PUSH: Ultra Alpha MMA Badboy Mafia Romance (Southside Brotherhood Book 2)

by Wyatt, Dani

  “I’m going to tell you something,” Topher continued. “And you better tell that fuck of a brother of yours. Some things will not go unpunished. Even in our world. Some things, you have to pay for, you get me? You boys better rethink your father’s business strategy, got it?”

  “That’s it? That’s the only reason? Mac showed you the info I gave him?”

  “Yep.”

  “I’m going to marry her. I’ll take her away if I have to,” Flynn said, shifting gears to what mattered to him most.

  “I know you will. She needs to be a Dunleavy; that was the deal. I expect you to make it right, boy. Got it? I’ve not been there for her when I should, but—” Topher coughed before he caught his words and continued. “I’m gonna tell you something…”

  He looked out the blackened window, the car still humming under them.

  “I loved her mother. Like you love her. I have a heart. I’m not going to fuck with her life anymore. You take care of her, and we won’t have a problem. But, I’m going to be here, if she chooses to come to me, I’ll be here from now on.”

  “Why’d you never take care of her before?” Flynn wasn’t sure he even wanted to know but the question just tumbled out.

  Topher drummed his sausage fingers on his knees for a moment.

  “Because I was young and stupid and bitter. Then, time passed and I was a hard hearted fuck. Told myself it was just how it was done. I never tried to find out how they were, what kind of life they had. That’s on me now, I doubt Lilly will ever forgive me, but if she ever wants something between us, I’m going to be here for her. I can’t fix the past, but I’ll try to be here now. It’s up to her. I’m not going to push.”

  “I need something from you.”

  “What?” Topher narrowed his eyes. It was obvious his torch was not carried for Flynn.

  “It’s important. It’s not for me; it’s for her.”

  Chapter Forty-one

  “What?” Lilly looked exasperated.

  “It’s yours.”

  “How? I mean, what’s going—”

  “There is a lot going on babe, but right now, you just need to be happy. It’s the first of a lot of good news coming. Just be patient.”

  She kept looking at the signed deed to Mac’s lake house in her hand, then back to Flynn, eyes wide, pushing the same piece of hair back behind her ear five times.

  “Babe, take a breath. Everything is going to be okay. I told you. Now, pack up ‘cause I have some plans for your ass.”

  “You cannot be serious. I see that look in your eyes, Flynn Dunleavy. I know what you want.”

  “I want what’s mine. Come on, I’ve got a major hard on right now, and you are the only thing I need.”

  After a couple rounds of ass up, face down, Flynn could feel the exhaustion hit him like a wall.

  After they stopped clawing each other, he took her to the place he loved second only to being inside of her. In the tub, with the hot water and her softness against him, he felt his body and mind relax for the first time in weeks.

  He let his hands wander over the curve of her neck, her glorious tits, and down to softly stroke her belly, wondering if they were already making some Dunleavy magic inside there.

  “You know, your Dad loved your Mom. It was Mac that sent her away when she was pregnant, not your Dad.”

  Flynn didn’t even realize he’d wanted to tell her that before the words were already out of his mouth.

  “What? Mac?”

  “Yep. He hates himself for it now, but things were different then. Your Dad didn’t want you to go, I mean your mom — and you were kind of luggage back then, but really. Mac said it broke Topher’s heart. He was never the same after. Said he turned away from everything and everyone. Couldn’t even think about you and your mom.”

  “Wow, my mom didn’t talk about him much. But a couple times, I got the feeling she really loved him too. Like, once in a lifetime kind of love. She always looked so sad whenever she said his name. Would change the subject.”

  “Star-crossed lovers.” Flynn leaned his head back on the end of the tub and closed his eyes.

  “Sometimes you only get one chance. I’m glad you didn’t let me give up. Thank you.”

  Lilly’s hands covered Flynn’s under the water as they rested on her belly, turning her cheek against the flat of his chest, the sound of his heart filling her ear.

