Brother's Keeper II_Liam
Page 23
Liam took a step backward and handed the butt of his weapon to Luke before he pulled Felicity into his embrace. “Let’s go home.”
Neither Liam nor Felicity gave Vern another look as they walked toward the door, Felicity reaching her hand out to her sister as they went.
“He won’t get out. I’ll take everything away,” Carter said, landing a supportive hand on Liam’s shoulder. “You have my word. He won’t be able to hurt anyone, ever again.”
Liam nodded and continued to walk. Dunham met Lainey at the bottom of the steps and took her into his arms. They were victims like the rest of them. This was their victory too.
Safely outside of the plane, Liam pulled Felicity into him and kissed her long and hard before finally resting his forehead to hers, letting his shoulders sag, the breath he’d been holding free, and feeling all that there was to feel. It hurt, but for the first time in a very long time, he could feel joy mixed with his pain.
“I was so scared, City,” he said, eyes closed, his voice barely there. “I don’t know what I’d do if…” his words hung in the air, unspoken. “I don’t ever want to lose you. I love you.”
“I was scared too, but I knew you would come for me.” She softly kissed him, the emotions consuming her.
“I always will.”
Felicity wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his chest, but where there was once fear, now lived joy. Those words she spoke to Liam on the plane came to her in an instant tonight and she’d forever be grateful for their timing and the person who placed them on her heart.
She nodded. “I love you too, Liam.”
“You’re the joy,” he said, “and I can’t wait to dance in the rain with you for the rest of my life.”
“Let’s go,” Luke said, to the rest of the crowd on the plane. “I got this asshole.”
One by one, everyone disembarked until it was only Luke and Vern Johnson. Luke turned to Vern and shook his head. “Not you.”
A gunshot rang out on the plane with only Luke and Vern still onboard, and everyone held their breaths as the brothers ran back. Before they got to the stairs, Luke appeared in the doorway, looking at each of them before he took to the steps. Walking straight ahead, his sights fixed on nothing in particular, he marched on.
“He grabbed my weapon, turned it on himself,” Luke said. “Weapon’s next to the body.”
Carter’s head fell back, knowing full well what happened. It wouldn’t be the first time one of them took justice for themselves. Or rather…the one’s they loved.
Luke would always protect his brothers, especially Liam. Their bond was special. They were two of the same, no matter how different they seemed from one another – twins. Luke had plenty of blood on his hands, and he’d carry it for his brother too. Now that they were truly free from their nightmare – Luke was just beginning to live his.
The End
EPILOGUE
Luke sat back with his favorite Irish whiskey and a bad attitude. Sunday dinners at O’Reilly’s Pub weren’t optional but a requirement so long as you lived within a reasonable driving distance – reasonable according to Colleen O’Reilly. It wasn’t the highlight of Luke’s week, but the bottomless booze and organized chaos helped drown his haunting demons another day, and that made the four-plus hour dinner worth it.
He’d do anything for each and every person in that restaurant – anything. Since being honorably discharged from the military with a career ending injury, he’d been trying to focus on something, anything, as he tried to fit into a civilian life that he just wasn’t meant for. He’d immersed himself in work, jumping on every case, big and small, that came to Brother’s Keeper Security. Hell, he’d take a job in a pre-school full of snot nosed brats just to stay busy.
Staying busy left little time to think about what he missed, how he wasn’t the man he set out to be, that he was broken, literally and figuratively. He was a military lifer, now a throwback who didn’t know how to be…not military. Brother’s Keeper Security was anything but civilian-like, given the nature of their business. He was still a soldier to some degree but for a different kind of army, a different cause – the stakes were different.
His old life didn’t include his mother popping by in the middle of the day to make sure he washed his skivvies or consoling his niece over the loss of a fucking pet pig. It’s like everything he had done, accomplished, up to that point, didn’t mean anything. The things he had seen and done for the love of his country and humanity were all gone. It no longer mattered.
One day he was at the top of his craft, a highly decorated soldier, and the next – some dude living in Portland, working for the family business like it was all he was good enough to do now. Sure, it had its thrills, but it also had moments that marked his soul – like the night of Felicity’s rescue when he did what needed to be done.
Watching his brother, finally happy again, from across the table made it all worth it though. He carried the burden that allowed Liam the life he was meant to have with Felicity. He was a family man – he needed her. Luke was a loaner and could live with the devil on his shoulder.
Liam and Felicity finally found their way to each other, after years of floundering, and he wasn’t about to let the dark side of what they did tarnish them…or ruin his brother. Liam was willing to do what he needed to. His loyalty and commitment was unwavering. But Luke knew he wouldn’t be able to live with blood on his hands. So, he took that on for him.
A satisfied grin rested in his expression when Liam’s eyes darted around the room, looking for someone to rescue him from the soon to be bride and her posse. A Christmas wedding was being planned, and Liam was right in the middle of hell – the wedding planning committee that was made up of every O’Reilly, blood and honorary, woman. He would take a man’s life to save his brothers, but Liam was on his own with the wedding shit.
Two down – two brothers to go, Luke thought. Declan and Liam had fallen for marriage, and that left Dace and Wylie. Who would be next, he wondered, making a wager with himself.
