Defender: A Stepbrother Romance

by Kira Ward

“How long has it been going on?” Her voice was flat, cold.

  Silence fell over the room for a long second. I slid closer to Crawford in my narrow chair, pressing my fingers closer to his as he continued to hold my hand. He glanced at me and smiled. It wasn’t a cheerful smile or even a happy smile, but it was a reassuring smile that told me that no matter what happened now, we were in it together.

  “What are you talking about?” my Dad stammered.

  You could see the reality of the situation washing over him. His eyes widened and then they narrowed. His hands clenched on the table, turning those lovely hands that could create the most beautiful detail on a sculpture into tight, hard fists. My father was not a violent man by any means. He would catch a spider rather than kill it—something that drove me nuts when I was a teenager—but violence rushed through him as understanding finally dawned in his eyes.

  “It’s only just begun,” Crawford said. “But we’ve loved each other for a very long time.”

  My heart skipped a beat when he used the word love. I wanted to kiss him right there and then. But instead my father exploded out of his chair and reached over the table, grabbing Crawford by the front of his shirt.

  “What the fuck are you trying to say?!” Spittle flew from his lips as anger transformed his face into something I no longer recognized. “I gave you a goddamn home, and now you repay me by screwing with my only daughter?”

  “Daddy!” I screamed.

  I grabbed his wrist as I found myself on my feet, trying to move between him and Crawford who was hanging halfway out of his chair. Mom was on her feet, too, standing behind my Dad as she tried to calm him. But he wasn’t going to be calmed.

  He jerked his arm without letting go of Crawford, but it was enough force to push me off balance. I fell back into my chair, crashing to the floor in a heap. At the same time, my father raised his fist and threatened to hit Crawford. But something stopped him at the last instant. I don’t know if he’d ever really intended to hit him. Crawford didn’t move, didn’t do anything to try to protect himself. He stood perfectly still, waiting for the moment of impact. But instead, Dad stopped himself just an instant before his fist buried itself into the side of Crawford’s jaw.

  He backed up, raising his hands to show Mom that he was done. There was no more violence in him, but he still didn’t know how to handle the situation. “I don’t know you,” he spat, pointing a finger at Crawford. “I thought I did. I thought you were that little boy who knew right from wrong. But I don’t know you. I don’t know this man who could do something so immoral, something so wrong, something so…” He stopped, clearly at a loss for words. Then his eyes fell on me, but such pain flashed through him that he couldn’t even look eye-to-eye. He shook his head in disgust, turned and left the room.

  Crawford was immediately rushed to my side, moving me away from the fallen chair.

  “Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head, too stunned to even try to figure out if I was telling the truth or not. I’d never seen my father so angry before. It frightened me more than I’d ever thought possible.

  Crawford pulled me into his arms and cradled me against his chest.

  “You two should probably go,” Mom said. The finality of her words was like the final slash of the knife. My heart shattered.

  Nothing was ever going to be the same again. We’d fallen in love, but we’d managed to hurt our family in the process.

  Twenty-Five

  Crawford

  I don’t know why I was still staring at that stuff. Maybe it was because I needed to keep my mind busy, or maybe it was just out of habit. Whatever the reason, I was sitting on the narrow couch in my hotel suite—we’d been staying there all weekend to avoid any more gossip making things worse—scrolling through more baby/cat/dog/feet pictures, searching for something on social media that might help with Eden’s case. I suppose there was still the small possibility that we would end up going to trial. That was why I hadn’t told Eden or Kendra anything about my meeting with Joel’s people. I didn’t want to get their hopes up and have those shyster lawyers fuck us over somehow.

  I had the check. I’d arranged for my bank back in New York to set it up with a local branch. All I had to do was go to the law offices of Turgess, Junger, Floyd and deliver it first thing the next morning.

  Eden, her eyes still a little puffy from all the crying she’d done since Friday night, came into the room. She settled onto the couch next to me, pulling at the ends of the shirt that she was wearing.

  “You should be sleeping,” I said as I dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

  “The bed’s too empty.”

  She looked at my laptop and tapped one of the pictures. “I’ve seen this before. Everyone has it on their Facebook page.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Is this what you do in the middle of the night? Look at other people’s pictures?”

  “I’m trying to see if anyone might have posted pictures of your accident on their social media pages.”

  “What are you using as the search parameters? Somehow, I don’t think the word accident would come up with a baby that adorable.”

  I glanced at her. “I don’t know. I just put in the name of the city, the street…”

  “Give it to me.”

  She took the laptop from me without waiting for my response. As I watched, she began to type in the search bar, putting in things I hadn’t even thought about. I’m a wiz at research, but social media sometimes baffled me. I’m on Facebook, but it’s mostly for business reasons, not to socialize.

  “Here,” she said after a minute. “Here’s something.”

  I moved close to her, peeking over her shoulder. And, sure enough, there was a picture of the all too familiar Bentley. I scrolled down and…fuck me! There it was. The proof I needed. It was right there all along. I wondered why the police didn’t find it. But then a closer look, and I realized that the pictures weren’t even posted until a few days ago. Whoever he was…Bernie Zenniger…he was my new best friend.

