Frozen

by L. A. Casey

  Exactly.

  “Because she’s a little shit.”

  Sean punched me in the shoulder for the insult. It was nothing new; he knew how Neala and I were. If I cursed her out, he would hit me for it and then it would be forgotten until I opened my mouth about her again.

  He was my friend, but he was her brother first, and I respected that completely.

  “She got the doll?” he asked, enjoying my situation.

  I resisted the urge to rub my shoulder as I nodded. “Not fairly, though. She practically attacked me.”

  Sean bit down on his lower lip.

  “It’s not funny. She hurt me, man; me nipples are fucking killing me. I thought she made them bleed at one point. Either that or she ripped them clean off. She was like a wild animal.”

  Sean fell into me as his laughter erupted from him like a volcano.

  “Nipple . . . twisters?” he asked through his laughter.

  I lifted my hands to my nipples and flattened my palms over them. I was still in pain. The nipple twisters were unexpected, and that had made receiving them even more painful. I should have been ready for anything when it came to Neala, but in my defence I thought she was too mature now to resort to violence.

  She hadn’t come at me in years. I think the last time she hit me out of anger was when we were fifteen and I ‘accidentally’ spilled red fabric dye on her while she was wearing white jeans and told everyone she ‘just became a woman.’ I, of course, announced to our friends a few seconds later that I was only joking – I even showed them the bottle and made it clear it was a prank – but Neala didn’t find it funny.

  “Yeah, she twisted so hard I honestly thought they came right off.”

  Sean slapped his hand on his knee as he continued to laugh. I lowered my hands from my sensitive nipples and glared at him until he stopped, which wasn’t for a solid two minutes.

  “I’m glad you find this funny. I was robbed of the only chance I’ll have to get Dustin that doll because your evil sibling fucked me over. Justin won’t let me forget this.”

  I thought of my brother, older by seven years, and winced. I’d told him I’d get that damn doll for Dustin, and now I didn’t have it. I was going to look like a shite uncle on Christmas Day when I had nothing to give Dustin.

  He’d asked for this doll, and I had stepped up to the plate and said I’d get it even though there had been only two weeks until Christmas when he asked me.

  Sean shook his head. “Jay will be cool about it.”

  I snorted and cracked my knuckles. “You’re his best friend – I’m his little brother. He’s gonna kick me arse for breaking me promise to his son and upsetting him.”

  Sean considered this, then laughed when he realised I was right: he knew just as well as I did that Justin would want to throw fists if I didn’t get this done.

  I didn’t blame my brother for getting so easily annoyed with me over things when it came to his son. Selfishly, when I hadn’t been working, I was so wrapped up in myself the last few years, with partying, bedding different women, and partying some more. I hadn’t spent as much time with Dustin as I should have over the years, and I wanted this present to be a do-over for us. After the holidays I planned on taking him hiking with me, trail running, and fishing in the lake. Just the two of us. Man-to-man time.

  It was a deal I had made with myself, and the doll was part of that deal. I didn’t want to break my own word before I could even get a real chance to know my nephew, and that would happen if I didn’t have that doll.

  “So go over to Neala’s place and get it back.”

  That was a suicide mission.

  I grunted. “I can’t, because she bought it . . . She’d probably attack me again and claim I broke into her apartment. I wouldn’t put it past her to call the guards on me either.”

  Sean snickered. “I’d usually defend her and say she wouldn’t do that, but she does change when you’re around.”

  I’ll say.

  “It’s because she likes me so much,” I said, my tone laced with sarcasm.

  Sean’s mouth curved, and I didn’t like it.

  Not one bit.

  “What are you smirking at me like that for?”

  “No reason,” he said, mimicking my early voice.

  Dick.

  “Well, stop.”

  Sean continued to smirk, then after a moment of thought he snapped his fingers and jumped to his feet. “I have an idea. Both of us can go over to Neala’s and get that doll back for Dustin.”

  Was this clown serious?

