Dominic (Saint Brothers #1) - Kristan Belle

Dominic A Saint Brothers Novel Book One

Kristan Belle

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Copyright © 2015 Kristan Belle First published 2015 Createspace. Cover Photograph © Adobe Stock Cover Design © Kristan Belle

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, incidents and places are the product of the author’s

imagination. Any resemblance to persons, living or deceased, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this digital publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, nor circulated in physical form without prior consent of the author.

This book is intended for mature readers due to explicit language, sexual scenes and violence.

Acknowledgements

As always a massive thank you to my beta readers, reading circle and the rest of the pack!

A HUGE thank you to Linzi my rock

chick! We read, we write, we rock! Simple!

A BIG thank you to Heidi, you know how much I appreciate you, dontcha?!

And to YOU reading this – thank you for supporting me X

Chapter One Fallon This was the last place on earth I wanted to be right now. I was shattered after another hard shift at work, was scheduled to cover a shift later tonight and my parents wouldn’t take no for an answer. So there I was at the Golf and Country Club, surrounded by people I didn’t particularly like and counting down the minutes until I could escape.

Yeah, yeah. I was twenty nine and in full control of my life and shouldn’t be ruled by my parents. But, honestly? Sometimes it was easier to give in to them rather than have them riding my back all the time. I was all about the easy life. A couple of hours tonight would get them off my case for a little while, so while it was still boring me to tears now, it would get me off the hook for the next couple of months, making my life infinitely easier. I was a constant source of disappointment to my family. Nothing I

ever did was good enough for them. It was mainly because I chose not to follow in their footsteps. Sitting around on my backside while I watched the money roll in while I did nothing to earn it wasn’t my idea of rewarding. My father was the founder of one of the worlds’ largest and most successful search engines. Well, he was the money behind it and put his name to it, but in actual fact, he’d done next to nothing to help develop it. Again, it was a case of sitting on his ass, watching everyone else do the work and simply

reaping the rewards. But it wasn’t my father that was the problem. He was the one person in my family that I actually did get on with. It was my mother that thought I was wasting my life. Just because I wanted to actually do something with my life, something that I loved and found worthwhile, I was some kind of failure and disappointment to them. It wasn’t a job that paid megabucks and I worked really shitty hours, but I loved my job. They saw nothing noble in the fact that I trained and

worked hard. Being a nurse was something beneath them. Here I was, surrounded by people just like my parents. Money oozed from their pores. It was my idea of an evening from hell. “More champagne, Fallon dear?” My father asked as one of the waiters walked by with a sterling silver tray filled with champagne flutes. “No thanks. I’m all good.” I held up the still full glass in my hand. I couldn’t stomach the stuff. The bubbles tickled my nose and I thought it tasted

like cat piss. My mother hated the way I spoke and the way I held myself. All those years of elocution lessons and private schools that taught me how to be a ‘lady’ were pretty much wasted on me. I may have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth but that didn’t mean I had to act like I had a platinum stick up my ass. I knew about the real world. They were busy being surrounded by the protection of their money while the real world struggled. I was caught in the limbo in between and fighting to find the

place where I belonged. Conversation murmured around me, but I wasn’t part of it. I’d come here to do my duty and to make my parent’s happy for a change, but I wasn’t planning on enjoying it. I couldn’t think of anything more boring than having to talk to those people. Golf weekends and spa days? Pur-lease. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. “Would you like anything to eat?” “No, dad. I’m fine.” At least he was trying to talk to me. My mother hadn’t even deigned me

with her presence as of yet. He smiled warmly as he walked off to mingle, knowing that my mother would demand he keep up the family image. Out of my family, my dad was the best. At least he had a shred of humanity and normality about him. My mother and sister lived in some kind of moneyed-up fantasy world where no one could hurt them as long as they had their piles of cash to protect them. My sister, Olivia, was lapping up the attention that was being lavished on her tonight. This was her idea of heaven.

I don’t think I had ever seen her smiling so much. She was beaming from ear to ear. This was the reason I had been dragged here. Olivia and Alex had just announced their engagement. It was just what my parents had been hoping for when the two of them had started dating. He was just the kind of guy that my mother hoped to see me with. Alex came from old money so according to everyone, they were the perfect match. He was a nice enough guy even if he was as boring as sin. There was no way I

could settle for a marriage like that. All image and no substance. I was happy enough for my parents that at least one of their kids wasn’t disappointing them. There was no way I was ever going to marry for money and no matter how many times my mother told me I would be happy with a man like Alex, I always told her she shouldn’t hold her breath. Olivia and Alex looked like the perfect couple as they swept around the room graciously accepting words of congratulations from well-wishers. In

my opinion, they looked like Barbie and Ken had come to life as they swanned around the room like the owned the place. Olivia looked princess perfect in her pale baby pink dress and flowing blonde hair. Alex complimented her perfectly with his wholesome traditional handsomeness. It was enough to make me want to puke. My mother came sweeping across the room to stand next to my father, linking her manicured hand through his arm. She turned to me, beaming, “Don’t they make the most wonderful couple?

Olivia is simply blooming.” She threw me a scathing look, letting me know once again that she didn’t think my outfit was up to scratch. “Blooming? Don’t people usually say something like that when a girl’s pregnant? Don’t tell me this is a shot-gun wedding?” I grinned. “Fallon! Keep your voice down.” She admonished. I couldn’t help laughing. My mother was all about appearances. There was no way that my darling little sister would do anything as scandalous

as get pregnant before she said ‘I do’ in a church. It was just a bit of fun but my mother clearly didn’t share my sense of humour. “I’ve got to go soon.” I tapped my mother on the arm to make sure I had her attention. She turned to glare at me once again. “I suppose you think we should be grateful that you took five minutes out of your busy schedule to come here tonight?” “You wanted me to come and I came.”

“And we all thought you might be a little happier for your sister. You’ve only just got here.” “Some of us do have to work, you know.” I wanted to roll my eyes. We’d had this conversation so many times before. Apparently, I wasn’t very supportive of anything Olivia did, blah, blah, blah. My younger sister could do no wrong, following in my mother’s footsteps of finding a rich husband and keeping up appearances. That just wasn’t the kind of future I was looking for.

“Fallon. I refuse to have this conversation with you again. You know exactly how I feel about you working in that place.” “The hospital?” I smirked. She hated that I worked at the city hospital and not in some private hospital that paid me thousands more for doing the exact same job. Or even better, plastic surgery. I would have made a fortune off her friends if I’d decided to go into that field. When I told my parents that I wanted to go into medicine, they had

thought that it was just a whim, some silly notion that I’d get over. When I started to volunteer at the local hospital, they had a complete shit fit. Apparently, they were concerned about the kind of people I could come across in there. If I worked at the private hospital, I would obviously be working with a higher class of sick people. They were such snobs. “Fallon. This is not the time or the place.” She flashed her plastic smile at someone of importance as they walked by before saying in a hushed tone, “You

could have made more of an effort tonight. This is a big night for your sister and you look like you’ve just rolled out of bed and thrown on the first thing you came across.” I looked down at myself. I couldn’t see what her problem was. The top I had on wasn’t too low cut or slutty and my trousers were straight legged, and well, quite boring. It clearly wasn’t good enough for her. It would never be good enough for her unless I spent half the day in the beauty salon with her and my sister.

She could think what she liked. I didn’t have the time or inclination to waste my day on that kind of thing. Sitting around while people primped my hair and messed with my nails was my idea of torture. Well, I loved people messing with my hair, but not to the extent my mother went to. I got annoyed with her disapproving glare. “For Christ’s sake, mother. I look respectable. What more do you want?” She shook her head at me disappointingly. “I raised you better than

that. You’re speaking like those heathens you work with.” “Give it a rest, mother.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m just saying you could have made more of an effort.” “Well, it is Olivia’s night. I didn’t think it would be fair to try and steal the limelight.” “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” My mother frowned, well, as much as she could with all that Botox. Ignoring her disdain, I put the full glass of champagne on the tray as

another waiter walked by, picking up a glass of water and downing it in one. My parents had spared no expense for the announcement party. Even the water had been imported. And yes, this was just the announcement party. We would still have to get through the engagement celebrations and then the full weight of the wedding would descend. This kind of thing would be a twenty four seven obsession for my mother and sister for the considerable future and all kinds of ridiculous money would be thrown at it.

At least this might take the heat off of me for a while. If they had something positive to focus on, they might get off my back for a change. I’d heard from an early age about how I should find myself a nice young man to take care of me, especially since I started working. They thought if I had a man to look after me, I wouldn’t have to be so stubborn and independent. My father wasn’t quite as bad as my mother, but he still didn’t approve. He was the face of a successful business that had been bought with his family’s

old money, and my mother stood loyally by his side. My sister was the little princess who loved the high society life and was now marrying into another respectable family. She was their pride and joy, and the total opposite to me. “I’m going to have to go home soon. I need to change before I go to work.” I glanced at my watch, wishing the time would tick by quicker. My mother continued to look unimpressed. “You should stay. This is an important night for our family. For your sister. You should be here for the

family.” “No, it’s an important night for Olivia and Alex. They know I’m happy for them.” “You should be here, with the family.” She insisted. “I can’t just call in. People depend on me.” “I’m sure they do.” She muttered. The kind of people who couldn’t pay for private surgery didn’t register on her radar. It really made my blood boil. I had studied and worked my ass off for

years and had finally achieved my goal. I was a nurse at the city hospital, doing what I had always wanted to do. How could anyone with a heart look down on that kind of job? Every single day I was helping people, healing the sick and patching up the wounded. Still, it wasn’t a glamorous or well-paid profession so my mother didn’t think it was worthy of my time. “I need to say goodbye to dad.” “Your father is talking to Alex’s parents.” My mother nodded her head in his direction and I set off without

another word. I’d had more than enough of her for one night. Waiting for a pause in the conversation, I tapped my father on the shoulder. “Sweetheart, have you said hello to Ivor and Sara?” I smiled and shook their hands as was expected of me. “So, Fallon, when will be hearing wedding bells from you?” Sara smiled. I wanted to bang my head against a brick wall. If I’d heard that once tonight, I’d heard it a dozen times. “I think we’ll let everyone concentrate on

Olivia and Alex’s special moment first.” I replied diplomatically. Turning back to my dad, I said, “I just came over to let you know I was leaving.” “Are you working this evening?” “Yeah. I’m on the late shift.” At least my dad wouldn’t give me too much grief about it, especially not in front of Alex’s parents. He did think I could do something different with my life, but he didn’t begrudge me my choice. I think he thought I’d do this for a while and then move on with my life and was humouring me.

“Stay safe.” And he kissed me on the cheek. “Have you seen Olivia?” He looked around, “I’m not sure where she is. Have you asked your mother?” “I haven’t really got time to go hunting for her. Can you tell her I said goodbye?” As nasty as it sounded, I didn’t want to go out of my way to find my sister. I had come here and shown my face and that should be enough. She would be busy off flashing her engagement ring to everyone who

crossed her path and I didn’t need to be blinded by her bling yet again. Walking out into the fresh evening air, I was pleased that I had a good excuse to leave that place. Those sorts of functions weren’t my thing. I didn’t enjoy being surrounded by rich people who thought that they owned the world and everything in it. That wasn’t my idea of a good time. Grinning to myself, I made my way over to my car. The piece of shit stood out like a sore thumb among all the luxury cars. It may be a rust bucket on

wheels, but I’d paid for it myself and she ran like a dream, even if she was a bit on the noisy side. My mother had flipped when she saw it and immediately rang the car dealership, ordering me a top of the range SUV, but I loved my POS and refused to trade it for anything. The drive back to my apartment was uneventful and I jumped in the shower before rushing back out to head to work. It was going to be a long night, but much preferable to staying at the golf club and watching my sister getting treated like royalty.

Walking into the hospital and going through my usual routine of checking in and changing into my scrubs, I got ready for a hard night. Weekends were the busiest and despite what my parents thought about it, I knew that I was doing something important with my life. With a small smile to myself, I threw myself into my work.

Dominic “Here you go. You look like you need it.” Lauren said as she passed the

glass over the bar. A double Jack. Perfect. Just what I needed. Downing it in one, I relished the burn in my throat. “Thanks, darlin’.” “You deserve more than that after today.” “It was nothing out of the ordinary for me.” I winked at her, trying to ease the tension. If anything, she would be the one that needed the drink, but she’d opted to throw herself back into her work. Keeping busy worked for Lauren. “It was a big deal for me. Thank you. I can’t tell you how much.”

“Anytime.” It hadn’t been a particularly hard day. It was more productive than anything. But I had the headache from hell working its way into my skull. We were the kind of boys who were told we would amount to nothing when we had been back in school. It was kind of understandable. All four of us had quick tempers and we didn’t leave school with a handful of qualifications between us. But that shit isn’t the be-all and end-all. We had life experience. We had street smarts. And we had

determination. When we wanted something, we went for it and let nothing get in our way, whether it was business or pussy, it was all the same. The Saint Brother’s always came out winners in the end. Maze walked up to the bar, slipping onto the empty stool next to me. He looked as rough as hell. It wasn’t surprising really. He’d been up all night looking into some kind of new computer system they were installing at the office. He’d been working with Kellin and Austen since they started the business

and handled all the digital work. Maze was a genuine computer whizz, which was how he got his name. He was like those goddamn mice that always got the cheese. Maze delivered without fail. Maze had been working through the night and for most of the day on this new computer system. The dude was going to work himself into the ground. My brother’s wouldn’t be able to function without him working for them. They were the muscle and the connections and Maze had the knowhow to make it work. They were a damn

good team and the mix worked well. None of us were dumb enough to think that he always kept to the legal routes when he was working a job, but he always got the right results so we weren’t going to complain. Sometimes you had to bend the law to get the job done. That was just the way of the world. “All sorted?” Maze sighed and ran a hand over his shaven head. “It wasn’t easy, but I got there in the end. Shame I had to miss out on all the fun with you lot, though.”

We had spent the morning in the office, sorting through some possible new connections, but the real action happened this afternoon. It had been a long time coming and I enjoyed every goddamn second of it. This latest job had been particularly difficult. My brothers didn’t usually take on jobs from people that we knew personally. It didn’t usually work out for the best. If you came up with some dirt that they didn’t like, it could ruin a perfectly good friendship. People always liked to believe that they could

handle hearing the truth, but when they were slapped around the face with it? The truth often hurt and they chose to shoot the messenger. This situation had been slightly different, though. We had all been waiting for Lauren to come to us for a while now. The guy she had been involved with was a complete dick. At the very least, he was nowhere near good enough for her. At the worst, he was fucking poison. We had been biding our time, waiting to make our move. The wait had been a bitch but we couldn’t go

meddling in her life without her go ahead. We could see that he was wrong for her, but it wasn’t our place to go wading in like that. If only I had known just how bad that shit was getting, I’d have acted without her permission. He deserved everything that was coming to him. Matt was a major dick. He came walking into my bar acting like he owned the place, like he owned Lauren. Matt was the biggest prick walking and I couldn’t wait to plaster his face all over the nearest wall from the moment I laid

eyes on him. But, I’d refrained from doing anything, not wanting Lauren to get caught in the crossfire. She was a great girl and no one’s fucking property. She was my bar manager and honestly, I didn’t know what I would do without her. I was shit at keeping the books and paperwork and she helped me to keep it all on track. She had come into this job a bubbly outgoing woman and since that dick had moved in on her, she’d become withdrawn and nervous and a girl I hardly recognised.

It was one of those situations when you knew you had to follow your gut instincts. I knew that he was bad news from the moment she brought him into the bar. There was something about him that seemed off. Which was why I put the boys on alert, ready in case we needed to step in. And I was right. To anyone else he probably seemed like a good guy when they first started dating. He seemed to treat her right and she’d been completely smitten with him. But there had been something in that bastard’s eyes that didn’t sit right

with me. My instincts had been right. As soon as Lauren started withdrawing into herself and that lively girl we all knew disappeared, I knew it was because of him. He was controlling, over-bearing and generally trying to rule her life. She couldn’t go out with her friends, told her what to eat, he dictated her wardrobe and shit like that. It all came to a head the night that Lauren put in her letter of resignation. I knew for a fact that she loved her job and wouldn’t give it up for the world, if

the choice had been hers. After some prodding, she broke down and admitted that he had been behind it all, wanting her to be at home at his beck and call. I wasn’t going to stand by and let him ruin her like that. Professionally, I was just her boss. But we’d become friends in the time that she’d been working for me and I looked out for her. Matt hadn’t liked that, wanting to get her away from us. It had been hard for me not to stick my nose into her business and wait for her to come to me, but she eventually did.

We got the ball rolling straight away. Keeping Lauren at the bar with a couple of the boys watching over her, I wanted her somewhere we could keep an eye on her and where that asshole couldn’t get to her. He wouldn’t be able to step foot in the place without one of my boys beating his ass back out the door. Maze had been pissed that he had to sit back at the bar and watch over Lauren while we had all the fun. I didn’t want him slipping through our fingers and causing her any problems. In my

opinion, Maze had the hardest job, but I certainly had the most enjoyable. What a fucked up mess of a situation. The delusional asshole had been sat in her apartment with his feet up, waiting for her to come home. The smug look on the bastards face had nearly sent me over the edge. He seriously had some kind of God complex thing going on, thinking he could do anything and get away with it and everything in me itched to knock the shit out of him. However, we did the right thing

and tried to talk it out with him first. The dick hadn’t wanted to listen to reason when we told him to pack his shit up and get the hell out of Lauren’s life. As much as I hated talking, I didn’t want to make this situation worse for her. Having him in her life was dragging her down and she had finally seen the light and reached out for help and we weren’t going to let her down. How he ever thought he was going to get the better of the four of us, I’ll never know. When he started in telling us what was best for Lauren and how we

didn’t know her at all, I totally lost my shit. That piece of scum was ruining her and I wouldn’t stand for it. Honestly, he was seriously lucky that Austen dragged me off him when he did or he’d be drinking through a straw for the rest of his life. Once I started, I saw red and couldn’t stop. With a little help from my brothers, it didn’t take him long to pack his stuff up and get the hell out of her place. If I’m being honest, I didn’t think it was going to be the last I saw of him. He wasn’t stupid, but he was cunning. If

he could find a way to get back to Lauren, he would. I, for one, wouldn’t let that happen. Maze had happily agreed to watch over her for a few days after he got over the fact he wasn’t going to be beating on anyone. I think he’s got the hots for her, but I knew he wouldn’t be stupid enough to act on it yet. She had been through enough lately without having to deal with him. Maze was a good guy and I could see them getting it on in the future, but not now. I trusted him. I didn’t think her dipshit ex would

be stupid enough to come crawling back so soon, and after the beating he had taken, I didn’t think he’d be able to walk in the near future, but better to be safe than sorry. We wanted to keep her safe. Maze was going to be sticking to her like glue for a while. It was going to take her a while to get over it. He’d really done a number on her, but Lauren was a great girl and we’d do all we could to get her back to the woman we knew and loved. Walking through to my office in the back, the crowds parted. No one got

in my way, but more than one girl tried to rub herself up against me. I wasn’t in the mood tonight. There were plenty of guys in here that would pick up my slack. They didn’t appeal to me anymore. The bar was always packed to the rafters on the weekends. In all fairness, we didn’t need Lauren in tonight. Jimmy had the bar covered and the others fell over each other to get the weekend shifts. The drinks started flowing and the tips came rolling in. They could easily double or triple what they earned behind

the bar in tips in a weekend alone. Knowing that her asshole ex had wiped out her bank account, I hoped that tonight would go a long way to boosting Lauren’s cash situation. Wall to wall bodies around the dance floor and the lines at the bar were at least four deep. I had a couple of things to take care of in the office and needed a little peace and quiet. The music was thumping and the atmosphere was hyper. I couldn’t think out there. ‘Sinners’ was a popular place to be seen and girls fought over themselves

to get close to me and my boys. It was laughable really. And the reaction of the people that came into the bar were always predictable. Girls threw themselves at us like we were goddamn rock stars, wanting to jump our bones if we just so happened to glance in their direction. And the guys? They were intimidated by us. The boys and I worked out when we had the time and had some pretty impressive muscle mass between us. Although, there were some tools out there that thought they could take us on. It was always fun to knock

them down a peg or two. I’d always kept myself in shape. I didn’t go to the gym or any of that bullshit, but I ran and lifted weights whenever I had the time. It seemed to happen less and less lately, but keeping busy was always a good thing. Austen and Kellin needed to keep fit and be at the top of their game for their line of work. They owned a successful security business that specialised not only in the technical side of things, but also personal protection. It was physical stuff and it wouldn’t do to

be breathless and wheezing when they were supposed to be protecting someone. Their business would pack up and close if they didn’t keep their shit together. And Jared was built like a brick shit house. He was an MMA fighter and had been working the underground circuit for years. Recently, he’d gone legit and was making a real name for himself in the business. The boy was doing us all proud and helping him train kept us all in shape. He was following in my father’s

footsteps. Dad had been a renowned fighter in his youth, hence why we all learned how to look after ourselves from a young age. The Saints’ weren’t a family to be messed with and we had a fierce reputation to uphold. The door to my office opened up and the sudden noise from the bar rattled around my head. It was Lauren. “Is everything okay?” “I just wanted to say thank you again.” I nodded. “He’s gone now. You’ll be fine.” She knew I wouldn’t say what

happened this afternoon, but she had a pretty good idea of what went down from the bloody, bruised knuckles. “I appreciate it.” She slid me another shot of Jack. “You’ll be okay.” “I will.” She looked determined to get back what she’d lost. “Maze will be staying with you tonight.” “He doesn’t have to.” She shook her head. “I’d rather be on my own and anyway, my friend is coming over to stay tomorrow.”

“Maze is staying tonight. And he’ll be there tomorrow. That’s final.” She rolled her eyes at me but the small smile showed she appreciated what we were doing for her. Getting back to business, I wanted to get a couple of calls out of the way before heading home. Jimmy had things covered here and I didn’t feel like a late night. I had someone waiting for me at home that meant more to me than any skank I could pull in this bar.

Chapter Two Dominic Walking into the bar, I was pleased to see it was already busy. I didn’t often call in on a Saturday night, but I wanted to check in on Lauren. She had a hard week of it. Maze had text me last night and again this morning to let me know she was okay and that there’d been no sign of her dick ex. It hadn’t been easy to tell her what

we had found out about him, but knowing it all helped her break away. With a bit of digging and speaking to the ladies that came into the bar, we had found out that the narcissistic douche had been dipping his dick all over town while he’d been gradually crushing Lauren’s self-esteem. It wasn’t a pretty picture. A simple background check on Matt hadn’t brought up anything. Obviously he was into taking a woman and breaking her before fleecing her money and riding off into the sunset to find his next victim. It made my blood boil. Obviously,

he thought that he was clever enough to keep on getting away with it, just like he had done in the past. It all probably added to his game, trying to get one over on us, thinking that me and my boys were nothing but muscle bound air heads. How wrong was he? He had definitely picked on the wrong girl this time. We had Lauren’s back and wouldn’t let him get away with it. I knew she was going to get fed up of having a shadow soon enough, but I hoped that Maze was keeping it cool. We needed to make sure she was safe. He

knew better than anyone how to keep a low profile and hoped that he wasn’t going to let his feelings for her affect his work. We’d known Maze since way back in school. We were the same age, thirty six, and we’d been friends ever since I saw him getting the shit beaten out of him in the playground. Always a champion of the underdog, I’d gone wading in and kicked the ever loving crap out of those bullies and Maze had stuck to us like glue ever since. No one messed with the Saints.

Not that anyone would ever think of laying a finger on him now. At thirty six, Maze was now a force to be reckoned with, a wall of immovable muscle. After that day in the playground, we’d all helped him work out and taught him how to fight and defend himself. He had made it his mission in life to make sure he was never put in that position again. No one messed with the brothers. You pick on one, you have to face all of us and all holy Hell rained down. And Maze was as good as family. After that

day, no one touched him again and a lifelong friendship had been formed. He was a good guy that I could always depend on and was as close as a brother. Anyway, Lauren seemed happy enough as I walked into the bar. A fake smile was plastered on her face, not that any of the punters knew that. They saw what she wanted them to see, a bombshell behind the bar. I saw the strain as she tried to get her life back to something she considered normal. It was going to be a struggle for her, but she would get there in the end.

Moving over to our usual table, even though it was still early, it was the only empty one in the place. Everyone knew not to sit there. It was reserved for me and my brothers only. Austen walked over, grinning like a kid in an ice-cream shop. “It’s busy in here tonight!” He nodded his head towards Lauren. “How’s she doing?” “Maze says she’s doing fine.” I shrugged, “She looks okay, but Lauren is a master of hiding what she’s feeling.” “I can’t believe we waited this long to kick his ass.”

I shrugged. What could I say? We couldn’t make a move until Lauren came to us. Admittedly, if we had known he was taking her cash as well, we would have stepped in, but we didn’t know. Hell, she didn’t even know. We had to wait for her to open her eyes to the situation It wasn’t like we didn’t have the resources to look into the situation. Two of my brothers ran a small but profitable security company that ranged from individual protection to security detail at music venues. They preferred to deal

with their assignments themselves if possible, but had a hell of a lot of guys on their books to call on if the job required more men. This was why the situation grated on us even more – this was the kind of thing they dealt with day in, day out. I wasn’t involved in the day to day running of things but was happy to help out if and when they needed it. And I could call on them if I needed it. Brothers stick together. It was a small operation but they had a solid reputation. The boys’ had done good. Kellin and Austen had built

it from the ground up, working small and building it bigger. They were proud of their ever growing empire and so they should be. They worked their balls off to make it what it was. “Hey, Austen.” I glanced up to see a cute blonde sidling up to him. It was clear the hair colour came from a bottle. It was as fake as her tits. “Melissa.” He grinned as he stood up and pulled her close. Turning away, I rolled my eyes. Melissa was one of the girls that came

into the bar every single weekend without fail, hoping to bag one of the Saint brothers, or at least one of the guys that worked for Austen and Kellin. She was proud of the fact that she had made her way through most of the men in the bar, but I sure as hell wasn’t one of her conquests. I preferred my girls with a little more class. Hell, with the amount of men she’d been with, I would be surprised if Austen’s dick didn’t rot off. The girl was sure to be infected. I was just grateful that my brother always remembered to wrap it.

“I’ll be back in five minutes.” Austen winked at me as he slapped Melissa on the ass. Five minutes? Who was he kidding? He was already hiking her dress up around her waist as they walked away through the crowd, giving everyone in the bar a clear view. She wasn’t wearing any underwear and the guys whooped it up, getting an eyeful of her used goods as she wiggled her ass and put on a show. She wasn’t the only one who came into the bar with only one thing on

her mind. There was a whole bunch of regulars who came in to blow or get blown or fuck out the back. It was like they wore their looseness like a badge of honour. Who was I to complain? As long as they were in there and spending their money, I couldn’t care less. Just because getting it on like that wasn’t my style anymore, I wasn’t about to stop the rest of them from having their fun. The girls and guys were all as bad as each other. They all had one track minds. I’d had my fair share of pussy over the years, but mindless fucks

without even knowing their names was a thing of the past for me. On the other hand, I wasn’t looking for anything serious, either. This was the time in my life when I had to concentrate on the business and building a future. As long as they spent their money and the law didn’t get involved, they could do what the fuck they wanted for all I cared. This place had turned into a meat market, their intentions very clear on walking in. The beers flowed and the clothes came off. Personally, I liked a girl with a

little more mystery about them, rather than having every inch of flesh on display for the world to see and getting naked in front of a crowd. You could say I was jaded. I’d had the whore and the shit had turned nasty. Honestly, though, I had to admire the girls that came in here and did their thing. They had an abundance of confidence oozing from every orifice. The crowd parted as my brother walked into the bar. At thirty-six, I was the oldest. Kellin was thirty-four, Austen thirty-two and Jared was the baby at age

twenty-nine. Out of all of us, it was Austen that seemed to be the most immature, acting like a pussy-deprived twat as often as he could. “Need another drink?” Kellin asked as he eyed me rubbing my bruised knuckles. I nodded. I wasn’t planning on sticking around tonight, but I needed to make sure Lauren was okay before I left. She seemed to be putting a brave face on things. Maze was sticking to her like glue, as instructed. Plus, I couldn’t just hit and run. It was the weekend and it

was expected that I showed my face at some point. Kellin rose and signalled to Jimmy. Owning this place certainly had its perks. There was no waiting around like the rest of the guys that rolled in here. The bar was heaving. We would die of thirst if we had to wait with the rest of them I had bought this place simply because I had the cash to do it. We used to come in here most nights and it made sense to make money out of the old place rather than pissing it up the wall.

