Brothers

by L. A. Casey

  “Bronagh!”

  She stirred

  “Bee?” I urged, pulling my aching body towards her. “Wake up, please.”

  She groaned out loud as she woke up. She sat upright, winced in pain, and lifted her hand to her head. When she looked at her palm and saw there was blood on it, she frowned.

  “What happened?”

  I pulled myself into a sitting position and put my arm around her waist. She jumped as she looked my way, and she relaxed when she realised it was me, but only for a moment.

  “Damien,” she whimpered. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded as she began to cry.

  “I’m sorry for everythin’ I said to ye’.” She sobbed. “You’re still a dick, but what I said was wrong.”

  I chuckled. “Shut up, Bee. You were right about everything you said, and I only reacted the way I did because I knew it was true, and I hated it. I never want to be like my parents, and the shit I’ve being doing just proves that I am.”

  Bronagh frowned at me.

  “I don’t set out to break hearts. I actually don’t set out to have anything to do with hearts at all, but some girls get attached to me. I swear I never meant to hurt Alannah. I know this will make me sound like a prick. I am a prick, but I just wanted to be with her in the only way I know how to be. She’s different.”

  She tilted her head. “Is that your cryptic way of sayin’ ye’ like Alannah?”

  I nodded.

  Bronagh sighed, then looked around. “I can’t believe I was knocked out.”

  Neither could I. I lifted my hands to my face and felt how swollen it was. Whoever knocked me out had beat me while I was unconscious and unable to defend myself.

  “Tell me about it,” I growled. “They did this to me after I was knocked out, the fucking pussies.”

  Bronagh winced. “The back of me head is throbbin’. It’s bleedin’ as well.”

  I checked the back of her head. “It’s not a deep cut, and it’s starting to clot. I can see all the dried blood.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “Who hit you? Marco?” I asked. “I saw his face before I was hit.”

  She looked at me, her eyes widening. “It wasn’t Marco, Damien ... it was Trent.”

  My heart stopped. “Trent Miles?”

  Bronagh nodded. “He isn’t dead. Marco said he just pretended he was so that he could hold the threat of killin’ ye’ over your brothers’ heads. He lied to you all, Damien.”

  I felt like I was about to be sick.

  “For the past three and a half years, I’ve seen his face every night when I’ve gone to sleep. I was convinced he was haunting me for what I did to him, but now I realise it’s all just been in my head.”

  Bronagh touched my arm. “Ye’ can let go of all that now.”

  My mouth was dry. “Is he really alive?”

  Laughter from the doorway caused us to look in that direction. I turned my head, and for a moment, I thought I was looking at a ghost until I realise it wasn’t a ghost, it was a living, breathing person.

  “I’m really alive,” Trent announced as he approached me, grinning wickedly. “Did you miss me, buddy?”

  A range of emotions flooded me at that moment.

  “It looks like I’ve got to work on my aim.”

  Trent patted the space between my shoulder and chest. “I’m glad you have shit aim. Things wouldn’t have worked out for me the way they have otherwise.”

  I pushed myself to my feet but froze when Trent pulled a gun and aimed it at me.

  “Oh, déjà vu.” He cackled. “Does this scene remind you of something, bro?”

  Bronagh got to her feet and grabbed my arm. “Leave us alone.”

  Trent grinned. “Can’t do that, baby. Uncle Marco wants to have a chat.”

  He gestured for us to exit the room with the gun, and we walked where he pointed without question. When we stepped into the hallways of Darkness, confusion gripped me. I kept my mouth shut as Bronagh and I walked ahead of Trent out of the hallway and into the nightclub. We came to a stop at a booth were Marco Miles was receiving a lap dance. Bronagh looked around the room, clocking Marco’s men, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he sent the woman away.

  “You let me believe I killed him!”

  Marco nodded. “I did.”

  I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck.

  “Just to keep my family in the business?”

  Marco shrugged as he lit up a cigarette, inhaled, then exhaled, and blew the smoke in our direction, causing Bronagh to cough.

