by L. A. Casey
I knew she would be a challenge, and I was so pumped for it.
I rose slowly from my seat, and teased, “I warmed it up for you.”
“Be sure to thank your arse for me,” she said as she moved past me and sat down in the seat I just vacated. She put her bag on the chair where Damien had been sitting and tugged it close. It was obvious she was stating that no one was to sit next to her, and that amused the fuck out of me.
I laughed a little as I turned and followed Damien down to a row of tables in the back of the classroom. Another girl with long black hair was getting something out of her bag and happened to look up at me as I sat down at the table behind her.
“What’s her problem?” I asked her, making sure my voice was loud enough for Bronagh to hear.
“Who? Bronagh? Nothin’,” the black-haired girl replied. “She just doesn’t like attention or people that much. She prefers to be by ‘erself.”
“She doesn’t like people?” I repeated. “Is there something wrong with her?”
If she was a psychopath, there was no way I was investing time in her. I didn’t care how perfect her ass was. I had enough shit in my life to deal with without having an insane girl put me on her hit list.
“I’m sure there are many things wrong with me accordin’ to you, but I assure ye’ pretty boy,” Bronagh said aloud, without turning around. “Me hearin’ is perfectly fine.”
A few people chuckled, and even I grinned. She was ballsy, I had to give her that.
“Inside voice, bro.” Damien teased.
While she amused me, I wasn’t about to let her insult me ... She’d probably think I was some pussy assed pushover otherwise.
“Pretty boy?” I repeated, my voice gruff. “Who does that bitch think she is talking to?”
“Okay, less of that,” Miss McKesson said, standing up once she heard the word bitch. “Bronagh, these lads are our new students, all the way from the United States of America.”
Bronagh twirled her finger around in the air. “Go US of A.”
Miss McKesson bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head.
“The Slater boys are twins, obviously. It’s easy to tell them apart with them havin’ different hair colour. Nico has brown hair, and Damien has blond hair, well, more white than blond.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that miss, thank you.”
Miss McKesson introduced Bronagh then.
“And this lovely lady, lads, is Bronagh Murphy.”
“It’s a pleasure, Miss Murphy.”
“I seriously doubt that, Mr. Slater,” Bronagh replied, making the class laugh.
“Okay, back to whatever it was that you were all doin’ before Bronagh came to class,” Miss McKesson said with a wave of her hand.
Not a second later, more questions fired left, right, and centre from the girls to myself and Damien. Every girl except Bronagh and the black-haired girl in front of us. I was about to reach forward so I could touch her shoulder and ask for her name, but Damien was way ahead of me. The girl looked around when he tapped her shoulder, and she raised a brow in silent question.
“I’m Damien Slater,” he said. “And you are?”
“Alannah Ryan,” she replied with a smile. “Nice to meet ye’.”
Fuck, she was cute. Damien thought so too, the fact that he was blocked out every other girl in the room told me that Alannah would most likely be a girl he had some fun with. I turned my attention from their mundane conversation and focused on Bronagh who was unwinding the wire of her earphones from around an iPod. I watched as she called our teacher.
“Miss?”
When Miss McKesson looked at Bronagh, she shook her iPod at her. The teacher nodded, clearly giving her silent permission to listen music, and that interested me.
“Shit, you’re allowed to listen to iPods here?” I asked Alannah.
“Huh?” she said, looked from Damien to me to Bronagh and back again. “Oh no, just Bronagh. She gets ‘er work done every day, so she is allowed to listen to it as long as the volume is low.”
She was a goody two-shoes, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to draw out the bad girl in her. I clasped my hands together at the back of my head and stared at her. Since she sat down, she hadn’t turned to look at me, not once. She didn’t seem to give a fuck about me, and I liked that. It was a different tune than what I was used to when it came to a girl I wanted to have some fun with, but it didn’t put me off her. It enticed me that much more. I wanted her, and I was prepared to do whatever I had to do to have her so she’d willingly beg me to explore her thick body.
“You’re being weird,” Damien said to me, nudging my shoulder with his. “She doesn’t like you, Dominic, so leave her alone. Did you see how she looked at you when she came to the table? She looks like she’ll try to kick your ass if you press her.”
Exactly. She kept to herself, didn’t look at anyone, and put ear phones in to block the world out. When she looked at me, it really did feel like she had no interest in me, and stupidly, that excited the hell out of me. I wanted her, and because it appeared that I couldn’t have her, my mind and body focused on her entirely.
“My guy.” I grinned as I looked at my brother. “I want her, and I always get what I want. You know that.”
“I don’t know, man.” Damien sighed. “Something tells me this girl will be a whole lot of trouble for you.”
“I agree,” I said, my eyes sliding back to her as she sat hunched over her notebook. “That’s why it’s gonna be so much fun.”
CHAPTER SIX
Eighteen Years Old ...
I can’t fucking believe I thought bagging this girl was gonna be fun.
I glared down at my opponent that I had just beat bloody, and I felt slightly bad for him. He could fight—there was no doubt about that—but I had too much anger and aggression in me thanks to Bronagh Murphy to let him off the platform in anything other than bad shape. The girl had my head all kinds of messed up, and what was worse was that I still wanted her more than my next breath. She was hot for me one minute, then cold the next. It was driving me crazy ... She was driving me crazy.