Luckily, the old guy who’d had it before me had been looking for a buyer for some time and gave me a good price. The bar was a rundown shithole that no one cared about. That all changed when I took over. Me and the boys did a major overhaul, changing everything about it and making it into the goldmine it was today. ‘Sinners’ had been born and it was a booming business. My dad had provided well for us when we were growing up, instilling into us the value of making bank and saving. If it hadn’t been for him, I would

have probably drank and partied any cash I made. At least with owning the bar, I was able to make money and party at the same time when the need arose. “Thanks, Jimmy.” I nodded to him as he put the shot down on the table in front of me, and a bottle of beer for Kellin. He was staying off the hard stuff as he had another hard day at work planned for tomorrow. Security wasn’t a five day a week kind of job. “Got any plans?” Kellin shook his head. “Kacey is pissed that I’ve got to work this

weekend.” “So, why aren’t you at home with her now?” “She’s giving me the cold shoulder.” Kellin rolled his eyes. He and Kacey had been together for nearly two years and they looked like they were in it for the long haul. They made a good couple. She didn’t take any of his bullshit and didn’t seem intimidated by walking into a family made up predominantly of men. The skanks in the bar had mourned their losses and moved their

attention to Austen when they learned Kellin was off the market. Austen was the only single one left, if you didn’t include me. Kellin had Kacey, Jared had Maren and I wasn’t interested in the girls that came into the bar. I had too much going on in my life to waste my time. “At least working weekends doesn’t happen too often.” Their security business was going really well, well enough that they could pick and choose their assignments. It wasn’t often that Kellin or Austen had to work stupid

hours and employed enough other guys to cover for them. But sometimes, these things had to be done. Kellin was working on a sensitive case and it needed his attention. “She’s threatened to plan a girly weekend.” Kellin shuddered, remembering the last time Kacey had turned their apartment into a girls’ only den, with pedicures, leg waxing and make-overs galore. Just walking in the door had you choking on the amount of perfume that hung heavy in the air. I had happily taken the piss out of him for

weeks for smelling like a girl. “What about you?” “I just came in to check up on Lauren. I’m heading out soon.” “Alone?” Kellin smirked. “Fuck off.” Chester, one of the guys that worked with Kellin, sat down at the table, grinning from ear to ear. “How can you go home alone with all this on offer?” I didn’t bother to reply, simply shaking my head at him. He wouldn’t understand anyway. He was relatively

new to the group, having only worked for my brothers for about twelve months. I wasn’t in the position to be taking random women home and a quick fuck in my office wasn’t on the cards for me tonight. Throwing the question back at him, I asked, “So, who do you have your eye on?” Chester winked at me and pointed over to a brunette that was whirling around one of the stripper poles in what she clearly thought was a provocative manner, but in my opinion, failing miserably. She was giving him some

serious fuck-eye action and the moment he pointed at her, her breath visibly hitched. It was game on for Chester. “Have at it, man.” Acting all cool, Chester took a swig from him bottle of beer before standing up. “See you later, boys.” Watching as he walked over to her, he didn’t say a single word. He didn’t have to. Taking her hand, he led her towards the rear exit of the bar. It didn’t take much imagination to wonder what they’d be getting up to in a matter of minutes.

Pushing the shot away from me, I wasn’t in the mood for it. Standing up, I shrugged on my jacket. “Where are you going?” Kellin asked. “It’s still early.” “I only wanted to check on Lauren. I’ve got somewhere to be.” The air was stifling and I wanted to get home. Lauren seemed happier since her friend arrived to keep her company and I knew Maze would still be keeping an eye on her. My work here was done. Kellin started to say something but lost his train of thought when Kacey

came walking into the bar, making a beeline for him. She didn’t look too pissed off to me so maybe my brother would get lucky tonight after all. Walking away from the table, the crowd parted so I didn’t have to shove my way through. It was a sign of respect that I appreciated. Kissing Kacey on the cheek as I passed her and raising a hand to Lauren, I made my way outside. Stepping outside, I breathed in deeply. The cool air refreshed me. The smell of beer, sex and desperation hung heavy in the air in the bar and it was

cloying. As much as I loved the place, it was good to be out of there.

Fallon I was shattered. The last thing I wanted to be doing was going out tonight, but how could I say no? I’d had a really hard shift at work and my feet were killing me. Pulling up outside my place, I glanced at my watch and groaned. All I wanted to do was get in the bath before curling up on the sofa and eating my weight in chocolate.

But no. I couldn’t do that tonight. There was no way I’d blow Lauren off when she needed me. She had been a good friend to me over the years and now it was my turn to be there for her. She had finally seen the light and got rid of the controlling bastard she’d been seeing. I didn’t like him from the moment I set eyes on him and my feelings about him had been right. He had taken over her life, cutting her off from her friends, trying to make her dependent only on him. I’d tried to talk to her about him

but at the time she wouldn’t hear a bad word said against him. In the beginning, all she could see was how good he was being to her and it blinded her to his faults. By the time she was ready to listen to me, he had got his claws in deep and wouldn’t let her see me. Not that it stopped me trying. I wouldn’t let him control me or keep me from my friend. I would ring her at the bar to try and get her to see reason, but even that had to stop. He had taken to going into work with her, keeping her at arm length from everybody who loved

her and policing her calls. It got so bad that I suggested she get some help from her boss and his brothers. They had a badass reputation and if I couldn’t get her out of the mess she was in, maybe they could. They were well known around the city, even though I hadn’t ever met them, I knew they would help her if she asked. Evidently from her phone call earlier today, she had finally taken my advice. I didn’t yet know the details, but she was free of that scumbag and that was good enough for me. I didn’t care

how it happened as long as it had. Now it was time for a girly catch up. We had a lot of time to make up for. I was already running late. With just enough time to shower and change, I was glad I was only going to keep her company at work and didn’t have to get too dressed up. I didn’t have the time or the inclination. The bar where Lauren worked didn’t have the greatest reputation around town. The stories of sexual depravity in that place were legendary. I was planning on keeping everything

covered so I didn’t draw any unwanted attention. Sinners. That was the name of the place. Summed it up really, didn’t it? At least I had an idea of what I was letting myself in for. I had never set foot in there before and wasn’t looking forward to it very much. We tended to go out to other bars when Lauren and I went out, seeing as she worked there, but tonight, I was headed to Sinners. Running into my house, I pressed the button on my answering machine. There was a message on there from my

mother, reminding me of some charity event I had apparently promised to go to in a few days’ time. Great. I wasn’t on shift that evening either so I couldn’t think of a way to get out of it. At least I had a few days’ to come up with a suitable excuse. Moving into the bathroom, I put my mother and her plans out of my mind. Turning on the shower, I had to think about Lauren tonight. We had been friends for years, ever since her little sister had been admitted to hospital after drinking nail

varnish remover. I tell you, kids will try anything and everything. She was still a little tearaway now she was nearly a teenager, but at least she wasn’t drinking that kind of thing anymore. I hadn’t even done anything much to help at the time. I had simply been passing by and saw Lauren in a panic and sat with her as she waited for the ambulance to arrive. Apparently, that made me into a hero in her eyes. She was a good friend to me, probably the best I’d ever had. I hated to see her go through losing herself to that

asshole. He treated her like rubbish and it had taken her too long to see it. She deserved better than that, but as they say, love is blind. Wrapping myself in a towel, I didn’t even have time to wash my hair so I fluffed it out a bit, letting the long dark waves curl around my shoulders. It was fortunate that it looked as good as it did. I had a killer headache from having it scraped back in a ponytail for most of the day. Throwing on my favourite pair of jeans and a plain black top, I was nearly

ready to head out. I was happy enough with the way I looked. After all, it was only a catch up with a friend. It wasn’t like I was out to impress anyone. My jeans were a snug fit and emphasised my long legs. The top was fitted, but not too clingy. I didn’t think I looked half bad, especially after a hard day at work. However, knowing the type of girls that went to the bar, I didn’t want to walk in there looking like I hadn’t made any effort at all. Brushing on some mascara and a slick of lip gloss, I felt a

little better and made a grab for my car keys. If I had been planning on drinking tonight, I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to drive there. We weren’t planning on a bender tonight. Lauren was working, anyway. I hoped it was going to be a quiet one. Pulling up and cutting the engine, I glanced in the mirror one more time before getting out and pulling on my leather jacket. The bar was already busy and I

could hear the music blaring out from all the way down the street. Luckily enough, it was still quite early so I was able to walk straight in without the hassle of lining up. The doormen gave me an appreciative glance as I walked by, which made me smile. Obviously, I didn’t look too bad at all. It was always a good confidence boost. Inside, the place was busier than I expected. I had only walked by here a few times and that was during the week when things were quieter. I’d never actually set foot in the place before.

Even at this early hour, the drinks were flowing and laughter bounced off the walls. Later on, the lines would be curling around the street with people eager to get in. The bar itself wasn’t anything much out of the ordinary. You could find the same kind of furnishing and decoration in any bar in town, all dark wood and well-appointed furnishings. But it was the patrons that made the difference. It was clear that everyone was out for a good time and many of them were already pairing off, cosying

up in the corners and getting down and dirty on the dancefloor. It was only early so I dread to think what the place would be like later when the drinking had really started in earnest. Spying Lauren standing behind the bar, I made my way over. It was quite a task to elbow my way through the scantily clad girls who were out looking for a good time. I felt decidedly overdressed. As soon as I made it to the bar, Lauren grinned over at me. Instantly, I smiled back at her. It was the first real

smile I had seen from her in months and it was really good to see. “Glad you could make it! What can I get you?” she nodded to a stool that had come empty at the bar. I sat down and had to shout to be heard over the pounding music. “Just a Pepsi, thanks.” “Is that it?” She made a disgusted face. “I’m working tomorrow.” She nodded and got me a drink, sliding it across the bar to me and refusing to take any money for it. “It’s on

him.” She grinned at the guy sitting next to me. “Um, thanks?” I didn’t have a clue who he was. “You’re welcome, babe.” He grinned at me before leaning in closer. “Don’t worry. It’s just a drink. You’re safe with me. I’m Lauren’s shadow for the time being, making sure that asshole doesn’t get anywhere near her again.” I sat back and looked at him. On first glance, he was an intimidating sight, all badass muscles, tattoos and attitude, but when he smiled? He was really good

looking. It was good to know she was in safe hands. I held the drink up and said, “Thank you.” “No problem. I thought seeing as we were both here for Lauren, it would be a good way to break the ice.” Lauren leaned over the bar. “Don’t worry, he may look like a hardass but he’s really a big teddy bear.” “Hey! You’ll ruin my rep!” I couldn’t help laughing. They were squabbling like brother and sister. It put me at ease knowing she had someone else looking out for her. I

didn’t think I would be much help if Matt rolled up, but this guy could easily send him on his way. “So, what’s your name, sweetheart?” “Fallon. What about you?” “Maze.” “Maze?” That was an odd name. It had to be a nickname. “Long story.” He waved it off. “If you don’t mind me saying, this doesn’t seem like the sort of place someone like you would usually hang out.” I knew he probably meant that as

some kind of compliment, but I felt myself bristle. He was right. This wasn’t the kind of place I had grown up in and my parents would probably have a complete shit fit if they knew I came to bars like this, despite being an adult. I was a big girl and could make my own choices. They didn’t think that, though. I decided to try and play it cool and not let the comment ruffle my feathers unnecessarily. This guy didn’t know who my family was or where I was from. “So, what kind of place would you see me in?”

“Hmm. Somewhere nice. You’re nothing like the classless whores that come in here. They’re all looking for cock and that’s it.” “And what do you think I’m looking for?” I smirked. At least he was direct even if he was crude. I was enjoying the flirty banter and Maze seemed like a really nice guy, despite his scary appearance. “Something more. Something better.” “Something better than cock?” I raised my eyebrows at him and took a

sip of my drink, licking my lips seductively. Maze cracked up laughing. “I like you!” His laughter was infectious and I found myself giggling along with him. I don’t know why he decided he liked me, but it could have been worse. Lauren could have had someone watching her who was a complete prick with no sense of humour. At least Maze knew how to have fun and chat easily. We spent the next hour or so talking crap about nothing in particular.

He told me that he worked in computers and nearly had a heart attack when I told him I was a nurse. “I’d love to see you in your uniform!” I laughed, having heard that a million times before. The scrubs we wore weren’t half as sexy as the little nurse’s uniform that most men dream about, but I didn’t say anything, letting him have his little fantasy. Even though the bar was really busy and noisy, I had a good time. Lauren didn’t have much chance to come

over and chat as the lines at the bar were insane. Talking to Maze made the time go faster. It was nice. I hadn’t had the chance to sit and chat with a guy for so long and it was even easier because despite the flirty tone, he showed no signs of wanting to get into my pants. If anything, he watched Lauren with hungry eyes. Lauren signalled that she was due to take a break and was going out the back for the cigarette. Maze and I got up instantly and followed her through the bar.

She lit up as soon as she stepped outside and inhaled. Maze stayed a few steps away to give us the illusion of privacy while still being close enough in case he was needed. “So what happened?” I asked. She hadn’t told me much on the phone, just that she’d sorted it out and needed me. Lauren ran a hand through her long auburn hair. “I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked Dominic and he stepped in.” “You make it sound so easy.” She laughed ruefully. “It was

anything but easy. I didn’t even see what he was doing to me until it was too late.” “It wasn’t too late. You got out. That’s the main thing.” “He really screwed with my head.” I put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “You’re away from him. You’ll be able to clear your thoughts now.” “Thanks to Dominic.” It kind of hurt that she wouldn’t listen to me in all that time, but Dominic the hero stepped in and solved the

problem in one foul swoop. Dominic the hero. I already disliked him and I hadn’t even met him. “So what went down?” “I couldn’t take it anymore.” A tear escaped from her eye. “I couldn’t do it on my own. I think they threatened him.” “Why didn’t you come to me?” I had been trying to get her out of it for so long and hated feeling so helpless. I didn’t have muscle, but I had money and that would have been a sure-fire way to get rid of him.

“He wouldn’t listen to reason. Dominic and the boys delivered the message to him in another way.” “They kicked his ass?” “They sure did.” She chuckled before becoming serious once again. “I don’t think he would have listened to anything or anyone else. It was the only way.” “So, this is why you’ve got your personal bodyguard?” I cocked my head towards Maze, who grinned back at us like a Cheshire cat. “Sure is.” She put the cigarette out

with the toe of her boot and hugged me, holding on tight. “I’ve got to get back to work, but we’ll talk more later when we don’t have an extra set of ears listening.” She whispered so Maze couldn’t hear. I nodded and followed her back into the bar. She was putting on a good front for the customers but it would take time for her to find herself again. I would be there for her every step of the way. As the bar was still ridiculously busy, I could indulge in my favourite pastime – people watching. I couldn’t

believe how some of the girls acted in there. In a way, I wished I could be more like them, free and loose without a care in the world. They danced on the poles like pros, working the guys in the bar into a frenzy. I’d never been like that. With the kind of upbringing I’d had, there was no way for me to ever let loose like that. I rebelled like most teenagers did, but never that much. I didn’t have that kind of confidence in me. Being quite shy, I was innately more reserved and couldn’t imagine dancing around in my

underwear in front of a room full of strangers. Lauren passed me another Pepsi just as Kacey came in, giving us a wink and a wave before walking through the bar. I had met Kacey several times before and heard all sorts about her boyfriend, Kellin, but had never seen him in the flesh. I watched her as she worked her way across the bar, heading towards a table where three guys were sitting. One got up and wandered off to talk to a girl and Kacey headed straight for the one with the dark shaven hair.

Hot damn, he was sex on legs. No wonder she raved about him all the time. From what Lauren had said, all the brothers were gorgeous, but until seeing Kellin, I did not realise how gorgeous she meant. Kacey was one lucky girl to be going home to that every night. As Kacey sat down on Kellin’s knee, the other guy at the table got up and walked across the bar. The crowds of people moved for him, like he was the fucking messiah. I couldn’t really see him but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. From what I could see he was stunning,

all rough and ready and dangerous looking. The crowds in the bar were too thick to be able to take any real notice but it was obvious how good looking he was, the women in the bar gravitated towards him. It would be a hell of a disappointment to have him turn around and look like a complete dog after all that hero worship. “Who’s that?” I asked Maze, watching as his tight butt walked out of the bar. “That’s Dominic. He owns this place.”

Dominic? That was Lauren’s boss? Holy shit! I guessed that the hot gene ran in the family. If he was half as hot as his brother, no wonder Lauren loved her job as much as she did. All I had were stuffy old doctors who had bad breath and were losing their hair. It didn’t really compare. Turning back to Lauren, I saw her staring after him, too. I hoped that didn’t mean she was interested in him, although her gaze was more akin to gratitude. I wouldn’t blame her. Although she’d never mentioned anything like that about

him before, he had just played the hero and got her away from that jerk of a boyfriend. However, I wished that I could have had a better look at him. If the front was half as good as the back, he would be more than swoon-worthy. Staring down at my drink, I forced myself to forget all about Dominic. He was way out of my league, anyway. He looked like the type of guy to talk with his fists first and that wasn’t my kind of man at all. Not at all. I wouldn’t waste my time thinking about someone I couldn’t have.

Nope. Not at all. As soon as Lauren finished her shift, we headed back to her place. Maze drove Lauren, and Kacey came with me as we followed along behind her car. It was a nice, easy going night. Kacey had tried bitching about Kellin because he had to work the whole weekend again, but it didn’t last for very long. She was clearly madly in love with the guy and couldn’t speak ill of him for very long. It was really sweet, in a sickly kind of way.

Kacey decided to tag along, seeing as Kellin was going to be up early in the morning. She was a refreshing presence and didn’t let the conversations get too deep and depressing. I was thoroughly exhausted and after Lauren spoke more in depth about what happened with Matt, we all fell asleep. Maze stayed in the kitchen out the way and us girls crashed in Lauren’s room. It was like the kind of sleepover you had when you were teenagers and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Chapter Three Dominic Just when things are seeming to go your way, something has to go tits up. Typical, isn’t it? Things at Sinners had calmed down over the last couple of weeks since we rid Lauren of that shithead boyfriend of hers. You could see the bubbly girl she once was pushing her way back through slowly but surely. It

was just a shame it had taken her so long to come to me, but at least she had in the end. It wasn’t Sinners that was the problem tonight. Decadence was the issue. I knew things were too good to be true at the club. Sinners wasn’t the only money maker I had in my pocket. I had started off with the bar and following its success, I decided to branch out a little. Decadence was way at the other end of the scale and between the two businesses, they kept me on my feet.

Funnily enough, you would have thought a dive like Sinners would be the one that would cause me all the problem, but no, the upmarket club was sometimes more hassle than it was worth. Decadence was a high class nightclub and targeted a certain kind of clientele. The filthy rich kind. Out of the two bars, this was the one that made the most money with minimal effort on my part. We charged a ridiculous yearly membership fee and the prices once you were in there were astronomical. But people paid them, and usually without

complaint so I wasn’t going to change a winning formula. This time, it wasn’t one of the clients that was giving me grief, it was the staff. Someone was pocketing money, and had been for a while. For some reason, my club manager had waited until now to bring this to my attention and I was royally pissed off as I slammed my way into my private office. What was the point in hiring staff if they couldn’t do their fucking jobs? Richard had come with glowing references, but he was the kind of man to

try and shoulder every problem, just to show that he was the one to resolve it. Well, he’d fucked up this time. Putting a call through to reception, I asked for Richard to come to my office immediately. Sitting down behind my desk, I waited. It didn’t take long for the knock to come at my door. “Enter.” Richard came into the room, looking as stiff and as uptight as ever. “Mr Saint.” He nodded as soon as he walked in. “Take a seat, Richard.” I knew it

irked him that I used his first name, but I didn’t give a crap. He was a competent manager in most ways, but there was something about him that really got on my nerves. Richard was the kind of man who thought he was better than everyone else because he had money. Even serving the people he did, Richard thought he was one of them. Richard Evergreen wasn’t a tall man, probably coming up to my shoulders at the most, although at 6’3” I was taller than most anyway. His immaculately styled hair was starting to

thin and he had the most annoying little moustache. Everything about him grated on me, but while ever he did a good job, I’d put my personal thoughts aside. “What’s been going on?” I narrowed my eyes at him, resting my elbows on the desk. “As I informed you, I have been keeping an eye on the situation.” Richard looked like he was sweating under the pressure. “And the situation is?” “Helen has been, how shall we say? Taking her own share?”

I wasn’t sure whether to roll my eyes at him or smack him in the mouth. Why couldn’t he just be upfront and say what he really meant? The bitch had been stealing from me. It was as simple as that. I didn’t have the time to beat around the bush with his sensitivities. “How long have you been keeping an eye on the situation?” “For the last two months.” Two months? This was news to me. “So, let me get this straight. Helen has been stealing money from me for two months, you’ve known about it all this

time and not said anything to me?” He could tell from the look in my eyes that I was getting seriously annoyed. In the grand scheme of things, what she had taken was a piss in the ocean, but that wasn’t the point. His job is to deal with situations like this and inform me accordingly, not to sit on it for a couple of months before deciding to tell me. “Well, Mr Saint, it wasn’t quite as simple as that.” “What do you mean?” I interrupted.

“I had no proof.” “You still should have come to me. This is my money, my business. If you had told me what you had suspected, I would have been able to put in measures to get that proof you so desperately needed.” “Yes, sir. You’re correct.” Too right I was correct! I shook my head at him. “You have proof now?” “Yes, Mr Saint. I had the security footage sent over to you.” I grunted and turned to my laptop, hitting up my emails and finding the one

from him and another from my security team. It wasn’t only Richard I was pissed off with. Someone else should have found out about this and come to me. Watching the security tape, I wondered how long it had really been going on for. Helen was getting sloppy. She had clearly been at this for a while and thought the coast was clear. How wrong she was. “Get her in here.” “Right away, Mr Saint.” And Richard scurried out of my office,

closing the door behind him. All I wanted to do was get this shit sorted out so I could head home. Thankfully, I knew that ‘Sinners’ was in good hands. I had a great team of people working there that I trusted and liked. None of this kind of shit would happen there, and if it did, it would get dealt with quickly. Not like the dipshits who worked here. It went pretty much as I expected. I’d had to send Richard out of the room, which didn’t impress him in the least.

Not that I cared. He was making the situation worse, butting his nose in every two minutes. You could see the thoughts ticking over in his head, he was the manager of the club and therefore had the right to be included in the firing of this individual, but I didn’t like how he was handling things. Helen had tried to plead poverty, but I knew that wasn’t the case. She had been pilfering enough money from me not to have money worries, for the time being at least. However, it turned out she had a

gambling addiction and was stealing from me to feed her habit and to pay off her creditors. I’m not a mean bastard, and although I did fire her, I had made a call to a friend of a friend who was going to help her out. She was a nice girl and that wasn’t the kind of life she wanted to be leading. Grabbing my things, I decided to call it a night. My head was thumping and all I wanted to do was go home and turn out the lights.

Fallon

I really, really hated nights like this. Why couldn’t I just say no? Was I really that much of a pushover? After a long shift, going out was the last thing on my mind. All I really wanted to do was go home and soak in a bubble bath, but here I was. It made it all that much worse because I’d been dragged along to Decadence. This really wasn’t my scene, being surrounded by people who thought that they were important just because they had more money. It made me feel

uncomfortable, reminding me of my childhood. Back then, I didn’t even know that people struggled to earn a penny and now that I did, I hated to see this kind of wealth thrown around recklessly. I got the phone call earlier in the day to inform me that my presence was required tonight and I immediately called Taylor to come to my rescue. We’d been friends for years and although I hated this club, she loved it. “Seriously?” She had sounded like a giddy kid when I asked her if she

wanted to come with me to the club. “You do realise that it means you’ve got to put up with my sister?” Olivia and Taylor didn’t get on too well, but as long as I kept them away from one another, we should be able to avoid fireworks. Or I hoped, at least. “Ugh! I don’t care about that hag. We’re going to have so much fun!” I knew that Olivia being there wouldn’t put her off and I wanted Taylor with me for a bit of moral support. She knew the kind of shit Olivia and her friends would be talking about and was

always happy to take me away from it all. All that wedding talk was going to give me a headache if I didn’t have Taylor as a diversion. Now we were walking up the street from where I’d parked the car. I didn’t plan on drinking tonight and wanted my car close so I could make a quick getaway if my sister gave me too much of a headache with all her wedding talk. You can’t call me stupid. What was she doing this for anyway? The engagement had only just been announced a couple of weeks ago

and I knew it would take forever for her to finalise the details and as far as I was aware, they hadn’t set a date yet. Why the rush? They hadn’t even had the official engagement party yet. I knew why. My sister was an attention seeking ho-bag. She loved being the centre of attention and this wedding would ensure she was the talk of all her friends for the all the time it took to plan, and knowing Olivia, the actual wedding would be so over the top and the talk of the town for several years to come.

As we walked down the street, our heels clicking on the road, I spotted Decadence. There weren’t any queues to get into the place, but that wasn’t surprising. The prices to get in were ridiculous and not for the average Joe off the streets. My parents had renewed my membership, even though I hadn’t been in there in over a year. They did it at the same time as they renewed Olivia’s. Decadence was right up her street, but it sure wasn’t mine. The clue was basically filled with wall-to-wall snobs

that luxuriated in the fact that the extortionate prices kept out the unwashed masses. There was no way I would waste my money on this kind of place, but yet again, my mother was keeping up appearances. “Are you sure I can’t change my mind?” I said, frowning at Taylor. She laughed. “You know you can’t. Your sister would go ape-shit if you let her down.” “Pretty please?” I pouted, knowing that there was no way I was getting out of this one.

“Not a chance. Olivia is going to be the belle of the ball and you’re going to have to be the ugly sister and suck it up for one night.” “It’s not going to be just for one night, though, is it?” I already had the feeling that wedding preparations were going to become a weekly thing. I would have to start thinking of excuses soon enough. Taylor grinned happily and hooked her arm through mine, pushing me on towards the entrance. Even the plain building that held

the club stood out from the rest of the buildings on the street. The matt black brickwork and the stylised silver writing that announced the name of the club commanded attention with its simplicity. It lured people in, only to disappoint them when they were told they weren’t good enough to enter. Yeah, I had a real problem with this club. “Good evening ladies.” One of the smartly dressed doormen nodded in our direction. They didn’t need meathead muscle here, only a discerning

eye to keep out the riffraff. We both nodded towards them, but their eyes were on me. I knew that my name would have shown up on their security scanning, showing my membership to be up to date and allowing me to enter. Taylor elbowed me in the ribs and grinned. She loved coming here. We paused in the foyer to register me and my guest before heading up into the main room of the club. There were several smaller rooms that veered off, but I knew Olivia would be where all the

action was. The main room was extremely large, the space looking even bigger because you would usually expect to see more people in a nightclub. Decadence was spacious and luxurious, offering only the best of the best for the most discerning customers. “Where are we going to sit?” Taylor asked as she looked around, smoothing down her skirt. “Anywhere you want. Olivia isn’t here yet.” Following her over to an oval

glass table, I sat down on one of the plush chairs. To give this place some credit, you couldn’t find any fault with the décor. The blacks, silvers and pearl accents blended together perfectly, making for a relaxing atmosphere as opposed to the stuffy heat of a ‘normal’ nightclub. I didn’t really have anything against the actual club, just the people that frequented it and their mentality. As soon as one of the servers came over to our table, Taylor ordered some obscure cocktail. That was one of the other reasons she loved to come to

Decadence. She could throw anything at them and she would never win. Taylor always scanned the internet before coming, looking for the wildest and weirdest cocktails to see if she could ruffle their feathers, but it never worked. When the beautiful server dressed in her elegant black and silver uniform turned to me, I simply shook my head. I could get my own drink. I didn’t need anyone to wait on me. “Again?” Taylor rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why you do that. These people need to earn a living just like the

rest of us. I bet the tips they get in here are out of this world.” I smiled. She knew me well and knew I was always fighting my childhood when we had an army of staff to wait on us, always ready at our beck and call. “That’s not it. Elliot is over there, working the bar. I thought I’d go over and say hello.” Elliot was an old friend of mine and one of the plus sides to coming here. “I’ll be right back.” Taylor nodded absentmindedly. She was already too busy people watching to worry about where I was

going. Moving across the room, I nodded politely at the few people I vaguely knew through family connections, but I didn’t stop to chat to anyone. I had nothing in common with these people and couldn’t be bothered to waste my breath on them. “Hey.” I called over to Elliot as soon as I got to the bar. There was no one else around as the rest of the patrons preferred to be waited on hand and foot. Elliot moved up the bar towards me and smiled warmly before

straightening his back. He looked like a model with his classic good looks and smart suit, but he didn’t seem like his fun loving usual self tonight. “Hi, Fallon. What can I get for you?” “Just a Pepsi with ice and lemon, thanks El.” He bustled around the bar before placing the drink in front of me with a smile and a flourish. As he nodded and moved away, I narrowed my eyes a little. He always stuck around for a chat, especially on a relatively quiet night like tonight. “Are you okay?”

