by Elle Keating
But like a silly teenager his eyes remained glued to his phone and not his computer. His heart skipped when her next text came through:
“What are you up to?”
Oh, sitting here, completely distracted because I can’t think about anything else but you. Brennan told his inner self to shut it and decided to keep things light:
“Just had my chest waxed.”
He sat back in his leather chair and waited. She didn’t disappoint:
“Are you serious???”
Chuckling, he responded:
“No, doing payroll in my office.”
An emoji of a hairless male body builder appeared on his screen.
“Does that mean you prefer hairless chests?”
“No, I like a little scruff, remember? Au naturel. BTW, any symptoms?”
“No, but I’m quarantining in my office at work, just to be on the safe side.”
“Very responsible. And the perfect time to binge watch television.”
“Watching anything good?”
“Game of Thrones.”
Brennan had heard of it, but he had never taken the time to sit his ass down and dive into a series that would take days to watch. He shut down his computer. Payroll could wait another day. He kicked off his shoes, laid on his bed and found the first season. But just minutes in, he was reaching for the remote.
He told himself it wasn’t real, that this was just a television show, that the woman on screen wasn’t really being assaulted by a man twice her size. He flicked off the show and stared ahead, knowing he should find something else to watch, maybe something funny. Anything to get his mind off what that scene had triggered, what he had spent over two decades trying to forget, but it was impossible.
Warren may be physically dead, but he was still alive and well in his mind, even after all these years…
Brennan looked over at his brothers. They were sound asleep, which wasn’t a surprise. Warren had spent the past several hours beating him and Gabe. But he’d rather be whipped with a belt or whatever else that monster could get his hands on than what he did to Luke.
Brennan couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t care if he went to jail. He didn’t care about anything but making it stop. He crawled out of bed and went to the kitchen and was disappointed to see that Warren’s gun wasn’t in its usual spot, on the table next to their mother’s drugs. He saw Warren’s smelly jacket slung over one of the kitchen chairs and he checked the pockets. Again he came up empty. Which meant that the gun had to be in the bedroom where Warren was hopefully asleep. Brennan peered over his shoulder and made sure that his own bedroom door was still closed. He took a deep breath. He had to do this. Luke couldn’t take another night of this.
Brennan walked into his mother’s bedroom and cringed at the sight before him. His mother was lying naked in bed, her one arm hung over the side, a needle dangling from it. Unfortunately, she was still breathing. He crept in the room and spotted the gun on the bedside table next to where Warren lay, snoring. He had seen Warren cock the gun before. One night Warren had played a game called Russian roulette with him and his brothers. Their mother didn’t stop it, just laughed and continued to inject poison into her vein.
Brennan grabbed the gun off the table and was surprised to discover how heavy it was. He held it in his trembling hands and started to cry, not because he didn’t want to kill his mother’s pimp, but because he was scared. He let out a shaky breath and pulled the trigger, only to hear a click that echoed off the walls of the dingy bedroom. Even in the dark, Brennan saw Warren’s eyes open and then widen. He attempted to pull the trigger a second time, but Warren was too quick. He snatched the gun out of his hands, picked Brennan up by his shoulders and held him against the wall.
“Aren’t you full of surprises? Out of the three of you, I thought it would be Luke who would try to kill me. This is going to make it so much sweeter when I fuck him tomorrow. I’ll be sure to tell him that he’s going to get it twice as good because of the little stunt you pulled tonight.” Warren dropped him and then backhanded him across the face. “Get the fuck out of here,” Warren hissed.
Brennan held his jaw as he made his way back to his bedroom. He lay in his bed, trying not to cry, not from pain or because his left ear was ringing, but from knowing what his brother would encounter tomorrow… because of him.
Chapter Sixteen
Anna
Maybe she had gotten him sick after all. She was feeling better and no longer contagious, but Brennan hadn’t responded to a text in three days. It had been radio silence after her “Game of Thrones” text.
Anna stopped home after work, took Mack for a walk and hopped in the shower. Afterward she headed over to Brennan’s to make sure he was still alive and kicking, but his car wasn’t in the driveway. She told herself that she wasn’t being a stalker, that there wasn’t anything wrong with her checking in on him at home… at work… after midnight.
She pulled into the restaurant parking lot and was surprised to find so many cars at this hour. When she entered Lucrezia it was clear that this was the place to be in this town as the bar area of the restaurant was packed. She looked down at her worn jeans, boots and hooded sweatshirt and scowled. She was definitely underdressed for this crowd. She went to the bar and in less than a minute a bartender approached her.
“Um… I was looking for Brennan McGinnis. Is he working tonight?” He chuckled, which Anna didn’t appreciate. “Did I say something amusing?”
His smile vanished and he cleared his throat. “Sorry, can’t tell you how many women come in here and ask me that.”
Her stomach roiled and damn if she didn’t feel a twinge of jealousy. “Well, I just want to talk to him. Is he still here?”
“If he is, he’s most likely in his office.”
“Thanks.” She started for the hallway.
“Miss, he’s probably… occupied, at this time of night… I mean… shit.”