I turned to the cheering crowd, and my eyes found her instantly. She was staring up at me with wide doe eyes and her mouth hanging open. I shocked her with my performance, and that pleased the fuck out of me, so I grinned down at her. It took her zero seconds to snap out of her trance and mouth, “Fuck you,” at me. Inside, I was seething that she had so much anger towards me, but on the outside, I winked at her to show her she didn’t bother me when, in reality, everything she did bothered me.
After I jumped down from the platform, I checked on Drake, the guy I had fought. Once I was sure he was okay, we hugged to show what happened on the platform stayed on the platform, and I went to the back rooms to shower and change into regular clothes. When I finished, I re-entered the club and found the crowd screaming and cheering for the current fighters on the platform beating the shit out of one another. I rolled my eyes over the bodies of people who came for blood, and I was surprised to find Bronagh and Branna right in the mix, cheering and clapping just like everyone else.
“Interesting,” I said to myself as I walked back towards the booth reserved for my brothers and me.
They were all there, and Alec had his nightly conquests on either side of him. A woman and a man who both looked infatuated with him. Kane was sitting in the middle of the booth with his arms folded over his chest and his glaring eyes roamed around the room. Damien was on his phone, and Ryder ... well, big brother had his eyes locked on the eldest Murphy sister, and I could have sworn he wasn’t blinking.
Seems I’m not the only one who a Murphy girl has messed up.
“Branna’s right hook is better than most fighters I’ve faced.”
Ryder didn’t smile or acknowledge what I said as I sat down next to him. My other brothers greeted me, congratulated me on a fight well won, then announced they wanted to go home. Just then, the lights of the club came on, an
d Kane looked so relived as he jumped to his feet. Alec’s play things kissed him goodbye and left the booth with pouts.
“Why didn’t you bring them home?”
“I already fucked them both earlier,” he answered with a shrug. “I don’t like to double dip.”
I laughed and shook my head. My attention went back to Ryder who was on his feet. I followed his eyes and saw they were still locked on Branna and Bronagh who were stumbling towards the exit of the club. I shook my head at the pair of them. They were both trying to hold the other up and were failing miserably.
Without a word, my brothers and I walked towards the exit. Alec was giving invitations to certain people to come to our house for a party. I looked at him as we climbed the stairs, and said, “I hate house parties.”
“It’ll be fun,” my brother replied. “I invited that guy you fought and his team.”
“And who else?”
“A few others.”
That meant a lot of others.
I shook my head and breathed in a deep breath when we got outside. I searched for Branna and Bronagh, and when I spotted them talking to Drake, the guy whose ass I whooped, I stalked towards them, wondering if I’d have to beat the shit out of him again when he said something to make Bronagh laugh. When I came up behind her, my eyes went to her butt, before I looked over her head and locked eyes with a grinning Drake. I caught the end of their conversation, and my lips twitched when I realised Bronagh was making it known that we hated each other and that she wouldn’t be allowed come to the party at our house.
“I’m sure Nico won’t mind ye’ comin’.”
Bronagh chuckled.
“No, seriously,” she stressed, “he would mind.”
“I wouldn’t mind at all, pretty girl.”
Bronagh froze, then said, “Go fuck yourself, Dominic.”
Drake raised his eyebrows, and asked, “Is she your missus, man?”
Bronagh cackled with laughter.
“His missus?” she said with distaste. “In his fu-fuckin’ dreams—”
“Yeah,” I cut her off. “She’s mine.”
She was mine, and deep down, she fucking knew it.
I hardly noticed when Drake departed because I was too concentrated on the little spitfire who whirled around to face me. She looked like she was trying to glare at me and my brothers, but her drunkenness made it seem like she was just making eyes at me. She lifted her free hand that wasn’t wrapped around Branna and pointed it at my face. I folded my arms across my chest, fully aware that she was going to cuss me out.
“Ye’ little cock sucker, I am not yours,” she declared. “I am no-not anythin’ to ye’, and if ye’ so much as hint that I am again, I’ll—”
She cut herself off when Branna suddenly heaved. I watched as Bronagh struggled to hold her sister up.
“No, Branna, don’t do this,” she pleaded. “Don’t you pu-puke on me or die. I can’t carry ye’ home. I’m we-weak as shite!”
When my brothers and I chuckled, she looked up and glared daggers at us.
“Fuck all of ye’ ... except you, Damien. You’re ni-nice.”
Damien laughed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Give me her,” Ryder said to Bronagh. “I’ll carry her back to the house.”
Bronagh stared up at my brother and shook her head. “Eh, no, she thinks you’re a pr-prick—as do I—and will punch ye’ if she realises you’re wi-with ‘er.”
Ryder’s lips twitched as he looked down at Branna as he said, “I’ll take my chances.”
My brother took Branna in his arms, and it left Bronagh to sway at little, so I stepped forward and steadied her.
“I got you.”
She opened her pretty green eyes and stared up at me.