He glanced back in my direction and a small smile as he cleaned the already immaculate bar area. “The boss is in tonight. We’re all on our best behaviour.” “Ah, so you’re all trying to make a good impression on him?” “Something like that.” “Is he really that much of an ass?” I could imagine so, owning a place like this. Elliot sidled up closer to me and whispered, “He fired Helen. She just ran out of here crying.”

“Shit. What happened?” I couldn’t say I was too surprised. Helen seemed like a bit of a crafty cow to me. “I’ve no idea, but we’re all on guard in case he calls anyone else in. I can’t afford to lose this job.” “Well, you don’t need to worry, El. You do a great job here.” “Thanks, babe.” I’d always liked Elliot. He had gone to the same school as me until his parents lost all of their money and had to pull him out. When he started working here, I knew it was hard on him, serving

the same people he used to be friends with, especially some of the not so nice ones. “It’s true. You take pride in your work.” I nodded towards the bar area that was sparkling. “And anyway, you don’t need this place. It needs you.” “Make sure you tell him that if you see him.” Elliot winked as he moved down the bar to take another order from one of the servers. Grabbing my drink, I made my way back over to the table. Olivia had still not arrived, obviously choosing to

be fashionably late with the rest of her uptight friends, and Taylor was nowhere in sight. That wasn’t much of a surprise to me. She was a girl determined to find herself a man, not that she was particularly bothered if he was a rich dude, but that would be a bonus. Taylor wasn’t a shallow girl, she was just looking for Mr Right. Everywhere she went, Taylor was always on the look-out for a potential husband. For as long as I can remember, all she ever wanted out of life was the perfect marriage like her parents had,

and then lots of babies. I couldn’t fault her for that. It sounded pretty damn perfect to me, too. She hadn’t had an easy time of it. Taylor was a sucker for love and when she fell, she fell hard. Unfortunately, the person she had chosen to fall for was a complete ass and had messed her around big style. And even more unfortunate was who he chose to cheat on her with. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Charlie the Cheat went one step further and had an affair with Taylor’s sister. For anyone else, it would have

probably ruined their view on love, but not Taylor. She was the eternal cockeyed optimist. Hence why she was out and about on the look-out tonight. It just seemed like a whole lot of hassle to me, though. Taylor never stopped looking for the perfect guy but I was more of the opinion that love would find you when you were least expecting it. Not that I was going to burst her bubble and tell Taylor that. “Your friend is over on the dancefloor.” I looked up to see a man who

appeared a few years older than me, probably early thirties, grinning down at me. He had on a suit that probably cost more than most people would make in a year, custom made shoes and thinning hair. He looked like the stereotypical insurance or banking kind of guy or something equally as boring. “Thanks.” I glanced over at the dancefloor and saw her slow dancing with some random guy, his hand planted firmly on her ass. At least she had a big smile on her face. “Would you like to join me for a

drink?” I held up my glass, “Thanks, but I’m fine.” There was something about him that I just disliked on first impression and I didn’t want to encourage him any further. “Come on. You don’t want to be sat here all alone while your friend is out there having a good time.” “I said, I’m fine.” “I’m sure we could have some fun. Order in some champagne…” “Look, can’t you take a hint?” I narrowed my eyes at him. I knew exactly

what type of guy he was, using his money to attract girls. Well, he was shit out of luck with me. For one, my family had more money that he could ever dream of, and for two, no amount of money could ever make him seem attractive to me. He made a snorting sound and I could have sworn that he muttered ‘bitch’ under his breath as he stormed away. Not that it bothered me. I was just glad he was out of my face. I didn’t care what he thought of me. Watching Taylor out on the

dancefloor, in a way I wished I could enjoy this club the way she did. I couldn’t ever seem to relax when I was in there and certainly wouldn’t give the men the time of day. Taylor loved coming here, drinking herself stupid and dancing the night away while I sat on the side-lines, sulking. That was when I realised I was just as snobby as the rest of them. They seemed to rate people on the amount of money they made, and I rated them negatively dependent on the amount of money they had. Why hadn’t I ever

realised that before? “Ms Winterly?” I glanced up to see the beautiful waitress from earlier. “Yes, that’s me.” “I’ve been asked to inform you that your party has arrived.” “Thank you.” I was pleased that I managed to reply without groaning. I had hoped for a little more time before Olivia got here, but I was clearly out of luck. Standing up, I motioned for Taylor, but she was oblivious as she danced with the guy she had just met.

Huffing to myself, I walked out onto the dancefloor and tapped her on the shoulder. “Oh, hey” She beamed a smile at the man she was wrapped around, “This is my best friend, Fallon.” “Hello, Fallon.” He said in a deep voice, but kept his eyes glued to Taylor. I could see why she would like him, all tall, dark and handsome. He seemed like the kind of man who looked after himself with his cleanly shaven face and smelling of expensive aftershave.

I gave him a quick smile before turning back to her, “They’re here. Are you coming to sit down?” She looked torn, wanting to be my rock for the evening and wanting to stay with this guy. I made it easy for her. “Why don’t you come and find us after the song has finished?” Taylor looked at me in relief, “Are you sure?” “Of course.” I gave her a pointed look to tell her not to be too long before turning to make my way over to where my sister was holding court.

Olivia was sitting in the centre of her friends, already engaging in wedding talk. Sitting down, she graced me with a quick wave before launching back into the discussion about wedding preparations. I couldn’t follow it at all. Her words were blending into a haze of peach and ivory themes that I had no interest in. This wedding was going to be a huge event. My mother had been waiting for the day that she could go all out for one of her daughters. And that was another reason I was a big

disappointment to her. None of my relationships measured up to her standards or lasted long enough for her to start in on the preparations. My younger sister had beaten me to it, much to my mother’s delight. Olivia would be much easier to bend to her will. Even before Alex had asked Olivia to marry him, she and my mother had already been talking dresses and flowers, just in case. With him coming from such a good family with tons of money and a respectable background, Olivia got her claws into him quickly

and deeply. She was a beautiful woman and knew how to wrap a man around her little finger so Alex wasn’t complaining. It had worked for her, too. Alex had popped the question and the wheels for the wedding of the century were set into motion. Did he know what he was letting himself in for? I really wished I hadn’t come tonight. I couldn’t blame Taylor for getting up close and personal with Mr Banker on the dancefloor. That was sure to be much more enjoyable than the torture of listening to this crap at

Olivia’s table. But she was my wingwoman. She was supposed to be looking out for me and saving me from this boredom. Olivia’s closest friends were getting into the swing of the evening, throwing around wedding suggestions and sipping at their champagne. They were all eager to tell Olivia their ideas, hoping that she’d take one of them and give them some credit. I really couldn’t see that happening. Honestly, I still had no idea why I had been roped into coming here. Olivia

wasn’t stupid. She would knew that, although I was really happy for her, I wasn’t into the whole wedding thing. Even if I had some ideas for her, it would be pointless as they wouldn’t be taken into account. My mother and Olivia had every single detail locked down already, so in my mind, this evening was pointless. But, this was going to be the first of many. My sister was going to milk this for all it was worth. She was sat there at the table, looking like a princess with her cascading blonde hair, surrounded

by her adoring minions. There was no way she was going to tell them all that she didn’t need their help and lose out on all this attention. I was happy for her, really I was. Alex was a good guy and she could do a lot worse than him, but was all this really necessary? Shouldn’t a wedding be all about the vows and promising to love and to cherish the man that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with? Who really cared about the flowers and the cake? To me, I would rather run off and get married on a beach

than to have to go through all this malarkey. “What about roses? You could have the colour to match the theme.” Mia piped up. She had been a close friend of Olivia’s since they were small and was desperately hoping to be asked to be a bridesmaid. I wasn’t holding my breath for her on that one. Mia was a petite brunette with the most exquisite figure and Olivia wouldn’t want anyone that stunning taking any lime light away from her at her own wedding. “Oh, yes. Roses! They are so

romantic, so traditional.” One of the others gushed, followed by the rest of the girls’ encouragement. Olivia shook her head with a look of disgust. “Roses are so common.” And the girls’ chirped in with yet another round of agreement, contradicting themselves within mere seconds. What a bunch of sheep. I had to chuckle to myself. It was like my sister was Queen Bee and they were all her loyal followers. Everything and anything she said, they agreed with, even if it went against what they thought and felt.

Zoning out, I had no interest in what they were saying. As I said, it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things anyway. Olivia already knew exactly what she wanted and nothing they could do or say would sway her. All I had to do tonight was nod along politely and pretend that I gave a crap about it all. Taylor still hadn’t come over and I was going to give her a smack upside the head when I got hold of her. She was supposed to be here as moral support for me, not cosying up with some random

dude on the dancefloor. Not that I could blame her. If I had the choice, I would have been on the dancefloor with a hottie rather than sat here, bored to tears. But that wasn’t the point. She should be bored to tears with me. Just as I was thinking of ways to slowly torture her, Taylor came bouncing over to the table, looking flushed. “I’m so sorry, Fallon.” She grinned, not looking the least bit sorry. “You’re lucky. I was going through torture techniques in my head and I just got to plucking your eye out

with a rusty spoon.” “Ew!” Taylor turned her nose up and I laughed. “So, who was he?” Taylor grinned, looking smitten. “He’s two years older than me, owns his own business and is single!” “Single? Well, that’s something.” I laughed. It wasn’t funny though. She’d found out that one of her ex’s was actually married after seeing him for three months. Needless to say, it knocked her confidence around men for a while. It was good to see her getting back out

there and trusting her instincts. “He gave me his number.” She whispered, looking thrilled. “So, you’re going to see him again?” “Hopefully.” She crossed her fingers and giggled before throwing a glance over at the other girls around the table. “So, anything good happening here?” “Same old, same old.” I rolled my eyes. Taylor sat up a little straighter and looked behind me, nodding and smiling.

Looking behind me, I saw the guy she had been dancing with beckoning her over. “Go ahead.” I laughed. “Are you sure? I don’t think I should leave you with these vultures.” “I’ll be fine.” I shooed her off and it didn’t take too much for her to be running off to see the man she had taken a liking to. “Fallon? Fallon?” “Sorry?” I looked around, seeing everyone at the table staring at me. I guess I had zoned out a little too far that time.

“We were talking about the bridesmaid dresses. I would have thought that would have been important to you.” Olivia glared in my direction. I could honestly say I really didn’t care as long as she didn’t put me in anything too hideous. Still, for the sake of keeping the peace, I turned to my sister with what I hoped was a look of enthusiasm on my face and asked, “So, what do you have planned for the dresses, Olivia?” “Well, there is the most wonderful designer,” She started to dig around in

her dainty clutch bag and making a small triumphant sound as she found what she was looking for. Olivia quickly clicked through the pictures on her phone, turning the screen towards me so I could check out her choices. I could feeling myself actually smiling as I let out a sigh of relief. The photo on her phone showed a very flattering column design with floating panels. I had imagined that she and my mother would have gone for some overthe-top kind of frills and everything else I would hate, so this was a very pleasant

surprise. “That’s gorgeous, Liv.” She frowned a little at my use of her nickname, one that I had called her since we were little kids. She soon enough took a disliking to it as we got older, preferring the regal sound of her full name. But, I thought it suited her, softening the hard edges. Olivia shook her head slightly, as if ridding herself of the name I’d used and smiled widely as she settled back in to talk wedding plans. “I’ll be having each of my bridesmaids in varying shades of lilac.”

The rest of the girls gushed and swooned but all I could think was yuk. Lilac? And she thought that roses were common at a wedding. Everyone had lilac or shades of pink at their weddings. But, hey, it could be worse. I had to count my blessings. “So, when are we going to be hearing wedding bells from you, Fallon?” Maisie asked. She had been a friend of my sister’s since school, sharing a common love of money and shopping. She was a snob of the highest degree and we had never really got on

well. Before I could say anything, Olivia’s sarcastic laughter tinkled out across the table. “Fallon doesn’t believe in marriage. Not the traditional kind, anyway.” I rolled my eyes at her words. That was another bone of contention that my mother had against my job. She thought I was married to my career, so much so that I would never let a man into my life fully because of it. She was talking utter bullshit. I could easily juggle a man and my job, I just chose not

to at the moment. “Maybe it’s because no one wants to marry her.” One of the others sniggered. I didn’t even bother looking around to see who had said that scathing remark because honestly, I didn’t care enough. I couldn’t give a toss what this lot thought of me. These were just the type of girls I had encountered my whole like, looking down their noses at anyone who didn’t follow the only path that they deemed right. Sipping at my iced water, they

soon enough moved the conversation away from my lack of love life back to Olivia’s wedding plans. Thank God for that. “I’m going to the bathroom.” I nodded over to Olivia who barely glanced in my direction as she launched into yet another discussion about table decorations or something equally as mind numbing. The club was relatively quiet, but it always was compared to other night clubs. You had to have a shit tonne of money to get in here, ensuring an elite

clientele. This was the ultimate VIP experience. I had to shake my head and smile when I saw Taylor still out on the dance floor, champagne in one hand and a different man in the other. Clearly, she was moving on. The bathrooms were bigger in Decadence than most people’s houses. There was a small sitting area, which was something I could never understand. I had come across this a lot when I was growing up and going to galas and balls with my family. The attendant was sat there with a pile of fluffy towels, a fresh

one for each woman that came in to use the facilities. What was wrong with good old paper towels, eh? Behind her was an array of perfume bottles, including one of my favourites that I happened to be wearing tonight so I happily took a couple of spritz before leaving the rest room. “Oh! Sorry!” I apologised immediately as I walked out of the door and collided with a solid chest. “Not a problem, darlin’.” Looking up in surprise, I saw a huge hulk of a man in front of me. There

was something different about him to the rest of the men that came in here. He looked simply delicious in his suit which clung to his body in the most mouth-watering way possible. It was his eyes that drew me in. I had always been a sucker for a beautiful pair of eyes and his were winners. Dark green ringed with lashes that any woman would have given her right arm for, their depth was enough to pull you in and leave you drowning. I almost had to crane my neck to look at him and I wasn’t small at 5’7”,

but he made me feel tiny. Green eyes and dark hair. Did it get any better than that? The bonus was that this guy was muscular and ruggedly good looking. He didn’t look like he belonged behind a desk or in a bank. I imagined him to be an outdoorsy type, working with his hands on some kind of construction site. I could see through the deception of the suit he was wearing. “Are you okay?” He asked, his brow furrowing slightly. I realised I’d been stood there open-mouthed staring at him. What a

bloody fool. There was probably a puddle of drool at my feet. But none of the women in here could blame me. This was one damn fine specimen of a man. “I’m fine, thank you.” “I didn’t hurt you?” “Not at all.” I couldn’t help the little smirk that pulled at my lips. There was no way I could have not felt the firmness of his chest as we collided. I only came up to his shoulders and I could have easily broken my nose on those rock-hard pecs of his as I walked out with my head down. Ah, but it would

have been worth the pain. “Do you have a name?” He asked with a small smile and that quirk of his lips had my stomach clenching. The low rumble of his husky voice made me want to cross my legs. Surely this man had to have a flaw? Did his personality suck? Maybe he was a serial killer? Okay, maybe that’s a little drastic, but he was a hot as hell and from this brief moment of conversation, he seemed nice enough. Plus, someone this nicely wrapped couldn’t be as sweet as sugar all the way

through, could they? Oh, what I wouldn’t give to find out… “Fallon.” I grinned as he held out his hand to me. “Well, it was nice bumping into you, Fallon. Maybe we could do it again sometime?” Laughing, I nodded. On first impressions, this guy had it all. I bet he was a dud in bed. No one could be that perfect. He turned to walk away and I realised I didn’t even know his name. I couldn’t call out to him, what would I

say? I would only look an idiot, so all I could do was stand there and watch his firm ass move further and further away from me. I stood there for a few minutes even after he was out of sight before walking back to the girls’. I wasn’t looking for a man, really I wasn’t. But, perhaps it was like I had told Taylor, it found you when you were least expecting it? Not that I wanted to read too much into the situation. After all, he had only bumped into me and asked for my name, it wasn’t like it was a

marriage proposal. But, still, it was nice to dream. “What took you so long?” Olivia asked as soon as I sat back down at the table. What a rude question to ask? How was she to know I hadn’t been in there throwing my guts up or stuck sat on the toilet? My sister was never one to be too sensitive about these things. “I bumped into someone.” She glanced over at me, not believing me for one second, but I wasn’t about to elaborate. He was my

little secret. One that I would be taking to bed with me tonight to join me and Mr B.O.B. “We were just talking about ice decorations for the reception.” I kept my sigh to myself and tried not to look too bored. “Let me go and get Taylor and then you can fill me in on what I’ve missed.” If I was going to go down this road of boredom, Taylor was coming with me. She was my wing-man and was going to live up to the responsibility of saving me from my sister, whether she

liked it or not. The rest of the evening went pretty much as I expected. The girls didn’t like to stay out too late, wanting to get home and get their beauty sleep. The wedding ideas were tossed around but Olivia kept everything very hush hush with regards to her final decisions. I didn’t see Mr Hottie again. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. I think I must have gone to the toilet so many times that the others thought I had cystitis. But, I didn’t see him. After our little encounter,

it sucked going home alone.

Dominic Coming out of my office, I was pleased to see that things were finally winding down. The club had been heaving tonight, but I was stuck in my office dealing with one problem after another. This wasn’t my kind of place. I know that sounds crazy seeing as I own the joint, but I didn’t build it out of love. I started this place because I knew it

would be a money-maker. Rich bastards came in here to exchange stories on how much money they made, which of their wives or girlfriends they were entertaining that night and all that crap. That wasn’t my thing at all. But as long as the drinks kept flowing and the cash kept coming in, I wasn’t going to complain. The last thing I needed to do tonight was see Mitch Hanniger. He was a rich stiff who was having problems with one of his business. In all fairness, I liked Mitch and he worked hard for what

he had, which was something I respected. Apparently, money was disappearing right, left and centre and he wanted to speak to me and my brothers about investigating it. I said I would meet with him as a favour, as a friend. This wasn’t my kind of deal, but Mitch preferred to meet me here at Decadence, and Kellin and Austen didn’t have the time to make it tonight. They had enough on their plates already and I agreed to take over this initial meeting. Mitch was an old pal and I would help him out if I could. All I

needed to do was find out the bare bones of what was needed and then my brothers would be able to take it from there. Even though things were starting to come to an end, there were still plenty of people out in the main room. I couldn’t see the bridal party that had been sat there earlier. They had left a bit back, taking with them that stunning girl I nearly sent flying on her ass. I couldn’t recall seeing her in the club before, but I knew of some of the women at her table well enough. To

them, I was some kind of enigma. Not many people knew the face behind the business and that was the way I wanted to keep it. Hell, even half my staff didn’t know who I was and they worked for me. They didn’t know me, but I knew them. I made it a point to keep an eye on my business, whether it was Decadence or Sinners. But, her, I didn’t know. There was something about her that made my cock throb, but it was also more than that. However, I hadn’t had time to do anything about it tonight and now she

was gone. It was probably for the best, seeing as I had to sit with Mitch, but it was disappointing. She wasn’t a regular in here and I had no way of finding out who she was. I would remember her if I had seen her in here before. She had a hell of a figure that she didn’t seem aware of, hiding it behind clothes that covered her. All I wanted to do was wrap that long chestnut hair around my fist as I pounded into her from behind. Shaking the thought from my mind, I needed a drink. I didn’t need a woman

on my mind. I didn’t need sex clouding my thoughts. Moving over to the bar, no one seemed to bat an eyelid at my presence. It seemed that if the suit was expensive enough and the ink was covered up, my face fit into this scene. Little did they know I was the one that owned this place, paid their salaries and provided them with this crazily expensive place to party. And that was just how I wanted to keep it. It wasn’t that I was ashamed or anything like that. I just didn’t want the

hassle of having my face plastered all over the place as the next eligible bachelor. Flitting between Decadence and Sinners suited me perfectly and would provide a nest egg for the future. That was what I was working towards, it was all I was working for. I wanted the future to be secure for me and my girl. Nothing else mattered. Obviously, the extra money that was coming in was handy to help out my brothers, but my girl came first. She was the most important thing to me. Moving over towards the bar, I

smiled at Sheena. She was an exception to the rule. She knew exactly who I was and what I was doing at the club. But that was because we’d grown up as next door neighbours and I had helped her out of a rough spot and given her this job to when she needed it. She was a nice girl and was slowly turning her life around. She already had a shot lined up for me when I sat at the bar. “Thanks, darlin’.” Sheena smiled back at me sweetly, “Not a problem, Dom. How are you tonight?”

“I’m good, thanks. How’s things with you?” “The apartment is finally coming together.” She looked excited at the prospect of her own place and I was pleased for her and happy that I could help. “Busy tonight?” “Aren’t we always?” She laughed. “Who was that party that came in earlier? With Olivia Winterly?” I tried to ask casually as I looked around the bar. For some reason, I couldn’t get that

girl out of my head. “They came in to start planning her wedding.” Sheena rolled her eyes and laughed. For some reason, it always amused her the way the wealthy lived their lives. I nodded. “Did you recognise any of them?” Sheena shook her head. “Not really. Was there anyone in particular?” She eyed me knowingly. “Mr Saint. Good to see you.” Turning around, I saw Mitchell standing behind me. Thank God for that.

He’d saved me from a grilling by Sheena, who strode off chuckling. We moved over to one of the tables, keeping things casual while Mitch told me his troubles. I would have preferred to have gone into my office, but he didn’t want to make it too obvious that he was seeking me and my brothers out for help. The meeting went pretty much as I expected and I called through to Kellin to update him on the situation as soon as Mitchell left. There wasn’t much else for me to do at the club, so I left it in the

capable hands of my manager and headed home. I knew my girl would already be asleep, but at least I would be there when she woke up.

Chapter Four Dominic “You’re talking utter bullshit.” I laughed. Chester was at it again, telling tales about the women he had been with in the last week. Apparently, there had been him and three women last night. We all knew him well enough that three would be way too many for him to handle. “I’m serious!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kellin elbowed him in the ribs. Chester sat down heavily on the chair at our table, sulking. “Kel, go get him another drink. I think our boy needs to drown his sorrows.” I laughed. The bar was as busy as always. I had to pop in to catch up on some paperwork, which wasn’t something I did often. My days were for that kind of mundane thing, but I’d forgotten some last minute adjustments and decided to call in for a drink with my brothers at the

same time. Lauren may do the majority of the paperwork, but that didn’t mean I didn’t go over everything with a fine tooth comb. This was my livelihood and I had to protect it. For the last few days, I’d had it easy. Decadence was bringing in the cash and Sinners was a madhouse like always. Lauren seemed to be regaining some of her lost spark, which out of it all, was the main thing at the moment. She wasn’t just an employee, Lauren was a friend and we all looked out for her.

Glancing at my watch, I sighed. “I need to get going soon.” “How’s Lily?” Kellin asked. “She’s doing great. You should pop over and see her sometime soon. She’d love to see you.” “We’re all going to have dinner at dads in a couple of weeks, aren’t we?” Jared asked as he sat down at the table. “Yeah, that should be fun.” I rolled my eyes. It was always manic when the family got together. My dad and step-mum loved to throw a monthly meal to get everyone together. It was

noisy, but good to get everyone under the same roof. Sure, us brothers managed to hang out quite frequently at the bar, but work and home commitments often meant that we weren’t all together at the same time. My phone started to vibrate in my pocket and I pulled it out with a groan. The call was coming from Decadence which could only mean trouble. “Yes?” I answered as I got up. The music was too loud in the bar and I needed to go into my office to hear. “Dominic? It’s Sheena.”

“Is everything okay?” I asked, immediately concerned. “Everything’s fine.” She reassured me. “So, to what do I owe the honour?” It wasn’t often she called without good reason. The last time was when she told me about Helen and brought the whole situation to light. She didn’t like feeling like a rat, but she felt she owed me and I appreciated her looking out for my interests. I couldn’t help but worry what was going on now. “Nothing’s wrong. I just thought

you’d appreciate knowing that the girl is back in here again.” “Which girl?” “The one you were drooling after the other night. The one with the Winterly woman.” I fell silent for a moment. “Thanks Sheena.” And I hung up the phone. What was I supposed to do? Leaving Sinners, I didn’t explain to my brothers where I was going. They would assume I was going home, but I rattled off a quick text to Rachael to

make sure she was cool to stay with Lily for a while longer before heading over to Decadence. This was madness. I didn’t go out of my way to chase women. At the bar, they came flocking to us and we could have our pick every day of the week. There was something different about her. I didn’t know what it was. It wasn’t like I knew anything about her. Fallon. That was all I knew, her name. But it didn’t stop me from wanting to get to know her better. I wasn’t delusional. I wasn’t out

looking for a lifelong partner or anything like that. Living in the moment, that’s what I did best. All I could do was offer a night at the most. I had been burned in the past and wasn’t about to put myself through that again. There was too much going on in my life for some woman to come in and screw things up for me. Tonight. That was what I was going to have with her.

Fallon Why was I back here again?

Taylor didn’t need asking twice. She loved Decadence and was hoping to see John again. Who was to say that he would even be there tonight? I had never seen him in there before, but I could only hope. Why was I even going there looking for him? Was I finally losing my marbles? I had to admit to Taylor what was going through my mind. She had been over the moon when I told her that I was into a guy. Like my family, Taylor was worried that I was too tied up in my

work to worry about meeting anyone, but she also knew not to push it like my family did. But, seeing as I was here making the first move, she was all for coming along and supporting me. Moving across the room, I quickly sat down and started drumming my nails on the table. Glancing around, I couldn’t see him in there yet. Elliot wasn’t working, either, so I wouldn’t have anyone else to take my mind off things. “Is he here?” Taylor whispered excitedly. “No. I can’t see him.” I sighed.

What was I doing? Making a big old fool of myself, that’s what. “Can you see John?” “Not yet. He text me to tell me he’d be in a bit later.” She sat back and smiled as the female server came over to us. Taylor ordered a glass of champagne, once again luxuriating in the elegance of the place. I stuck to a glass of Pepsi. I didn’t care about sophistication, I just didn’t want to drink. We sat in silence for a few minutes and watched the people around us. Coming off a shift at the hospital, I

couldn’t help but see the difference money made to peoples’ lives. They say that money can’t buy you happiness, but it sure can buy the things to help you live comfortably. Today, we’d had a homeless man brought into the hospital. He’d been beaten, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some group of thugs thought he was fair game and that kind of thing made my blood boil. If only he had a small portion of what these people had, that man would have had a roof over his head and been somewhere

safe, away from people who would hurt him. Running a hand through my hair, I was jolted out of my thoughts by a little squeal from Taylor. “I take it John’s here.” “He’s just walked in.” She beamed a smile and waved coyly to a man who had walked into the main room of the club. He was good looking in a traditional kind of way, all smart with not a single hair out of place. He looked like he had come straight from the office,

but as he drew closer, you could smell the cleanliness of soap and aftershave. “Taylor, you look beautiful.” He smiled as he kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you.” She blushed slightly and turned to me with a twinkle in her eyes. “John, this is my best friend, Fallon.” He smiled down at me, sparkling white teeth that had clearly had been worked on. “Nice to meet you, Fallon.” “You, too.” He wasn’t my type, but Taylor obviously liked him a lot so I was willing to play nice.

