After a short walk, she started back toward her family. The disapproval on Mike's face disturbed her. The look on his face triggered a feeling of déjà vu. She knew him from somewhere, but she couldn't think from where. Or maybe he just reminded her of someone she knew. Something about him made her anxious and she couldn't get back to her family fast enough.
When they reached her family, her dad started a conversation with Mike. "Johnny wants us to stop by a client's house downtown later. He said you'd worked on the roof out there? Old house out in the historic district? Apparently, the guy is saying one of the new windows was leaking during the rain yesterday, so we need to look and see if it's installed right or if the window is just messed up from the factory. See if we can't get it fixed up for him. This guy's investing a lot in this old house so we want to make it right."
Talia helped her mother pack some things up before leaving with her dad and Mike. She was tired and her once again queasy stomach said no thanks to fireworks. She hoped her dad would drop her off first, but the historic district was only a few blocks away and her apartment was across town. Mike kept his hands to himself, but let his thigh lean against her bare leg.
Mike gave directions to the house. They pulled into the driveway and Talia thought she might start hyperventilating. It was the house she'd looked at with Sean—the one that she'd thought they'd live in together—and that was his car in the drive. Her dad knocked, but Sean didn't answer. Calling his partner Johnny, her dad got the code to the keypad they had on the door and ran in to check the leaky window. Talia sat in the truck waiting for him to come back. She couldn't believe Sean had bought their house without her.
When her dad came back out, he looked at her and asked, "What's wrong? You look paler than before."
How could she answer that? She finally mumbled something about Sean buying that house and her dad turned purple at hearing Sean's name. He dropped her off without saying another word. Mike didn't say anything else either.
Talia was glad for the silence.
Chapter Forty-seven
Walking into Garden a few minutes before five, Sean was already tired. Sleep eluded him since he broke up with Talia. He lay awake thinking of her for hours. Only when he was near collapse could he actually sleep. He'd managed about eight hours of sleep this entire week.
Angie called out to him from across the dance floor. "Hey, did your brother find you? He came by a little while ago. I figured you were with Talia so I told him that. He said he would come out there and find you. I didn't even know you had a brother."
"What? Brian was here? Here in the club and not on the phone?" That made no sense. He ran a hand across his ribcage and sucked in a deep breath. Brian should still be rotting away.
"Yeah, in person. Did you not know he was coming?"
"Fuck." Sean turned and ran outside. His brother had never been good about taking punishment. Brian had probably broken out of prison months ago and laid low, waiting for another chance to ruin Sean's life. Not this time.
He revved up the Harley and sped out toward the Richmonds', praying that he would get there before Brian, praying that Talia was safe. Why the hell wouldn't the cops have told him that Brian escaped? Shit. They should have known Brian would come after him. He could have been prepared. And now Talia was in danger because of him. Because he loved her. Because he'd given in and dated her. If he'd known Brian was out of prison, he'd never have let her get so close. He roared up Lake Road and nearly laid his bike over as he turned the corner. Sam and Helen were sitting on the porch when he ran up.
"Where is Talia? Is she here?"
"What the hell are you doing here? Talia is none of your damn business anymore. Get off my property."
"Damn it, Sam. Is she here? Tell me she is safe! Please," he pleaded.
"Sean, she lives with Zane now. I talked to her a bit ago and she was perfectly fine. What's going on?" Helen asked, stepping between Sean and her husband.
Releasing a breath he hadn't known he'd held, Sean's knees felt weak. He grabbed on to the porch column for support. He sank down on the steps and hung his head in his hands, willing his heart to stop racing.
"My brother broke out of prison. He was at Garden a little while ago and Angie told him he could probably find me here, not knowing our history…" Sean broke off.
"Oh my! So you think he could be coming here?" Helen asked, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. Fear shone bright in her eyes.
"Helen, he shot me. Just to see how long it would take me to bleed to death. The last time I saw him was at his trial and he told me he would kill me when he got the chance. I wouldn't put it past him to try to hurt Talia just because I love her."
