Cocked: A Stepbrother Romance (30 page)

I shook my head. “No, sir. I mean, not just killing the guy.”

“You know we can’t do that. I’m not in the position to start a war with the Italians right now.”

I nodded, frustrated. If I had my way, I’d be on the next bus to New York with an unregistered gun in my holster. But the boss said no, and his word was final. Still, I wanted nothing more than to kill that Fabrizio asshole and be done with it.

“What can I help with, then?” I asked.

“I got a job for you.”

I nodded. Ever since O’Brian named me as his second in command over Davin, the jobs were coming faster and harder.

Second in command of the Irish Mob at twenty-six was an unheard-of achievement. People whispered, talked shit in the shadows, but O’Brian knew what he was doing. The worst part of it was that his old second in command, Davin O’Malley, was beyond pissed. He had gotten promoted to the business manager, effectively making him number three, but he was still more than a little salty at getting passed over for some no-name kid with no leadership experience. Or at least that was the pathetic sort of shit he talked.

But fuck Davin and fuck everyone else who didn’t like it. They didn’t know what I had gone through to get where I was, or what I was capable of. I was out working in the field, getting my hands dirty, while they sat around in their strip clubs and their offices playing card games and smoking cigars. And getting nice and soft.

But not me. That wasn’t my style. You had to stay hard if you wanted to make it in the Mob, and I was well on my way.

“I’m worried about her, boy. She’s been away for a long time and might forget how things work around here.”

I nodded. “That’s true. But she’s still your daughter.”

O’Brian laughed. “Yeah, and that’s the problem. I need someone that I trust to protect her.”

I blinked. “What are you asking me, sir?”

“I want you to move into my house and watch over her.”

“What, like her babysitter?”

“No, like her bodyguard. Consider it protection duty. You’ll still do all your usual shit, but you’ll be staying in the house with her.”

The feeling of her skin against my hands came rushing back to me. I had to admit, the idea of staying in that house again with Brenna threatened to give me a hard-on then and there. She was the first woman that I really wanted, and the first one I had turned down. I had spent many, many nights regretting that choice since then, and many, many lonely days imagining what it would have been like to slip my hard cock into the Princess’s wet little pussy.

I shook my head. Imagining fucking Brenna in front of her father wasn’t the best idea.

“Okay, I’ll do what I can.”

“Keep her out of trouble. She always listened to you.”

I smirked. “Yeah, as much as she listened to anyone.”

“You’ll be fine. How’d things go today?”

We fell into shoptalk, but my heart wasn’t into it. Frankly, my heart wasn’t into anything but cleaning myself off. Brenna was due in a few hours, and I smelled like sweat and grime from beating pavement all afternoon running errands between the bosses. You’d think that getting a big promotion would mean I was exempt from bitch work, but that was far from true.

Finally, O’Brian stood up.

“Well, son, you’ve got a long day ahead of you.”

I stood up and laughed. “Why, because Bren’ll be home soon?”

“Exactly.”

I laughed again at his bad dad joke and shrugged. “I can handle her, sir.”

“I’m sure you can.”

We shook hands and he walked me to the door of his office. I felt nervous though I had no real reason to be.

“One more thing,” he said.

“What do you need?”

“About that little issue we discussed last week.”

I blinked at him and frowned. It wasn’t just some tiny little issue; it was actually an incredibly huge deal.

“What about it, sir?”

“Have you thought some more about it?”

“I have, but—“

“Good. I had my lawyers draw up some paperwork.”

“I’ll take a look at it.”

He grabbed my shoulder. “You’re doing the right thing, you know. This is going to help you in the long run. And I’d be proud to call you my son.”

“It’s a big step,” was all I could think of to say.

He laughed loudly. “That’s an understatement, boy. Well, get out of here, the lawyers will bring the paperwork around sometime this week.”

I nodded. “Thank you, sir. I mean, for everything.”

He nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you and Brenna later.”