“Would you both like a drink?” I chuckled. “Don’t let me cramp your style.” “Are you sure?” Taylor asked, eager to spend time with her new man but not wanting to leave me on my own. “Of course. Have fun you two.” I winked at her and she happily walked over to another table across the room arm in arm with John. It made me happy to see her like that. She wanted a man in her life, someone to make her happy and feel loved. I guessed that was pretty much

what we all wanted deep down. “Fancy seeing you here again.” I didn’t turn around straight away. Even though we had only exchanged a few words, I would know that voice anywhere. A shiver ran through me. I didn’t think my luck would hold out and that he would be there tonight. But there he was, sneaking up behind me and making my skin heat even before I set eyes on him again. “That’s your best pick up line?” I smirked, knowing he couldn’t see my

face. “At least I didn’t ask if you came here often.” Laughter laced his words. “Can I get you a drink?” Taking a deep breath, I ran my finger around my still full glass. “I’m good, thanks.” He was silent for a moment, making me wonder what he was thinking. “Can I sit down or are you waiting for someone?” Closing my eyes briefly, I had to set my resolve. I knew once I looked at him, I would melt and that would not be

a good look for me. There was something about this guy I really liked and I didn’t want to screw it up before anything had even started. Meeting his eyes, I willed myself not to blush or do anything girly and foolish. “I’m not waiting for anyone.” He didn’t sit like I thought he would. I saw his hand come in front of my face, a gesture for me to take his. Glancing up, my throat constricted. Damn, he was almost too good to be true. Those green eyes sucked me in and held me in place.

He held out a hand to me, but I was frozen to the spot. It was crazy the way those eyes paralysed me. “Come with me.” Where did he want to go? To dance? I didn’t care and didn’t question him as I took his hand and followed him across the main room. With a nod to one of the girls’ working behind the bar, he led me through a locked door to the left of the ladies rest room. It was an office space, neatly arranged and opulent, well in keeping with the rest of the club. Turning to him,

I frowned a little. “Do you work here?” He didn’t say a word as he stalked towards me, prey versus predator and I sure as hell wasn’t the predator. I knew my place. His walk showed exactly who was in charge of this situation and I felt my knees buckle a little, in a pleasant way. As he stood before me, he reached up to stroke his thumb along my jawline. I found myself leaning in to his touch, craving more, needing more. This wasn’t like me at all. I didn’t put myself in situations like this. In any

normal circumstance, I would never have followed a man I didn’t know into a locked room like this, putting myself in possible danger. But, I didn’t feel anything like that with him. He made me feel safe and wanted. I knew exactly why he’d brought me in here and I was more than willing to play along. It had been so long since I’d last had a man and I could feel my stomach knotting with need. This guy looked like he knew how to pleasure a woman and I could feel myself getting wet just from him looking at me.

I wasn’t a one night stand kind of girl, but that didn’t stop me from wanting this, from wanting him. He broke all my rules and I willingly let him. He wanted me and I wanted him, it was as simple as that. Licking my lips, I wanted to taste him. Staring into his eyes, I could imagine falling to my knees and taking him in my mouth, the taste of him exploding on my tongue. “What’s your name?” I asked, my voice husky, not taking my eyes off his mouth. Those sensual lips curled up in

amusement, the five o’clock shadow darkening his features.

Dominic My name? She didn’t need to know my name. Too much information could be an issue and tonight was going to be simple. Sex. That was it. Rough, hard sex. Ignoring her question, I ran my fingertip along the pulse point on her neck and she arched, words now forgotten. Kissing along her neck, she

almost purred like a kitten, making me smile against her skin. I couldn’t believe she was sat there when I walked into the club. When Sheena called to tell me that she was there, I broke most of the speed limits to get over here. It was all worth it when I saw her sitting there. Seeing the look in her eyes, I knew she came here for the same reason I had. This. This was what we needed and wanted from each other. I couldn’t offer more than a night of physical pleasure, but it was going to be a night

she wouldn’t forget. As she arched back, the fabric of her dress pulled taut against her chest, her hardening nipples aching to be released. Caressing her skin, I ran the zipper down the back of her dress, making sure she felt the trail of my fingers down her skin. She shuddered. Pulling the dress away, I sucked in a breath. She wasn’t wearing underwear and her skin was flushed. Holy crap, she looked edible and I was going to devour every single fucking inch of that delectable body.

Bending down I took a nipple into my mouth, playing with the other with my fingertips. Pulling it into my mouth, I licked and sucked and she gasped when I bit down gently, rolling her nipple in my teeth. Glancing up at her, she still had her head thrown back, but the look on her face told me she was loving every second of this. Gliding the dress over her hips and down her legs, I knelt down to run my tongue through her wet warmth. One touch had her legs buckling and I quickly threw each leg over my shoulder,

holding her body against the wall as I sucked on her clit and pushed her towards an orgasm.

Fallon Oh. My. Fucking. God. What the hell was I doing? One touch from this man and I was putty in his hands. The things he could do with his fingers and tongue were out of this world and I felt wave after wave of pleasure crashing over me, so much so

that after I’d come for the second time, I was as limp as a dish rag and could only smile sleepily as he carried me over towards the desk. It wasn’t like something out of the movies where he would sweep everything off the desk in a single motion, for the desk was already a clear, empty space. But being in here, knowing that it was out of bounds, made the moment even hotter. My eyelids were heavy and I didn’t think I’d ever felt this sated before. Watching him as he removed his

tie slowly, I wanted to reach out and touch him but he backed out of my way. With a chuckle, he came closer once again, lifting the tie to my eyes and quickly knotting it behind my head. I’d never done anything like this before. Sure, I knew it was pretty damn tame in the grand scheme of things and the stories my friends had told me were way wilder, but I’d never been blindfolded before. It sent everything I was feeling into overdrive, major sensory overload. As he leant forward, I could feel

his breath on my skin. I could feel him at my entrance and as he entered, I gasped at his size. Holy crap on a cracker, I’d seriously been picking the wrong men all these years. He drove into me harder and harder and I was grateful the desk was at my back. This was a man who knew what it took to pleasure a woman as well as getting his own. If I hadn’t been so aware that we were in a nightclub with people milling about outside the locked doors, I could have screamed out in pure fucking ecstasy.

Taking me hard and fast, I threw my head back as pleasure crashed through my body. As we lay panting, he had his hands planted either side of my ribs as my knees stayed curled on his shoulders. It felt like we’d run a bloody marathon. That was how sex was supposed to be. That was like the movie sex I’d always dreamed of but never found. I can’t say my body exploded into a million pieces and I saw fireworks as I came multiple times, as who really does that in real life? But honestly? It was the

best I’d ever had. Feeling him shift slightly, I managed to remove my legs without them falling limply to the desk so I didn’t look like a complete idiot. I barely had control over my limbs. He knew exactly what he was doing and had driven my body to heights I had never known before. He wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen my so limp, I was sure, but I wanted to maintain a little of my dignity. As I moved my hand towards the tie with shaky fingers, he reached out

and lightly grasped my wrist. Before I could understand what he was doing, he planted a light kiss on my cheek and within seconds I heard the door unlocking and then suddenly shutting behind him. My good vibes started to diminish. Wrenching the tie off, he was nowhere to be seen. I was starting to feel dirty and used, with the smell of sex hanging heavy in the air. Aware that the door was now unlocked and that anyone could

walk in at any moment, I scrabbled for my clothes and made myself look as presentable as possible. Reaching for the door handle, I stuffed the tie into my bag and grinned. There was no use feeling bad about what had happened. That was the Goddamn best sex I’d ever had. On the downside, I’d wanted to discover his body and I had been denied. Honestly, though, I hardly had the strength to lift my hands, but if I’d had his naked body in front of me, I’m sure I’d have found the strength from

somewhere. I could still feel the heat of his taut muscles against my skin. That was sure to be one body to die for. On the plus side, because I didn’t know his name and it was very doubtful that I’d ever see him again, I’d be able to use my Mystery Man to fulfil many nights of pleasure to come with Mr B.O.B. Creeping out of the office, no one took any notice of me. I was sure they’d all be able to tell from the way I was walking and my just-fucked hair what I’d been up to, but no one bat an eyelid at

me. Decadence wasn’t the kind of place you had stranger sex in a locked out-ofbounds room, which only made me grin further. Waving to Taylor, I wanted to let her know that I was leaving. She seemed totally engrossed in her conversation with John and happily waved me away. I was going home alone. Again. But, after tonight, I felt a little more desirable and the ache between my legs was a wonderful reminder of my encounter with… whatever his name was.

Chapter Five Dominic A week later, I walked into Sinners feeling royally pissed off. I headed straight towards the back of the bar where Kellin and Jared were sitting at our usual table. “What the fuck is so important?” I stormed as I sat down. I had only left the bar a few hours ago and everything had been fine.

“What crawled up your ass?” Jared glared at me. “Lily was nearly asleep and she woke up just as Rachael walked in. She’ll never get her back to sleep now.” This was what was winding me up. It was yet another break in our routine. I worked through the day at the club and the bar so that I could spend as much time with my daughter as possible. Usually I had at least one night a week when she went to stay at my dad’s house, but other than that, we had our own set routine. And things like this

threw it all out of whack. I wasn’t impressed. “Rachael won’t give a crap. You know that. She loves to play all that girly shit with Lily.” Kellin was probably right but that wasn’t the point. Lily had to be up early in the morning for nursery and if she didn’t get a good nights’ sleep, she could be a ratty little madam. Rachael lived next door to us and was more than happy to help out with babysitting duties anytime I needed her. I hated asking for help, but on nights like

tonight, it couldn’t be avoided. Lily was a great kid. She didn’t bat an eyelid if her routine was ever upset by me being called into work, which still happened more often than I would have liked. She was such a happy little kid who saw everything in her life as one big adventure. It was me that didn’t like people disrupting my time with her. It was hard enough being a single father as it was without chinks in my routine. “Sorry, bro. This is important.” Jared sighed.

“Where’s Austen? Why can’t he deal with this?” “He’s busy.” I sighed and took a swig from the bottle of water that Lauren brought over for me. There was no point in drinking when I was driving and I wasn’t planning on staying her for very long. “What’s so important?” “Matt’s been sniffing around Lauren again.” “Matt? The ex that ran off pissing his pants?” Kellin nodded. “Seems he didn’t

get the message the first time.” What the hell did he hope to gain by doing this? This shit was getting worse by the minute. “So, what’s the plan?” Did he think he was going to get her back? What was he going to do? Man-handle her back into his life? “We’re still thinking of the best course of action.” “What did he do? Did he scare her?” Was he hoping she would be so scared that she’d run back into his arms where she felt safe? Well, none of that shit was going to wash with me.

“Apparently, he’s been sending her little gifts through the post.” “What kind of gifts?” “Chocolates, jewellery, stuff like that.” I shook my head. “He isn’t going to give up on her, is he?” Jared sat forward. “I think we should go and have another little chat with the prick again.” He cracked his knuckles menacingly. “I don’t think that’s going to work. He doesn’t seem to be listening to reason, does he? Honestly, he really

should have got the message after the last time.” I had fucking ripped him to shreds last time and yet here he was again, sniffing around. “Why don’t you let me at him this time? Maybe I could be a bit more persuasive?” Jared grinned. “Don’t be so fucking stupid.” There was no way I was going to let him take that kind of risk. He had way too much to lose. Jared had a couple of fights coming up in the next few months and it wouldn’t do him any favours to be

caught brawling outside of the cage. He wouldn’t just get arrested, he’d also face possible fines and suspension. There was no way I was going to let him do that to himself, especially not when he was making such a big name for himself. I wouldn’t let him throw that away for anything. “No one would find out.” He insisted. “Are you that fucking stupid? Matt knows exactly who you are and what you do and he is stupid enough to spread that news to the world. “

Jared scoffed. “He doesn’t scare me.” “That’s not the fucking point, you moron.” I rolled my eyes at him. “You’ve got a lot riding on this next match. Don’t spoil it now. Maren will kick your ass if you do.” “Well, you’re right about that.” Jared shivered. He was one hard-ass motherfucker, but Maren had him by the balls. “Pussy whipped bastard.” Kellin muttered, chuckling. “Fuck you.” Jared hissed at him,

knowing he had no comeback for that comment. He couldn’t get involved in this mess, not unless he wanted Maren to call a bedroom-ban for the next couple of months. That girl sure knew where to hit him where it hurt. I put the bottle down on the table and sat forward. I had to stop this spat between them before it got out of hand. Kellin was just as pussy-whipped as Jared, so he had no room to talk. “Hold up. How do we know about this anyway?” I wished I had a bottle of Jack in place of the water tonight. I had the

feeling I was going to need it. “Matt turned up at her house.” “Where the fuck was Maze?” Even though things had been quiet, we’d kept Maze on Lauren, which evidently turned out to be a good thing. It wasn’t only that, though. We may be a bunch of meat-head men, but anyone could see the spark between the two of them and if we could help them on their way, we would. They both deserved a bit of happiness. “He was busy, taking a piss. She heard the knock at the door and answered it without thinking.”

“Shit.” If it could happen that easily, we were going to need to get some extra cover in. Maze couldn’t do this by himself twenty-four-seven. Kellin and Jared would have to get some more of their boys on rotation. I wouldn’t have Lauren put in any danger. That was part of the problem. They were trying to keep this all a little more casual than their usual jobs and less regimented so as to not freak Lauren out. They had to start taking this more seriously. “You need to get more people on

this.” “Lauren doesn’t want that.” “I’m not being rude, but we’re doing this as a favour. She’s not being charged, so basically she’s going to have to lump it.” I said harshly. “Are you going to be the one to tell her that?” Kel smirked. “If I have to, yes.” I knew that the boys’ didn’t want to intrude on her life more than they had to, but Matt had been back now. He hadn’t gotten the message and who knew what he would do next. This bullshit was going to stop now if I

had anything to do with it. “I’ve already got a couple of men lined up, but Maze will be sticking to her like glue tonight.” “And what’s in place at her house?” I knew that they had stepped up security, but I wasn’t sure to what extent. “Austen’s over at her place now.” I nodded. He was a whizz at that kind of shit. “Where’s Lauren?” “She’s in your office.” Standing up, I didn’t bother saying another word. I wasn’t sure what I was going to be walking into and would

rather see her for myself. The last thing I expected was to walk in to Lauren laughing on the phone, a bottle of Jaeger in one hand. “Shit, I’ve got to go. Dominic’s here.” She giggled. “Yes, the big fit one.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll see you later, babe.” And she hung up the phone. “Who was that?” I was concerned that it was Matt, with her calling whoever it was ‘babe’. “That was my friend. She’s coming around later after she gets off work.”

“How are you doing, Lauren?” At first, I thought that she might have been putting on a brave face, or the alcohol was giving her false confidence, but when I knelt down in front of her and looked into her eyes, I saw that she was doing better than I thought. “Dominic, I’m fine. Honestly, you don’t have to worry about me.” She patted me on the arm reassuringly. I sat down in the office chair opposite her. It was a much smaller space than my office at Decadence, but I always felt much more comfortable in

here. “Are you going to tell me what happened?” She sighed. “It’s not as bad as they’re all trying to make out.” She nodded her head towards the bar, indicating she was talking about my brothers. “He didn’t do anything to me.” “Can you tell me what happened? And then I can be the one to decide if they’ve blown it out of proportion.” Lauren put down the bottle heavily on the desk. “Maze had gone to the bathroom. There was a knock at the door. I didn’t even think it would be

him.” “What did he do?” “Nothing really.” “Lauren, come on.” “Really. He just told me he missed me and gave me a beautiful bunch of roses. That’s all. See? No big deal. It’s not worth all this worry.” I frowned at her for a moment. It was a bit of a worry that she was taking all of this quite so well. After all, that man had been the one to break her down. She shouldn’t be taking this little visit from him out of the blue in her stride. In

all fairness, seeing him again should have freaked her the hell out. I hoped that his surprise romantic gesture of bringing her roses hadn’t softened her towards him, which I was damn sure had been his intent. “Was anyone else there? Did anyone else see him?” “No. It was just me.” I nodded, watching her for a moment. She was holding it together too well for my liking, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with that. I was going to have to go through the practical details with the

boys first and then work out how to tackle her emotional state. “What went down next? After he gave you the roses?” “Nothing, Dom! He gave me the roses, told me he missed me and then he left. He was gone by the time Maze came down the stairs and freaked the fuck out! I don’t know what his problem is.” She scowled. I knew exactly what his problem was. Maze liked Lauren. It was as simple as that. I’d seen him watching her before but he didn’t make a move while

she was still with Matt. He still wasn’t making a move now, knowing that it was too soon. But she was blind if she couldn’t or wouldn’t see why Maze had flipped out. Chuckling to myself, I could imagine how Maze would have reacted. It wasn’t an amusing situation, far from it, but he was becoming more and more attached to Lauren. This shit was getting more serious and I respected him for keeping his eyes on the job as opposed to the woman. I’d seen the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t

noticing. “Is it okay for me to go home? Have you got cover for tonight?” “Don’t worry about that.” I waved her off. The last thing on my mind was covering her at the bar. That shit was sorted already. I was more worried about her. “We’re just waiting for word from Austen.” “Why? Is he putting more stuff in my house that I’m not going to be able to work?” She had been having quite a bit of trouble with the alarm system we’d

installed, but Austen was going to hang around to give her a crash course. “He’ll show you exactly how to use it.” Lauren rolled her eyes. “And I supposed my shadow will be there again tonight?” I bit back a grin. “Maze will be with you tonight but we’re arranging some of the other men to come on rotation. We want someone on you at all times.” I could have sworn I saw a look of disappointment passed over her face when I said someone else would be taking over from Maze.

“My friend is coming to stay tonight.” “And you think a girl is going to be able to protect you better than we can” I glanced at her, waiting for her to kick off at me. She hated sexist comments like that, which was why I said it. “Hey!” Lauren bit immediately, “I’m tougher than I look!” “I bet you are.” I punched her lightly on the shoulder, laughing. “Whatever. Anyway, you need to stay in here for a while longer. I’ll tell you

when it’s safe and Maze will drive you home.” “What? Why?” Lauren jumped up out of her seat, almost knocking the bottle off the desk. Moving the bottle out of the line of fire, I shook my head at her. “It’s not safe at the moment, especially not if he’s sniffing around you again.” “He wouldn’t hurt me.” Exasperated, I turned away from her and could have smacked my head on the wall. Those roses and the time apart were really doing the trick. She was

already forgetting the shit he had put her through. I had to get someone to talk to her, to try and get her to see some sense. “How long will I be stuck here?” She asked defiantly. Lauren never spoke to anyone in that tone of voice, so I was guessing the drop of alcohol she’d had was making her feel brave. “A little longer. I’ll let you know.” I walked out of the office without looking back at her. I headed straight over to where Kellin and Jared were still sitting. “How’s she doing?”

I shook my head as I sat down. “She really could do with staying somewhere else tonight.” “We thought the same. Austen isn’t done at her place yet so I called Maze and he’s going to take her to stay at his.” At least that made more sense. “She’s got a friend coming to stay.” “Yep, I already told Maze that. He’s going to swing by here as soon as her friend gets in and take them home.” I nodded. At least at Maze’s place, they would be safe for the night.

There was no reason to believe that Matt knew where he lived, so the threat would be less. After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Jared looked up, his face serious. “How bad do you think this could all get?” Kellin shrugged. “I think he’ll go further because he thinks he can push his luck. The douchebag has no fear. He wants Lauren and that’s all he’ll be thinking about.” That was just what we didn’t need. Dipshit Matt needed to back the

fuck off. We had enough on our plates without dealing with this. Lauren deserved better than some fucked up asshole messing with her head. And Maze deserved a chance to make her happy. “I’m going to head out, boys.” I stood up, picking up my car keys. I wanted to get home to Lily and there wasn’t anything else I could do here. The boys’ nodded and I left Lauren in their capable hands. Moving through the bar, the crowds parted. As soon as I got to the

bar, I stopped dead in my tracks. Shit.

Fallon Driving my car as fast as I could, I didn’t even bother going home to get changed. I had a spare set of clothes in my car that I changed into, knowing that we wouldn’t be hanging around the bar for too long and that jeans and a plain tee would do just fine. Lauren needed me. She sounded shaken up on the phone because her ex

had turned up on her doorstep with a bunch of flowers. I really had hoped that those boys would have frightened him off, but obviously, they weren’t as big and scary as they looked. Flowers? Did he really think he would win his way back into her heart like that? Deluded idiot. I promised to stay with her tonight and thankfully, I wasn’t due into work tomorrow. Parking up outside Sinners, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. I had half expected to see Matt lurking in

the shadows like something out of some horror movie. Luckily, I couldn’t see him anywhere. It didn’t stop me from running like a mad woman to the door of the bar. The doormen looked at me like I was a mental patient as I stormed in through the doors, but I didn’t pay them any attention. My eyes flew straight to the bar, seeking out Lauren. I didn’t know what sort of state I’d find her in, but I knew her well enough that she would want to keep busy to keep her mind off Matt. I couldn’t see her. Taking a deep

breath, I walked over to the bar and sat down on a stool that had just come vacant. Waving to one of the bartenders, I had to wait while they served the customers clamouring at the bar for a drink. “What can I get you?” “I’m looking for Lauren.” I shouted over the pounding music. “And you are?” he enquired. “Fallon. She’s expecting me.” He nodded briefly before walking off. Watching where he went, my eyes wandered the bar. I froze in place.

Shit. It was the guy from Decadence, standing stock still in the middle of the crowd with his eyes glued to me. What the hell was he doing in here? You never saw any of that crowd in here, which was why I didn’t mind coming here when Lauren called me. He looked just as delicious as he had at the club, but there was something different about him tonight. Those green eyes pierced into me just as fiercely, but tonight he was dressed in jeans and a tee. Gone was the suit and out came the

tattoos. I licked my lips to make sure I wasn’t drooling. It seemed to be wherever I saw him, I left a puddle behind. It was pathetic really. Why was he here? I didn’t think I was ever going to see him again. That was one wild night, sex with a stranger, the best I’d ever had. One night, never to be seen again. But here he was, standing in front of me. We were both frozen to the spot. Shit. “Hey!” Lauren bounced up next to

me. “Are you ready to go? Apparently we’re going to Maze’s tonight.” She rolled her eyes. “Sure. Yeah. That’s fine. Sure. Whatever.” I stammered, trying to tear my eyes away from the guy that had rocked my world. “Are you okay?” Lauren asked before following my eye-line. “Oh, yeah. That’s Dominic. Gorgeous, isn’t he?” My shoulders sagged. Dominic? Was she kidding me? “He’s your boss?” “You know he is.” She looked puzzled.

“I’ve never been introduced.” And it was true. I hadn’t. I’d fucked him and I didn’t even know his name. Shit. This was deeper and more messed up than I’d ever counted on. “Are you okay, Fallon?” Shaking my head slightly, I broke our gaze. Turning to Lauren, I plastered on a fake smile, “Of course. Why don’t we get out of here and you can tell me all what that psycho ex has been up to now.” Lauren groaned. “Why does everyone assume the worse? He only

gave me flowers. I thought it was sweet.” Hooking my arm through hers, I rolled my eyes at Maze who had appeared by our side. As soon as I got close enough, I could smell the alcohol on her breath. It was doubtful I was going to be able to get much sense out of her tonight, but at least I could try. This was actually worse than I thought. I had assumed that she was going to be worried or traumatised by seeing Matt again, but here she was, making excuses for him.

Tonight was not going how I thought it would at all. I thought that Lauren would be all cut up and scared over what happened with Matt and that I’d be able to cheer her up with the tale of what had happened at Decadence. I hadn’t told anyone about that night, not even Taylor. She’d been too wrapped up in her new romance with John. Tonight was supposed to be a girly night for us, and how was I supposed to do that now? I’d fucked her boss! That wasn’t something I wanted to share anymore. A girly gossip with Lauren was

something I’d been looking forward to. She’d would have thought it was hilarious that I had acted so out of character like that. Now? I’d have to try and keep it to myself. Shit.

Chapter Six Fallon “So, what happened with you and Dom?” Lauren asked with a smirk. I groaned into my hands. I really hoped that I had got away with that one. Evidently not. You couldn’t get much past Lauren, unfortunately. We had left the bar with me more or less running out the door like a bat out of hell. The last thing I wanted to do was

talk to Dominic as I now knew who he was. Maze came barrelling out after us and instructed me to follow him to his house. I thought we were going to stay at Lauren’s for the night, but it wasn’t explained until we got to Maze’s that the security system still wasn’t up and running at her house. He gave us a quick tour and I have to say, I was impressed with the place, especially seeing as he lived by himself. I’d half expected it to be dirty, messy and have that typical boy smell

lingering, but there was none of that. It was all clean lines, bordering on clinical. The furniture was expensive and even though the place was well set up, there didn’t seem to be many personal effects around. It was a shame really, because Maze always seemed to be the life and soul of the party with mountains of personality to spare, and he showed none of it in his own space. He left us alone to go and get some drinks while we caught up on what’s been going on lately. Obviously, I

thought we would have been talking about what happened with her and Matt, but the thing with Dominic now dominated. “Well, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to ask him?” “No!” I couldn’t think of anything worse than Lauren going to him. How embarrassing would that be? “Start talking.” She smirked. I shook my head. “This is such a mess.” “My God, Fallon. It’s like pulling teeth. Are you going to tell me or not? If

you don’t start talking, I’m going to assume you fucked him.” She laughed. I put my head in my hands once again and her laughter died off. “I told you it was a mess.” “Shit! No way. You’re telling me that you slept with Dominic? When did that happen?” Lauren’s eyes were as big as saucers. “Will you keep your voice down?” I glanced towards the open doorway through which we could still hear Maze banging around in the kitchen. The last thing I needed was him to go

back to Dominic to tell him I’d been gossiping about him. “Sorry.” She whispered. “But this is huge!” “I don’t really want to talk about it.” I shook my head. This evening had not gone the way I’d planned at all. My shift at work had been manic and the last person I had ever expected to see again turned out to be someone I couldn’t possibly avoid in the future. I hadn’t had any contact with Dominic before because I didn’t hang out at Sinners. There had been no reason

for me to meet him, after all, he was my friends’ boss and that was it. But now that this had happened, and what with everything going on with Lauren, I had the feeling that I would be seeing a lot more of him in the future, whether I liked it or not. Sitting on Maze’s plush leather sofa, I wanted the ground to swallow me up. I’d obviously planned on telling Lauren about what had happened at Decadence. She would shit a brick, knowing that it was totally out of character for me to do something like

that. But now? I didn’t know what to say. “I met him at Decadence.” I said lamely. “Met him? What does that mean? From the heated looks passing between you, I would say you did more than meet.” Lauren laughed. Groaning again, I couldn’t help laughing along with her. She had an infectious laugh at the best of times. “I don’t do things like that.” “Like what? I need details!” “You’re not getting details.” “Come on. Don’t leave me

hanging.” Lauren pleaded. I shook my head and leaned in closer. “I didn’t even know his name!” Lauren bent over, laughing. “I can’t believe you slept with Dominic.” “Neither can I!” I wasn’t planning on going into depth, but I was glad I’d told her. She would have known that something was going on if I came face to face with Dominic again, so it was easier to get it out in the open now. “So, what are you going to do about it?” “What do you mean?” I asked,

puzzled. “Well, clearly you enjoyed it or you wouldn’t have freaked out like that when you saw him.” She paused for a moment. “Or was it because he was terrible?” “No, no.” I laughed. “He wasn’t terrible. Not at all. In fact, he was the best I’d ever had. Why haven’t I ever had someone like that before?” My mind wandered for a moment but I was brought back into the here and now when Lauren held a hand up in front of my face.

“I know I said I wanted details, but I changed my mind. Dom is like a brother to me so, TMI. Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” She winked at me cheekily. “I think we both did.” I think I must have blushed as bright as a fire truck. “Anyway, as I was saying, Dom is like a brother to me and I think he’s the greatest. You know this, I’ve told you enough about the Saint Brothers.” It was true. She was always harping on about how great they all were, which was why

I suggested getting the boys’ involved with the Matt situation. “So, all I’m saying is, it didn’t have to just be one great night. Are you open to the possibility of more? Dom’s a great guy and I think you’d get on really well, given the chance.” I nodded a little. “I don’t think that’s what he wants, though.” “What makes you say that?” “He left without even telling me his name.” It still stung a bit that he had left me like that, but I’d kept his tie as a reminder of the events.