  “No problem, babe. I’ve got you. I’ve got us.” Flynn was suddenly so sleepy, he barely got the words out.

  “Yeah? Well, I’ve got you too, Mr. Dunleavy, and I’m taking you to bed. To sleep this time. Come on you, you’re going to slip under the water and drown.”

  Flynn slept like the dead for fourteen hours, then woke to the smell of fresh bread in the oven and roast beef and potatoes mingling in to taunt and tease his growling stomach.

  The sound of the piano in the living room playing an unknown melody, light and sad but romantic, drifted on the comforting smells, and Lilly’s voice danced on top of it all like enchanted wind chimes.

  He finally recognized the music, an Irish folk song about love and loss and whiskey. It lulled him and woke him at the same time, and Flynn dragged his hand through his hair with a smile, his bare feet moving across the old, wooden floor toward the sights, sounds and smells of a life he hadn't known existed except on the pages of books and in some enchanted other world where families like his were not allowed.

  As sleep had dragged him under last night, Flynn had held onto his consciousness long enough to tell Lilly all about Topher taking care of getting her mother here. The money, everything. He even said he would get her here next week, as soon as she could get on the plane.

  Lilly’s face had lit up with a joy that Flynn hoped he could give her over and over in the next seventy years. Bringing her happiness gave him his own, and he knew this was how their lives were meant to be.

  ***

  “I canceled everything but two rows of chairs, the archway, and the priest,” Flynn said, talking about the charade of a wedding planned for his Lilly and Colin. “We’ll keep enough of the little, fancy appetizers to cover the few people we’ve got coming. No bar, no big meal. I want to marry you, then take you to the room. End of story. Oh, what do you want to do about a dress? You want to wear the one you already have ready with Gina’s? Or, we can skip the dress all together.”

  “No. I know what I want to wear. It’s a secret, Mr. Dunleavy. You’ll have to wait to see.”

  “Patience is not my virtue.”

  “I know.” Lilly smacked his arm as he reached around her naked body and began to slip downward.

  They were supposed to be getting dressed to go to the mansion. Flynn had spoken with Gideon last night, and they'd struck a tentative truce. But, there were details to consider, and they planned to sit down and hammer out something that worked for everyone.

  From the mansion, the driver would take Lilly to work. She'd managed to figure out in just one night how to re-work months of code to eliminate the skimming program that Colin had forced her to include in the software.

  Her face had lit up when it all came together, and she'd realized she would be able to put her name on something for which she was truly proud.

  “I mean, it’s not like I’m saving lives, but this has been a lot of work. I’m happy with how it’s turning out. That’s not to say there won’t be years of more work needed to really blow it up and make it successful, but I’m happy knowing it is what it should have been — not what Colin had wanted. SPIN will be the first online gambling slash social network around. It will connect all the other gambling sites around the world along with all the industry people and the players. It’s really very cool when I think about it. Like Facebook but with betting and cards and Fantasy Football. You name it! It’s really very impressive, isn’t it?”

  Flynn tried to focus but seeing her naked could not go unpunished.

  “You’re not even listening, are you?”

  He pushed her backw
ards, his lips on her neck, his hands trying to be everywhere until she toppled onto the mattress with its rumpled quilts from when he’d taken her just an hour ago.

  “Uhhhhh…” Lilly gave in quickly as Flynn worked her until he heard her sweet sounds.

  His tongue found its home, his hands spreading her knees wide as he tasted the first drops of her sweet peaches & cream juice flow over his tongue.

  “Thank you, Daddy.”

  His babygirl had taken to his new title like a natural. She understood now what it meant for them to be this — she was his cherished. Everything about her included him, and he couldn’t imagine them being unwound from the intricate knots binding every part of them together into something greater than the sum of their parts.

  He feasted on her until she wrapped her thighs around his head and jerked — pushing herself high off the mattress, Flynn holding her onto his mouth, sucking and swallowing every precious drop as she came.

