We all had our own hells to survive. Some of us felt like we were drowning. Others were in a burning room with no way out. Even though I felt the fires of hell, Keely was close to drowning. Barely keeping her head above water. My problems would only bring her down.
“Keely,” I said, putting down the sandwich. I squeezed her hand. “This. Just you being here, in my life, that’s more than enough. That’s worth more than all of the gold in the world.”
“Ha!” She barked out a laugh, but it didn’t sound all that funny. “True, but money helps.”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I’m sure it would.”
“You need to call the police on Merv, Mari. He can’t get away with this. I might—I might just kill him myself for putting his hands on you!”
I stood from the table, walking over to the sink. I took out a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water from the tap. Sierra couldn’t cut a bitch for that.
“Have you seen yourself, Mari? You need to do this. You have to put him behind bars.”
“How long will he stay there, Kee? Not long. And when he gets out? I don’t need some animal coming after me. He has my scent. He’ll hunt me down.”
“I won’t let him. I’ll get the boys involved.”
“No!” I regretted snapping at her as soon as I did. “No.” I brought my voice down. “I don’t mean to snap, but no.”
She came up from behind me and hugged my shoulders. “I know, sis,” she said. “I just can’t stand the thought of him getting away with this. And if you want, I’ll talk to Caspar. He has a soft spot for me. Maybe we can get your job back.”
Choosing to change the subject, I took a step to the side and then turned around to face her. “I wanted to say this when I first got here, but you didn’t give me the chance. This is serious now, Kee. What inthehell are you wearing? Andwhy?”
We stared at each other a moment before we both exploded with laughter. She had some type of costume on. I knew it had something to do with her heritage. The green velvet dress was long, touching the floor, and the sleeves flared out. Her hair was tamed underneath some kind of hair covering, and a crown sat on top.
She laughed a little more and then wiped her eyes. “I have a job in Upstate New York. Some kind of Scotland meets medieval-times fair, and they needed an old-fashioned maiden to walk around and greet guests. Lachlan nearly shit a brick when he saw me earlier. He took a photo and sent it toeveryone.”
Lachlan was one of her brothers. And he would. If I had a phone, there was no doubt I would’ve gotten it, too. Most of Keely’s brothers had a great sense of humor, all but her brother Harrison. Her family called him Grumpy Indiana Jones behind his back. Though he didn’t look grumpy. All of her brothers had dark hair, light eyes, and golden skin. Keely was the fire in their darkness. Jocelyn used to say that one day the Ryan boys would be easy on the eyes. She was right.
“I bet your parents are proud.” I wiped my eyes.
“Mam was praising the Lord! She’s hoping that I’ll find a suitable man while I’m there. One I can bring home with me.”
Our laughter tapered when a knock came at the door. A second or two later, Sierra emerged from wherever she had been in the apartment. Her platinum blonde hair flowed down her back in perfect waves. Her top was long enough to cover her really short shorts. She looked like she’d been working on her appearance all day, when in reality, she’d probably just woken up. Whatever work she did, she did at night.
Keely raised her eyebrows and we both became quiet as Sierra opened the front door. She’d had a string of boyfriends since she’d lived with Keely, but the one knocking had been around the longest. So we were both surprised when he started cursing.
Apparently, she had broken up with him. A second later, his voice still demanding to know why—“Is it the rich fucker at the club?”—she slammed the door in his face. His voice was still high but muffled when she came into the kitchen.
Sierra gave me a death glare when she noticed me. Her eyebrows were much darker than her hair, which made her brown eyes more intense.Mean.She had wicked eyes to go with her wicked personality. “Going somewhere?” she asked Keely, eyeing the sandwich Keely had made me still on the table.
“Work,” Keely said. “I’ll be back late.”
“You, Mari?” Sierra chucked her chin in my direction.
I hated how she said my name. Instead of Mar-ee, like most people pronounced it, she said, Marry. Except she made it sound like Murry. She didn’t really care where I went, but she didn’t trust me alone in their apartment. Maybe she thought I’d steal something since I ate one of her eggs. “I—”
“Mari is spending the day with me,” Keely cut me off. “I’m taking her to the fair after she eats the sandwich I made for her and she takes a shower.”
“I’ll be back late, too,” Sierra said.
“Work?” Keely asked.
“You know how it goes. Things to see and people to do.” She grinned. “Don’t worry about Armino. He’ll get sick of complaining at the door soon. When he needs a drink. So I’d appreciate it if neither of you answer him.”
Keely nodded. “No worries. I won’t answer and neither will Mari.”
Sierra took one last, longer look at the sandwich on the table and slowly left the kitchen. I could tell she wanted to count her slices of cheese before she did, but instead, she slammed the door to her room a few seconds later.