“That’s just Dominic. He has this thing about letting people get too close.” She sat up a bit straighter when we heard Maze stomping through the apartment. “We’ll talk later.” She whispered before turning back to the television.

Dominic Shit. Why was she there? It didn’t take much to work out that Fallon was Lauren’s friend. Why hadn’t I known that

before? “Are you okay, bro?” Jared asked as he walked up behind me. I hadn’t even realised that I had stood frozen to the spot when I had first seen her sat at the bar. At my bar. “Yeah. I’m fine.” “Who’s the princess?” Jared cocked his head towards Fallon. I could totally see what he meant. She didn’t look like she belonged in here. As much as she seemed to fight being at Decadence the last couple of times I had seen her, she was still way

too good for this place. Fallon didn’t belong in any set group or place. She was her own person. “That’s Lauren’s friend. She’s staying with her tonight.” “Is she single?” “How would I know?” “If she is, you should tap that. A better class of skank than you’d get in here.” Jared laughed when I threw him a stern glare. He walked back off to sit with Kellin and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It amused me when I saw her

practically run out of the bar in front of Lauren and Maze. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but she’d seemed embarrassed. That didn’t surprise me. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl who’d pick up a guy in a bar just for a quickie. It was clear I had taken her out of her comfort zone, and what surprised me even more was that I wanted to see how far I could push her. I wasn’t one for sticking to one female. There wasn’t enough time in the day for me to be messing about with relationships, but there was something

about Fallon. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. And now here she was, showing up at Sinners. Shaking my head, I waved over to Kel and Jared and walked out of the bar. They didn’t need me in there any longer. Austen was busy tying up loose ends at Lauren’s place and Maze was more than capable of looking after the girls. It just shocked me how much I would rather take Fallon home with me instead. That would never happen. I never took any of the girls I fucked home with me. I kept those parts of my life

completely separate. Lily didn’t need to see that kind of thing and I was doing my best to give her the best childhood I could, and I didn’t need anything tainting that. With that in mind, I put my phone in my pocket and refrained from texting Maze to tell him to keep me updated. I had enough trouble shaking Fallon from my mind as it was. Driving home, I hoped that Lily hadn’t been too much trouble for Rachael. She was a good kid, but as hyper as she had been when I’d left her, I

knew that she could have been a handful. I had nearly managed to get her to drift off to sleep, but as soon as she heard Rachael’s voice, the little madam was wide awake again. Not that Rachael would ever think of complaining. Everyone thought the sun shined out of Lily’s ass, she was such a sweetie. I had to agree wholeheartedly. Pulling up outside my house, everything seemed relatively quiet. Unlocking the door, I carefully made my way in. I was met with silence. Poking my head into the living room only to see

Rachael sitting in front of the television with a cup of coffee in her hands. “You were quick.” She smiled. “Don’t tell me you managed to get her to sleep?” I asked, shocked. I knew what Lily could be like at the best of times and she could wrap Rachael around her little finger. “She was exhausted. All that energy burned right out of her and she dropped about five minutes after you left.” Smiling gratefully, “Thank you, Rach. You’ve been a lifesaver.”

“I hope everything was okay at the bar.” “It is now.” She was great and I didn’t like to take advantage of her, but having Rachael living next door really came in handy at times like this. I hadn’t been gone too long, so I as took my coat off I asked her if she wanted to stay for a drink. “No, thanks. I’ve got to get back to do some studying.” She rose up off the sofa to go and rinse out her coffee cup. One of the great things about Rachael was that she never looked for

something that wasn’t there. There wasn’t any of that awkward tension, seeing as we both knew we were friends and that was the end of it. “Thanks again for tonight.” “Anytime, Dom. You know I think Lily is the best and she’s no trouble at all.” I walked her out of the house and made sure she got safely back into her house before closing and locking the door behind her. Moving upstairs, I called into Lily’s room to check on her. She was

fast asleep in her big pink princess bed, looking angelic in her sleep. She’d chosen exactly how she wanted to decorate her bedroom now that she was getting a big girl, and even though the overload of pink and glitter made me want to puke, it suited her perfectly. She really was my little princess. Kissing her gently on the forehead, she didn’t even stir. I knew then that Rachael had been right, she’d thoroughly worn herself out today. A good nights’ sleep and she would be back to her usual boisterous self

tomorrow. I couldn’t imagine my life without her. She was the light in my dark days. Lily was the centre of my universe and I couldn’t imagine anyone else coming in and sharing our lives. That was part of the reason I didn’t want to look for a woman of my own. I didn’t need anyone. As long as Lily and I were alright, then my life was complete. So why couldn’t I shake Fallon out of my head?

Chapter Seven Dominic “Can we play with my dolls, daddy?” Lily beamed a smile up at me, which was something I could never resist. She was the sweetest kid in the world. Even when everything else was going down the shitter in my life, that smile never failed to brighten my day. “Sure we can, baby girl.” “YAY!” She jumped up to run into

her bedroom to get her toys, shouting all the way to her bedroom. It was getting close to the time when my father would be coming to pick her up. It was Friday night and it was a weekly ritual for Lily stay over there. If she wasn’t allowed to stay over at Grampy and Nanna’s, there was hell to pay. At least it gave me a night to myself. As much as I loved being a dad and wouldn’t give it up for the world, as any parent knows, sometimes you need some time to yourself. This was my night

to chill with my bros, knowing that my girl and my businesses were in good hands. I needed it tonight, I really did. The last few weeks had been hectic and I needed some time to blow off the cobwebs. It hadn’t felt like I’d sat down in a month. When I wasn’t tied up with the bars, I was helping my brothers out and then when I got home, Lily occupied all my time until I fell into bed exhausted. I hadn’t even had time to think about Fallon. Well, that’s not strictly

true. I went out of my way to find out from Maze and the other guys watching over Lauren whether her friend had been staying with her at all. I wanted to see her again, but was it really worth the complication? She was the kind of girl that went to Decadence, which wasn’t my type at all. But seeing her again in Sinners? That had shocked the living shit out of me. Where would she fit into my life? I wasn’t sure. Since Lily had come along, I hadn’t even contemplated juggling a relationship into my already

overly hectic life. Was there room for Fallon in it all? Would she even be interested? Sure, the sex had been out of this world, but was that all she was looking for, too? In the past, I’d stuck to nameless one night stands with the girls that came into Sinners. Obviously, they weren’t all nameless seeing as we knew the regulars that came in, but that didn’t mean that it was anything more than instant gratification. I’d never brought anyone back to the house. There was no way I was

going to try and explain something like that to Lily, and anyway, I hadn’t met anyone I liked enough to want to introduce them to my daughter. Would having Lily scare Fallon off? I didn’t know anything about her so I didn’t know her views on single parents. It wasn’t something I’d ever had to worry about before, but now the thoughts kept crossing my mind. Would she and Lily get on? Where would Fallon fit into our lives? Lily was a little cutie but she was a miniature stick of dynamite when she wanted to be.

She had been completely wired when she came home from nursery. I don’t know what they did with her in there, but she was acting like they had been shoving sweets down her throat all day. I knew that my dad was going to have a hard time getting her to sleep tonight and didn’t envy them one bit. Not that they would care. My dad was a big badass who turned to mush around his granddaughter. In his day, he’d been a cage-fighter and still kept in shape, but all that went out of the window when little Lily wanted to play

makeovers, much to the amusement of Gemma, my step-mother. She still had the photos to hold him to ransom if he didn’t do the chores. My phone rang just as I was going to check on Lily. From the sounds that were coming from the direction of her room, she was ransacking the place to find the toys she wanted. “Yeah?” “Bro, it’s me.” It was Kellin. “What’s up?” It was Friday night. I’d be seeing him at the bar in a few, so I wondered what was so important for him to be calling now.

“There’s some shit going down at the bar.” “Oh, crap.” Just what I didn’t need tonight. All it had been lately was one problem after another and I’d been looking forward to a stress-free night, on the fun side of the bar as opposed to behind it. It looked like that wasn’t going to happen. “What’s going on now?” “Nothing yet, but there are some little shits who have been hitting the bars all over town causing as shit tonne of trouble over the last couple of weeks.” “What kind of trouble?”

“Smashing stuff up, fighting, that sort of shit.” “And, what does that have to do with Sinners? Has anyone come in causing any trouble yet?” I knew that there wouldn’t be any problem with Decadence. No way would anyone like that be able to get in there to cause trouble. “I just got here and nothing yet. Only regulars so far, I think. But the pattern shows that they have been hitting every bar in this area.” “Shit.”

“Exactly. If the bar had been like it had been years ago, I don’t think they would have even thought to touch this place. As it is, we have now got a hell of a reputation because of the girls flocking to this place. It’s an ideal hit for these low-lives. They will see it as a challenge because everyone knows how protective we are over the place.” Kellin sneered. It was true. If I hadn’t taken over the place and done it up, it wouldn’t even come up on anyone’s radar. The place had been a complete dive before I

ploughed my money into it. Now? It was more than good enough to rival any of the other bars in the area. But, Sinners had something else special that it was often hard to find in a bar. The atmosphere couldn’t be rivalled. Therefore, I knew that Kel was right. If the others’ had been hit, we sure as fuck would be too. “Would you be able to call in a few extra of your boys to come in tonight? It might be an idea to have a few extra sets of eyes in there.” I knew that some of the boys on the security business

books would welcome the extra cash. Plus, they would be getting paid to hang out with a bunch of beautiful girls, so who was going to complain about that? “Already on it, bro. They’re on their way as we speak. Plus, we’re waiting for photos of the trouble-makers to be emailed through to us so we know who we’re looking out for.” “I’ll be down as soon as I can.” “What time is dad coming for Lily?” “In about an hour.” When I was met with silence, I knew that Kel didn’t

want me to wait that long to get to the bar. “I can see if Rachael will come over to watch her if you need me sooner?” “That might be a good idea.” Kellin sounded relieved. “We need to be vigilant.” He may not have a monetary share in the business, but it was our family’s place and my brothers would protect it just as well as I would. Kellin hung up the phone without another word and I quickly put the call through to Rachael. This sounded like the shit was going to hit the fan and I

would rather be there to deal with it myself than be left in the aftermath. Hopefully, if she was free, it would only be for an hour, maybe less if I called my dad to come for Lily a bit earlier. It was just my luck that they were due to pick her up a bit later tonight. Gemma was going to swing by after they’d been to some church thing just before Lily’s bedtime and they were going to keep her a little longer tomorrow to make it up to her. “Dominic? Is everything okay?” she asked as soon as she answered the

phone. “Hey, Rach. Sorry to dump this on you at the last minute, but are you free for an hour or so?” “Of course.” She chuckled. “You want me to watch Lily?” “If you could. I’m really sorry about all this.” “Don’t even think about it. When do you need me?” “Now?” I hated pushing my luck with her, but there was no way I would take Lily to the bar with me. Even if she stayed in the office, it still wasn’t a

suitable environment for her to be in. I wasn’t that irresponsible with her safety. “I’m on my way.” Putting my boots on while I waited for her, I sent Gemma a text to let her know I had to leave early and she replied saying she would be over as quickly as possible to relieve Rachael. I was damn lucky I had such a good support network to help me with my daughter or I would have drowned under the stress of it all. Walking into Lily’s bedroom, it looked like a bomb had hit it. “What on

earth is going on in here, young lady?” “I can’t find my dolly. The one with the pink hair. I need my dolly.” Lily pouted, getting ready to let the tears flow. That was one of the main problems with her when she got all hyper like this, all of her emotions were heightened and the littlest thing set her off. “You mean that dolly with pink hair over there?” I pointed over to her bed where her favourite doll lay next to one with blonde hair. As she spotted the doll she called Sylvia, a beaming smile broke out over

her face. Finding that doll she had been searching for was better than finding a stash of gold in her little world. Lily made her way across the bedroom, dodging all the toys she had scattered all over the floor. As soon as she got to the door, she stopped dead and looked at my feet. “Are you going out, daddy?” I bent down in front of her so I could look her in the eye, well nearly. “Daddy’s got to go out to work for a bit. Uncle Kellin needs my help.” Getting ready for the tears, I pushed back a lock

of hair from her sweet face. Her bottom lip wobbled. “Am I not going to Grampy’s house?” “Of course you are, sweetheart. It’s Friday, isn’t it?” Her smile instantly returned. “And Rachael is going to come and watch you until Nanny gets here.” Hearing that, her face lit up. “Rachael? Yay! She plays even better than you do.” And she raced off into the living room to get ready for her impromptu playdate with Rachael, the wonder neighbour. Relieved that she was happy

again, I grabbed my coat and car keys. Lily was racing around getting all of her dolls together and generally making a mess of the house. That comment about Rachael playing with dolls better than me should have hurt, but she was right. I was a dude and I sucked at playing shit like that, even though I tried for her sake. When there was a knock at the door, I had to race to beat Lily to it. She knew better than to open the door, but knowing it was Rachael, her excitement ran away with her. “Hey cutie!” Rachael said as soon

as Lily threw herself at her, before throwing a smile at me. “Thank you for doing this at such short notice. Things have been crazy lately.” I said over Lily’s head before she raced off into the living room. “I’ve told you, it’s not a problem. She’s a great kid.” “That she is.” I grinned as I walked her back into the living room, seeing a couple of dozen dolls lined up, ready to attend a wedding or something. “Don’t worry about the mess. I can clean it all up in the morning.

Gemma should be here to pick her up within the hour.” “I’ll lock up after us when she comes.” Lily came running at her again, pulling at her hands. “Whoa! Slow down.” Rachael laughed as Lily giggled. “I should probably have warned you when I called you that she’s as hyper as hell tonight. I don’t know what the fuck they do to them at that nursery, but she’s been like this since she got home.” “Daddy!” Lily giggled before turning to Rachael. “Daddy said a bad word.”

“Sorry, sweetheart.” I rolled my eyes at Rachael. Honestly, I tried to curb my language around the impressionable little girl, but sometimes the words just slipped on out. Rachael laughed, watching as Lily threw herself down on the floor and got ready to play, “I expected it. My niece goes to the same nursery, remember? They had some kind of arts and craft day and for some reason, all the kids came out like that. I guess it was all the fun that drove them over the edge.” “Or they were all sniffing glue.” I

sniggered. “Anyway, hopefully Gemma won’t be too long and you can get back to your Friday night.” “It’s not like I had anything planned.” “You should pop down to the bar sometime.” I suggested, although tonight wouldn’t be the best idea if we were going to have some trouble going down. “Maybe I will. Tonight I have to study, though. So maybe another time.” “You’re welcome whenever you want. Drinks are on me.” I grinned at her. It was the least I could do with all

the help she gave me. “Lily? Why don’t you give your daddy a goodnight kiss before he has to go to work?” My daughter jumped down from the floor and wrapped her chubby little arms around my legs in a death grip. “Night night, Daddy.” Scooping her up so she didn’t cut the circulation off to my legs, I gave her a big sloppy kiss which made her laugh. “Goodnight, baby girl. Be good for Rachael, yeah?” “Okay, Daddy.” She wriggled to

be let down, eager to get rid of me to start playing. “I’ll be back in a minute, pumpkin.” Rachael ruffled her hair before following me out of the room. “I’ll try and get her to tidy up a little before Gemma gets here.” “Don’t worry about it.” I shook my head. “She ransacked her bedroom looking for a doll, so I can deal with it all tomorrow.” Rachael smiled, knowing she was in for a hectic hour before my stepmother came to pick her up. “Don’t

worry. I’ve got this.” “Thanks, babe.” I kissed her on the forehead before walking out the door. There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary when I walked into Sinners. There seemed to be a few new faces in the place, but that was always to be expected. Sinners was a popular hang-out and word spread quickly. It was no wonder the money was rolling in. I was proud of how well we’d turned the business around. And I say ‘we’

because although it was in my name, my brothers put their blood, sweat and tears into this business, too. It was our success. Moving towards the bar, I motioned to Lauren. “Everything okay?” She was looking much better, much like her old self. Apparently, there had been no more sightings of Matt and I hoped that would be the end of it, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case. Maze and the other guys had been able to intercept yet another box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers from the dipshit,

but we hadn’t told Lauren. With her thinking that we all exaggerated last time over the flowers, we thought it would be prudent to keep her in the dark. Looking around, I couldn’t see Fallon. I was hoping that with it being a Friday night, Lauren would have asked her friend to come in and keep her company. I was surprised at the knot of disappointment I felt in my stomach at her not being there. “Everything’s good. I think Kellin just got a bit worried because we got word from Harry about the trouble that

had been making the rounds in the city.” Harry owned a bar not too far from here and he’d been a friend for several years now. “Has his place been hit yet?” Lauren nodded sadly. “Last night. That’s why he called here.” “Keep your eyes open and keep one of the guys close.” I said as I walked away from the bar. It was good to see her getting back into the swing of things here. I couldn’t see any of my brothers out here in the bar, but a couple of their

security guys were dotted around, keeping an eye on things. I knew they would enjoy the extra cash and the women, but also that they would do the job they had been tasked. Heading towards my office, I knew that’s where I would be able to find my brothers. Kellin was sat at the corner desk watching over the security cameras. Austen was sat behind my desk, drinking a cup of coffee and looking bored. “Where’s Jared?” “He’s at home with Maren. She wasn’t feeling so good and he didn’t

want to leave her. He’s been training all day so he didn’t want to skip out on her tonight as well.” That was pretty understandable. Jared was spending more and more time training. He had a couple of warm-up fights coming up and then the big one, if he won. Maren was getting worried about him, and a bit shitty about the amount of time he was spending away from her. I made a mental note to give them a call later, to make sure they were alright. “Anything happening?”

“Not yet. Same old, same old. We’re still waiting on the photos coming through from Harry.” Harry wasn’t the greatest when it came to technology so it was no wonder they were still waiting. I half expected him to come around later with a Polaroid. The guy didn’t even own a phone because he thought they were too complicated. Glancing back at the screen, I peered a bit closer. “Go back to number seven.” I snapped when Kellin flipped the screen.

“What is it?” I pointed to the screen. “Do you recognise him?” The guy on the screen was preppy looking with his smart button down shirt and neatly trimmed hair. He stood out like a sore thumb in our crowd. “Not a clue.” We didn’t know all the people who came into the bar, but I knew the girl he was talking to. Wendy may dress like a slut but she set high standards for herself and that guy was clearly wasting his time. Evidently, he realised that too,

when I saw him slip something into her drink. “Motherfucker!” I slammed my fist down on the desk and raced out of the office. The crowds parted as I stormed my way through, seeing the fury on my face and not wanting to be the recipient of my rage. As Wendy’s hand with the drink in it rose to her mouth, I swiped it out of her hand. The glass shattered on the floor, spilling the tainted drink out of harm’s way.

“What the hell are you doing, Dominic? I was drinking that!” Wendy shouted, more in shock than in anger. I didn’t bother to answer her. Rounding on the asshole, he looked ready to piss his pants. Unable to control my anger, my fist flew out and connected with his nose with a crunching sound. Blood spurted everywhere as he wailed in agony. Grabbing hold of his shirt collar, I dragged the dumb little shit to the door and threw his sorry ass outside. It took everything in me not to kick the ever

living shit out of him. He was sniffling and whimpering on the floor. The doormen turned to me in matched confusion. “You don’t ever let this little shit into my bar again. The police will be on their way to deal with his ass.” “What did he do?” Tom asked. “This useless fucker tried drugging one of our girls in there.” Tom growled and stepped forward menacingly. The guy on the floor whimpered again. I couldn’t blame him one bit. Tom was a mean looking

bastard and looked like he could snap a man in half with his little finger. “We don’t let rapist fuckers in here, or didn’t you know that?” Tom towered over him, looking ready to murder. “Well, make sure you circulate his picture so that everyone knows what he has to do to get a woman into bed.” I took a step back from him, knowing I was going to kick the bastard if I stayed too close. I wanted to. I really wanted to. I couldn’t stand guys like him who took

advantage of women like that. Sick, twisted fucks who couldn’t pull a girl so they had to drug them to get what they wanted instead. They weren’t men. They were fucking parasites. Hearing sirens, I told Tom to send the police through to my office if they wanted a statement or the video evidence. Walking back through the bar, it took all of my restraint not to go back out there and kick the shit out of the waste of space. Yeah, the girls that came in here loved to get fucked, but it was always

consensual. No one was ever forced to do anything they didn’t want to do and certainly never drugged. This was a bar. It wasn’t a brothel. No money exchanged hands here. People came to the bar looking for a good time, looking for like-minded people to fuck the night away. There was no room for men that treated women like that. They were the scum of the earth and weren’t welcome in my establishment. Even when my bitch ex took off, choosing drugs over her own baby daughter, I didn’t lay a finger on her.

Anyone that treated women like that deserved a beating. There are two main rules I live by. One, no drugs. They cloud your mind and your judgement. Two, never lay a violent hand on a woman. I’d managed to live by those rules so far and expected those that came into my bar to do the same. That’s what a lot of my issues came back to – my ex. She stood in front of me and told me that she didn’t want anything to do with Lily or me. She told me that she didn’t love us. How could she not love that little bundle she’d

given birth to? The heartless bitch. Jessica had felt trapped. She didn’t want this kind of life so young, even though she was twenty five and should have been ready to grow up and settle down. This wasn’t the life she wanted for herself anymore. I didn’t stop her from leaving. How could I live with someone who told me that she wished she had aborted our baby? And it wasn’t just words that she threw at me in anger, she meant them to her very core. The very moment she said it was when she was holding Lily in

her arms, looking down at her with eyes full of regret. For my baby’s sake, I tried to talk to Jessica, tried to make her see reason. I shouldn’t have bothered. It was only a matter of days after having Lily that she was spitting and screaming at me, saying she felt trapped, calling me stifling and suffocating. But even as all those vile words spewed forth from her mouth, I didn’t lay a hand on her. I wanted to, God knows I wanted to, but I didn’t. She was the mother of my child. I wanted to

strangle the heartless bitch, but instead, I let her walk away. Some people really shouldn’t ever have kids and Jessica was one of them. I was glad she was out of Lily’s life. My daughter didn’t need that kind of poison around her. Kellin and Austen followed me back into the office and shut the door behind us, sitting down around the desk. “Why didn’t you tell me what the fuck was going on before you jumped up and started playing fucking superhero?” “If I had stuck around to explain

the situation to you in plain fucking English, she would have drunk it and it would have been too late.” I didn’t appreciate Kellin’s tone. This was my bar and I would do as I saw fit. Sure, he helped build it, but I didn’t question his decisions when it came to the security business and I would appreciate the same courtesy here. My thoughts were flipping like whiplash tonight. One minute, I was grateful for the boys being around to help me so much and the next I was regretting them poking their noses in. It

was just going to be that kind of night and followed by one helluva hangover in the morning. Kellin could see I was pissed off but he wouldn’t drop it. None of us were the type to back down from an argument. “You know that we could have radioed through to one of our guys to sort it out, don’t you? They would have been able to stop him as quick as you, if not quicker. That is what you’re paying them for, after all.” I didn’t bother to respond. I knew that Kellin took his security business

seriously and liked to do everything by the book, but I couldn’t just stand in here and watch it happened. That wasn’t who I was. I had to act. There had been no choice. Shaking his head, Austen stood up. “I need a drink. Kel? You coming?” I knew he was trying to defuse the tension in the room. Austen was the one that was always stuck in the middle. He knew that we both had a point, but the way that Kellin was staring at me wasn’t helping matters. We were both on edge and neither of us were ready to back down.

Kellin stood up slowly. “Remember, you hire my boys, you let them do their fucking job.” “Fuck off, Kellin.” He stomped out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Childish little fucker.

Chapter 8 Fallon All I wanted to do was get out of there. Sinners was a rough bar and I didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire. However, I promised Lauren that I’d call in and keep her company tonight so I was stuck. There was no way I was going to let her down. In all the time we’d been friends, it was only ever after the issue with Matt that she’d asked me

to come down here so I knew she was still feeling a bit on edge. All I could hope was that she stuck to her guns and didn’t give him a second chance. She wouldn’t get out of it again quite so easily. I wasn’t sure what it was. He seemed to have some kind of hold over her which I knew scared her sometimes. He’d made her want him, need him and it was difficult for her to shake that feeling off. The longer he stayed away from her, the more reason came back into her thoughts. As soon as he turned

up with those flowers, those doubts had crept back into her mind. Also, the thing with Maze was confusing her. We hadn’t had too much time to spend together lately, but we’d spoken on the phone as often as we could. I knew that she was feeling things for Maze and it was confusing her. She didn’t know whether he was there because he was told to keep her safe, or because he felt something for her, too. Also, she didn’t know what she was feeling. Was it gratitude because he was keeping her safe? Or something

more? When she asked my opinion, I told her the truth. I loved Maze. He was a great guy, someone who would always be there for her and would make her laugh all along the way. She could do a hell of a lot worse. And we’d talked about Dominic. I’d found it easier to talk over the phone when I didn’t have to see her face. My thoughts were confusing me so it was good to talk it out. I’d never done anything like that before. I wasn’t one for one night stands. But he’d lit something up in me and it was hard to

get him off my mind. Not that I thought anything was going to come of it. The last time I’d seen him, I’d gone running from the bar like there was a fire lighting up my ass. It wasn’t the most elegant exit I could have made. But now I was here in Sinners again and I had been on pins and needles, waiting to see if I would see him. Lauren kept throwing me quizzical looks, as we were both distracted by the men who weren’t in our lives. It was a real pain in the ass, that’s for sure.

Maze was still shadowing her every move and even I noticed something different between them lately. Lauren said that nothing had happened yet, but I had the feeling it was going to when the time was right. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, making his huge crush on her obvious to me, even if she couldn’t see it. If Lauren hadn’t told me otherwise, I would have thought that they had slept together already. There was something there between them, a spark. I knew that it worried Lauren to get

involved with someone else so soon after Matt and that was why she was trying to keep her distance from him, but I didn’t think Maze was going to give up on her that easily. It was a shame really and I knew that once her shift was over tonight and we were back at her place, we were going to have to have words about it. Maze was a great guy and nothing like Matt. He wouldn’t hurt her or break her like Matt did. Maze would do anything to make her happy and keep her safe. He’d be good for her.

We’d spoken about it on the phone and she knew she was holding back because of Matt and the way he treated her and she also knew that it was irrational. She couldn’t run away from every man just because of the way one had treated her. By doing that, it gave Matt the power over her, which was the last thing she needed to do. When Dominic had come raging through the bar and smashing that guy in the face, I should have been scared. It was a brutal sight. But oddly enough, it turned me on in a warped kind of way.

Not that I agreed with violence, because I don’t. I’m probably one of the softest people you could come across, but there is something about a man who can handle himself that does it for me. It’s like he would be able to protect me if we got into a dangerous situation. Crazy, I know. He’d looked damned hot, especially when we found out why he’d pounded that guy. Dominic had been coming to the rescue of the girl, the damsel in distress, even if she didn’t know she needed rescuing.

I was glad in a way that I hadn’t caught his eye. He looked deadly and dangerous as he stalked through the bar and I dread to think what went on when he threw the man out. When he came storming back in, everyone moved out of his way, the rage pouring off him. “Fallon!” I looked over to Lauren behind the bar. “What’s up?” “I need you to come with me.” She said as she walked around the bar, “I’m going on a break.” I followed her though to the back

of the bar, pausing when she stopped at a doorway. She knocked on the door before opening it and poking her head in. It seemed like a heated conversation if her body language was anything to go by, but I couldn’t hear anything over the music. I was kind of glad she was going on a break. The heat in the bar was stifling and I could do with a breath of fresh air. She opened the door wider and beckoned me over. I cocked my eyebrow at her in question. “I need you to take a look at

Dominic’s hand.” I shook my head. No chance. No way. “You’re a nurse, Fallon. It might be broken.” I didn’t care. There was no way I could do that. How embarrassing! She didn’t seem to take any notice of my reservations and moved into the office ahead of me, leaving me with no choice. If I ran away now, I’d look even more stupid than I would going in there. Shit. I had no choice. Moving into the office, I saw

Dominic was sat at the desk with a fierce expression on his face. I felt my stomach clench. I hadn’t been this close to him since we had been together at Decadence. Even the harsh look on his face didn’t diminish from his good looks, it just made him appear more dangerous and appealing. Sitting there with a scowl on his face, all those tattoos on display and cut up knuckles, he looked like the original bad-boy. Nothing about him was the same as the sharp suited man I had been with at Decadence.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Lauren?” His tone was low and harsh. “I’m going on my break. Fallon’s going to take a look at your hand.” “Lauren.” He growled. She leant on the desk with both hands and stared at him hard. “I’m doing you both a favour here. Suck it up.” And she left the office, shutting the door behind her with a shit eating grin and leaving me alone with a man who looked like he was ready to tear someone’s head off.