She waved him off and hustled to Brennan’s office. But when she got there, all she could do was stare at his office door. Her balls of steel had completely shriveled up. She looked down the hallway before she put her ear up to the door, only to be met with silence. No, she was not stalking… just checking on her friend, making sure he hadn’t come down with strep and burning up with fever. Anna knocked on the door and waited. She rapped on the door some more. Genuinely concerned now, she went for it and opened the door.
Her eyes went to his desk and his made bed, but sounds coming from the bathroom snagged her attention and she stared at the open bathroom door. She closed the door behind her and crept across the room. As she drew closer, she heard a groan and the sound of the shower running. She was in the doorway when he groaned again and she peered inside. She released a stuttered breath at what she saw on the other side of the shower glass door. The man she couldn’t stop thinking about was stroking himself, hard and fast, tugging at a pace that looked almost painful. Expletives flowed out of his sensual mouth and her own hand went between her legs, rubbing along the seam of her yoga pants. But it wasn’t enough and she pressed two fingers against her clit.
“Fuck… Anna, take it all,” he grunted. He exploded all over his shower wall and she whimpered. She slapped her hand over her mouth and ran out of his office. She kept her head down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone out of fear, though irrational, that they would know she had just watched the owner of the restaurant masturbate without him knowing it.
***
Brennan
It was barely audible, but he heard it. A breathy whimper, so feminine, so erotic. He had thrust the shower door open, but no one was there. He had grabbed a towel, covering his softening cock and stepped out of the bathroom, only to find the door to his office ajar. Subtle perfume lingered in the air and he recognized it instantly. He quickly got dressed and went to the bar. Michael was gone but maybe one of his guys had seen her.
“Hey, boss, can I get you something?”
“Christian, did a w
oman come here looking for me? Red hair, blue eyes, freckles?”
“Uh… yeah. Sorry, Brennan. I told her you were probably in your office… possibly occupied? Shit! Did I fuck something up? Did she catch you with another woman?”
He had been occupied all right, just not in the way Christian thought. “Did you see her leave?”
“Yeah, a few minutes ago. Ran out of here like a bat out of hell.” She had definitely seen him. Groaning her name as he came all over his shower wall. The thought of her witnessing that was making his cock thicken. “Sorry, boss. If I would have known…”
“Christian, it’s fine. Have a good night.” He gave his bartender a nod and left the restaurant. He couldn’t get her and the sound of that whimper out of his head. He pulled up in front of her house and turned off his vehicle. He withdrew his phone and reread all the texts he hadn’t responded to because he hadn’t been in a good place. Thoughts of that night he had almost killed a man and failed had messed with his mind the last few days. He didn’t want her to see him so on edge. Maybe if Tony would have been able to schedule a fight for him, he would have been able to release some of his pent-up anger. When that hadn’t panned out, he had considered going into the city to find a quick fuck. But imagining himself screwing a woman who wasn’t Anna only made him more anxious. So he did the only thing he could think of to let off some steam. He just didn’t anticipate that he would have an audience while doing it.
Brennan shot off a text and waited:
“Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. Not sick, just busy. Back to work yet?”
Her response came through immediately:
“Yep, worked tonight. Absolutely beat.”
Hmm.
“A buddy of mine at my restaurant told me someone came by tonight to see me. Said she had red hair.”
The circles swirled, then stopped, and then started up again:
“Wasn’t me.”
Okay, she wanted to play it this way? Fine. He exited his truck and knocked on her door, prompting Mack to bark and whimper. He could hear her shushing him as she fumbled with the dead bolt. The door swung open and he took her in. “Hey, uh, what are you doing here?”
“Wasn’t you, huh?” he asked, letting himself in.
She shut the door behind him. “I was at work. And now I’m in my pajamas.” She grabbed his hand and dragged him to her bedroom. “See, I was watching television.” The television was on, but it was set to C-SPAN. She released his hand, stomped over to the television and turned it off.
“C-SPAN?”
“I like to stay informed.” She couldn’t meet his eyes as she crossed and then uncrossed her arms.
“Yes, staying current is very important.” He took a step toward her. “Anna, I think you made a little pit stop on your way home from work tonight.”
“Okay, so I did stop by your restaurant. Because I was worried. You didn’t return my texts and I was afraid I had infected you after all. I’m a doctor, remember? I care about the health and wellbeing of my patients.”
“So, why did you leave?”
“Your bartender said you were occupied, so I left.”
“You left? Told my bartender thank you for the info and left… just like that?”
“Okay, I went to your office and knocked on your door, but you didn’t answer…”
“Because I was in the shower.”
“Yes… I mean… oh god.” She turned away and held her head in her hands. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to…”
“Watch me?”
“This isn’t happening.”
“Oh, it’s happening. What else did you see… hear? I know what I heard. It was subtle, but I heard you… whimper. Now, what would cause you to make that sound? Did you like watching me touch myself? That I came with your name on my lips.” He brushed her hair to the side and she shivered.
“Both,” she said with a moan. He left a trail of kisses along the nape of her neck. “We’ll go back to being friends tomorrow?” she asked.
“Fuck yeah.” He turned her around in his arms and kissed her with everything he had. Her hand landed on his belt and he gripped her wrist. “No, they stay on.”