“Let. Me. Go.”
“Okay,” I did as demanded, only to grab her again when her knees buckled from under her. I chuckled and hoisted her against my body. “It looks like you need me, pretty girl.”
“I don’t even look pr-pretty.”
I smiled down at her as I lifted her bridal style and placed a kissed on her forehead as she snuggled against my chest. As I walked towards the parking lot with her in my arms, she was mumbling about my brothers and I cutting her and her sister up into tiny pieces, which made me shake my head. I laughed, however, when she said, “Except Damien. He won’t help them because he is nice.”
When I climbed into the back of our car, I cuddled Bronagh against me, and I was very aware that having her body snug against mine with her arms around me and her head on my chest made me feel the most content I had ever felt in my life. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I was falling for this girl ... and she fucking hated me.
That summed up my life in a nutshell.
When we got back to our house, people were arriving for the party that Alec invited everyone to. Bronagh was in and out of consciousness. She kept telling me she wanted to sleep in my bed with me, and though I knew it would most likely kill me, I gave into her and brought her up to my room. She fell onto my bed, and I loved how perfect she looked even though her makeup was smeared, her hair was all over the place, and she was as drunk as a skunk.
I didn’t dare remove her dress, so instead, I took off her high heels, then settled her under the covers. I removed my clothes and left my boxer shorts on as I climbed into my bed next to her. She rolled over almost instantly and wrapped her body around mine. My cock hardened, but I didn’t focus on it. I focused on Bronagh and just how much I loved having her in my bed.
When she suddenly opened her eyes and looked at me, I swallowed. There was no anger or frustration in her luminous eyes, just a vulnerability I had never seen before. At this moment in time, her guard was down, and she looked so damn tired from fighting with me.
“Ye’ scare me, Dominic.”
I frowned. “I would never hurt you, Bronagh.”
“Yeah, ye’ would.” She yawned. “If I loved ye’ and ye’ left me, it’d break me heart.”
I realised she was talking about emotional hurt and not physical pain.
“Is that the only reason you don’t want me?”
She nodded and said, “I want ye’ so bad it hurts, but it’d hurt way worse if I lost ye’.”
“Bronagh, I want you too.”
She hummed.
“I dream about ye’,” she said just as her eyes drifted shut. “Ye’ do baaadd things to me.”
“Sweet Jesus,” I said as she hooked her leg over my thighs, slung her arm over my torso, and rested her face against my neck. “You’re killing me, baby.”
She hummed in response, and I knew she was already on her way into a deep sleep.
I stared at her while she slept, and I was very aware that I felt an enormity of happiness by simply holding her. She was as sexy as she was beautiful but holding her at that moment was nothing sexual, and that scared the shit out of me. I never had an interest in a girl past her looks and whether or not I could fuck her, but with Bronagh, it was so much more than that. I had never gotten stupid butterflies from just holding a girl before. I never held one all night in my bed .... In fact, a girl was never in my bed for anything other than sex.
I reached out and ran the tips of my fingers over her creamy, soft skin.
“What are you doing to me, pretty girl?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Eighteen Years Old ...
I was a hot-headed asshole.
My entire body was tense as I drove Bronagh to the hospital. I was so mad at myself for acting like a dramatic little bitch when Kane called me and told me Bronagh and Gavin Collins were looking mighty comfortable in McDonald’s. Like my brother knew I would, I took the bait, showed up, and fought Gavin for no other reason than he liked Bronagh and had her attention. I was possessive of her, and as I glanced at her, I knew I’d have to change my ways because she had gotten hurt and that was absolutely unacceptable.
“Are you okay?”
She jerked her head in my direction. “Does it look
like I’m okay?”
No, she looked like she was in pain, and it turned my stomach.
When I didn’t answer her, she yelled, “Answer me!”
I sighed. “No, because you’re just going to yell at me no matter what I say, so I’m keeping my mouth shut.”
She grunted. “That’d be a fuckin’ first.”
When I didn’t reply again, I felt her look at me, and it drew a laugh from me.
“I’m not going to argue with you, babe, so stop trying to bait me.”
She sounded murderous when she hissed, “I’m not your babe.”
A sharp pain jolted across my chest.
“I forgot,” I said with a forced smile. “Sorry.”
She shook her head at me, then looked down at the hand she had cradled to her chest.
“God, this hurts so bad.”
One glance at her face told me she was about to cry, and it tore me apart inside.
“Bronagh, please don’t cry.”
She sniffled. “I can’t help it. It really hurts.”
“I know, but we’re almost at the hospital,” I assured her. “I’ll make them fix it, okay?”
I watched as she rooted for her phone from her bag, and I exhaled a deep breath when she put it to her ear. She whimpered in pain, and I heard Branna’s voice as clear as day as she began shouting.
“Bronagh? Baby? What is it? What’s wrong? Did Gavin hurt you? I’ll fuckin’ kill ‘im—”
“Branna, shut up.” Bronagh cut her off with a cry. “Gavin didn’t hurt me, but I am hurt, and I’m on my way to the hospital.”
“The hospital?” her sister shrieked. “Why? What happened? Are ye’ okay?”
