Chapter 11 #4
I headed back out, and toward the clubhouse, when I saw a car coming into the compound. I recognised the brunette coming my way with a shy smile.
“Tierney,” I said.
“Hey, little bro,” she said. “I just wanted to come by and offer a hand. Shona told me you were throwing a last minute get together. I can help.”
“You know Shona?”
She nodded. “Yeah, she…uh, well she helped me the other day, and I kinda owe her.”
Somehow, Orla’s words came back ‘don’t worry about it’.
“You the reason she has a bruise on her jaw?”
Tierney looked down at her feet, and instantly I felt bad. “Yeah, I…uh…needed help, and she was there.”
“What happened?” I asked her. Her eyes shot up, and I saw the pain behind them. I’d seen those same eyes when I spoke to Sheridan when it came to Ace, or even Orla when she’d been scared. “I know we have a strained relationship, but you are my sister. I can help you if you need me to.”
“I don’t need you to do anything.”
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I said, realising she was pissed off. “I’m not good with this emotional shit.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I just…I had a bad relationship a few months ago. He didn’t realise who my brother was, and he got kinda pissed off that I never told him. We parted ways but the other night he was…well, drunk and high, and he gets aggressive when that combination is present.”
“What’s his name?”
“Please, Alex, let it rest. He knows now not to mess with me.”
“Shona got hit?”
“She pushed me out of the way,” Tierney said, her eyes watery. “She copped the corner of a punch. If it had connected with my head, I don’t know…fuck…I don’t know what would have happened.”
“The name…Tierney. It’s not an option.”
“Please…don’t.”
I didn’t speak, my arms crossing over my chest until she broke. She was my goddamn sister. There was no way in hell I was letting some fuckhead hit her, and abuse her.
“If you think you’re stubborn, Alex, you should meet Dempsey. I know a standoff when I see one.”
“So maybe I should tell Dempsey and we can visit this fucker on our own.”
Her eyes closed and she sighed. “Please.”
“If you don’t want us to do something, then you report his ass to the police. Brogan will look after it and make sure he gets his fucking time in court.”
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll go see Brogan.”
“Ask for him at the front desk. I’ll come with you.”
“So you can get his name?” she smirked.
“You’re not as dumb as I thought you were.”
She shoved me in the chest before she headed back over to the car. I joined her at the passenger side. Tierney rolled her eyes and unlocked the door. I slid into it, feeling how small this car really was.
“Buckle up, I don’t want to get pulled over.”
I rolled my eyes as I did as she asked and she pulled out of the compound and toward the town. I shot Ace a quick text to tell him I’d be away for an hour and another one to Dempsey asking him where the fuck he was.
This was his sister. He needed to know as well, even if she hated me for it, I know I wouldn’t want to not know.
Once we got inside, I heard my phone go off. It was Dempsey.
DEMPSEY
Almost back.
BEAR
Meet me at the police station.
DEMPSEY
Why?
BEAR
I’ll tell you when you get here.
Brogan called out to me when he noticed me in the waiting area and I guided my sister over to the window.
“What’s up?”
“Can we go somewhere so Tierney can make a report?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Yeah, my desk is just over here. Come through.”
I opened the door for her to go through and we followed Brogan over to his desk. Tierney was nervous, I could see it in the way she fidgeted with her hands.
“Tierney O’Leary?” he asked. I saw recognition flare in his eyes, and suddenly I wondered if I’d be punching him in a police station.
She looked at him, and I saw the same recognition there. “Oh no way, Brogan Morrison?”
“Yeah,” he laughed, and for a brief moment I felt like a third wheel. “Damn, it’s been a long time.”
“It has.”
“Ah, need me to leave?” I asked, looking between the two.
“Wait, so he’s your brother?” Brogan asked as if I weren’t in the room.
“Yeah, half brother, but still my little brother.”
“Damn. This whole time and I didn’t piece that together.”
“Hello?” I said, waving my hands between the two of them. “Care to fill me in on how the fuck you know each other?”
“We went to school together,” Tierney replied. “Relax, tin man.”
I rolled my eyes and sat back in my chair as I watched them relive some memories from school days. I saw it before I realised what I was seeing but I also noticed the way Brogan looked at her like she was fucking Aphrodite herself.
“Mind telling your little boyfriend here why you’re here?” I asked her.
Brogan sobered. “Alex.”
“Alex, that was so fucking rude,” she hissed at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t have the stand up mum you did. Manners weren’t at the top of Louise’s education for her son.”
Tierney rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to Brogan.
“He’s right, we can catch up another time. What report do you need to make?”
He pulled up a screen on his computer and waited. Tierney suddenly felt uneasy, I saw it in the way she sat back in her chair, rigid.