  “I have to make copies of this.” I jumped off the couch and headed toward the door.

  “Wait. What does this prove?”

  “It proves that it wasn’t your fault, babe. It proves that that asshole hit you. He was probably drunk and he probably never stopped at that fucking light.”

  “I didn’t hit him?” Her words were weak, filled with wonder.

  I put down the computer and went to her. “You, my love, were the victim this entire time.”

  “But I thought—“

  “His father is the police commissioner. They covered it up. And now, thanks to these pictures, I can prove it.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “Well, hell, thank God for Bernie, then.”

  I frowned. “You know this guy?”

  “It’s his fault I was even there that night. He was my blind date.”

  * * *

  I was on my way to Turgess, Junger, Floyd, not to make the payment as previously planned but to show them the report I was about to file with the Texas Rangers. It was only fair to give them a little bit of a heads up. But then I got a call from Kendra that sidelined me.

  “You’re never going to believe this,” she wailed, the excitement singing in her voice.

  “What?”

  “That cop? He shows up at my Mom’s house this morning with the blood alcohol tests from the night of the accident. And you know what else?”

  I pulled the SUV over to the side of the road so I could give her my full attention. “Tell me what they say.”

  “Listen, though. These? They’re the originals. They gave them to Officer Walker to destroy.”

  “You’re fucking kidding me!”

  “No. And he’s willing to testify to that fact. I guess what you said that night got through to him.”

  “There’s one on Joel?”

  “Yes. And he was more than over the legal limit. His test shows that he w
as 0.24 two hours after the accident!”

  I was too stunned to even react to that. The legal limit in the state of Texas was 0.08. He was at three times the legal limit. I’m not even sure how he was able to walk, let alone get behind the wheel of a car. Eden was lucky to be alive.

  “And Eden’s test?”

  “0.03.”

  I slammed my hand against the steering wheel, startling some woman walking on the sidewalk beside me when the horn blasted.

  “She was innocent, and they knew it.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “And now they’re going to pay for putting us through all this bullshit.”

  * * *

  I took everything I had to the Texas Rangers, including the pictures of the Bentley that clearly showed damage to the front end. The photographer, Bernie, some little accountant who was clearly not Eden’s type—I don’t know what Jeannie was thinking—was more than happy to offer an affidavit. He’d been sitting around waiting for someone to interview him. He introduced himself to the cops on the scene, told them he’d taken photos and was more than willing to testify for Eden. He didn’t understand why no one contacted him until I explained the situation. And then he nearly talked himself out of the whole thing when he realized just how much of a mess he’d gotten himself into.

  Officer Walker offered an affidavit, too.

  Two weeks later, the commissioner of police and sixteen of his officers were arrested. Not long after that, the district attorney and half his office resigned once the Texas Rangers started looking into their little regime.

  All charges against Eden, of course, were dropped the moment the judge got wind of the Texas Rangers’ investigation, and I merely tore up the check that was intended for the shady lawyers.

  There would be trials. I’d probably have to testify as would Kendra. But Eden was completely free of the entire mess.

  We flew to New York shortly after all the pressure had been lifted.

  I never imagined having a woman around my condo. I mean, I brought women there from time to time, and fucked them when the mood struck. But never the same girl more than once or twice. Never for longer than a night or two. I never thought I needed a woman in my life and didn’t want a woman messing with my belongings. But seeing Eden’s lotions scattered over my marble counter in the bathroom, her clothes tangled with mine in the laundry room…it felt nice.

  “We should buy a house.” I just announced it, not sure what I was thinking. But we were lying in bed, naked and spent, our bodies tangled together as we lay there in the aftermath of passionate lovemaking, and it just seemed right.

  “A house?”

  “Yeah. A nice house. With a brick exterior and plenty of room so I can have an office, and you can have an office, and we can still have room to play.”

  “A small house would be nice.”

  “I don’t know. Four bedrooms maybe.”

  “Four?”

  “Or maybe something bigger… Five should be good, don’t you think?”

  “Five?” She splayed her hand out on my chest and began to count off. “A master bedroom. An office for you. An office for me. A guest bedroom…that leaves a room.”

  “Well, you never know what the future might bring. Maybe we’ll need more than one guest room.”

  “Maybe. I guess would could have more than one guest at a time.”

  “Or there are other uses. We could put in a home gym. Or a game room.”

  “Or you could make me a sewing room. Mom’s been trying to teach me to sew for years. Maybe some of it will finally sink in.”

  “Or Maybe…” I ran my hand slowly down the length of her back. “Maybe we could turn it into a nursery.”

  “A nursery?” she muttered softly, a smile creeping across her face. “That’s a definite possibility.”

  I kissed the top of her head lightly. “If we’re going to start a new life together, buying a house would be a good plan. And I’ve done a little looking. The market is good around Lubbock right now.”

  “Lubbock is okay.” Her voice was mixed with disappointment.