“But…”
“Anna, that’s how it has to be.” He tore off her shirt and the flimsy boy shorts she was wearing. They fell into bed and he stared at her as she lay completely bare for him, only him. Her nipples puckered and he sucked a hard peak into his mouth. She jolted off the bed as he bit down and kneaded the other between his fingers. She was so responsive, so fucking perfect. He feathered her belly with kisses, nipping her soft skin along the way until he settled between her thighs. He lowered his head, maintaining eye contact with her the entire time and licked her from slit to clit. Her back arched, but he kept her firmly in place and sucked her clit into his mouth. He groaned as he devoured her, as she gripped his hair between her clenched fists and fucked his face. She came on a scream that would wake the dead, but he didn’t let up and brought her to the edge once again. He spread her open, allowing his tongue to go even deeper. “God, your taste,” he said.
“No more, I can’t handle another one,” she cried out.
“Just one more… please.” He lapped at her, harder, faster and she detonated, almost crushing his head between her thighs. But he didn’t care. Feeling her go boneless, depleted after having multiple orgasms was worth his head feeling like it had been in a vise. He crawled up beside her and tucked her into his arms, her back to his front. He felt her breathing leveling out and he thought she was drifting off.
“Brennan, why won’t you let me touch you?”
“Because that’s how we stay friends.”
“Brennan…”
“Go to sleep, Anna.”
Chapter Seventeen
Anna
Anna rolled over fully expecting to find Mack staring back at her, urging her to get her ass moving and take him out. But he was nowhere to be found. And neither was Brennan. She shouldn’t feel like she had been abandoned, feel any kind of loss. They had drawn that line in the sand. This couldn’t continue. Someone was going to get hurt and she knew without a doubt that someone was her. Because he had been clear. Brennan wasn’t interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her. This friends-with-benefits situation they had going on wasn’t healthy. They had to stop. No more fooling around, no more orgasms. The thought made her sad because with what he had done to her last night with just his tongue alone, she couldn’t imagine what he was able to do with his cock.
She shook her head, got out of her bed and called for Mack. The house was silent and she picked up the pace. Panicked, she called out again, but there was nothing, no barking, no clickety clack of his nails scraping across the hardwood floors. She went to the bay window and breathed a sigh of relief. Brennan and Mack were walking toward her home, Mack panting and Brennan looking beyond gorgeous. She went to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, but it seemed Brennan had beat her to it. She was pouring herself and Brennan a cup when the men walked through the door. “Go get yourself a drink, buddy,” she heard Brennan say from the other room.
Nails scraped the floor as Mack came trotting in. “Hey, did you have a good w-a-l-k?” She bent over and kissed his head before he made a beeline for his water bowl. “Good morning,” she said to Brennan.
“I’ve made a decision.” The familiar glint in his eye was not there. She had never seen him look so serious. He was going to end whatever was going on between them. It was for the best. She braced for impact. “I’m getting a dog and I want you to help me pick him out.” She hadn’t realized that she had been holding her breath until she let it all go in one big exhale. She turned and retrieved his coffee.
“Him?” she asked.
“Or her. I’m fine either way,” he said. She handed him the coffee mug. “What are you doing this morning?”
“You want to get a dog today? Like right now?”
“Yeah, why wait? Do you have work today?”
“Not until three,” she s
aid.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll just go home, take a quick shower and swing by and pick you up.”
She should say no, say she was busy, that she had to clean her bathrooms or get a jump on her Christmas shopping. But like a fool, she said, “Sounds good. I’ll go get ready. I’m in need of a shower myself.” He peered over the rim of his mug and she could see that his mind was where hers was… in the gutter. He gave her a smirk and then downed the rest of the coffee.
“Thanks for the coffee,” he said.
“Thanks for wearing Mack out.”
And me.
He set his mug on the counter, gave Mack a pat on the head and left.
Less than an hour later, they were on their way to a local animal shelter. It was a no-kill shelter which made this visit bearable. At least she knew that the dogs they had come to see wouldn’t be euthanized after so many days or weeks. But knowing that didn’t prepare her for what she encountered. There were so many dogs in need of a home. All shapes, sizes, and breeds. It broke her heart to see so many animals without a family, knowing they weren’t being spoiled as they should. Brennan remained quiet as they wandered around, stopping multiple times. It was during the fifth loop when Brennan abruptly stopped and approached the woman who had introduced herself as Meg, the owner of the shelter when they had first arrived and asked, “Which dog has been here the longest?”
She looked at him for a second and then smiled. “Well, that would be my boy, Pete.”
“How long has he been here?
“A little over two years.”
“Two years? Why so long?”
“It’s not because of his disposition. That dog is a lover.”
“Then why?”
“Well, he’s a mix, of what I’m not sure.”
“Well, that shouldn’t matter,” Brennan said, a look of disgust on his face. “Which kennel is he in?”
“Fourth run on the left,” she said, pointing to one aisle over. Brennan started walking and Anna trailed behind. He halted as he came upon what had been Pete’s home for the past two years. Meg was right. Pete was definitely a mutt; his fur was laced with every color known to man but his paws were stark white, as if he was wearing socks.