I stood just inside the door of the office, not really knowing what to do. I was going to kill Lauren when I got out of here. “You can leave.” He barked, dismissively. His tone and the look of anger in his eyes put me on edge and I was ready to run out of the room, but something in me made me stop. Dominic spoke to me as if I were a piece of shit on his shoes, like he was better than me and wasn’t willing to waste his time on me. Who the fuck did

he think he was to talk to me like that? I had been surrounded by people all my life who thought that they were better than everyone else and his shitty attitude irked me. Stepping forward, I stood in front of him defiantly. “Lauren said that you needed me to look at your hand. What did you do to it?” “I don’t. It’s fine. Lauren needs to keep her nose out of my business.” My eyes widened, “She’s only looking out for you. There’s no need to be rude.” Dominic clearly had an

attitude problem. At least I’d found his fault now and it would be easier to kick him out of my mind. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve had a shitty night.” His shoulders relaxed as he watched me standing in the office, feeling as awkward as hell. I appreciated him dialling back the attitude, but that wasn’t enough for me. “That’s no excuse. She only asked me to come in and look at your hand.” Dominic narrowed his eyes at me, frowning fiercely. “Why do you care?”

“I don’t. But Lauren does.” “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.” “Are you going to let me take a look at it or not?” I put a hand on my hip defiantly. I wasn’t going to beg him and he was pissing me off. I was going to walk out of there any minute now and I didn’t give a crap if his whole hand fell off. “Feisty bitch, aren’t you?” Dominic smirked. “Feisty, yes. Bitch, no. So, what’s it going to be?”

He finally laughed and the tension drained out of the room. His features changed dramatically and he was back to being the man that I’d known in that other office. Taking that as a ‘yes’ I pulled up a chair in front of him and waited for him to show me what he’d done. Taking his hand in mind, I exclaimed, “Holy shit! What did you do?” His knuckles were cracked and bleeding and bruising already. “I got into a little altercation earlier. It’s nothing.” He pulled his hand

back and shook it, obviously wanting to show how manly he was at how he could handle the pain. I rolled my eyes at him. “I was there. You only hit him once in the bar. What did you do to him outside?” It had been a brutal hit, but the other guy had been hurt much worse than Dominic. One punch wouldn’t have done that kind of damage to his hand and I had to wonder if the other man was still breathing. The ‘altercation’ as he called it had freaked me out if I was honest. I

hadn’t been raised around violence and seeing it up close and personal like that had been a bit of a shock. We saw shit like that all the time at the hospital, but seeing it happen in front of me and knowing one of the people involved, it was different. As a nurse, it couldn’t help but cross my mind to think of the damage an ‘altercation’ like that could result in. “I didn’t touch him. I left him with my doormen for the police to arrive.” “Well, how did all this happen?” I took his hand back and looked at the

damage. It didn’t seem as bad as it first looked and as I moved his fingers, it was clear that nothing was broken. The smeared, dried blood made it look all that much worse. “I might have punched the wall a few times in anger.” He smirked again. “Why would you do that?” “I couldn’t take my anger out on him, could I?” “Did he really try to spike that girls drink?” I asked tentatively. I knew that it was none of my business, but I was interested to know what had got him

so riled up. “He didn’t just try. The bastard did. If I hadn’t swiped that drink out of her hands, I would have been taking her to hospital. We don’t let that shit lie in here.” I nodded. He’d done the right thing in my mind and stopped a girl from getting abused, and worse, raped. Dominic was looking better to me by the minute. He was like a reluctant hero. A hero with a gigantic attitude, but hey, we couldn’t all be perfect. “Is she your girlfriend?” I asked

in a quiet voice. I didn’t want to ask, but I needed to know. He had such a violent reaction to what happened that it was the obvious reason, even though it hurt to think that. I didn’t want to dig any deeper as to why it hurt. Dominic burst out laughing. “Of course not. Why would you think that?” Dammit. I ignored his question as I carefully continued cleaning up his hand. I could feel his eyes on me and I felt the heat blush through me. Why did I always end up feeling like such a fool around him?

“All done.” I let go of his hand and cleaned up the first aid kit, feeling awkward now that I didn’t have anything to do. “Thanks, darlin’.” I got up out of the chair and turned towards the door, but he grasped my hand. “Why did you think she was my girlfriend?” I looked away, “I don’t know.” He chuckled and pulled me closer to him. “She’s not my girlfriend.” And he put a finger under my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his. The heat in his gaze

made me want to cross my legs to relieve the tension. I had no idea why he had such an effect on me. I was putty in his big, manly hands. Leaning in to kiss me, I was helpless and had to brace my hands on his shoulders to keep myself upright. As his tongue licked at my lips, I opened to let him in and he deepened the kiss further. As his fingers snaked around to pull me closer, straddling his lap, I could feel his hardness and my breath hitched. His green eyes twinkled

dangerously and I knew I was getting in over my head with him. Slowly, almost too slowly, he drew my tee up over my head and the hot, stuffy air hit my skin, making my head spin. This was not what I thought was going to happen tonight. If I thought there was any chance of Dominic being at Sinners tonight, I wouldn’t have worn my granny knickers. Not that I had any time to worry about it now. He had me naked within seconds and my body was on fire.

What the hell was it about us and offices?

Dominic I couldn’t get enough of her. It was even more explosive this time. Last time, at Decadence, it was like we were role playing. I was the big, bad businessman and she was the innocent. This time, we both knew exactly who we were and wanted it more than ever. Sucking a nipple into my mouth and rolling it in my teeth, I was

rewarded with a moan escaping her lips as she tugged at the hair at the back of my neck. Still fully dressed, she sat on my lap naked. I loved every goddamn inch of her. Fallon wasn’t one of those skinny bitches, nothing but skin and bones. She had a little more to grab hold of, which I loved. She was soft under my touch, her skin was on fire. Feeling her hands running tentatively along my chest, I smiled against her skin and leaned back to wrench off my tee. Her eyes immediately

widened and she began tracing the ink designs over my chest and shoulders with her delicate fingertips. Her soft touch was driving me fucking wild and as much as I loved it, I couldn’t keep it up a moment longer. I was going to end up exploding like a fucking teenager. Picking up her under the arms, I placed her on the desk, kicking my boots off at the same time. I quickly rid myself of my jeans and my cock sprang to life. As I bent to kiss her again, she surprised me by sliding off the desk and

onto her knees, taking me in her hands. A hiss escaped my throat. She ran her fingers over the head, coating herself with my pre-cum. If I thought her fingers felt good on me, they were nothing compared to her mouth. I had to hold one hand on my desk and the other wrapped in her hair to stop myself from jerking forward down her throat. Tugging on her hair, I had to pull out. I wanted this to last at least long enough to get inside her before blowing my load.

“But, I haven’t finished “Come here.” I smirked as I pulled her close, hooking her legs around my hips. Grabbing a condom from my desk drawer, I rolled it on while Fallon watched my every moment. She licked her lips. Her breath hitched as I entered slowly, wanting to savour it this time. She didn’t take her eyes off me, reminding me exactly of how this went down last time. It was like she was drinking me in. I couldn’t keep it slow and

sensual for long and soon enough was pounding into her, her nails digging into my back as her feet on my ass urged me closer with every plunge of my cock. Feeling her walls tighten around me, I slipped a hand between us and pushed her closer to orgasm. Fallon screamed out, only muffled by my mouth coming down on hers. It felt like I’d run a fucking marathon as I all but crashed against her. She’d fuckin’ sucked me dry. Pulling back, I removed the condom, tying it off and throwing it in

the bin. Grinning at Fallon, she suddenly looked all shy and coy which struck me as amusing as only moments ago she’d been screaming out my name in pure ecstasy. “Are you okay, babe?” Her eyes shot to mine, but she didn’t say anything as I pulled my jeans back on. The silence hung heavy in the office and wasn’t what I’d expected after what had just happened.

Chapter Nine Fallon Straightening my clothes, I walked out the office before he did this time. I wasn’t going to wait for him to send me away this time. I knew what it was and wasn’t going to look for anything more than that. Was I okay? Was he kidding me? That was the best I’d ever had and I wasn’t entirely sure that my legs were

going to hold me up, but I wouldn’t answer me. Call me stubborn, but I didn’t want to engage in conversation after the way he’d skipped out on me last time. All I wanted to do was run my tongue along every single one of those ink marks on his body, savouring the taste of him. I wanted to pull that nipple ring into my mouth until he begged for mercy. I wanted to savour him from head to toe. Those green eyes had me hypnotised and I wanted more. As I got to the door, I could have

sworn that he called after me, but with the music being so loud, I wasn’t too sure and I wasn’t going to hang around there any longer and make a fool out of myself. Before I went back to the bar, I headed to the ladies to freshen myself up a bit. Shutting myself in a cubicle, I sat down on the toilet and closed my eyes. My legs were shaking and I could still smell him on me. This was madness. Pure madness. How could I let that happen again? It was too late now. It had already

happened. And it was fucking great. Flushing the toilet, I made my way out of the cubicle and paused in the mirror. I looked like I’d just had the best sex of my life and no amount of trying to flatten down my hair or calming down the flush on my skin would change that. Great. I couldn’t stay in there any longer and knew I’d have to get back to the bar sooner or later. Hopefully, Dominic would either stay in his office or would have left by now. If I could leave, I

would, but I’d promised Lauren I’d stay for her shift. Perhaps she’d understand if I left? I doubted it. She set us on this course, knowing exactly what would happen once we were in a room together so there was no way she was going to let me run this time. As I made my way back to the bar, getting through the swarms of people dancing and having the time of their lives wasn’t an easy task. By the time I sat down at the bar next to Maze, I was hot and tired. The bar was packed to the rafters tonight.

“How’s he doing?” Lauren asked as she and Maze grinned at me knowingly. “Fuck off the pair of you.” I scowled at them. “Don’t be like that.” She giggled. “How’s his hand?” “You knew that he didn’t need any medical assistance. Bitch.” I glared at her, but she just laughed, knowing I didn’t mean it. “Yes, but how is his hand?” Lauren laughed. “Fuck off.” I flipped her off but

couldn’t help laughing. “Yes, I did. But I also know that you like him and I have happened to see him watching you.” “It shouldn’t have happened. Again.” I hissed at her, hoping Maze wouldn’t hear me. “I was just playing Cupid.” “Well, don’t.” I grumbled, feeling a fool. One look from Dominic and I’m naked. That was all it took. I wasn’t sure if I never wanted to be put in that position again or if I was gagging for it to happen again.

“He’s a great guy. You could do a lot worse.” Maze chimed in and I groaned, hiding my face behind my hair. He laughed. “Seriously, though. The boy has some issues, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you, too. I think you could break through his walls.” Shaking my head, I held up my hands, “Can we please stop talking about this? Nothing is going to happen between me and Dominic, so can we drop it?” They both smirked at me, as if knowing something I didn’t.

I turned away from them. Dominic had a lot going for him, his sexual antics were right at the top of the list at the moment. But that didn’t mean that anything was going to happen. It wasn’t like we’d even ever had a real conversation. We’d just had two red hot steamy passion sessions, but that was it. I didn’t really know much else about him, but I wanted to and that was what annoyed me most of all. I wanted it and I didn’t think he did. It was infuriating. My heart jumped into my throat as Dominic came strolling out of the office.

He headed straight over to a striking brunette. She was dressed in little more than a bikini, with more flesh on display than I would have if I went swimming. I felt a huge nudge of disappointment when I saw him snake an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him as she giggled like a little girl. Her fingers danced over his chest, exploring the hard muscles that had been under my lips only moments before. “Maybe you should try your matchmaking skills out on her. Maybe you would have had a little more

success.” I said wryly with a nod of my head in their direction. I hated the jealous tone in my voice, but once again I felt used. Lauren’s eyes hardened for a moment as she watched them before turning back to me. “Forget about it. I’m nearly ready to take off.” “I’ll go and wait in the car.” I got up quickly and moved away, not looking again in Dominic’s direction. I didn’t need to see that. As I got outside, someone grabbed hold of my wrist and I yanked it

away as I spun around. It was Maze. “Shouldn’t you be inside with Lauren?” “The others are in there watching her. I came to make sure you were alright.” “I’m fine. Why?” “He doesn’t mean anything by it, you know.” I shook my head and looked down at the floor. “It’s none of my business, right?” “She doesn’t mean anything to him. He was just being affectionate.” “That was a little more than being

affectionate.” I had to laugh. Maze took a step closer to me. “Dominic is one of my best friends. He’s a good guy. Don’t read more into what you saw than there was.” “It doesn’t matter anyway.” “It does. To you. And to him. Just give him a chance, okay?” I didn’t reply. Dominic was a wonderful piece of eye candy and a hell of a good lay, but he wasn’t the kind of guy that was looking for anything serious or was ready to settle down. I didn’t need that kind of player in my life. All I

needed to do was chalk it down to experience and get on with my life.

Dominic Why did I keep messing up like that? I’d let her walk away from me. Last time, it was me doing the running. There was something about Fallon that made me want more and that scared the crap out of me. I didn’t have room for a woman in my life. This time, I’d let her walk away from me. I called after her and she kept

on walking and I knew that I’d fucked up. She thought all I wanted from her was sex, and although that was great, anything else was off the table. Or was it? Her face said it all when I went out to check on the bar. Rachael had taken me up on my offer of coming to the bar and I’d been pleased to see her out and letting her hair down. Fallon had obviously thought I was moving on to the next one. I wasn’t like that. Even when I was a horny teenager, I didn’t go bed

hopping like my brothers. As the oldest, I had more responsibility than my brothers and I spent more time getting them out of scrapes than I did getting laid. Now, I had to put Lily first. Pulling up outside my dad’s house, I rested my head on the steering wheel. What a fuck up of a night. I’d been called in early thinking that some gang of kids would be coming in to cause trouble but we’d ended up with some guy trying to drug a girls drink and them Fallon happened.

She was a wildcat. All that elegant exterior gave way to an insatiable sexual appetite that I was more than happy to try to sate. She made me work harder than any other woman I’d ever had and I loved every fucking second of it. I couldn’t get her off my mind and she was driving me insane. Seeing her walk out of the bar, I had the feeling I wouldn’t be able to get near her again. Seeing her eyes on me when I was talking to Rachael, they were hard and unforgiving. I didn’t think

she’d even give me the chance to explain it to her. Did I want that? The chance to explain and clear the air and move on? Did I want to move on? Fallon was bringing so many questions to my mind that I couldn’t concentrate. Friday nights were usually to let it all go and kick it loose, but tonight had just added more confusion to my life. Leaving Sinners, I pulled Maze aside just as he was leaving. “Give them a few minutes. Fallon’s waiting in the car.”

I nodded, understanding that she didn’t want to see me. Understanding the look on my face, Maze clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s not like that, man. I’ll talk to her.” “You don’t have to do that.” “I think I do. Leave it with me.” He nodded reassuringly. I didn’t need to say anything else, giving the time for them to leave before exiting the bar. After all that had happened, I didn’t want to hang around any longer.

Most of the house was swathed in darkness, which wasn’t surprising considering the time. It was earlier than I usually left the bar on a Friday, but still late by most peoples’ standards. I let myself into the house and headed straight for the living room. Dad was sat in his recliner watching the television and Gemma was sat on the sofa, nursing a cup of tea. “Everything okay, son?” “Yeah, I just wanted to check on Lily.” “I told you on the phone she was

asleep.” “I know, Dad. I just thought I’d check in on my way home.” Gemma stood up and put her cup down on the coffee table. “Ignore him. He’s in a foul mood tonight.” “Am not.” Dad grumbled. I grinned at Gemma. She was a great woman, a real saint for putting up with my dad’s shitty mood swings. He could be really cranky when he wanted to be, but the one thing that never failed to put a smile on his face was the women in his life, Gemma and Lily.

Gemma was my dad’s second wife and they’d been married for nearly eight years. How she put up with him for all that time, I’ll never know. After my mother died, we all knew that he would need to find someone else. It wasn’t because us kids needed a mother; my father was a man who needed a woman to look after him. Gemma was the perfect match for him and we all adored her. The other girl to put a smile on his grumpy face was my little Lily. She was a four year old blonde bundle of fun that

no one could resist. Honestly, it was like she warmed the entire world. I knew I was going to have a shit load of trouble with her when she got older. Believe me, I already had the shot gun locked and loaded, ready for when the boys started calling for her. I’d been with Lily’s mother for only a short time before she fell pregnant, which was a hell of a shock to the pair of us. We’d been careful, but clearly not careful enough. I was responsible enough to live up to being a father, Jessica clearly chose the easy

option and took off as fast as her legs could carry her. When Lily asks me when she’s older, which she is bound to do, if I loved her mother, I’ll honestly be able to say yes. I loved her because she is the mother of my child and gave me the greatest gift in the world. But as a person? I couldn’t stand the junky whore. Obviously, I didn’t know it at the time or I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near her. By the time I found out that she was hooked on drugs, she was already

pregnant and it was too late. There was no way I was going to leave an unborn child to fend against that bitch. Even though she fought me all the way, I locked her up and put her through cold turkey. Jessica had to be drug free while she was carrying my child and my family supported me the whole way. We’d never had drugs in our family and we weren’t going to start with her. I refused to allow my child to be affected by the stupidity of her mother. The same couldn’t be said for Jessica. She didn’t give a flying fuck

about the pregnancy right from the start. Not even two hours after giving birth, the silly bitch was back popping pills again. Within days, she was running. I wouldn’t allow that kind of thing to happen around an innocent child anyway and after a major slanging match where she threw all those vile words at me, she ran like the coward she was. The bitch chose drugs over her own flesh and blood. She signed full parental rights over to me without a second thought, thinking only of how she was going to score her next hit.

That was fine by me. There wasn’t a parental bone in her body and Lily could do so much better without her in her life. Obviously, even when she was older, Lily didn’t need to know the details of what went down with her mother. I wouldn’t lie to her, but I didn’t want to ever have to tell her the full truth. No kid should ever have to know that truth. It wasn’t easy for any of us, but it was worth it. She was a great kid and worth all the worry I went through to

make sure I raised her right. My family did everything they could for me and sometimes it was quite amusing to see my big, badass brothers acting like the doting uncles around her. They all turned as soft as shit as soon as she turned her baby blues on them. Gemma led me upstairs and carefully opened up the door to Lily’s room so as not to wake her. They’d done her own bedroom here, decorating much in the same style as she had at home, princess and glitter shit everywhere. She was sleeping soundly with

her thumb in her mouth, looking peaceful. “Is everything okay, Dominic?” Gemma asked quietly as we stood out in the hallway. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” “It’s not like you to call around like this. You know she’s happy and safe here.” Gemma glanced at me with a knowing look. “What is this about?” “Nothing, Gem.” “Is it a woman?” How the hell did she know that Fallon had my head all messed up. I

didn’t want to say anything to her, but my head was all over the place. I liked that girl much more than I should. “It’s a woman.” She said firmly in confirmation. “It’s nothing, really.” Gemma patted me on the arm and smiled. “Someday, you’re going to have to let someone in. You don’t want to be alone forever.” “I’m not alone. I have Lily.” “That’s not the same and you know it.” She wagged a finger at me. I didn’t want to talk about Fallon.

I couldn’t get the thoughts straight in my head, so I had no idea how I was supposed to articulate them. “It’s complicated.” “It’s as complicated as you want to make it, Dominic. Keep things simple and that will be a good start.” She smiled at the open doorway, “Lily wouldn’t mind sharing your life with someone. She’s a wonderful child and would take easily to anyone you chose to bring into your life.” I nodded. She was right. Of course she was, but it wasn’t as simple

as she was making out. “I’m going to go down and sit with your father. Make sure you don’t wake her up, she was exhausted after all that playing with Rachael.” Gemma’s eyes sparkled. I knew that she half hoped something would happen between me and Rachael, but there wasn’t anything like that there for me. She was more like a sister to me. Rachael was like family. Walking into the bedroom, I kissed Lily lightly on the head. This wasn’t something I did very often,

coming to my dad’s unannounced when they took care of my girl. She was safe and sound at my dad’s, but tonight, I needed to see her. Heading slowly downstairs, I stopped by the living room and Gemma smiled at me warmly. “I’ll stop by in the morning for her.” “We’ll call you when she’s ready for you. With coming for her a bit later tonight, I promised we’d take her to the park in the morning.” “Thank you.” “You know we love having her

here with us, sweetheart.” Kissing Gemma on the cheek and slapping a hand on my dad’s shoulder, I left them to it. Making my way home, I wanted to slap myself on the head. All I could think about was that I was going home by myself when I should have had Fallon with me. Damn, I had to get my head straight and get her off my mind.

Chapter Ten Fallon I’d really had enough of Lauren’s matchmaking. It had been three weeks since I’d last seen Dominic and was doing everything in my power to make sure we didn’t cross paths again. Throwing myself into work was the best excuse, getting roped into wedding preparations was the worst. The engagement party had gone

pretty much as I had expected. Money was being thrown right, left and centre and no expense was spared for Princess Olivia’s upcoming nuptials. My father had made the party a little less suffocating by plying me with whisky while I hid in a corner from all the prying eyes. It was just unfortunate that when the time came to leave, I was all but stumbling all over the place. Needless to say, my mother was not at all impressed. Apparently, I’d brought shame on the family. Personally, I didn’t see how. There were only a

handful of guests left when I staggered out from my hiding place, so it wasn’t like there were many witnesses to my drunken display. But, that wasn’t the point. Those handful of women had managed to start the gossip trail and my mother had been furious. I’d had to sit through countless phone calls with her expressing her outrage at my behaviour. Blah, blah, blah. My answer phone had been getting a lot of use. I’d taken to screening my calls as my mother was giving me a

constant headache and Lauren was persistent in her attempts to get me to talk to her about Dominic. In all fairness, I didn’t like having to dodge Lauren’s calls. She was a good friend to me and needed me. She was still getting confused by her feelings for Maze and the whole security detail thing that the boys had going on was freaking her out. She had tried getting me to go to Sinners several times over the last few weeks, but I had refused every single time. Taylor had called to see if I wanted

to go for a night out to Decadence, but there was no way that was going to happen. I was going to do everything I could to make sure I didn’t bump into Dominic again. It seemed that I was trying to hide from everyone at the moment. Especially Dominic. I couldn’t get thought of him out of my head. The last thing I needed was to see him again and have those feelings intensify again. The longer I was away from him, the easier it was to get on with my life.

What was the big deal anyway? We’d had mind-blowing sex twice. That was it. That was all it was ever going to be. I had to get over it, and so did everyone else. As it was, I was splitting my time between work and sleeping. There were plenty of shifts at work to be had and I was making the most of staying busy. The busier I was, the less my mind had time to think of a certain man. It was a win-win situation. Lauren was calling around tonight before her shift at Sinners tonight. It

would be good to see her. We hadn’t spent much time together lately. It wasn’t so easy with her shadow following her everywhere anyway. Plus, she’d promised to stay away from the subject of Dominic. Maze was still stuck to her like glue. She hadn’t really said too much about him on the phone to me lately, but all that was going to change tonight. I had the feeling that something had gone on between them from the way she spoke about him, but she hadn’t admitted to anything.

It was going to be inevitable that the situation with Dominic would come up. Lauren could make all the promises in the world, but I knew that the temptation would be too strong. And I was actually kind of interested to see if he had said anything to her. It was doubtful, as I knew most guys didn’t gossip like us girls, but I had to hope. I didn’t want to just be another notch on his bedpost. I wanted to be something more, but I didn’t know how to go about it. I didn’t want to go to Sinners or Decadence because I would

look too eager. But I couldn’t get him out of my head. Maze was going to be coming with her tonight, but he had already agreed to wait and keep watch outside. There would be another member of their security team watching the back of the property, which I thought was overkill, but they were adamant that Lauren wasn’t going to be left unprotected. Moving around the house, I made sure everything was tidy and got the wine glasses out of the cupboard and put them on the coffee table, ready and

waiting for Lauren who would be arriving at any moment. A knock came on the door not two minutes after and I had to grin when I opened the door and saw Lauren standing there with her arms full of munchies. “Come on in.” “Where shall I put these?” I nodded to the table, “Might as well keep them in here so they’re close at hand.” I always had to munch on food when I drank, even if it was just wine. With a sigh, she put all the food

down and then flopped onto the sofa, kicking her shoes off and making herself at home. “It’s good to have a night off.” “Has it been busy at work?” I didn’t know why I was asking such a silly question. It was always busy at Sinners. They attracted a big crowd every single night of the week, not just at the weekends like in some bars. “I didn’t mean work. I meant it was good to have a night off from having Maze or one of the other guys standing over my shoulder.” She scowled and I laughed. “What? It is so frustrating

having them hanging around like a bad smell. Maze is the worst.” That was all the confirmation I needed to know that something had happened between them. Lauren looked torn. “What’s so funny?” “You!” “What do you mean?” “It’s obvious you like him and he likes you.” “He’s only here because he has to be.” “Bullshit.” I giggled. “Of course he likes you or he wouldn’t have slept with you.”

Lauren looked at me with shocked eyes. “It wasn’t like that.” “What was it like then?” I asked as I poured us each a glass of wine, pleased I’d called it right this time. She groaned. “It shouldn’t have happened.” I laughed ruefully. “Been there, done that.” “It’s not the same as with you and Dominic. Things have changed. We used to talk so easily and now it’s all ruined.” “You can get it back.” “I’m not so sure about that.”

I felt sorry for her. In the middle of all this mess, she’d actually met someone she really like and it still wasn’t working out for her. What a fuck up. Sitting down in front of the television, we decided to sit through reruns of Sons of Anarchy. There’s no way you can ever feel down when Charlie Hunnam is gracing you with his shower scenes!

Dominic

Sitting in the living room, the house was finally quiet. Lily had been playing with her toys that were still scattered all over the floor. Usually, I’d make her tidy up after herself, but tonight she was so tired, I had to carry her to bed. It had been a relatively easy going day. I’d caught up with everything at Decadence, Sinners was running without a hitch and I’d had the day off to go to a parents meeting at Lily’s nursery. It didn’t make sense to me at first.

I wondered why the hell we needed a parent/teacher meeting when the kid was only four. I mean, what did they think they were going to tell me? But, it was productive. They sang her praises, telling me how well she was coming on with her learning-through-play and my heart had swelled with pride. Taking Lily to nursery and picking her up used to be quick an ordeal. The single mothers there gathered around me like vultures and nothing I did or said could deter them. And then when they found out I was one of the Saint Brothers

and that I owned Sinners, they got even worse. Luckily, the teachers weren’t like that. They made a brief nod to the fact that I was a single parent, but it wasn’t like they looked down on me or treated me any differently because of it. Lily was a great kid and everyone in her life was doing the best they could by her. I appreciated everything they did for her at the nursery and was pleased to see she was right on track to be starting big school. Flicking through the movie

channels, there was fuck all on that I was interested in. I wasn’t one for sitting around and watching television, but now that I had the time and inclination, there was nothing on. Bloody typical. The phone rang, saving me from having to decide what to watch. “Yeah?” “Dominic? It’s dad.” “Hey, what’s up?” It wasn’t often that my father called me through the week, so I wondered if something was wrong. “Nothing’s wrong. Gemma asked me to call you to remind you that it’s the

family meal on Saturday.” Ah, yes. The family meal. Years ago, Gemma had tried to implement this tradition for a Sunday roast, but seeing as we all went out on a Saturday night, especially now that Lily stayed over with them for me, she didn’t appreciate us turning up with hangovers. So now, we all gathered together on a Saturday evening to feed up before hitting the town. Lily loved having everyone in one place all at the same time. She was the centre of attention and ate it up like a

pro. At least having us all over wore her out so she slept like a log for Gemma and my dad. “I hadn’t forgotten. What time does she want us?” “Come around for about five. She doesn’t want Lily eating too late. Last time she ended up with tummy ache.” “No problem.” I chuckled. Lily was just like me, happily eating anything that was put in front of her. “We’ll be there for five.” “See you Saturday.” My father said gruffly as he hung up the phone.