  “Or perhaps a bit closer to home. I saw that the Bishop’s ranch is for sale again.”

  Eden sat up, her breasts rocking with excitement. “I love that house!”

  “I know. That’s why I’ve already put in an offer on it.”

  She squealed, dropping kisses all over my face as she tried to hug my head with both arms. “I can’t believe you did that!”

  “It kind of goes with this,” I said, sliding my fingers into the bedside table and pulling out a slender gold band with a pear cut diamond in the center.

  Eden immediately fell silent, and mist slowly filled her eyes as she studied the ring. She eventually reached for it but then pulled back again.

  “I can’t,” she gasped before climbing out of bed and weaving her way around the boxes that filled the room.

  I had gone back to New York to resolve things at my firm and pack. Eden came with me, because the idea of being apart for the few weeks that preparations would take was more than either of us could bear. I decided to open a new law firm in Lubbock. I already had my first client, a young woman who’d read about me in the newspaper and asked me to handle her wrongful termination suit against the local hospital district. And Eden…she was going to help out around the office, act as a sort of assistant so that Kendra would be free to concentrate on the research and investigation she’d proven to be so good at in Eden’s case. But only temporarily until she decided what else she wanted to do. She’d always fancied a job involving literature.

  But, I also knew that she would be busy with other things very soon. I’d have to be blind to miss the positive pregnancy test she’d shoved to the bottom of the waste basket that same morning.

  That wasn’t why I’d proposed. I’d been planning it for a while. In fact, I went out and bought the ring the day everything imploded on her case. I just hadn’t been able to find the right moment. And apparently I had picked the wrong time.

  I climbed out of bed and tripped into a pair of sweats before I followed her into the kitchen. She was standing at the refrigerator, her hand shaking as she searched through the minimal contents for a bottle of water.

  “What’s the matter, Eden?”

  She shook her head but remained silent.

  “I know you want to be with me. We’ve made too many plans for you to pretend you don’t love me now.”

  “It’s not that,” she said, a little panic in her eyes as she looked at me. “Really, I do love you. And I want to spend the rest of our lives together.”

  “Then what?”

  “I just…” She shook her head, but I knew. And I felt like an ass for not figuring it out immediately.

  It was Alistair. Dad.

  He hadn’t been talking to her. In fact, he wouldn’t be in the same room with her since he found out about the two of us. We went to the house to let our parents know about the Rangers’ investigation and everything that had happened. Mom was there alone at first, and she was relieved for Eden. But she flinched each time Eden touched me or I reached for her. But she didn’t comment, didn’t ask us awkward questions, didn’t do anything that suggested she couldn’t get past the knowledge that we were together. But then Dad arrived home.

  He demanded that we leave as soon as he opened the door. He screamed for us to get out of the house. It was…I don’t think there’s anything comparable to the way it felt.

  Here was the man who taught me how men can have gentle hands. He taught me that a little patience goes a long way. He helped me through the nightmares that lingered far too long after my biological father, and he was the first man in my life who made me feel safe. It was agonizing to be the target of his wrath.

  And if it was that hard for me, I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for Eden.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” I sighed, pulling her into my arms. “I didn’t think.”

  “I just…I keep hoping he’ll come around.”

  “He w
ill.”

  But even as I said it, I wasn’t entirely sure.

  Twenty-Six

  Eden

  Six months seems like such a long time, but it really wasn’t.

  In six months, Crawford left his job in New York and moved back home.

  In six months, we bought a house and decorated it together without killing each other.

  In six months, he won his first three cases with his new firm and was well on the way to winning five more.

  In six months, my father had made no effort to speak to me.

  That last one seemed like a lifetime.

  I’d tried greeting cards. I’d tried phone calls. I’d tried emails and text messages. I even posted on his professional Facebook page out of desperation.

  He ignored them all.

  I didn’t know what else to do. So there I was, rolling out of the very practical, very safe Chevy Suburban Crawford bought for me. My body was no longer my own. The pregnancy was only at twenty weeks, but I felt like I’d gone from a healthy, fit young woman to an ambling old lady in the stretch of that time. And I still had a few months to go.

  Mom was standing on the porch when I pulled up to my parent’s house. She had mercy on me and came down to meet me on the driveway. We hugged for a long minute as though we hadn’t just seen each other a few days ago. She, unlike my father, had come to realize that Crawford and I were incredibly happy together, and she was thrilled to be an expectant grandmother. She was a regular visitor to our house, and we were more than happy to have her, especially when she brought food. I’m not a cook. I don’t pretend to be a cook. Poor Crawford would starve if not for his mother’s mercy.

  “Does he know I’m here?”

  Mom shook her head. “I didn’t tell him, as promised.”

  “I just…”

  She touched my cheek lightly. “I understand. And if he won’t listen to you, then he’s not the man I believe him to be.”

  I took a deep breath and turned toward the barn where my father had his workshop. I knew he was in there; I could hear the sound of the vacuum that he used to collect dust when he was shaping a new piece of stone or wood. Mom rubbed my back between my shoulder blades.