“It’s okay,” Brogan offered. “Whatever it is, I can help.”
“She needs to report stalking, intimidation, and an abusive ex, right?”
Her eyes lit up, the fierce blue in her irises almost made my dick shrivel up and die. Damn.
“Your ex hurt you?” Brogan asked. “What’s his name?”
I saw the same fury in his eyes that I carried, and for the first time since I met the guy, I respected him. He was a standup guy, I knew that, but he was also very green when it came to the law. He may bend it from time to time for us, but he only did it when he believed in what we were doing.
“Cameron Nixon.”
Brogan’s face paled. “You’re kidding.”
“Who the fuck is he?” I asked, finally happy that I knew a name.
“He was the captain of the rugby team in school,” Brogan offered, but his eyes remained on Tierney. “You two are still a thing?”
She shook her head. “We dated in school, but then re-met each other a few years ago.”
Brogan nodded, jotting down notes on his computer. “Tell me what happened.”
Tierney looked at me, and I saw the way she hesitated.
“You got this?” I said to Brogan. He nodded and I got up, squeezing Tierney’s shoulder, before I left the station. I waited outside for her, pulling out my packet of smokes and lighting one.
Fuck.
I’d been a shit brother. I should have reached out to her, I should have told her that I wanted to be in their lives. Especially after my dad died.
Fucking Louise.
She’d been such a jealous bitch, even when it came to my dad’s other kids, that she never wanted me to have friends. Luckily, my friends growing up were as fierce as I needed them to be, and they wouldn’t let her drive me crazy.
A bike pulled up, but I didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
Dempsey strode over to me, his Broken Reapers cut on his back.
It must have looked so strange to anyone who saw that two rival club members were sitting outside the police station, smoking together.
He took a drag of his own smoke and sat next to me.
“Tierney?” he asked.
“Yeah. You know about her boyfriend?”
“I warned him not to come near her again,” Dempsey said, angrily.
“Fucker didn’t listen,” I said. “She’s talking to Brogan inside, making a report.”
“Fuck,” Dempsey said.
“Yeah.”
We sat in silence until the doors opened and Brogan led Tierney outside. Tierney took a call on her phone and moved off to answer. Brogan came over to us.
“I didn’t file it,” he said, his lip almost white with rage. “Alex, you take her back to the clubhouse. Dempsey, you with me.”
“Brogan, you’re acting outside the law,” I taunted him.
“You wouldn’t want to see a fist through that guy’s smug mouth?” he asked me. He was serious, and for a tiny morsel of a moment, I realised he liked Tierney more than just an old high school crush.
“I’m down,” Dempsey said. “Alex, take her back and make sure she thinks she’s part of this party planning shit. Cameron won’t be messing with my sister anymore.”
I nodded, happy to be the one who distracted her.
“That was Shona,” she said, coming over to us. “She said she needs help with the party.”
“I’ll take you back,” I said. “I gotta get back anyway.”
Dempsey would have no cause to be there at the clubhouse since he was a Reaper, and Brogan was a damn cop. She wasn’t suspicious that they didn’t follow. I led her down the steps to the car and got back in, squashing my legs in while she wheeled us out of the carpark and toward the clubhouse again.
“Thank you for making me do that,” she said. “It felt so good to get it off my chest.”
“Good. I still could have handled it though.”
“I have no doubt,” she smiled, keeping her eyes on the road.
“Was it just good to get it off your chest, or is your good mood a little because of who took your report?”
“Brogan?” she asked. “Oh come on, that was a lifetime ago.”
“There was a little something between you two huh?”
“Yes, well, unrequited. I always had the biggest crush on him, but I was too shy to do anything about it.”
“You’re not shy now, are you?”
“Oh please,” she moved her hand as if it were crazy talk. “I would be quite happy not to have to see another man naked for a long time.”
“As your brother, I am very pleased to hear that, but as someone who just reunited with someone who plagued my every thought since I left, there’s always time.”
When she came up to a stop at the lights, she looked over at me, something in her expression told me she hadn’t even thought what could happen with her and Brogan. She’d put it down to an old school crush, but maybe, just maybe she could think about it.
I trusted Brogan. He was a good guy.
He would be good enough for her.
“It was all one way, Alex, I assure you. He had the hottest girlfriend in school. I’d never compare to Lucille Margrave.”
“He’s not married now,” I told her. “Nor does he have a woman, so maybe Lucille wasn’t all that great.”
“There’s so many layers to you, Alex.”
“I’m a fucking onion, what can I say. I’m just saying, give him a shot, he may surprise you.”
“I will,” she smiled again, taking off down the long road that led to the clubhouse. “Thank you.”