  I raised my eyebrow. “You want me to break into your sister’s apartment, and steal the doll she just paid for to give to your daughter on Christmas Day?”

  Is that what he was saying?

  Sean laughed gleefully. “No, and no. We won’t break in – we’ll be invited in. You also won’t be stealing an item belonging to her – you will take back the item that belongs to you. Charli is covered on the present thing; she will be too happy on Christmas morning with her million other presents to even notice a doll is missing. Trust me.”

  He was losing it, but I wasn’t about to question him, because it meant I could possibly get the doll back from Neala if he helped.

  That aside, I didn’t know how he thought I owned the doll when I told him Neala had paid for the bloody thing.

  “Man, I’ve no idea what you smoked, but I didn’t pay for—”

  “Neala’s debit card is on the coffee table.”

  Was it?

  I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, and then sat forward. I reached out and grabbed the card he was talking about. I read the name on the card – Miss Neala Clarke.

  How had I ended up with Neala’s debit card?

  “I don’t understand,” I muttered in confusion.

  Sean sighed. “It’s not that hard to realise what happened, man.”

  For him, maybe.

  I grunted. “Enlighten me then, oh wise one.”

  Sean cracked his knuckles and said, “I’m guessing you and me sister both tried to pay for the doll at the same time, and the person behind the till paid for the doll with your card and gave it back to Neala; then you took her card thinking it was yours. Simple mistake.”

  I stared at Sean, and then looked back to Neala’s card.

  Holy shite.

  “I own the doll?” I asked.

  Sean grinned. “You own the doll.”

  Oh, hell, yes!

  I smiled smugly as I let Sean’s words sink in. I owned the princess doll. I fecking owned it, and all I had to do was get it back from Neala.

  My smile dropped when I thought about that particular task, but after a moment I brushed it aside. I could do this – harder things have been accomplished.

  I’d have to be vigilant and guard my nipples, but other than that it’d be fun . . . right?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Are you nervous?” Sean asked me as we walked down the hallway of Neala’s apartment building.

  I swear I could hear my heart beating against my rib cage with every step that took me closer to Neala’s apartment door, and this fool asked me if I was nervous? Try downright terrified.

  “Nah, man,” I lied. “This’ll be easy.”

  I was well aware that sweat was starting to bead on my forehead, but if Sean noticed it he was being a good mate and not mentioning it. I could have hugged him for that, but since I didn’t want to deal with gay jokes from him for the rest of the day I refrained from showing any sign of grateful emotion. I kept my face expressionless; it was extremely difficult, but I managed.

  “Ah, here we are,” Sean announced as we came to a stop in front of a door made from human skeletal remains.

  Okay, it was oak, but it might have well been skeletons; Neala was the Devil, after all.

  My breathing picked up its pace, my heart pounded faster, and the sweat turned from beads to droplets as they fell from my forehead down to my cheeks. I was very aware of how much of a pansy I was being, but I
didn’t care. I was on her territory, somewhere I had never been before. She could outsmart me here and I wouldn’t be able to do a single thing about it.

  This was the stuff Irish nightmares were made of. My nightmares, anyway. Neala was always the star of my nightmares.

  “You could at least try to not appear so terrified,” Sean muttered to me as he lifted his hand and knocked three times on the door.

  Each pound of his fist against the varnished wooden door made me flinch.

  “I’m not scared,” I said after clearing my throat . . . twice.

  Sean snorted. “Could’ve fooled me, man.”

  I scowled at him and straightened myself up to my full height of six feet three inches.

  Stop being a bitch.

  I repeated the thought over and over in my head until I was semi-calm. The door to Neala’s apartment opened seconds later, and the feeling fled without warning. I was back to being a sweaty bucket of nerves.

  Lovely.

  “Hey, little sister.” Sean grinned at Neala, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

  I wanted to laugh the moment her eyes slid to mine. Her whole demeanour changed: her hands balled into fists, her slender body tensed, her lip curled in a snarl, and her eyes narrowed to slits.