As soon as I put my phone back down on the coffee table, it started to ring again. Shaking my head, I laughed. It was just like my dad to remember something as soon as he hung up. “Dominic?” That wasn’t my dad. “Kellin? What’s up?” It wasn’t like him to be calling, either. Usually, he was at home with Kacey. “Are you at home?” “Yeah, why?” “I’m swinging by.” And the phone line went dead.

Frowning, I knew it had to be something important to bring Kellin around to the house. He knew I didn’t like to discuss business when Lily was around, whether she was asleep or not. Picking up the vast majority of the dolls and putting them haphazardly in one of the toy boxes, it was less than five minutes before soft knocking could be heard at the door. Opening it up, Kellin walked inside with a brief nod. Walking into the living room, I pulled the door closed behind me. If Lily happened to hear her Uncle Kellin’s

voice, she’d be up like a shot, no matter how tired she was. “What’s going on?” I asked as he stood awkwardly. “Aren’t you going to sit down?” “This isn’t a social call, bro.” “I didn’t think it was.” Kellin shook his head. “Maze got a feeling about this Matt guy and decided to check it out.” “Didn’t he run this by you first?” “No, but that’s not the problem.” Kellin sat down heavily in one of the chairs. “It’s what he found out that’s the

issue.” “And that is?” “He’s not who we think he is.” I frowned again. “What the fuck does that mean?” “It means that it doesn’t matter what we’ve found out up until now. It’s all bullshit. His name’s not Matt.” Well, that was a shocker. “So, who the hell is he?” “We don’t know. That’s the problem. Maze is chasing his contacts as we speak. We’ve been chasing our fucking tails.”

Kellin looked like he wanted to punch someone. I could understand his rage. My own blood was boiling. No wonder the asshole had looked like he was laughing at us. “So, what now?” “We wait.” “How far is he off finding something out?” Kellin’s eyes darkened. “His usual contact has too much work on at the moment. Maze is having to use different avenues.” I wasn’t going to ask anything more about that. We all knew that Maze

didn’t always stick to the legal routes to find out what he needed, but as long as he got the job done, he could do what the fuck he wanted for all I cared. This time, I didn’t care how far past illegal he went as long as we found out what we needed to. Up until this point, we thought that Matt was a little unhinged, but without a correct background check, we were still clueless. Kellin stood up. “I promised Kacey I wouldn’t be too long. When I told her about this, she understood why I

had to rush out.” I nodded. Kacey would be as worried about Lauren’s safety as the rest of us. “Who’s with Lauren at the moment?” “Chester and Greg.” “And we’re keeping two on her at all times?” It wasn’t often I questioned Kellin about his security business, but this was a whole other situation. “Of course.” He paused at the door. “I know she’s on shift tomorrow night. Personally, I think she should keep to her normal routine. If he’s watching

her, I don’t want him to think there’s anything out of the ordinary.” “Have you told her what you’ve found out?” He shook his head. “Not yet. Maze thought it would be better to keep her in the dark until we find out all the information on him. No point in worrying her unnecessarily.” I had to agree with that. She’d freak out enough about this. Keeping her out of the loop was for her own good at the moment. “I’ll call in tomorrow night to make sure everything’s alright at the

bar.” I was pretty sure Rachael wouldn’t mind helping me out for a couple of hours if I explained the situation to her. “No. Keep to the usual routines. Again, if he’s watching, he will know that you popping into the bar on a weeknight is something out of the ordinary.” As much as it grated on me, he was right about that. We had to keep everything as normal as possible, not only for Matt or whatever his name was, but for Lauren. She’d soon figure out something was up if we didn’t keep

things cool. “You’ll keep me updated?” “Sure will, bro.” “And dad rang me earlier. Gemma wanted to remind us that it’s the family dinner on Saturday.” “We’ll be there.” Kellin clapped me on the shoulder as he walked out, leaving me in silence. Shit. This was getting more complicated by the moment.

Chapter Eleven Fallon Life had been hectic, which was just how I liked it. Being busy meant that I didn’t have much time to think. Last night, I thought that I was going home to crash after my shift. My mind had been so busy with work that I’d forgotten all about my date. “Are you ready to go?” I jumped out of my skin when

Taylor popped her head around the corner when I was leaving work. I’d forgotten all about our girly dinner date tonight. “For Christ’s sake! You frightened the life out of me!” I’d been walking out of the rear exit of the hospital heading over towards the employee parking spaces, busy thinking about the hard week I’d had and I hadn’t been looking where I was going. This was another one of those days where I was glad when my shift had come to an end. It wasn’t that it had

been particularly hard or stressful, it had been more annoying than anything else. I had been called into my supervisor’s office just after I had come back off of my break. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a cause for concern as I had always got on really well with Gayle, but today she had looked royally pissed off when she’d walked me into her office. I couldn’t think of what I had done wrong, but as soon as Gayle started telling me what the problem was, I was seething. All I could do was apologise

profusely, even though I couldn’t promise that it wouldn’t happen again. My mother had happened. Again. She couldn’t seem to grasp that this was my place of work and that she couldn’t ring me night and day whenever she felt like it. It wasn’t just that I was busy working and helping people, but we weren’t really supposed to take any personal calls during our shifts, unless it was an emergency call. Obviously, my mother deemed all of her calls an emergency and was apparently treating all of my co-workers like they were my

personal secretaries. I had talked to her about this numerous times before but it seemed that, yet again, she wasn’t listening to me. I was going to have to have another word with my father and try to get him to talk to her and get her to back off. This couldn’t go on. All I could do was apologise to Gayle and the rest of them and they accepted it good naturedly. As the shift manager, she ruled us all with a firm hand but not an iron fist. Gayle was always someone that you could go to if

you had a problem. It was understandable that she would be annoyed at this situation, she didn’t have time to waste taking inane messages from my mother. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to make you jump.” Taylor grinned at me sheepishly. Nudging her with my shoulder, I smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It was my fault anyway. I was off in my own little world.” “Anything you need to talk about?” “Not really.” I shook my head.

“It’s just my mother not taking my job seriously again.” Taylor smiled at me with understanding. She knew exactly what my mother was like. “I bet this wedding is sending her into overdrive, huh?” “You bet. And I don’t think that the guys at work appreciate having to take message from her about ice sculptures and flower arrangements.” “It sucks to be you.” Taylor rolled her eyes and laughed, knowing that my mother would never change. We all knew what she was like when she got a

bee in her bonnet and planning this wedding was taking over her life, and everyone else around her. “Are you going to follow me there?” Nodding and getting into my car, this was something we often did. As long as my shifts allowed, we went out for a girly meal every few weeks and we each took our own car, making it easier for when we were finished and heading home in separate directions. Pulling into the car park behind Taylor, I locked up and walked over to

where she was waiting for me. Walking into the bar, we headed straight for our usual table. Luckily, it was still only relatively early and the after work crowd didn’t usually head out this way anyway. I loved this old bar. It wasn’t the kind of place my family would ever dream of setting foot inside, which made me only love it more. I had discovered it back when I was in student training and the place hadn’t changed a bit since then. It was an old school type pub, with booth lines in

red leather, worn old wooden tables and subdued lighting. It was the kind of place that had a slightly musty smell, the obligatory old man sitting at the bar and the feeling of being at home. “I’ll go get us a drink.” Taylor threw her bag down on the bench opposite me as I slid in and got settled. Refusing to get my phone out of my bag, I settled for looking around and people watching. Not that there were many people in yet, but there were a couple of families seated and I smiled to see their children happily occupied

colouring in their place mats. This pub clearly had a soothing affect one everyone that came in, including usually rowdy children. Placing a Pepsi with a slice of lemon and no ice on the table in front of me, Taylor sat down with a sigh. “Hard day?” I asked. “We had a big delivery. I felt like my arms were going to drop off by the time we were done with it.” If there was anyone that I was jealous of when it came to our working lives, it was Taylor. She worked in a

quaint independently owned bookstore, which was like a dream come true. Despite the digital age, the small business was doing well for itself. I couldn’t think of anything better than being surrounded by books all day long, even though I knew that Taylor didn’t sit around on her backside reading all the time. “So, what has your mother been up to now?” I rolled my eyes. “Same old, same old. You know what she’s like.” “Yeah, but ringing you up at the

hospital? That’s going a little far, even for her.” She said when I told her how many times my mother had called that day. “Can’t you talk to your father about it? Perhaps he can make her see sense.” “Maybe, but I doubt it.” My mother one to be easily reined in. She was on a roll with all of this wedding bullshit and I had the feeling that nothing would hold her back. I just had to hope that she wouldn’t lose me my job in the process. Changing the subject, I asked with a smile, “So how are things going with

that guy? John?” Taylor’s eyes lit up immediately. “We went out again last night.” I smiled. It was about time she found someone who treated her right. All Taylor was looking for was someone that would treat her right and someone to grow old with. That wasn’t too much to ask for, was it? “So, are you going to tell me what he’s like?” Taylor launched into a huge speech, detailing everything about him and where he had taken her on their

dates. He really did sound like a good guy, but a little too perfect for my taste. He sounded like the kind of men that I’d grown up around, but if he made my friend happily, who was I to argue? “Are you going to tell me what happened with you and that guy at Decadence?” she asked me with a sly smile as soon as our dinner was brought to the table. I took a moment to cut a piece of steak and put it in my mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Swallowing, I narrowed my eyes at her. “I have no idea what you’re

talking about.” Taylor burst out laughing. “You’re a rubbish liar. You know exactly who I’m talking about. The hottie in the suit.” “At Decadence? A hottie in a suit? I think that you’re going to have to narrow it down a bit more.” I giggled. “Fallon, you know exactly who I am talking about and the fact that you’re being coy about it tells me that something happened.” She pointed at me across the table with her fork. “Plus, the just-fucked-hair after you disappeared with him tells me a lot.”

I groaned and put my head in my hands. Obviously I couldn’t pull the wool over her eyes. At the time, I didn’t think she had even noticed with her being so engrossed with John or whoever his name was, but evidently she took more notice than I gave her credit for. “It’s complicated.” “Why? Why is it so complicated? Do you like him?” “More than I should really.” I said grudgingly. In all fairness, I didn’t even know him, but what I did know, I really

liked a lot. “So, you like him. What’s the complication then?” I snorted out a laugh. “Because for one, I don’t know if he likes me back and for two, he’s Lauren’s boss.” Taylor’s mouth gaped open wide as she stared at me. “Close your mouth, Tay. You look like a fish.” I chuckled as I nibbled at my salad. Her mouth snapped shut and she leant over the table to whisper, “You slept with Dominic Saint?”

“You know him?” “I know who he is.” She nodded eagerly. “Why didn’t you tell me? How could you not recognise him?” “Because I didn’t have a clue who he was at the time. We didn’t exactly swap names.” I could feel myself cringing a little at the admission. Even though I didn’t feel any guilt about my one night stand because, seriously, how could I ever feel bad about the best sex I’d ever had? I did feel strange that I hadn’t even known his name at the time. I wasn’t one for faceless, nameless sex,

but evidently, he was. “Wow.” She sat back with a look of admiration on her face. “So, how was he?” Her eyes sparkled. Bursting out laughing, “No details!” I wagged my finger at her. Taylor pouted. “You’re seriously going to hold out on me? Those Saint Brothers are legendary. Haven’t you noticed how hot they all are?” “Seeing as I didn’t have a clue who any of them were when I met him, forgive me for not taking more notice.” I rolled my eyes and grinned at her.

“But, seriously? Dominic Saint? Wow.” “Well, don’t hold your breath because I don’t think there will be a repeat performance.” Taylor looked serious again for a moment. “You haven’t seen him again?” Staring at my plate, I couldn’t look at her. I knew my face was going to be as bright as a tomato. “I didn’t say that.” “What? When? Spill!” I sighed heavily. He was the best I’d ever had, but both times had been

under circumstances that I wouldn’t usually find myself in. It was hard to explain what happened, so I decided to keep it simple. “You know all that stuff that’s been going on with Lauren?” She nodded. “Well, she asked me to sit at the bar with her while she finished her shift. He was there.” “Obviously, it’s his bar.” “I didn’t know that at the time.” And I could slap myself around the head now. I should have had the sense to put it together. “So, what happened?”

“What do you think happened?” I cocked an eyebrow at her. “You didn’t? Again?” Taylor burst out laughing. “That’s so not like you.” “Tell me about it.” I smiled wryly. “And you still think he doesn’t like you?” I scowled for a moment. “Sex on a plate isn’t something that most men would have the strength to turn down.” “You’re not like that and you know it. No way did you throw yourself at him.” She scolded me, “Don’t sell yourself short like that.”

Putting my head down again, I concentrated on eating in silence for a few minutes. Taking a long, cool drink, I wiped mouth on the napkin. “He’s way out of my league.” “Don’t be so silly. He’d be lucky to have a girl like you.” “It’s not going to happen.” “Why not?” Taylor frowned. “Because I’m not going to see him again.” Of that, I was quite adamant. Dominic was hotter than hell and from everything I’d heard about him from Lauren, it all pointed to him being one of

the good guys, but I still couldn’t see it happen. There was too much between us. I had my own issues and it was like Dominic had a solid wall built around him that I didn’t think I could penetrate. Was it worth even trying? I wasn’t sure. “Look, just don’t write him off yet, okay? Just keep an open mind.” I grudgingly agreed, knowing that it wasn’t likely I would see him again anyway. Finishing up our meal, we walked out to the car park and I gave her a hug

before getting into my car. Taylor was such as sweetheart and she never failed to make me feel better. Last night, she’d been a great friend and had given me a lot to think about.

Tonight? All I could feel was relief at my shift being over tonight. We’d been rushed off our feet, everything from tonsillitis to a fatal car crash. There had been no time to think, we just had to act. In a way, I preferred nights like that, being busy every single

minute. But, tonight? I was too tired from it all. Usually, I enjoyed every aspect of my job. It gave me a great feeling to know that I was helping people, no matter how big or small the job was. However, tonight had been a headache from the moment I walked in. It didn’t actually start too bad. My first case was a mother who had brought her baby in. She had been so worried that there was something drastically wrong with her child and went into panic mode. Luckily enough, the little

baby boy only had a slight temperature with a viral infection, something that was pretty easily treatable. She had been so upset, thinking that she had wasted our time and it took quite a while to reassure her that was what we were there for and that she had nothing to feel bad for. In my opinion, it was always better to get these things checked out, just in case. In the time I spent with her, I could see that she was a great mother and was simply concerned for her child. At least it showed she gave a monkeys and I assured her that we were there for

her anytime she had any concerns. The next few cases had also been relatively routine, a guy with several fractured ribs after a bar fight and a teenager who had fallen to sleep with her contact lenses in. That was one that made me wince. She now had a painful abscess on her eye and we could all see how much agony she was in. It was the usual run of the mill kind of stuff. That was until Roger Dunkins came in. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with him at first but it soon became apparent that he was as high as a kite.

His friends had simply dumped him on the hospital doorstep, probably not wanting to get into any trouble themselves. Unfortunately, Roger wasn’t coherent enough to tell us what he had taken. He was hallucinating and lashing out and had caught me off caught with a heavy blow to my leg with all his thrashing about. It hurt like a bitch and I’d ended up limping around for the remainder of my shift. That’s why my shift sucked. Time seemed to drag by so slowly, mainly because of the pain in my leg. Of course,

I wasn’t stupid and had it checked out, but it was just a nasty bruise. I was lucky. He could have done a lot more damage than that. After my shift ended, it took a lot longer than usual to reach my car and by the time I sat down in the drivers’ seat, it felt like my leg was on fire. It hurt like a motherfucker and I cursed Roger Dunkins all the way home. I was actually supposed to be calling by my parents’ house after my shift this evening, but there was no way I could do that now. My mother had left

me several messages with regards to my bridesmaid dress fittings and other wedding emergencies that I had no interest in. I didn’t really want to deal with that kind of thing after a long shift anyway, but certainly not now. If they saw me limping around like this after the incident at work, they would only take it as another perfect opportunity to start in as to why I shouldn’t be lowering myself to work at the hospital. This was just the sort of thing they had warned me about. Working among the unwashed masses was beneath us, according to them at

least. The drive home was long, getting caught in the rush hour traffic. Just my luck. By the time I pulled up outside my house, all I wanted to do was get in the bath and soak for an hour. Slowly pulling my way up the path, I pulled my keys out of my bag. As I put the keys in the lock, a hand closed over mine and I shrieked. Spinning around to see who had snuck up on me, my heart fell to my feet. “Hello, Fallon.” Shit. It was Matt. “What are you

doing here?” I stammered. How did he even know where I lived? What did he want? He smiled at me warmly, like a long lost friend. “Lauren hasn’t been home in a while. Where is she?” “She was at home the last time I spoke to her.” He smiled again, condescendingly. “Yes, but she hasn’t been home every night and I know she hasn’t been staying with you. Where has she been?” “I’ve no idea.” There was no way

I was going to tell this crazy nut job that she was alternating between staying at hers and Maze’s place. Apart from that one time, nothing else had happened between them, but he didn’t know that and I had the feeling he wouldn’t listen to reason even if I told him. “Come on. You are one of her very best friends. Of course you know where she is.” “I really don’t. Sorry, Matt.” “And I supposed that you don’t know who that guy is that she’s been spending a lot of time with? Maze?”

Shit. How did he know about Maze? How did he know his name? The guy was an expert at being a shadow and they weren’t seen together outside of Sinners. Even in there, he mingled while keeping her in his sight. I didn’t really know how to play this, but I thought it would be wise to stick to the lie I’d started with. “Well?” he demanded. “I said, I don’t know. We aren’t as close as we once were, thanks to you.” I straightened my back, standing taller. I was determined to show him that he

wasn’t intimidating me, even though I was shaking like crazy on the inside. I brought back all my elegance training from when I was growing up, showing no emotions and standing proud. If there was one thing my mother had taught me when I was a kid it was how to put on a fake face for show. Never let them see you as anything less than perfect, always putting your best foot forward. That was what I had to do now. I had to put on a face to show him that he couldn’t get to me. “Hmm. Now, why don’t I believe

that?” “You can believe what you want.” Matt leant forward with menace glinting in his eyes. “You know that you can’t keep her from me. You know that, right? We are meant to be together. Lauren loves me.” If I hadn’t already been backed up to the door, I would have taken another step away from him. This was more serious than I thought. No wonder Dominic wanted around-the-clock security on Lauren. This guy was more dangerous and unhinged than I had

imagined. There was something broken in his eyes. He had put himself on the path of getting Lauren back and no one would be able to stop him. He truly believed that they should be together and no one would be able to tell him otherwise. It was scary to witness up close and personal, looking up into those eyes that were filled with danger and insanity. I’d seen some cases in my time at work and this man was definitely in need of a psych evaluation. He wasn’t stable. Dominic had more on his hands than he

realised. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” “No. You’re not sorry at all. You just don’t want to help me.” Taking a deep breath, I said, “Can you blame me?” “You can’t keep her from me.” “I’m not trying to. She doesn’t want to be with you.” Rage crossed his face and he slammed his fist into the door, only inches from my head. I shuddered. “Please leave. Please.” “I don’t think so.” He grinned at

me. “Maybe I should just stay here until you decide to tell me. I’m sure we can think of plenty of things to do to pass the time.” He smiled, the smile not reaching his ice cold eyes. Seeing my panic, he laughed and the sound made me shiver. “Well, aren’t you going to invite me in? Where are your manners? I thought you were raised better than that.” I shoot my head rapidly. My throat had dried up and I had lost my voice. Fear ran through me, freezing my veins as I stood shaking in front of him. Abruptly, Matt looked at his

watch and sighed. “I really wish that I could stay here longer with you and carry on our chat, but there is somewhere I have to be.” He looked at me intently as I clung to the door behind me. “If you could tell Lauren that I was looking for her I would appreciate it.” I didn’t nod. I couldn’t move. All I wanted was for him to leave so I could finally breathe again. Matt stood there looking at me for a moment before lunging forward and smashing his fist into my cheekbone. Pain exploded in my face and I felt my

body crumple beneath me. “Tell Lauren that I will find her and it will be sooner rather than later.” He hissed. With a sob in my throat, I tried to raise my head to make sure that he really was leaving, but the pain thundered through my head before blackness swallowed me up into unconsciousness. Shivering, I felt the cold, hard floor against my cheek only moments before the pain in my face rocketed through me. It was bad enough that I

couldn’t feel any pain in my leg anymore. Scrambling up, I didn’t know how long I’d been out there and was absolutely terrified that Matt was either lurking somewhere nearby or that he would be back at any moment. With shaking hands, it took several attempts to unlock the door and I flung myself inside, slamming the door shut behind me and throwing across every lock I had. Even inside I didn’t feel safe. My keys had been hanging in the door just

where I had left them. What was to say that Matt wasn’t in the house, waiting for me? Tears clouded my eyes as I set the alarm. Sobbing, I slumped to the floor. The more I cried, the more my face hurt and I wailed like a wounded animal. I had never been hit like that before in my life. Back in school, even in the posh private school that I had attended, there had been plenty of girls who loved a good fight to prove a point, but I just wasn’t built like that. I didn’t have an aggressive bone in my body.

Even at work, I had never been put in a position like this. I had been on the receiving end of a scuffle, like earlier tonight, but no one had ever deliberately gone out of their way to hurt me like that. The look in his eyes had been so cold. You know when you look into a sharks’ eye and you see nothing but death? That was what it was like staring into Matt’s eyes. Trying my hardest to pull myself together, it hurt to cry and it wouldn’t do me any good anyway. All it would do was leave me red and blotchy and

feeling worse than I already was. I had to try and think straight and work out what to do next. Matt was out there and it wasn’t safe for Lauren. I couldn’t concentrate on myself right now. She was in danger, a greater danger than anyone thought. I didn’t want to call Lauren, though. Telling her what had happened to me would only scare her and she didn’t need that right now. She was just getting her life back together and I wouldn’t let Matt ruin that for her. Honestly, she didn’t think Matt would ever lay a finger

on her or that he was violent in the slightest, but I had found out first hand just what he was capable of. And I knew that he had a lot worse in him, too. There was no way I was going to call my parents. Even though I was a grown woman, they would never let me out of their sight again. My sister would totally freak out, saying that I brought this on myself by working at the hospital and living in the ‘slums’. There was only one person I could call. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to do this.

Dialling the only number I had for him, I drummed my fingers on the coffee table as I waited for someone to answer. “Sinners.” A gruff voice answered. “Can I speak to Dominic, please?” I felt such a fool calling him, but he really was the only one that I could turn to with this. He had to know what Matt was up to and what he was capable of. After all, he was the one that was looking out for Lauren. “Who? I can’t hear you. You’re going to have to speak up.”

I sighed. Talking hurt and repeating myself was the last thing I wanted to do. “Can I speak to Dominic Saint, please?” They grunted, acknowledging they heard me I think. “Who’s calling?” “Can you tell him it’s Fallon?” The line was filled with background noise from the bar. I hoped that meant he had gone to find Dominic and that he hadn’t just left me hanging. If Dominic couldn’t help me, I wasn’t sure where to turn. Maybe Maze could help? It sucked that I didn’t have his number or

he would have been a better choice. “Has he got your number?” “I’m not sure.” “I’ll leave him a message.” And the line went dead. Fucking great. I could feel the tears building in my eyes again. The one person I’d hoped to turn to for help wasn’t here. What the fuck was I going to do? Phoning Lauren was the most rational option, but she would freak the hell out if she heard what Matt had done. After the conversation I’d had with Taylor last night, perhaps I was

going to be seeing Dominic a little sooner than anticipated. This wasn’t the kind of meeting I had been expecting, though. The phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. “Hello?” I asked shakily. “Fallon?” Dominic’s husky, low rumble filled the line. “Dominic?” I asked in a shaky voice, hope building in me that he was returning my call so quickly “Yeah, you tried getting hold of me at the bar?” “Yeah, it’s Fallon.” When I was

met with silence, I felt a pang of embarrassment that he didn’t even remember me after our two encounters. “Lauren’s friend?” I felt like such a fool. “I know who you are, Fallon.” There was humour in his voice. “Why else did you think I was calling you back?” “I’m sorry.” I whispered, feeling such an idiot. “What can I do for you, Fallon?” The way he was speaking, he clearly couldn’t remember who the hell I was and didn’t really give a crap what I

was calling about. Great. This was going to be awkward as well as painful. “I thought I should let you know that Matt has been to my house looking for Lauren.” “What did he say?” Dominic asked sharply. “That he would find her and they would be together.” “Fuck!” he shouted. I flinched. I had already faced enough anger for one night. “I thought that I should tell someone. I didn’t want to scare Lauren and I didn’t know how

to get hold of anyone else.” “Did he say anything else to you?” “Not really.” “Did he do anything else?” “Look,” I snapped, getting annoyed myself. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you should know that he has crawled back out from under his rock.” “Did he hurt you?” “It doesn’t matter.” I said through gritted teeth, feeling sick at hearing his anger. “For fucks sake, Fallon! Just tell me. Did he fucking hurt you?” Dominic

growled menacingly down the phone. I felt even more pathetic as a sob escaped my throat. I had already been scared enough for one night and now his tone was putting me further on edge. “Yes.” I squeaked, scrunching my eyes shut to try and stop the tears, but immediately regretting the action when my face screamed out in pain. “I’m on my way.” The phone went dead. He’d hung up on me. I was left staring at the receiver dumbly. What the hell did he mean? Did he mean he was on the way

here or on the way to check up on Lauren? I didn’t understand. Shuffling into the kitchen, I carefully tried to wash away some of the dried blood on my face, wincing at the pain. It wasn’t worth it. I didn’t care. Giving up, I took a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer and wrapped it in a towel before slowly placing it against the side of my face. The rapid fire knocking at the door made me jump out of my skin. All I wanted to do was hide behind the sofa

like a coward and wait for them to go away. “Fallon?” Hearing Dominic’s voice, I didn’t know whether to be scared or relieved. As he continued to bang on the door, I moved to answer it. The last thing I needed was for the neighbours to complain on top of everything else. Standing in front of the door, I called out his name, just in case. “Dominic? Is that you?” I didn’t want my ears to be playing tricks on me and find myself opening the door to Psycho Matt.

“Yes. It’s me. Open the fucking door, Fallon.”

Dominic “Fallon. I said open the fucking door.” I was seriously losing my shit out here. She had sounded scared shitless when she’d called the bar and I had raced over to her place. I’d barely had the time to call Rachael to come over and watch Lily. I had no idea how long I would be, but at least I knew my girl

would be in safe hands. Now she wasn’t even letting me in the fucking door. I knew that soft, cajoling words would probably work better on her but I was too worried and too pissed off to be pussy-footing around her like that. I needed to see her. I needed to see what he’d done and then I could go out there and beat his motherfucking face to a pulp. “Fallon?” The locks clicked and she hesitantly peered out the door. One look at her face had me pushing the door

open, moving to stand in the hallway. I couldn’t take my eyes off her face. What the fuck had he done to her? Her face was a complete and utter mess. The bruising was already starting to come out and there was still dried blood on her puffy cheek. I wanted to kill him “He did this to you?” I wanted to wrap my hands around the cowardly bastard’s neck for touching her. Who the hell did he think he was going around treating women like this? He would pay for laying a finger on Fallon.

“Can you shut the door, please?” It took me a moment to stop focusing on her to realise I’d left the door wide open behind me. Not that I gave a flying shit if he chose this very moment to return, hell, I’d relish the confrontation. I wanted to have a strongly worded conversation with him about his treatment of women, but Fallon looked scared to death. It was easy to see in the way that she was shaking and how her eyes continually flickered to the open doorway, assessing every movement for threat.

That got to me more than anything else. Even though I didn’t want to feel this way about her, it killed me to think that she thought I wouldn’t protect her from him. She must have had some faith in me to call, or at least that’s what I hoped. Slamming the door behind me and flicking the locks just so she would feel more secure, I led her into the living room. “Can you tell me what happened?” I asked as we sat down, keeping my tone more gentle this time.