  “Your brothers were born for this line of work, literally,” he said, his lip quirked. “I’ve heard lately that you have a way of getting pussy by just blinking. I could tie you into what Alec does if you’re interested? Brothers on Demand, it will be my, or your, next big hit.”

  Marco, Trent, and the two men across the room chuckled at this, so I glowered at them.

  “You’re nothin’ but a scumbag!”

  I stood in front of Bronagh after she insulted Marco, and it made him laugh.

  “Calm down, blondie,” he said to me. “I’m not going to touch your brother’s bit on the side.”

  “He will kill you for this. I hope you know that. Dragging me here was strike one, knocking Bronagh out was strike two, and using her life as a bargaining chip to keep him in the business is strike fucking three.”

  Marco thought he knew my brothers and what they were capable of, but he had no fucking clue the lengths we would go to protect one another.

  “I can be very persuasive, Damien.”

  I shook my head. “You won’t be able to talk your way out of this one or make up some bullshit story like you did with Trent. We aren’t the same people you took advantage of back in New York.”

  The muscles in Marco’s jaw rolled from side to side. “You’re the men you are today because I fucking made you that way!”

  “Which is exactly why this is going to blow up in your face,” I countered. “We know all the tricks of your trades. Each one of my brothers knows the ins and outs of how you do business. They do all your work while you sit back and reap the rewards. You would be nothing without them!”

  “Nothing?” Marco roared. “Who the fuck built up this empire? Me!”

  I laughed. “You and my dad until it went to your heads. His head is full of lead now and, trust me when I say, soon, so will yours.”

  Marco wanted to hurt me—I could see it in his eyes—but just as quick as he got angry, he laughed and calmed himself down.

  “I guess this side of him was what that little chinky bitch loved so much.”

  I stared at Marco, then at Trent when he said, “She only liked him for his hair colour, which is exactly why I put a blond wig in my hole with her. No one can ever say I gave the bitch nothing.”

  I close my eyes and dread filled me.

  “Who did you bury in Trent’s grave if he is here?”

  No one answered me.

  “Who did you bury if he is alive?”

  I opened my eyes when Marco said, “That little Asian chick you were dating or fucking. What was her name? Gala? She came to the house looking for you the day after the ‘incident’ and walked in on Trent being treated by a doc. Of course, I couldn’t let her walk out of there alive. She would have told you Trent was alive, and then I wouldn’t have been able to cash in on Dominic’s talent. Your brothers running shit for me was a plus, but getting Dominic where I wanted him was my true prize.” He chuckled. “After I saw the CCTV footage of him attacking Trent before you shot him, I knew your brother was a born fighter. Another plus was that kid’s body was the weight I needed for the coffin that was for Trent. She probably weighed as much as him back then.”

  I couldn’t focus.

  “You killed Nala and buried her in Trent’s grave?”

  “Nala, that’s her name!” Marco snapped his fingers. “Cute little chick, put up quite a fight.”

  I rushed forward, intending to kill Marco
where he sat, but I wasn’t fast enough. From my left, a man blindsided me and rammed the butt of his gun into my face, bringing me to my knees.

  “Damien!”

  My vision swayed as I stumbled to my feet. I turned and watched as another man was dragging Bronagh away by her hair.

  “Let her go!”

  The man who had Bronagh pressed her to the floor, and rammed his knee against her neck, pinning her there.

  “Matt, I need her alive,” Marco hissed. “Nico won’t be reasoned with if she is dead!”

  Bronagh gasped and choked for air when Matt moved his body off her completely. I rushed to her side and helped her to her feet seconds later. She looked up at me and whimpered. I felt blood drip from my nose, one of my eyes was swollen shut, and I knew I had cuts and bruises all over my face. She reached up and ran her fingers over the swelling before whimpering and leaning into me. I pulled her against my chest and swayed her from side to side.

  “It’s going to be okay, Bee.” I gently kissed her head. “He will come for us.”

  There was no way in hell that Dominic wouldn’t come for us. He always protected me, and now, he protected Bronagh, too.