Dace was on his way out for yet another trip. He would always come back with some wild tale about where he’d been and have a new tattoo or piercing to show for it. Once in a while, it was a black eye or a few stitches. They knew where he really was – following leads – looking for her. Ivy.
Wylie, on the other hand, was staring down the woman who had his interest. He wore a look of loathing, and his glare was so sharp he could cut glass. But it was a façade. Luke saw it for what it was – denial. Wylie was the biggest O’Reilly, albeit the youngest. He was also the most sensitive and carried a grudge like a hooker held her corner.
Eva Valdez had been a friend-turned-daughter of an asshole they were hunting. Wylie hadn’t forgiven her for the deception, even if it was for the good of the case and ultimately took down their mark. She worked with Brother’s Keeper now on an ongoing mission to eradicate the cartel, and that pissed Wylie off. Luke wasn’t sure what pissed Wylie off more – the fact that he couldn’t get over her or that their mother had taken her in as honorary family. Wylie wanted her – for keeps. He just didn’t know it yet.
He’d leave all the love and women with rings on their fingers to his brothers. Luke loved – he loved hard – but he couldn’t love like a woman needed to be loved. That part of him never really developed. He loved a hot-blooded woman keeping his sheets warm at night, but he didn’t do emotions. He didn’t do commitment. He only did a few hours in the sack.
He was cold, a machine, and now broken – tossed to the civilian life he’d never been acquainted with. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, not when you’d seen the shit Luke had seen in his lifetime. So, he’d love from afar, the only way he knew how.
The door chimed, and rowdy cheers erupted as steins of beer and tumblers of whiskey flew to the air. They had company.
“I didn’t know you boys were comin’,” Colleen said. “Take yourself a seat, and I’ll make ya all a plate, my boys.”
“Only if
there’s enough, Ma.” Carter always referred to Colleen as Ma, just as she referred to him as one of her boys; she insisted on it.
“I’m always hopin’ for your company, so I always make plenty in hopes it draws ya in off the street. Now take your seat, boyo.” She tapped her cheek, so Carter dropped her a kiss, putting a smile on her face.
“What did we miss?” Ronan asked, taking a seat next to Liam.
“Wedding planning…” Liam said with a faux smile.
Ronan laughed. “Then I’ll be movin’ seats, cousin.”
“Is there room at the kids table?” Ryker joked.
“Sit your asses down, boys, or you get to be the flower girls,” Liam insisted. “Tell me something…manly.”
Ronan and Ryker did what they did best, caused a scene, and the brothers knew their presence with Carter wasn’t by chance or that they were craving Aunt Collie’s cooking. Something was up. Rule number one at Sunday dinner, no shop talk, or Colleen would not so kindly ask you leave, which in turn would hurt her feelings – should you actually leave.
The brothers were always in sync with one another; each knew what the other was thinking. They watched as Carter approached Luke while Ronan and Ryker kept everyone else’s attention.
Carter took a seat and pulled it up to Luke and sat down. He leaned in with a smile on his face as if it was casual conversation. “I need your help.”
Luke nodded; he expected as much. “If it’s that rash again…”
“Fuck off, O’Reilly.” His smile remained intact.
“I’d rather not unless you did something about that rash…”
Carter looked Luke in the eye. “It’s big. Really big, and I need you on it.”
“Sweet talking will get you nowhere, and I doubt it’s that big. No, I won’t pull mine out to compare.”
“Dammit, man.” Something in Carters voice struck Luke. He knew it was work that he needed help with, but Carter was nervous, and he didn’t do nervous.
“Okay. What do you have? How can I help?”
Carter went on to share the highlight reel because the mess he had on his hands really was that big, and they didn’t have all night for story time. Luke knew what he needed to know for the time being and would catch up on the rest later – after Carter could escape the Pub without offending Colleen.
Luke had excused himself, citing the excuse he had a new client to get ready for – not entirely untrue. He made his way the handful of blocks to Watermark Tower, mindful of his surroundings. There was no telling what Carter and the boys brought to town, if anything. They were careful, or so it seemed, but with this caliber of trouble, you just didn’t know.
Luke entered his apartment, and though he knew it wasn’t empty, his breath still caught when the subject he was now charged with protecting jumped from his couch.
Carter didn’t mention that she would be everything Luke craved. What was more striking than her appearance was the instant need to protect her. She needed him – and maybe he needed her.
“It’s okay, Daisy…I’m Luke. Luke O’Reilly.”
About Stephanie St. Klaire
Stephanie St. Klaire debuted in 2016, launching her writing career with Rescued, the first book in the five book series known as McKenzie Ridge. Stephanie is a Pacific Northwest native currently living in Oregon with her husband, five children, and two ferocious lap dogs.
As a writer, Stephanie brings realistic circumstances to the pages, and fills them with real emotion, reactions, and outcomes. Her characters are passionate, have bold personalities, and full of life. She writes happily ever after’s, with plenty of twists, turns, drama, and of course, steamy romance.
Stephanie has always been a story teller, with the gift of “gab”, and a life-long goal to be a writer. Unfortunate circumstances with her health, finally afforded her the time to do so. Irony at its best, she began writing her first novel at an adverse time, to escape her circumstance and explore the stories in her imagination for relief. She is happy to share those stories with her readers, and bring a little fun, entertainment, and of course smexy characters to the pages.
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