  Oh yeah, she was pissed.

  “You,” she growled.

  The nervousness I’d felt moments ago disappeared, and my usual snarky attitude returned, the one that came out when Neala was around. I was grateful for it. Being a dick to her was something I could play well; anything else was out of my comfort zone.

  I grinned as I said, “Me.”

  “What are you doing here?” she hissed.

  I blinked as a bad thought – deplorable, really – entered my head: Neala was hot when she was mad. Oh God. That was not cool, not cool at all. I only thought of things like dead puppies and homeless kittens when I thought of Neala, not her damn sex appeal.

  I shook my head clear and said, “I’m with him,” and jammed my thumb in Sean’s direction. I felt like I suddenly couldn’t speak, so putting the attention on Sean was all I could think of.

  Neala switched her burning-mad gaze from me to her brother.

  “Explain,” she growled.

  Always straight to the point.

  I hated to admit it, but I liked that about her. It was probably the only thing I liked about her, besides her body—Stop it! I blinked away the sudden internal battle inside my head and focused on Neala and her brother’s conversation.

  “It’s Christmas next week, and I know it’s been tried before, but I figured it was time to finally squash this bullshit you and Prince Charming here have had for the last fifteen years. I’m not sitting through another Christmas dinner of awkwardness only for it to turn into an Irish remake of Gladiator.” Sean glanced between Neala and me and shook his head. “The kids, your niece and your nephew, are old enough to understand the hate you have for one another, and I do not want it to rub off on them. Get your shite together and act like the adults you are.”

  What the hell?

  I thought he was here to help me get back my property!

  “But—”

  “No buts, Neala. I will not have me child around you both when you’re together, and since our families do everything together it means you both won’t be invited to anything. Do you understand that? You won’t be welcome at birthday parties, anniversary parties, engagement parties—”

  “Engagement parties?” I cut in.

  Sean looked to me and grinned, which in turn made me grin. I instantly knew he and Jess had finally picked a date for their engagement party. This news would come as a delight to my mother and Sean’s. Our mothers were the best of friends, so it meant they did everything together, and I mean everything. They’d both been waiting to get Sean and Jess’s engagement party out of the way so they could buckle down and start planning the wedding.

  Hopefully the engagement party would lift Jessica’s spirits, too. She had been down lately, since money hadn’t been coming in for her and Sean like it used to, which was the main reason she didn’t want to waste any on an engagement party. She worked in O’Leary’s Pub in the village along with Justin’s wife, Sarah, but their pay wasn’t the greatest.

  Me, I worked in construction as a contractor: I co-owned Clarke & Hart Construction with Sean and Justin. It was passed down to us a few years ago from our fathers, though unfortunately we’d had only one major job in the last year and a half – rebuilding the Holiday Inn hotel in the village.

  The job brought us in a decent wage, but we had to be smart with the amount we continued to invest into the company, as well as our own paycheques, because we needed to survive too. Luckily, the owners of the hotel were going for bigger and better, so that meant longer work for our company, but we would ideally have liked to have more jobs to work on throughout the year to help distribute more hours for our employees.

  Construction wasn’t really in demand the last few months, though, so things were a little sparse. It killed me, my brother, and Sean – having to let our lads go when we didn’t get enough work. Especially coming up to the holidays.

  “You and Jess picked a party date, for real?

  Sean nodded his head. “For real. She wants it before Christmas.”

  I widened my eyes. “Before Christmas? As in this Christmas on Tuesday?”

  Sean laughed. “Yeah, she wants a small party in the local pub on the twenty-first. This Friday.”

  Today was Wednesday.

  Talk about short notice.

  Neala flung her hands up in the air. “Friday . . . That’s in two days!”

  Sean rubbed his neck and looked between Neala and me again. “I know, but this is what Jess wanted. You know she’s stressed about cutbacks at the pub and us not getting another job since the Inn for the company, so she wants this to brighten everybody’s spirits.”