  The feeling of her hands tangled in his hair, pulling him onto her as she shook, brought him more happiness than all the other years combined.

  When she finally came to rest, he moved up her body and kissed her. He loved when they were able to taste her together as he lifted both her legs to his shoulders and sank slow and full, feeling her still crazy-tightness grasp him like a custom-made glove.

  “Oh god, babe...”

  He loved her slow for as long as he could. When Lilly’s fingers dug into the quilts below and she looked right into his eyes and smiled, he knew slow and easy were done.

  “Fuck me — harder.”

  He never dreamed his little Irish fire doll would utter something so perfect. His brain snapped to attention, his dick did a damn handspring, and with a roar, he gave her what she asked for in spades.

  ***

  With a flushed face and a nice, sore pussy, Lilly sat grinning down at the emerald ring on her finger the entire way from the lake house to the mansion, snuggled next to Flynn who in turn couldn’t stop staring down at his most prized possession.

  They pulled up to the front entry. The tall granite pillars framing the steep steps where Flynn first took her hand all those months ago.

  “Be careful, okay?” Lilly said, looking up at him with eyes that held his heart.

  Flynn got out of the back of the limo, nodded to Topher’s driver and leaned back inside.

  “Make me proud, babe.” Flynn gave her a kiss before the driver shut the door and the black Lincoln slowly hummed down the driveway.

  “Okay brother, let’s duke this out,” Flynn muttered as the limo turned out of sight, his focus shifting to the task ahead.

  Inside the house, Flynn felt his heart swell when the little girl that helped save his ass stood in the front entry with a smile.

  “Molly.”

  “Mr. Flynn.” She gave him a playful curtsy.

  “Did my brother tell you?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Don’t call me that, you know my name.”

  She smiled again, pulling her lips to one side and then the other before crossing her arms.

  “He told me I can stay and work. Just work or he’d get me another job, pay for me to go to school and live here, or I could go back home and he pay me enough to take care of my family too.”

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I think I’ll stay here. See what Mr. Gideon is like as a boss. He seem like he wants to do right by us. Told me he called back for a bunch of the other girls — the ones he could find. He gonna get them in jobs too, or same — let them go back home with enough money to have a better life and pay for their school.”

  “Good. Well, I’ll be around to help you anyway I can. I owe you big, you know that, right?”

  “Yes, Sir. I mean yes, I know.”

  “Here, I got you this.”

  Flynn handed her an unmarked white box, the little gray Apple logo on top.

  “It’s all set up, my number is already programmed in. The bill will be paid; you can call whoever you want. And, you call me whenever you need me. Okay?”

  She broke into a rare smile, her gleaming teeth set off beautifully with her flawless skin and warm brown eyes.

  Flynn almost fell back when she threw her arms around his waist, her head only hitting him just below his chest. As he hugged her back, he could feel every bone in her body, her slight frame so much smaller than he ever realized.

  A sense of just how sick his father must have been to prey on the weakest of the weak in such a brutal and humiliating way turned his stomach.

  “Okay, kid. I gotta go see my brother.”

  Flynn unwound himself from the unexpectedly firm grasp of the girl.

  When he turned to go down the hall, her face lit up as she stood with the box open and her new phone in hand, finally losing that look of the poor mouse cornered by the hungry cat.

  Inside his father’s old sanctuary, the office looked the same, but it felt different.

  Gideon stared at Flynn as he plopped down in one of the tufted leather sofa’s in front of the fireplace.

  The two brothers stared at each other for a long moment, the twenty-year-old oil painting of their family hanging over the mantle of the crackling fire.

  “So.” Gideon started, leaning back in the chair, clasping his hands over his stomach.

  “So. What? Where do we go from here?” Flynn didn’t feel like playing around, but he didn't get the sense that Gideon harbored anything but a need to work out the practical details of what needed to happen next.

  “I don’t really know what you need to do, but I’ll tell you what I think needs to happen with SPIN,” Gideon said before he cleared his throat and pushed around some papers across the large, expansive desk with something like a smile on his face.