  “Are you fucking your brother’s girl, D?” Trent asked, chortling. “That would be boss if you were.”

  My hold on Bronagh tightened. “Don’t.”

  Trent snickered. “Always the protector of females. That particular trait had you swimming in pussy when we were kids. I’m glad to see nothing has changed.”

  Bronagh tensed in my arms. “He is a good person, you fuckin’ prick. He doesn’t need a reason to keep people safe!”

  Trent’s eyes roamed over Bronagh in a way that twisting my stomach into knots.

  “Say fucking one more time, baby.”

  Bronagh glared at him. “You’re a vile creature.”

  Trent narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t seen anything yet, baby. Let’s see what names you call me after I fuck that smart mouth right out of you.”

  I pushed her behind me. “You touch her, and I will kill you for real this time!”

  “Oh, I’ll be touching her. I seem to have a need to fuck Slater bitches,” Trent taunted. “Nala was a fighter, but I’m betting little Irish here will give me one hell of a time.”

  My body went rigid.

  “You said you killed her,” I said to Marco.

  “I never said that,” he answered. “I said I couldn’t let her leave my house alive. She did die that day but not by my hand. She died by his.”

  Trent looked proud of himself, happy even.

  “I knew you loved her, and after she rejected me, what better revenge could I get on you for almost killing me? Killing your heart, of course. She screamed as well, so loud I almost wanted to cap her before I was even finished fucking her, but I didn’t. I got a shot at all her holes before I blew her mind. Literally.”

  No one was quick enough to stop me from getting to my target this time. I slammed into Trent and knocked us both to the ground. I raised my hand and rapidly punched Trent in the face until hands yanked me off him.

  “She was ten weeks pregnant!” I screamed, violently trying to reach Trent again. “I’ll kill you for this!”

  Trent got to his feet and rubbed the blood away from his nose and mouth. “So I killed your bitch and your kid? Fuck me, talk about killing two birds with one stone, or one bullet as it was.”

  I roared and attempted to attack him again, but the arms around me kept me still. All the focus was on me, so everyone was surprised when Bronagh suddenly charged at Trent. She jumped on him and punched, slapped, and dug her nails into his face, making him scream. Satisfaction filled me as she hurt him. When he knocked her off his body and kicked her in the stomach, I roared for him to stop, but he didn’t listen to me.

  “I’m going to make you scream, bitch. You will see how much of a vile creature I can fucking be.”

  Trent attempted to hit Bronagh again, but Marco moved next to him and grabbed his raised arm.

  “Enough! I need her alive. How many times do I have to fucking say that?”

  Trent slowly lowered his arm. “But Uncle—”

  “No buts. You can have the other one. This one belongs to Nico, and I need him, and he needs her, so she is off-limits. Do you understand that, boy?” Marco asked Trent, his gaze now a glare.

  Trent swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

  The men who were holding me suddenly released me, and I dropped to my knees, agony flowing through my veins.

  “If you keep it together for the rest of this meeting, then you can have this one to play with.”

  Someone was dragged into the room, and I had no idea who it was until Bronagh screamed, “Alannah!” She crawled over to her body and felt her neck for a pulse.

  “Is she alive?” I asked, panicked.

  “Yes,” she called back as she gathered Alannah into her arms and glared at Marco as if daring him to touch her.

  He laughed. “I like you, kiddo. You have heart, but I’m not sure if that makes you brave or stupid.”

  “Probably both,” Bronagh replied.

  He winked. “I definitely like you.”

  “Yeah, well I fuckin’ hate you!”

  Marco snorted. “You wouldn’t be the first or the last to hate me, kiddo.”

  I crawled over to the girls and put my body in front of theirs. Trent was laughing at our little huddle but stopped when he heard the noise of gunshots come from the stairway entrance to Darkness. The doors were slightly open, allowing us to hear them. Bronagh reached for my arm and gave it a squeeze.

  Marco grinned. “The Slater brothers are here.”

