TWENTY-NINE #2
“What is your problem, Brogan? A side-effect of you dumping me is I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
I don’t have to worry about not living up to your standards or about disappointing you.
I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough to stand next to the great Brogan Spurn, but I am good enough to stand next to Everett Gault.
He’s never asked me to apologize for who I am. ”
She started to turn away—no fucking way. He grabbed her arm, hauling her back.
“I never asked you to apologize,” he said. “Irish, I would never—”
“Is everything okay over here?” Of course, Conway and Bram Sear injected themselves where they weren’t welcome. The father’s voice interrupted him. “Do you want to take your hands off my daughter, Spurn, or are we going to escalate this?”
Much as he didn’t want to, Brogan had no damn choice but to let go of her arm. As soon as he did, she stepped backward into the space between her father and brother. She didn’t belong on that side. She didn’t. Not for a fucking second.
“Know your fucking place. My sister has come to her senses,” Bram said, as smug as expected. “I always knew she would. Always knew it was just a matter of time—”
“You don’t have a damn clue what happened between them,” Julius said.
“I don’t give a crap,” Bram said. “All I know is, I’m sleeping better now she’s not sleeping with him.”
“Bram,” Gia muttered.
“No, he should have to listen to this,” Bram said. “He was happy to parade your relationship all over town when you were together, making a fool of our family. He should be put in his place.”
Finally, the server appeared with his double Scotch in the middle of a silver tray. What the fuck had taken so long? Before he could reach it, a smaller hand got in front of his, sweeping the liquor from the tray.
Gia put the glass to her lips and tipped her head back, gulping until the liquid was gone.
“Gianna!” Conway chastised.
Wincing, she put a hand over her mouth while returning the empty glass to the dumbfounded server’s tray.
Brogan heard himself asking, “Have you eaten today?”
For the first time that night, their eyes met.
Now he understood why she’d resisted. There was an undeniable truth in her gaze. She wasn’t angry, or, yeah, maybe she was, but she was hurting too. There was a pain in those glistening orbs that he’d put there.
Damn. He’d never forgive himself.
As quickly as she revealed her pain, she shuttered it away. “Why?” she snarled. “Worried for my safety or for what I might let another man do to me quid pro quo?”
“Everett!” someone else in the room shouted.
And there he was, Gault entering the room again.
“Excuse me,” Gia said, spinning and flouncing away before he could think to stop her.
When he tried to move, Conway and Bram closed in front of him.
“If I see you near my daughter again, we’ll use every tool in our arsenal to ruin you,” Conway said.
He’d admire the man’s loyalty if that’s what it was. It wasn’t. But this also wasn’t the time to get into a pissing match with them.
“When that booze hits her,” he said, “she won’t act rationally.”
“She doesn’t handle hard liquor,” Julius said, backing him up. The two Sears looked at each other. “You’d be smart to look after her tonight.”
Bram scoffed. “What’s the worst thing that could happen to her?” he asked and sneered at Brogan, looking him up and down. “No woman could have a shred of self-respect left after being violated by a cretin like him.”
“Right, we get it, you don’t like me,” Brogan snapped, seeking the view of Gia on Gault’s arm.
“Sharing herself with Gault won’t help her.
” He fixated on Conway, the only one he had a chance of reaching.
“He’s older than you. We’re talking about your little girl being intimate with a man older than her father. ”
“Better that than being with a slug like she was before,” Bram said and turned to his father. “This bastard doesn’t care about Gia; he crapped all over her. He’s worried about the deal. If Gia gets with Gault—”
“It’ll secure you the contract,” Julius said. His mentor focused on the Sears with incredulity and resignation. “You encouraged this.”
Horror whipped him around. His friend wasn’t wrong; it was written all over them.
“Why did you bring her here?” Brogan demanded. “Why?”
“That’s none of your goddamn business,” Bram said, taking his father’s arm to pull him back. “Stay the hell away from my sister. Both of you!”
Conway and Bram Sear walked back into the crowd.
Drawn toward Gia again, Brogan was once again caught by Julius holding him in place.
“There’s nothing you can do.”
“Damn right there is,” Brogan said. “I’m not letting her sick fuck of a father barter her body for a shitty infrastructure deal.”