  “Okay. Shoot.” Flynn said.

  “She’s the real deal man. Without her, there is no SPIN. Is Lilly still down with running the show?”

  “Yeah, she wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as it’s legit. She was up late, but she figured out how to take out the bullshit Dad had her put in there, and she can implement the corrections without pushing back the go live. The skimming code coming out is non-negotiable. The operation has to be clean from here on out.”

  “Fine. What else?”

  “Not sure. What else is there? Are we cool?”

  “Yep. We’re cool. And, here.” Gideon held up an envelope before laying it on the desk and sliding it to the desk’s far edge. On its front were the letters “F.R.D.” and “In the Event” typed on the front.

  “What's this about?”

  “Dad left it,” Gideon shrugged. “He had some things set up… ‘In the Event,’ and all that.”

  Flynn rose from the sofa in one fluid motion and crossed to the desk to retrieve the wax-stamped, sealed letter. “You got one, too?”

  “Yup.”

  “What is it?”

  “Open it, dumbass.”

  Flynn scowled but returned to the sofa to do just that. With the wax seal broken and the envelope’s contents unfolded, Flynn’s hand shook as he read. It was everything, everything Colin had put in his name — assets equaling $4.7 million.

  “What the fuck,” Flynn breathed.

  Gideon’s lips pulled in a smile that lacked ire or malevolence and returned his attention to his paperwork.

  It was several days later before a meeting could be arranged between Topher and Gideon. Flynn and Mac stood in as referees as the two family leaders came to an agreement about SPIN Corporation and how things would proceed without Colin.

  But, even after the business details were done, Topher had a morality clause to add.

  “You boys ever touch that shit that sent your father away, I’ll not waste a second of sleep showing you the door, too. You understand? My daughter will not be part of that shit — or my grandkids.” Topher pointed at Flynn for the last part.

  “That’s all done. Gideon took care of all the girls he could find. He's doing what he can to make th
ings right,” Flynn assured his soon-to-be father-in-law.

  “Okay.” It was a single word but it carried the weight of the world. It said that their two families were in the good again.

  Flynn knew he shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t stop the words from slipping out.

  “You call for it?” Flynn asked.

  “I didn’t call for nothin’ I just sent some information ta some friends of mine. Last I heard, your dad was on a plane to Senegal, meet some of the locals. From there, I’m not sure and I don’t ask. You don’t either. Some things just take care of themselves. Now, I don’t ever want to hear that subject again, you got it?” Topher pointed his finger at both the boys.

  Flynn raised his eyebrows as Gideon sat stoic behind the desk. Then, they both gave the other a nod. Some unspoken agreement that they would not follow in their father’s footsteps.

  ***

  Lilly half twirled in front of the mirror. The bedroom in the main estate’s guesthouse had become her own little bridal boutique.

  “Oh my god, it’s more beautiful than I remember.” Lilly said.

  “It’s because it’s on you.”

  Lilly smiled, but her Mom looked so frail. Her hands were almost all bones as she grinned weakly, coughing into her white handkerchief as Lilly turned for her in a circle.

  “I wish I would have known.”

  “No one knew dear. It was our secret. We were young and in love. Planning a wedding we both knew would never happen. But, I kept this all these years. Now, you get to have what I never did. I was almost your exact size back then.

  Now I’m nothing but bones and skin. Lilly took a step toward her mom, seeing her eyes fill with a mixture of melancholy and joy. Leaning down, she kissed her mother's cheek and then knelt at her side.

  Abigail played with the lace that ran down the front of the handmade, antique Irish linen and lace wedding dress, thankful the garment had stood the test of time.

  Watching her mother, Lilly’s memories took on new meaning as she weaved together what she knew now with what she had known then. She remembered the dress from when she was little, hidden away in a pristine, white box on the floor of her mother’s closet. The beautiful dress, more beautiful than anything she'd ever seen as a child, had always made her wonder what it would be like to be a princess.