I nodded, turned away, and pushed open the door. My mind was practically reeling again with the full-on assault of information I had just withstood.

In an organization like the Irish Mob, family still meant something. There was a long tradition of bosses passing down their territory to their sons or, if they didn’t have sons or their sons were idiots, adopting someone from outside the family and passing it down to him. There had been some disputes over the years, but for the most part it actually worked pretty well. Nobody questioned who would take over a certain area, and the children of Mob bosses could be groomed from a young age to take power seamlessly.

I wasn’t O’Brian’s son, but he had taken me in when I needed it the most, and he had made sure I got the best training I possibly could. I had all my skills and knowledge because of him, and I owed him everything.

And now he wants to fucking adopt me,
I thought as I moved through the crowded pub, heading for the door. The adoptive son of boss O’Brian would paint a huge target on my chest. And it would also make Brenna my stepsister.

Bren, my damn actual stepsister...

I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, being the Mob’s rightful successor would change my life and give me power and opportunities I had never imagined. But then again, I had always been an orphan, and couldn’t imagine having a family. Let alone a family with her as my stepsister, the girl I hadn’t been able to get off my mind since that one day all those years ago.

There were plenty of women since then, of all shapes and sizes. But she was the only one that had stuck in my brain.

“Colin,” I heard someone call out, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked over. Davin was sitting at the bar, smiling his cruel smile at me.

“Davin, how is it?” I called back.

He motioned for me to come over. I clenched my jaw; he was the last guy I wanted to deal with. But I couldn’t outright disrespect him, since he was the third most powerful man in the Mob, so I slipped through the crowd and stood at his side.

“Seeing the Princess today?” he asked me.

I grunted. That was the overly familiar and somewhat mocking nickname many of O’Brian’s men had for Brenna: the Mob Princess. She’d practically grown up around them, and they all remembered her as the sweet little girl that doting Boss O’Brian loved to spoil.

That wasn’t exactly how I remembered her, though.

“She’s getting in soon,” I replied.

“Good. We have a little gathering planned for her tonight.”

“Easing the boss into it?”

“That’s the idea.”

I nodded. “I’ll let her know.”

“You do that.”

There was a tense moment where neither of us spoke. There were a lot of things I wanted to do with Davin, but talking wasn’t one of them. He had a thin, angular face, and sharp green eyes. Everyone said he was one of the smartest men in the Mob, and I didn’t doubt it. He was more fox than man, with thinning auburn hair, and a penchant for well thought-out plans. He wasn’t exactly the Rambo type, gunning down anyone who got in his way, but he was dangerous. Incredibly dangerous.

“Anything else?” I said.

“Nah, that’s it.”

I turned and walked away, not bothering to reply. I was getting sick of Davin’s passive aggressive games. We couldn’t be outright feuding, or else O’Brian would have both of our balls, but Davin was particularly good at jabbing his fingers into my eyes whenever he found the opportunity. Metaphorically speaking, of course. If he ever tried to touch me, I would break his smug little face. Nothing would bring me more pleasure.

I stepped out into the muggy Philly summer afternoon and took a deep breath. I was trying to figure out how I felt about seeing Brenna again after all this time. The last time I had seen her hadn't been under the best of circumstances.

The smell of her sweat and her skin overwhelmed me as the sun beat down on us.

“I’m from nothing, and your father...”

“Fuck my father and his business. I don’t care who you were.”

I climbed into my car, willing myself to forget about that afternoon. I turned the engine, giving it a little gas, and pulled out into traffic. The streets were thin in the city, since it had been built so long ago, and I carefully wove my way through the slow-moving traffic. It didn’t take me long to get from O’Brian’s pub to his stately brownstone. I pulled up out front and put the car in park, looking up at the building.

It had been years since I last stayed there. I moved out pretty soon after Bren left, more or less as soon as I started making some real money with the Right People of the Mob. But it was still my first home, and the first place I lived after I had left the orphanage. It was surprisingly large on the inside, mostly because it was actually two row homes; the two entrances gave the illusion of separate homes, but they were actually a single building on the inside.