  I was all for a party, so I slapped my hand against Sean’s outstretched one and bumped my chest against his as we hugged. Neala quickly got over the short notice of the party and put a bright smile on her face when both Sean and I looked back at her. Her smile was for her brother, of course, never for me. If her lip was curled up in a disgusted snarl, then it would be for me.

  “When was this decided?” Neala asked as she stepped into Sean’s open arms.

  “Last night. Jess rang Bob and asked could we have it this weekend. Since he needs the business, he said yeah without a problem, and since Jess works there we got a discounted rate on the food too – so that’s a plus.”

  Neala chuckled at her brother’s excitement and hugged him tightly.

  I waited for the brother-and-sister moment to end before I made my play to move my plan along. I needed to get inside Neala’s apartment, and I could only think of one logical way that wouldn’t be suspicious to her.

  “Can I use your bathroom, Neala Girl?” I asked, smiling wide.

  Neala slid her green frosty eyes to me and growled, “No. Piss yourself for all I care.”

  I blinked.

  Well . . . that made things difficult.

  “Neala, don’t be like that. We’re here to quash childish drama, remember?” Sean said as he leaned his shoulder against her doorframe.

  I glanced at him and shook my head, feeling like an eejit. This really was just another family ploy to try to force us to mend things. I’d thought the bastard was going to help me, but I should have expected the outcome. As if he was going to help me rob his little sister.

  “Please, for me?” Sean asked, his tone soft.

  I watched as Neala gave in to him before she spoke the words.

  “Fine.” She sighed and stepped aside as she gestured us into her apartment.

  I let Sean go first, because I needed a moment to gather myself. I was about to enter her lair, and I was both excited and terrified for reasons I couldn’t explain. I stepped forward when Neala cleared her throat. I glanced at her and grinned as I passed her by. I chuckled lightly to mysel
f because if looks could kill, I would be dead and buried.

  “The bathroom is down the hall and to the left, Darcy.”

  I always liked the way she said my name . . . even if she did spit it out of her delectable mouth each time she said it.

  I blinked.

  Delectable mouth?

  Since when did I think any part of Neala was delectable?

  “Thanks,” I said after a long period of silence.

  I didn’t look at her or Sean as I turned and walked down the hallway in search of the bathroom. It wasn’t hard; Neala’s place was tiny, and apart from the bathroom on the left side of the hall there was only one other room, which I guessed to be her bedroom.

  Perverted things entered my mind, much to my shock, the longer I looked at her bedroom door, so I quickly stepped into the bathroom. I went to the sink and turned the taps, then waited a few moments before I cupped my hands together, gathered some water, and splashed it over my face. I rubbed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to relax myself.

  I could do this.

  I could find the doll and take it from Neala.

  It wasn’t stealing when it belonged to me . . . right?

  “Get it together,” I grumbled, and splashed some more water over my face.

  I dried my face and hands with a small towel before I exited the bathroom and re-joined Sean and Neala in her sitting room. They were both seated, Sean on the couch next to the Christmas tree and Neala on the lounge chair facing it. I took the spot next to Sean and cleared my throat.

  “Nice place,” I said as politely as I could.

  Neala’s lip quirked. “Thank you.”

  She said ‘thank you,’ but what I heard was ‘fuck you,’ and it made me grin.

  “I bet you’re both crying on the inside right now for being nice to one another,” Sean said as he looked between Neala and me.

  I snorted, but didn’t deny the obvious truth. It was easier to be horrible to Neala than to be nice to her.

  Did that make me a dickhead?

  Probably.

  “Is that why you’re both really here?” Neala quizzed. “You want us to . . . get along?”

  Sean looked to me, so I took the lead and lied through my teeth.

  “Yep, I want us to get along, and God knows so does everyone else, so I’m taking the first step here. Literally. I came to try to come to some sort of truce between us.”