“Marry me, Keely. Live with me. I’ll keep you safe.”
“Is that why you’re asking? To keep me safe?”
“No. You know better. I’ve had this planned for a while. Tonight, after I saw Sierra, it hit me hard. You could’ve been home at the wrong time. You could’ve walked with her to the store. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I protect people, strangers, for a living, and I couldn’t save the only girl I’ll ever love.”
“I—”
“Keely—” Harrison opened the door and then stopped, watching us. He had gone out to call our brothers. He kept them informed about everything. Those four were worse than a bunch of gossiping sisters. Harrison’s eyes narrowed before he took a step in, looking Scott in the eye. “Get your hands off my sister. Now.”
Scott looked between us. “I’m in love with your sister. I just asked her to marry me. We’ve been seeing each other for months. We’re in love.”
Harrison stared at Scott with a blank look and then turned his narrowed eyes on me. “Is this true?”
After a minute or two, he took my silence as admission.
“You couldn’t tell me?” I could tell my brother was hurt, and even though I hated to see it, he had no room to talk.
And. I. Was. Going. To. Kill. Scott.Fucking. Stone.
Who did he think he was? We hadn’t discussed this!This.Whatever this was between us, and it was moving way too fast. I couldn’t stop it.
My Mam. She had predicted this.
And Roisin. I had asked her to send me someone if this wasn’t right. And who did she send me?
The wrong man! Who would send a man like him? I knew for certain Roisin would’ve been the sane one between us. The practical one. Cash Kelly was chaotic. Nothing about him made sense.
Then Mari comes over with her face all busted. No place to live. Nothing in her pockets but old bread. I still had fucking itchy spots from a dress made out of tag material. I figured out that my brother was in love with the girl I considered my sister. He had been keeping the secret close to hisentirelife.
My roommate was brutally murdered.
And now,this!
I wished I could store arrows in my eyes for times like these. Even though it wasn’t physically possible, I made sure Scott felt them after I turned my glare from him to my brother. “Why couldn’tyoutell me about Mari?”
“What about Mari?” he said, lying through his teeth.
“You’re in love with her!”
“Yeah, well, you’re in love with Mahoney here!” He nodded toward Scott.
“It’s Stone,” Scott said.
“Yeah, I got that, bright guy. I was making aPolice Academyreference. You ever watch a movie?”
“Take me home!” I shouted.
I didn’t realize until I got there that Scott had slipped the ring on my finger. I slipped it off as we pulled up to my apartment, not sure why.
7
Cash
Uncertainty and I were old foes. I never enjoyed surprises, or not knowing what the hell to do in all situations. I was a man who always knew which road to take, which man in the room was going to be trouble, which one to kill, what to order, what fork to use at a fancy dinner party.
In a sum, I always had a clear picture of how life was going to play out for me.
Keely Ryan gave me anything but a clear picture. I couldn’t decide what I wanted more: for her heart to belong to Scott’s fully, or enough topretendthat it was.