I climbed out and walked up the stoop, fighting back the memories and the nostalgia that threatened to overtake me.

What’s the worst that could happen?
I thought to myself as I turned the front door’s handle and pushed it open.

I
t had been almost five years since I had last seen my dad. Five years was a long, long time, and I had no clue what he was going to be like in person. We hadn’t exactly left on good terms; truth be told, I regretted how I had acted with him, but I didn’t think that I was wrong.

He was a violent Mob asshole. Nobody could deny that fact.

I looked at myself in the mirror and frowned at my long brown hair. I’d always been jealous of the ginger Irish girls, and felt a little resentful that I ended up with a darker complexion. Then again, it made it easier to try and put certain parts of my life behind me.

I got up and pulled on a pair of tight dark jeans and a light blue tank top, not caring too much what I looked like, but not wanting to be a slob either. I had to admit, there were a few guys that I was looking forward to catching up with, even if they were all a bunch of scumbag criminals. Though that didn’t necessarily mean that they were bad people.

I grinned to myself. Maybe I didn’t hate criminals as much as I thought I did.

A sudden knock at my door made me look up with a start.

“Who is it?” I called out.

“It’s me.”

I checked myself in the mirror real fast, though I wasn’t sure why. Colin didn’t care about what I looked like. He was just my private bodyguard, right?

He stood leaning against the wall when I pulled open the door.

“What’s up?” I asked.

He shrugged and walked toward me. “Guys are going to be here soon.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Just wanted to make sure you knew.” He stopped right in front of me.

“Are you checking up on me?” I could feel my temper rising.

He shrugged. “Not really. I guess I was curious about what your room looked like.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” I stepped aside and made a dramatic gesture, letting him come further inside. “Take a good look, Mr. Bodyguard.”

He walked in with a grin, ignoring the sarcasm dripping from my words. He laughed as he looked around.

“I haven’t been in here in a long time.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

He leaned against the bed and crossed his arms, looking at me.

“What?” I asked, and walked over to him.

“Are you ready for this?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

He shrugged and grinned. I wasn’t in the mood for his crap, so I clenched my jaw and waited for him to explain.

“It’s been years, Bren. Are you sure you’re ready to dive right back into the family?”

I sighed. He was absolutely right, but I hated the implication hidden behind his words: I couldn’t handle it. I was too weak, or whatever, to deal with Dad’s people again.

“Worried about me, Colin?” I spat.

He looked surprised, then smiled. “I’m never worried about you.”

“You never seemed to care all that much, back then.”

He stood and shrugged, taking a step closer. “People change, I guess.”

“No, they don’t. Not really. What are you doing here?”

He stopped right in front of me, and I could feel the heat rolling from him. My anger faded almost as quickly as it rose, and I felt a little silly for having snapped at him.

“If you want to play that game, why’d you invite me in?”

His stare was intense and strong and I felt something spark inside of me. A soft shiver ran down my spine.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking away.

Before I could react, he grabbed my waist with one arm and pulled me against him. I was surprised, but his arms were strong and he moved so fast that I couldn’t help but press my body against his firm muscles. I was shocked but I realized that I didn’t want to struggle. I wanted him to pull me tightly against him, even if it was a horrible idea, even if he was acting like he owned the place.

“Let go of me,” I said softly.

“You sure this isn’t what you wanted?” he said, touching my face.

Tingles of electricity ran through my skin and my body as I remembered that day, the feeling of him against me, the way my head was on fire for hours afterwards, practically buzzing. I had never felt something like that before nor since.

I looked back at him defiantly. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“I think we both know.”

And I could see it in his eyes, that same longing gaze he gave me way back then.

“Cut it out, Colin.” I pushed softly against his chest, but he was like a brick wall.

“I don’t think you want me to. I think you’re practically begging for it. I think that if I wanted to, I’d find you eager enough.”