"Did you call the cops and let them know he might be heading over here?" Sam grumbled.
Shit.
"I didn't take time to even tell Angie where I was going when I ran out. Garden doesn't have a bartender at the moment. Hell, she doesn't even have a cash drawer."
Pulling out his phone, Sean called Jack. He clued Jack in to the situation, asking him to go work the bar for now. He'd have to pay Jack extra for tonight. He owed him.
Helen was on the phone when he hung up. "The police said we should go inside and wait for an officer to show up. You too, Sean. They want to take a statement from you and are sending someone by your club to take Angie's statement."
Sam looked like he wanted to argue, but Helen pushed them into the house. He hung up his phone and told them Zane was bringing Talia over where they could all be together. A few minutes later, Zane's truck pulled into the driveway. Talia stepped out of the passenger side. She wore that beautiful white dress that he'd loved so much. The one she had on the night they first made love. God, he had missed her. She almost fell up the stairs rushing to him. She flung herself into his arms. Pulling her close, his eyes squeezed shut and he inhaled. Soft vanilla, exactly as he remembered.
"Just because the cops said you had to stay here until they arrived, doesn't mean you get to resume your relationship with my daughter. Hands off."
"Cops? What?"
Talia had tears in her eyes by the time Sean had finished recounting the day's events. She didn't move away from him though, and he didn't release her. Her father could get over it. She was safe. That's all that mattered to him today.
A knock on the door drew all their attention. Sean pushed Talia behind him before Sam opened the door. Sam stepped back to let in a pair of uniformed police officers. Giving their statements didn't take long. The officers advised them to stay in for the evening. They would increase patrols in the area, standard. When they left, Sam told Sean to leave too.
"Hell no. I'm not leaving until Brian's been caught."
"This is my house—"
"And, in this case, I don't give a shit. When he's back in custody, I'll leave. Not a minute before." Sean sat down next to Talia.
"I still don't want you dating my daughter."
"I get that. I'm not stupid. But I can't leave until she's safe. That's all I want, to be sure she's safe." He started off talking to Sam, but by the end of his little speech, his gaze had turned to the beautiful redhead at his side. She snuggled into him, seeming to want every second of time together like he did.
Helen brought them all some iced tea and they settled in for the evening. Sean and Talia didn't talk much. Zane kept up a running commentary, but Sean barely spared him a second glance.
Talia was the only thing he cared about right now. Now that he had her in his arms, he wasn't sure how he could ever walk away again. He wanted to kiss her so bad. Sam was already glaring at him and watching his every move. He'd probably lose it if Sean did kiss her. It would be worth the risk. He licked his lips and stared down at her. He watched her soft lips part in anticipation and felt her breath hitch knowing he was about to kiss her.
A knock on the door ruined the moment. Damn it. So close, yet so far. Sean eased himself up from Talia's grasp as Sam went to peek out the window.
"Just Mike from work," S
am muttered as he went to answer the door and let his employee in.
Sean stood, heart racing, and stepped between Talia and the other men. "Mike, huh? When'd you start going by your middle name, Bri?"
"Well, I couldn't exactly go by Brian anymore, could I? You ruined that for me when you sent me to jail, little brother."
"You shot me!"
"Wait. Mike is your brother?" Sam finally bought a clue. "But you passed our company's checks. How did you manage that?"
"One of the guys I broke out with, his sister works for your company and helped me get past those stupid checks. Imagine my delight when the brother I was looking for was dating my boss's daughter! Pure dumb luck on that one."
A shudder went through Sean when his brother cackled his amusement. Brian had issues. Big time issues. His eyes flicked down to Brian's waist. If Brian was armed, he needed to take him out. And fast.
Brian moved to step around Sean, his eyes on Talia. "Your little bitch is a pretty thing, I'll give you that. I bet you loved giving it to her. I know I sure would. Mmmm. It was all I could think about the other day at the picnic."