“Yeah?” Julius asked. “And if you’d brought her here, what would you have been doing?”
“I wouldn’t have let her share herself with him,” he said, his lip curling in disgust.
Julius smiled. “You wouldn’t let another man within ten feet of her, a hundred feet of her, if you had the choice,” he said. “That’s what this is, Brogan, you’re jealous. We might not like it, but she’s a grown woman; she has the right to make this decision for herself.”
“She tossed back a double Scotch. God knows what she’s drunk already tonight. By the time he’s taking her back to her room, she won’t be responsible for her actions.”
“But she is responsible for choosing to drink the alcohol,” Julius said.
“No one made her swipe that drink.” He took a breath.
“What do you think would happen if you went over there now? You try to drag her away, she’ll fight you.
Gault won’t let you have time alone to reason with her.
And if you start shouting the odds, she’ll shout right back, then we’ll have a scene on our hands.
Gault will toss you and me out on our asses and the night will end the same anyway. ”
He grinded his teeth. “You expect me just to stand here and do nothing?”
“She has her reasons for acting this way. Do you think she wants to be with a man like Gault? Yeah, maybe his attention is making her feel good about herself now, but why do you think she’s lapping it up?”
“Daddy didn’t love her enough,” he sneered, scanning the crowd, seeking her out. “And now she wants his approval. Goddamnit, she sleeps with Gault and she’ll despise herself. She’ll be broken, she doesn’t give herself to men easily, and now her father is asking her to do it for a business deal.”
“You asked her to do it for a business deal.”
“No,” he said, making eye contact with Julius. “Our deal was not for sex.”
Julius smirked. “No? I forget, where were your hands when I walked into the apartment that last time you were together? Where was your tongue?”
“I didn’t say there was nothing sexual between us,” Brogan muttered. “Just that there was nothing sexual about the deal… the sex stuff was consensual, it came later.”
Julius laughed. “Not that much later… I think you wanted her from the minute you laid eyes on her outside your office.”
True. Since that day, he couldn’t remember a time he hadn’t wanted her.
“You’re the one who told me to end it.”
“I told you to end it if you didn’t intend to marry her,” Julius said. “And I stand by that. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about her sleeping with Gault.”
“At her father’s request.”
Brogan snagged another server to order a new drink.
“That’s not why she’s doing it,” Julius said.
“Sure it is. Why would she—”
“Because you broke her heart, Brogan,” he said.
“She’s with him because he’s safe. He’ll never be able to hurt her because she’ll never feel for him like she does for you.
She’s obviously still hurting about the break-up and he’s boosting her self-esteem, helping her to forget…
Did you forget how inseparable you two had become?
How often did she show up at the office just to say hello and how many times you took her out?
She slept at your place every night for a month.
Everything about her life changed. She thought she could rely on you.
No, she did rely on you and probably got used to me too. Now she doesn’t know which way is up.”
“You’re saying this is my fault, while in the same breath telling me to do nothing about it?
” he asked, his anger turning inward. “I fucking hate this. You don’t think I’ve missed her too?
Do you know what it’s doing to me just watching her standing next to that guy?
” His jaw tightened. “Thinking about him touching her, about his hands on her body…”
“Easy,” Julius said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t say you shouldn’t do anything.”
At least confusion was a diversion. “Then what the hell are you saying?”
Julius flashed him a half-smile, something sinister in his eye. “All that time you spent with her, all those long conversations over dinner and into the night at the apartment, you got to know her.”
“Yeah.”
“Use what you know,” Julius said. “You must know how to get into her head without going over there and blowing your stack.”
“Get in her head,” he muttered.
“That’s right,” Julius said. “If she’s thinking about you, I guarantee she won’t be able to give herself to Gault.
” Turning him around, Julius aimed him at the sight of Gia and Gault laughing with another couple at the other side of the room.
“Use some of those Spurn wiles to keep her safe. Get into her head, Brogan.”
Formulating a plan, he calmed to admit his friend was right.
Gia was stubborn, she’d push back if he tried to impose his will.
If he could be subtle, he’d convince her of his point of view without causing a scene.
Her family wouldn’t keep her safe, so he would.
Didn’t matter if she belonged to him or not, she’d always be under his protection.