  Trent moved into the shadows to my left while Marco’s men drew guns from inside their coats. Marco, too, took out a handgun. Twenty seconds passed before the doors to the entrance of the stairway were fully kicked open. I was relieved when Dominic, Ryder, Alec, and Kane all walked in with guns in their hands. They didn’t raise and point them at anyone, though, because Marco and his men had their guns pointed at us.

  Dominic locked eyes on Bronagh, and I could tell from one look that he was willing to move mountains to make her safe.

  “Let my brother, my girl, and her friend go, and I won’t make you suffer when I kill you.”

  Marco laughed as he sat down in the booth. “You haven’t seen me in months, and that is the greeting you give your uncle?”

  “You’re nothing to us!” Kane growled.

  I looked at Bronagh when her body began to droop.

  “She’s going to go any minute,” Matt said to Marco.

  “Put her up here then.”

  I took hold of Alannah’s unconscious body as Matt lifted Bronagh to her feet and held onto her as he moved her over to the booth where Marco was sitting. She instantly slumped forward onto the table, and Dominic’s roar made me jump.

  “Give it a rest, bro.” Trent’s voice sang merrily. “She took a knock to the head, but she is okay.”

  “Trent?” my brothers said in unison.

  “Happy to see me?”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Alec demanded.

  “I’ll tell you,” I growled. “Marco lied when he said I killed Trent. He just wanted an easy way to pull you four deep into the business, and when you guys offered to work for him to protect me, it was the perfect opportunity.”

  “We buried the little prick, though,” Ryder’s voice snapped.

  “No,” I said, my voice hollow. “We buried Nala. Trent killed her when she found out he wasn’t really dead.”

  The room filled with silence until Trent said, “And the slut was pregnant with his kid as well. Talk about shit luck for her.”

  “Pregnant?”

  I nodded when my brothers looked my way.

  “She told me the day Mom and Dad were killed.”

  “That was why you’ve been distant?” Dominic asked. “Not because of Mom and Dad but because of Nala?”

  “I thought she fucking left on purpose with my kid, so yeah, I�
�d been messed up about that, but now I know she is dead and so is my kid. Having this prick haunting me every night because I thought I had killed him wasn’t fun either.”

  “Does that make me the man of your dreams, D?” Trent taunted.

  All focus was on Trent, and again, Bronagh blindsided everyone when she snatched Marco’s gun from under his nose and pointed it at him.

  “Damn, Irish, you sure know how to play a man.”

  Bronagh looked close to collapsing.

  “Tell your men to back off or I swear to God, I will pull this trigger and kill ye’,” she warned. “I’m not afraid to do it.”

  “Stay where you are!” one of Marco’s men growled.

  “Unless you want your boss’s brains all over the place, I’d advise you to let me go to my girl or she will kill him,” Dominic said, lowly. “Trust me on that.”

  Trent moved closer to the booth. “She’s bluffing. She doesn’t have it in her to pull that trigger.”

  “I wouldn’t put money on that,” Kane said.

  “Hey, pretty girl,” Dominic said as he slid into the booth next to Bronagh whose hands were shaking.

  “I could kill ‘im and make all this go away. I could do it.”

  She kept her eyes on Marco as she spoke.

  “I know you can, baby, but this piece of shit isn’t worth it.”

  He reached for her, but she leaned away from him.

  “He wants to take ye’ away from me, and I won’t let ‘im.” She hissed. “You’re mine, not his!”

  Dominic got close enough to kiss her shoulder, and whatever he whispered made Bronagh cry.

  “Give me the gun,” he urged. “That’s it, good girl.”

  Bronagh had slowly started to lower her arm when a bang suddenly sounded. She screamed and instinctively pulled the trigger on the gun, causing an even louder bang. I flinched, then rolled Alannah’s body under mine when more gunshots went off around the room. Minutes passed, but when everything went silent, I sat up and darted my eyes around the room. When I saw Marco’s men were down, and all of my brothers were standing, I nearly collapsed with relief.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Bronagh said gaining my attention. “I got a fright and—”

  “Bronagh!” Dominic snapped. “It’s okay, baby. It’s going to be okay.”

  “We’re going to go to prison. Those men—”