Sam shoved him back before Sean could do it himself. "You bastard, that's my daughter you are talking about!"
Brian laughed at the older man, ignoring him as he turned to Sean. "How could you think you were good enough to date a princess like her with your background?"
"Stop it! All of you, please!" Talia cried.
Brian lunged at Talia and grabbed her arm. He yanked hard, squeezing as Sean grabbed him. "You stupid whore, you picked the wrong man when you picked my brother. He's a weakling. You need a real man, don't you?" Talia cringed when Brian ran a finger down her cheek. "I'm disappointed, Talia. You didn't seem to like the pictures I left you. I warned you about fucking my brother. But you didn't listen. I will make you forget his touch though. You'll scream for me tonight."
Sean growled and jerked Brian's hand away from Talia's face. "Get your filthy hands off my girlfriend."
"But she's not yours anymore, is she, little brother? Oh, I've heard the tale. Not good enough for the boss man's daughter. Sent you packing, didn't he? Well, guess what? He approves of me. I took her to the town picnic with her daddy right there." Brian shoved Sean back and flung his fist into Talia's jaw.
Sean watched in horror as she fell, striking her head on the end table. A roar of rage exploded from deep within him. He leapt toward Brian and grabbing him by the throat, slammed him into one of the bookshelves. Books went flying and cascaded down to the hardwood in a series of small thuds. Brian kicked and punched at Sean. He managed to bust Sean's lip, causing a spray of blood to spurt. Sean drew his arm back and planted his fist in Brian's face. His brother collapsed, only staying somewhat upright because of the grip Sean had on his throat. Seeing that he was out cold, Sean flung him to the floor and rushed back to Talia.
Sam and Helen crouched next to her prone body. A small puddle of blood pooled around her hair. Helen had her cell phone to her ear, but had already called 911.
"She's unconscious," Sam choked out as he gently brushed her hair out of her face. "They said we shouldn't move her."
Sean dropped to his knees beside her, reaching out to engulf her still hand in his own shaking one. Her breathing was still ragged; the pallor of her face sent a pang of fear deep into his stomach. When Sam looked over at him, Sean struggled to blink away tears.
The ominous wail of multiple sirens carried through the walls to the worried men inside. Helen rose to go out and meet the first responders. She was back quickly with a flurry of activity that heralded the arrival of the EMTs and a police officer. Talia was slowly starting to wake up, but the EMTs loaded her onto the bright yellow gurney to take her to the emergency room. There were major concerns about the head wound and amount of time she'd spent unconscious. One EMT asked about medical history while the other was putting gauze against the gash on her head. Sam told him how she had been sick a lot and had lost a good deal of weight recently.
Sean looked at her stomach—the gentle swell there, despite the weight loss—and a flicker of hope sparked within him. "Uh… I could maybe explain that. She, well, she might be pregnant," he told the EMT.
"What!" Sam shouted, turning away from the medic to face Sean.
Sean stood, running his fingers through his hair, blood dripping from his lip, as he stared at Talia lying pale on the gurney. Sparing a glance at her frantic father, Sean repeated, "She could be pregnant. I'm just saying it's possible, Sam."
"You son of a—"
The cop interrupted them to fill out his incident report. Coordinating with an officer outside, the cop had cuffed Brian and led him outside where he was placed in the back of the squad car. They were going to run him by the hospital too since Sean had knocked him out. The first officer came back in with someone with a familiar face—Officer Anna Taylor.
Shaking hands with Sam, Anna was brought up to speed on the situation. With an apologetic look, she told Sean that they were going to have to take him in, too. Brian wanted to press assault charges on him.
Of course he did. Some things never changed.
"I'm sorry, Sean. It's a shitty situation. I know you were trying to protect Talia. I'd have hit him, too, but I have to take you in."
With a wry smile, Sean turned and spread his legs, clasping his hands behind his head. The other cop stepped up to pat him down. Once cuffed and read his rights, Sean was escorted outside. The last time he was in the back of a police car, he had been high and combative, flailing and screaming in the back seat. His journey toward the city jail was a much more sedate affair this time around.
