snickered. “Are we really back to that?”

  “Back to what?” Liam asked, pointedly.

  “Dude, you’re the only one who doesn’t call her City. It was your kid who started the nickname forever ago,” Wylie defended, confused by his brother’s behavior.

  “It’s okay, Wylie. He’s just being…Liam. Boring and…” Felicity wanted to say bitter but thought better of it. It was true, but it would be inappropriate to take a low jab of that nature at the family dinner table.

  Dace elbowed Wylie and said in a not so silent whisper, “Back away – lover’s quarrel.”

  With a sharp turn of his head, Liam’s attention landed on his mouthy brother. “Screw you, Dace.”

  “Hey now. Not at my table, boyo,” Colleen sharply scolded when she returned to the table with dessert. “You know better than to bring that mouth to dinner, Liam. You’ll be apologizin’ to your brother now.”