Chapter Forty-eight
Opening his eyes, Sean fought to make sense of the dreary concrete wall he was facing. It took a few seconds for the fog to lift. The county jail? His muscles protested as he rolled over and stretched. The narrow bed was barely wide enough for him to lay flat and his feet hung off the end of the thin mattress. The smell of unwashed bodies was hard to bear and the heat in the cell was only contributing to it. Sticky with sweat, Sean wanted a shower something fierce.
Hearing his name, he rose up to see Anna standing outside the cell. "I have good news! The county attorney is apparently a friend of Sam and Helen's. He was able to push things through a little quicker. Your brother is being transferred to a maximum security prison upstate."
Sean huffed and rose to walk over to her. He tilted his head and tried to loosen the crick in his neck. "How is that good news? That's expected news. He successfully escaped once, where else would they stick him?"
"Oh, the good news was not about him. The good news is that they're dropping the assault charge on you. You'll be free to go shortly," Anna told him with a smile.
Making a noise that was somewhere between a cough and a chuckle, Sean agreed that was good news. His shoulders sagged and he leaned against the bars of the cell door in relief. "How long, you think?"
"It shouldn't be too long, maybe an hour or so. I'll come spring you as soon as the paperwork is done."
Sean watched her walk away. It amused him that he'd developed a friendship of sorts with a cop who'd arrested him twice now. If anyone had told him they'd become friends, when she arrested him the first time, he would have laughed in their face and called them crazy, yet look at them now. True to her word, Anna was back within the hour and escorted him out. Since he'd had to leave his bike when they took him in, she even gave him a ride back.
"How's Talia doing?" he asked quietly, keeping his gaze focused out the window on the buildings they were passing by.
"She's still in the hospital. Helen told me this morning Talia's still having some serious dizziness. I didn't see her myself, but Helen said her head is still pretty painful."
Silence filled the car for the remainder of the ride, but it wasn't awkward. When Anna pulled up next to his bike, Sean thanked her for the ride.
"Sean, take this for what it's worth. I think you should go see Talia. I can't believe I'm saying that. But y
ou are obviously crazy about her. Enough to go back to jail just to protect her, and I know how hard you've been working to stay out of trouble. I'm real glad to see how you've cleaned your life up. I don't know what happened between you and Talia, but surely it can be worked out."
Running his hands through his hair, Sean contemplated how to respond. "Anna, it isn't that simple. Did you hear that Sam threatened to cut her out of his life if she kept seeing me? You know what kinda shit I had for family. Talia has a good family. I couldn't…" he trailed off knowing she could fill in the blanks.
Anna snorted out loud. "I never would've thought that a former druggy with an assault record would be so noble. Kid, go talk to her, talk to Sam. He owes you now. You protected his daughter."
Sean didn't say anything. He'd been the one who'd put her in danger in the first place. He got on his bike and rode home. Feeling much more human after a hot shower, Sean sat on his couch considering his conversation with Anna. She was encouraging him to pursue a relationship with Talia? It didn't seem possible. Being the arresting officer in now two of his arrests, it was inconceivable to him that she would be supportive of him dating her young neighbor. However, stranger things had happened.
Sam had approved of both Caleb and Brian and look how that turned out. In Sam's mind, both of them were good enough to date his daughter but one beat her and the other put her in the hospital.
Sean decided two things—Sam could fuck off and if Talia would even consider taking him back, he'd fight for her.
He jumped up and grabbed his keys, running out the door before he could talk himself out of it. When he arrived at the hospital, Sean had no trouble obtaining Talia's room number. Getting in to see her though? Not so easy. Keeping his knock quiet so as not to disturb her if she was sleeping, Sean rapped on the closed door. Muttering to himself that he had every right to be there and to check on Talia after yesterday, Sean shifted his weight from foot to foot as he waited outside the door.
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