Resting a hand lightly on her shoulder, she seemed to need the physical comfort and support. Fallon took a deep breath and refused to look at me. “He was already here when I got home. He told me to pass the message on to Lauren that he would find her and that they would be together again.” She shuddered, remembering his words. “And what did he do to you?” I motioned towards her face. “He punched me. I must have passed out.”

“Fuck.” I muttered. “When I came to, I rang you straight away. I didn’t want to call Lauren and have her worry.” “You did the right thing.” I nodded, rubbing my thumb in a circle on her shoulder. It made me feel better that I was the first person she thought to call. “Is she safe?” I nodded again. “Oli and Chester are with her. And before you even think it, they wouldn’t let Matt anywhere near her. He hasn’t got a chance with them guarding her. She’s safe with them.” I got

up and looked around the room. I wasn’t sure what to do about this, but I had to keep Fallon safe. I had no choice. “You need to go and pack an overnight bag.” “What for?” She frowned in confusion. “You can’t stay here tonight. I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to come back but I need to get Austen over here to notch up your security system.” “But where will I go? To Lauren’s?” “You’ll have to stay with me tonight.” This was the only solution I

could come up with. I wanted to keep Lauren safe and the best way to do that was to keep her close to me. It may complicate the situation between us, but I had no choice. Matt wouldn’t stand a chance at coming to my place. Lily was there and I wouldn’t play around with her safety. My house was done up like Fort Knox. The fucker wouldn’t stand a chance. Fallon nodded reluctantly and slowly got up from her chair, limping out of the room. I was pleased she didn’t put up a fight. That leant a nod to how much

he had scared her, the bastard. “Did he do that as well?” I glanced down at her leg. She shook her head at me. “It happened at work. Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” And she left the room. Cursing under my breath, I put a call through to Chester. “Brother?” he answered. “Can you talk?” “One minute.” I heard some rustling and doors shutting before his voice came back on the line. “Go ahead.”

I was pleased that he had the sense to move away from where Lauren or anyone else could overhear. “That motherfucker Matt paid a visit to Lauren’s friend, Fallon. He fucked up her face.” “You’re shitting me?” “No.” “And this is Fallon? The Fallon? The one you like?” “Chester.” I growled down the phone. “Keep your head on the job.” “Yes, boss.” “Anyway, I need you to contact

Austen for me and get him to take a look at her security system. She’s coming to stay with me tonight.” “Is that wise?” Chester knew that Lily would be home tonight and that I didn’t like to mix business with my private life, but this was different. It was Fallon. “Do I really have any choice? She can’t stay here and Lauren would freak the fuck out if she saw her right now. Her face is a mess.” “What about the cops?” “I’m going to call Ethan now.” He was an old friend of mine and was on

the force. Hopefully he would be able to call and see Fallon at my place. I didn’t want her to go through the stress of having to go down to the police station. She’d had a hard night and I didn’t want to make it any worse for her. Plus, if we wanted to get our hands on Matt, we were going to have to keep this on the down-low. “Okay. Do you want me to give Lauren the heads up?” I thought for a moment. “Yes. She needs to know what this asshole is capable of.” Pausing for a moment, I

asked, “Have you spoken to Kellin or Maze?” “Not for a few hours, why?” “They have found out a couple of things. I’ll talk to you more when I’ve got Fallon secure at my place. Just be warned, I think this guy is craftier than we first thought. Keep your eyes open.” “Will do, but what do you want me to tell Lauren?” I had to think for a moment. “Tell her what happened here with Fallon. She needs to know how dangerous this guy is.”

“But I don’t think I should explain quite how bad it is.” “I appreciate that, Chester.” I hung up the phone just as Fallon walked back into the living room. Taking her overnight bag from her, we walked out of the house, locking the place up securely behind us. I knew she didn’t want to linger and I wanted to get her to somewhere she felt safe.

Chapter Twelve Dominic The ride to my house was done in silence. I let her have it, knowing that she had a lot to get her head around. This had been a hell of a night for her and it would be a lot for anyone to take in. I wasn’t stupid. I knew the sort of girl Fallon was. I knew what type of upbringing she had. As much as she liked to think that she lived in the real

world, I guessed that this was probably the first time reality had bitch slapped her across the face. When I saw her in Decadence, I did my homework on her. I would have been stupid not to. I knew right then that she was more than just a one night stand, even if I was fighting it. I didn’t need another woman in my life. I’d been burned and I wasn’t about to let that happen again, especially not if Lily was affected. Fallon had grown up with mountains of money and had led a

charmed life. She had broken away from her family to try and do something meaningful with her life by working at the hospital. I knew everything there was to know about her and found it amusing that she thought I couldn’t even remember her name. If I ever could choose a woman to have in my life, she would be like Fallon. It wouldn’t be a hardship to have her around. I wouldn’t ever have to worry about her bringing drugs into our lives. She’d be good for Lily. And she’d be good for me.

Pulling up outside my house, I turned off the engine. “Is this your place?” She sounded surprised. I wasn’t sure why. My house was a large single story with a spacious garden and in a good neighbourhood. Perhaps because she knew I spent the majority of my working life at Sinners as opposed to Decadence she thought that I lived somewhere a little less nice. Her tone amused me. “Nope. I’ve just pulled up outside some random house.” “Very funny.”

“We need to be quiet when we go in.” She nodded. Following me up the path, I carried her bag again. No one could accuse me of not being a gentleman. Unlocking the door, I saw my father walking out of the kitchen. “Hey, Dad. What are you doing here? Where’s Rachael?” I asked worriedly, looking around. “Don’t worry. Rachael called me. She had to go to her mother’s house so I stepped in.”

“I’m really sorry.” “Don’t even think about it, son.” My father waved away my concern about having him called out to watch Lily. “Was she good for you?” “She was already asleep when I got here.” He took one look at Fallon’s banged up face and his expression turned stern. “So, this was your emergency?” When I didn’t respond, he frowned. “Did you get the asshole that did this?” “We will do.” “Good.” My father clapped me on

the shoulder. “I need to be getting off now. I’m sure the two of you have plenty to talk about.” He winked at me and smiled warmly at Fallon before he left. Walking through to the kitchen, Fallon tentatively followed after me. “Can I get you something to drink? Something to eat?” She shook her head. “No, thank you.” Grabbing a beer from the fridge, I explained, “That was my father.” “I could see the family resemblance.” She smiled, wincing at

the pain in her cheek. Standing in awkward silence for a moment, I didn’t know what to say to her. As she yawned, I realised how exhausted she must be from tonight’s events. Picking up her bag, I motioned for her to follow me. Even though it was still relatively early, I knew exhaustion would knock her out and how much a good nights’ sleep would do her. “Where will I sleep?” she looked around my home noting that despite the large size, there were only two functioning bedrooms. The other three

bedrooms had been converted to a play room, a study and a gym. I didn’t need the extra space so I didn’t see the point in wasting it. “You’ll stay in my room.” “I’m not sleeping with you.” She narrowed her eyes at me. I chuckled, not sure whether to be amused or offended. “I wasn’t planning on fucking you tonight, darlin’. I’ll be sleeping in the other room.” She blushed furiously, which I thought was adorable. It did me good to think that even in the state she was, I

could still affect her.

Fallon I felt like such a fool. Why did I ever say that to him? Talk about jumping to the wrong conclusion. He had been nothing but considerate to me, so why did I think he wanted to jump my bones? Worse still, he thought he had a woman waiting here for him, but it had ended up being his father. Why would he want me? Following him meekly into what

he told me was his bedroom, Dominic showed me where everything I needed would be. As I paused in the doorway, I couldn’t help but feel bad for kicking him out of his own room. “Dominic?” “Yeah?” He paused at the other doorway, looking back at me. “Thank you for coming for me tonight.” He nodded solemnly. “You’re welcome.” And he slipped into the room without another word. It was larger than my bedroom and simply furnished, with the largest

bed I’d ever seen in the centre of the room. All I could think was how many women he’d probably fucked senseless right there. The black and red décor was masculine but sexual at the same time. Wanting to get cleaned up, I headed into the bathroom. As soon as I shut and locked the door behind me, I turned and was confronted by a mirror. Shit! I knew it hurt like a bitch, but it looked even worse. Black and blue bruising was spreading across my cheekbone and it looked like I’d been hit by a car.

Dominic had offered to take me to hospital to have it checked out, but I declined. I’d already tentatively checked it out myself and I knew that it was just badly bruised and tender rather than fractured. I didn’t want anyone else seeing me like this, especially not the people I worked with. He had also told me that a friend of his who worked with the police would be stopping by to take a statement from me at some point. I wasn’t sure if this was normal procedure as I hadn’t gone through anything like this before,

but I was relieved that I didn’t have to go down to the station. It was all still too raw. He was clearly a man of few words, barely speaking to me since we got into the car, but that was fine by me. It hurt every time I opened my mouth to speak so silence was preferable. I felt awkward enough around him as it was. It was a relief to be able to escape. I had the feeling he had another woman in that other room, which made my earlier words even more mortifying. Was that Rachael who he had been

talking about? Had she come back from her mother’s house? He had been busy texting while we were in the car, probably warning her that he was bringing me back with him. It didn’t set too well with me the thought of him being with another woman. I didn’t have any right to dictate to him, especially seeing as our encounters weren’t exactly memorable to him. But, still. It burned a little. It obviously meant a lot more to me than it had him. Getting cleaned up and changed, I

headed back into the bedroom and settled down in his bed. Stretching my body, I wished I wasn’t alone in there. Where was Dominic? Who was he with? The thoughts of him plagued me as I fell into a restless sleep. Tossing and turning, I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of my nightmares. Every single time I saw Matt standing there on my doorstep, fear ran through me. Every time I saw his fist flying towards my face, I jerked, flailing my arms about.

Strong arms wrapped around me. Even though I instantly felt cocooned in safety, I fought against their hold. As I calmed and allowed the realisation that I felt no danger from those arms, I allowed them to give me a sense of comfort. Allowing myself to relax, I slept wrapped tightly in those arms.

Chapter Thirteen Fallon Jerking awake, I became fully aware of an arm laid heavily on my waist, holding me tightly against a solid chest and a leg over mine, caging me in. Last night came rushing back to me in a torrent as the pain in my face exploded around me. Matt was my first thought and I wanted to bolt. But I couldn’t. I was trapped and that only

ramped up the fear further. Dominic was my next rational thought. I felt myself relax a little, but only a little. I was still laid there as stiff as a board in the bed, unable to move from the arms that surrounded me. Now that my thoughts were clear and rational, I couldn’t help but wonder why he was in there with me, holding me like he was. I knew that he had kept his word and we hadn’t done anything, despite the intimate way he was curled around my body. Neither of the times that I’d been

with him had I felt this close to him. I didn’t understand what was happening but allowed myself to relax into his hold. After last night, I appreciated the warmth and protection I was feeling. I didn’t really know Dominic, but he was a reassuring presence at my back. This was the thing that I was missing in my life and Matt had been the one to bring it to me, not that I would ever thank him. The main problem was that I knew it wouldn’t last. Dominic didn’t want me in that way, but I was content to take

what I could from him. It wasn’t like I was really looking for anything more, either. Sure, this was nice and I wouldn’t object to having this in my life but I was self-sufficient. I had my job and my life and didn’t need a man to complete me. But, I couldn’t deny that I wanted Dominic. I sighed. I could tell myself that I was happy on my own all I wanted, but the longer I lay there, the more I wanted it. The more I wanted Dominic. He sighed behind me and I tried not to move, not wanting to break the

spell I’d woven around myself. “Morning.” He said sleepily. I stayed quiet, hoping that he would think I was still asleep. “Fallon, I know you’re awake.” He hadn’t moved at all and I’d expected him to. I still didn’t know why he’d come in to comfort me, but I had expected him to pull back the moment he woke up. I didn’t think this contact had been intentional, but now I was wondering as his hold tightened around my waist. “Fallon?”

“Good morning, Dominic.” I replied stiffly. Dominic pulled away and stretched. I missed his arm around me and immediately felt like slapping myself around the head. I was reading way more into this situation than was necessary. It didn’t escape my attention that he probably still had another woman in the other room and I hated to think what she would say when she found out he’d stayed most of the night with me. “You were having bad dreams.” “Huh?” I turned to him

quizzically, trying to keep my morning breath from hitting him in the face. “You were having nightmares and whimpering in your sleep.” “I bet you think I’m pathetic, don’t you?” I groaned and put my head into my hands, running my fingers through my hair. I knew that it was going to look a mess with all that tossing and turning. “Fallon, you needed comfort. There’s no shame in that.” He paused a moment before I felt the bed shake a little with his chuckle. “And no, we didn’t fuck, if that’s what you’re worried

about.” “Oh my god.” I wanted the ground to swallow me up. “Don’t be silly. You went through a traumatic experience.” Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, he shook his head and smiled. “Fancy a coffee before all hell breaks loose?” “Sure.” I had no idea what he meant, but he wasn’t kicking me out, so that had to be a positive. I watched as he got out of bed wearing only a pair of sports shorts slung low on his hips. Damn, he was an

impressive sight. When we’d been together, the first time I couldn’t see a goddamn thing and the second time I wasn’t really paying attention to anything but his tattoos and my own pleasure. Now I was staring. It was a wonder there wasn’t a puddle of drool in my lap as I sat watching him, open mouthed. He was all taut muscles, tanned skin and tattoos. I’d seen some of the tattoos before, but they ran up each of his arms and across his back, plus over his pecs and even a couple on his calves. The suit he wore at

Decadence hid them all, which only made him more appealing to me. It was like I was seeing a side of him that no one else had. That was just stupid and I knew it. I knew exactly what the Saint Brothers at the Sinners bar were like. I’d heard the rumours as well as everyone else and knew that Dominic and the rest of them had made his way through most of the women in the city. I wasn’t anything special. He couldn’t even remember my name. I was giving myself whiplash with

the change of direction of my thoughts. One minute I was openly ogling and wanting him, and then the next? I was talking myself out of this situation. Why was I doing that? I knew why. Dominic was well out of my league. He didn’t want some nurse with a fucked up family that would think he wasn’t good enough for me. Especially when it was the complete reverse. I wasn’t good enough for him. He didn’t want me. He proved that by fucking me twice and tossing me aside. They were one night stands that were

never going to be repeated. The sex had been out of this world, but that was all it was to him. Sex. I was one of those girls that attached too many emotions to sex. I’d tried to pass it off the first time as a onetime thing. Then when it happened again, I couldn’t have done anything to stop it. I wanted it. I wanted him. But, I couldn’t have him again. And it sucked. As he walked out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, I shook my head to rid myself of those destructive and inappropriate thoughts. It wasn’t going to

do me any good. I had to concentrate on the situation, making sure that Lauren was safe. This was about her. Not me. Hearing him pad into the kitchen, I shut myself in the bathroom. Carefully washing my face, there wasn’t much I could do to make it look any better. I didn’t even think to bring my make-up with me and it probably wouldn’t have done me much good, anyway. Taking my things out of my small overnight bag, I cleaned my teeth, flatly refusing to look in the mirror again. I didn’t need to see that. It only made me

feel worse. Cleaning up and putting on fresh clothes, I felt a little more alert and feeling like myself again. I was ready to face the day. More importantly, I was ready to face Dominic. Taking a deep breath, I put my bag on the floor in the bedroom and walked into the kitchen. I felt like such an idiot facing him. After what I’d said to him last night and then him having to hold me through my nightmares, I felt a fool. “How do you like your coffee?” He was pottering around the kitchen

without a care in the world. Clearly, he didn’t feel as strange about this situation as I did. “Black.” I sat down at the kitchen table, looking around at the modern well-appointed kitchen. It wasn’t what I had expected and he had surprised me yet again. I’d expected some kind of bachelor pad with only a microwave to heat up take-out pizza. “With lots of sugar, please.” Everything had surprised me if I was honest. I hadn’t thought he would come running to my rescue and I sure as

hell didn’t think he would have brought me back to his place. And his home didn’t mesh with my expectations of him either. The clean lines and modern feel was beautiful and I had the feeling a feminine touch had helped out when he did up this place. I couldn’t help wondering who she was. Bringing the coffee over to the oak table where I sat, Dominic leaned against the black marble counter. “How are you feeling this morning?” “Like crap.” I tried to smile but ended up wincing. Putting a brave face

on things was more painful than I thought. Reaching into one of the cupboards, Dominic passed me a packet of tablets. “Here, take these.” I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’ve already taken some painkillers. I brought them with me.” Just as I took a sip of the burning hot coffee, a tornado blew into the kitchen in the form of a beautiful blonde little girl in a My Little Pony onesie. She came running in, jumping up at Dominic and giving him a rain of kisses.

“Good morning, beautiful. Sleep well?” “Yes, Daddy. Can I have some cookies?” “Why don’t you have some breakfast first, huh?” he smiled at her lovingly and I nearly melted on the spot. She jumped down from his arms and ran across the large kitchen, coming to an abrupt halt when she spotted me sitting at the kitchen table. “Who are you?” Dominic stepped forward and crouched down next to the little girl.

“That’s not a very nice way to ask a question, is it?” “Sorry, Daddy.” She tried to look contrite while still giving me sideways glances. “This is Daddy’s friend, Fallon.” “That’s a pretty name.” she said shyly. “Thank you.” I tried to smile but remembered my face. She must have thought I looked like a monster. “And what’s your name?” “Lily. I’m three and a half!” “Three! Wow! You’re such a big

girl.” “I am!” she smiled broadly. Dominic turned to make her some porridge while she stood in front of me, staring in a way that only a small child can. “Daddy doesn’t have any girl friends.” “Does he not?” I tried not to smirk as Dominic shook his head. “Nope. His only girl friend is Rachael. She lives next door.” Dominic turned around with a grin. “She babysits for Lily.” He explained.

That jogged my memory. Rachael. She was the girl that he was talking about with his dad. Was she really just a neighbour? Was she something more? That was something I had to think about later. “Daddy never brings me girls to play with. Will you play with me?” I had to smile at her innocence. Either Dominic was very careful as to who and when he brought his girl’s home or he kept his sex life away from his home life. I was inclined to go with the latter.

“That’s enough, Lily.” Dominic said sternly. “Is she your girlfriend, Daddy? Are you going to get married?” His eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Lily!” he turned to me and shrugged apologetically but he didn’t need to. I thought she was hilarious. Dominic turned his attention back to the porridge and Lily scrambled up into a chair sat down at the table with me. I could tell by her inquisitive expression that she wasn’t done with me yet.

“What did you do to your face?” I couldn’t help smiling at her, despite it hurting. She was adorable. I loved how kids had no filters and asked questions that grown-ups were scared to ask. “I had a bit of an accident.” I glanced over at Dominic to make sure that was the right thing to say and was relieved when he nodded. “Does it hurt?” “It does a bit.” “Can we play nurses? I’ll make it feel better for you.” Dominic walked over to the table,

putting the bowl down in front of his little girl. “Enough with your questions, nosy monkey. Fallon is a nurse, so she’s already taken care of herself.” “You’re a nurse?” she asked with wide eyes. “I am.” “Lily, enough. Eat your breakfast.” Dominic ruffled her hair before turning to me. “Can I get you something to eat, Fallon?” “No, thank you. I’m good with coffee.” Lily looked at me with a frown.

“You should eat breakfast like me. Daddy says that it’s the most important meal of the day.” “He does?” I laughed. She’d obviously heard that one many times. “Yes and my daddy is smart. He knows everything.” The hero worship made me smile again. Dominic was clearly a wonderful father and it melted my heart a little more to see this side of him. Sitting next to her, I ate a banana, mollifying Lily somewhat. As soon as she finished her breakfast, she jumped

down off her chair and toddled out of the room. “Let me go and check on her. I won’t be a moment.” And he followed her out of the room. Within minutes, I heard the opening credits of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he walked back into the kitchen, grinning. “I should have probably warned you about Lily. She’s hyper from the moment she wakes up right until she goes to bed.” “I noticed.” I chuckled, ignoring the pain. It was nice to be in a normal

family atmosphere. It had never been this easy going in my family and one day I hoped Lily would know just how lucky she is. “I’ve got to take her to day care soon.” When he saw me sniggering behind my hand, he asked, “What?” “I’m sorry. I just thought with all the text messages last night and being quiet when we got here that you had a woman here waiting for you.” “With my dad here?” “I’m not saying that it makes any sense.” I held up my hands.

“Well, Lily is the only girl in my life.” I nodded, playing with my cold cup of coffee. That bit of information made me happier than it should have. But did he also say it as a warning to me? “Why don’t you go and get dressed? We need to call in and see Lauren after I’ve taken Lily.” “Do you think that’s wise?” I pointed to my face. “She’ll probably flip out.” “She needs to see how serious

this is.” “What about the police?” “Leave that to me.” And he walked out of the kitchen while I went to get ready.

Dominic Waking up next to Fallon had been an experience. Since Jessica, I hadn’t had another woman in my bed. And the most disconcerting thing about it was that it felt right having Fallon there. I couldn’t have left her like that. It

wasn’t just that she was going to wake Lily up and probably frighten the ever living shit out of her, it was because I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t listen to her being in that kind of pain. She sounded terrified. Holding her in my arms, she’d kept on thrashing around. I didn’t think she was ever going to settle. But she did. I kept my arms wrapped around her as she calmed down the closer she got to me. Falling deeper into sleep, she snuggled right in. It made me feel good to protect

her. I wanted to bury those feeling down and never have them resurface again. I’d decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to have a woman in my life, wanting only to concentrate on Lily. Jessica had poisoned my view on woman. Why would I get involved with someone seriously when they would have to accept Lily in my life? Especially when her own mother wouldn’t accept her? Seeing Fallon with her this morning was almost too much. They

spoke so easily and Lily was so comfortable with her. Usually, with people she didn’t know, it took her a little time to warm to them, even if she did win them over instantly. I didn’t know what the fuck to do so I was just going to ignore it. I wasn’t going to fuck her again as that only would complicate the situation. All I had to do was get a handle on this Matt business and then I wouldn’t have to see her again. Fallon hadn’t come by the bar before all this happened and I hadn’t bumped into her at Decadence, either, so

she should be easy to avoid. I was acting like a pussy and I knew it. But what else could I do? It wasn’t going to work. Dropping Lily off at nursery, Fallon waited in the car. It was so hard to listen to my little girl raving about Fallon when she barely even knew her, asking if she was going to be there when she got home, eager to spend time with her. “No, sweetheart. She’ll be going home today. Daddy was just helping her

out with somewhere to stay last night.” I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression. I’d never taken a woman back to the house and certainly hadn’t introduced anyone to my daughter. I didn’t want her getting attached to someone when I might not work out. “Please, Daddy? I like her. Don’t you like her?” she asked innocently. How could I answer that? She was asking a simple question, simple in her child mind. It wasn’t simple for me. Yes, I liked Fallon. I liked her too much. That was the problem. I didn’t know

what to say to her for the best, so I kept quiet. Getting back into the car, I didn’t say a word to her all the way to Lauren’s place. I’d given Maze and Chester the head’s up that we were on our way and that I needed to talk to Lauren. I wanted her to see what Matt had done and what he was capable of. The longer she was away from him, the less she remembered about the bad times. “Was Lily okay?” Fallon asked quietly when we had been driving for about fifteen minutes.

“Of course she was. Why?” “No reason.” She turned to look out the window and I didn’t question her further. I didn’t want to know what was going on in her head.

Chapter Fourteen Dominic Pulling up outside Lauren’s place, Chester was waiting for us. “Fuck!” He said as soon as we got out of the car. “Did that bastard do this to you?” Fallon nodded but didn’t say anything. I knew she hadn’t spent much time with Chester and wasn’t the type of woman to open up to people she didn’t know.

“Is Maze in with her” I asked, nodding to the house. Austen had already called me to tell me that he’d finished up with the security at her house and that Kellin was holed up at the office, following leads. Maze wasn’t on rotation, but I had the feeling he’d call in to see Lauren on his break. His thing for her was growing and he couldn’t keep away from her. “Yeah, they having breakfast. They didn’t wake up long ago.” I cocked my eyebrow at him and Chester smirked. We all knew how much

Maze liked Lauren and it was about time he made a move on her. They’d be good together and he’d treat her a whole lot better than Matt ever could. Maze had obviously come over sometime in the early morning after the last time I’d spoken to him. Fallon raised her eyebrows at me, too and I laughed. Evidently, she was of the same opinion as the rest of us that Maze and Lauren as a couple made sense. “Are you ready to go in?” Fallon took a deep breath. “As

ready as I’ll ever be.” I knew this wasn’t going to be easy for her and grasped hold of her hand. She held it tentatively at first, but then tighter as we approached Lauren’s door. I knew that she needed my strength right now. Once she was inside and had time to explain to Lauren what had happened, she’d be fine, but for now? I was happy to be there for her.

Fallon I really didn’t want to do this.

Lauren was going to shit a brick when she saw me. Holding his hand, it was strange. I’d had sex with him, he’d been inside me and yet this was the closest I had ever felt to him. The little touches really can mean the most. As much as it baffled me, it delighted me and I didn’t want to let go. Dominic knocked on the door and Maze opened it only moments later. He didn’t say a word when he saw my face, but his expression hardened and unspoken communications flowed

between the two men. “Come on in. She’s in the kitchen.” I nodded and watched as the men walked into the living room, leaving me to face her on my own. Somehow, Dominic knew I had to do this on my own and smiled at me encouragingly when he released my hand. Walking into the kitchen, I usually loved coming here. She’d painted the room a cheerful yellow which blended wonderfully with the country cottage feel of the kitchen. There were always bright

flowers in vases over on the window sill and the aroma of freshly baked bread and coffee in the air. This morning wasn’t any different. The bread was fresh out of the oven, the coffee was brewing and the flowers brightened the room with their shades of crimson and yellow. “Hey, Fallon. Maze said you were coming over. Aren’t you working today? I’ve been going stir crazy in here and could do with a bit of girly company. These guys are driving me nuts!” she said with her back to me as she washed

up the dishes. When she turned to me, her face dropped. “Fallon? What happened?” She came to me, helping me into a chair like I was an invalid. “I’m fine, really.” I tried to reassure her but the bruises on my face told a different story. I thought one of the boys were supposed to be giving her the heads up over what happened with Matt. Evidently not. I sighed. It would have been easier on me if this hadn’t been such a shock to her, but hey, it wasn’t going to be easy either way. “Tell me who did this.” She

demanded. “Was it someone at work? I’ll kick their ass!” I took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to take this well and was sure to shoulder the blame herself. “It was Matt.” I waited with baited breath as she took my words in, the confusion showing clearly on her face. “Matt? Why would he do that?” She looked shocked. “Because he was looking for you and wanted to send out the message that nothing would stop him from getting you back.”

“Matt did this?” she whispered as tears filled her eyes. “I can’t believe it.” “I’m not lying.” She pulled me in for a hug, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean that I didn’t believe you. I just can’t believe he’d do something like this. How could he hurt you like that?” she choked. “I’m fine, Lauren. It’s just a bruise. But you need to be careful.” I didn’t want to play it down too much, but I didn’t want to scare her half to death either. We had to find a happy

medium which was going to be difficult. “He wouldn’t…” “Hurt you? Of course he would. He emotionally scarred you before and he won’t stop. He’ll do anything to get you back. He’s insane.” She gasped. I knew it would be a lot for her to take in, but I had to be blunt. If we all kept trying to play it nice to spare her feelings, she wasn’t ever going to get it through her thick head. Matt was a nasty piece of work and he would stop at nothing to get her back. “I had to call Dominic. I had to

make sure you’re safe. Matt is delusional, thinking that you are meant to be together. Nothing will get in his way, Lauren. He’ll do anything to get you back.” “I don’t understand.” She shook her head before sitting down heavily on a chair at the kitchen table. Now I was starting to get mad. We’d had many conversations over the last few months with regards to Matt and I hated the fact that she appeared to be softening her attitude towards him. The way he had played her made his

influence subtle. She hadn’t even known at the time that he was wearing her down. It was only when she finally broke free that she saw what he was doing to her. But, time was playing games with her and she was finding it difficult to remember his faults. “Open your eyes, Lauren. Matt did this. He emotionally and psychologically beat you when you were together and it took everything in our power to get you out of that. Now, he’s back. And he did this.” “But I don’t want to be with him.”

Lauren whispered. She finally looked like it was sinking in and she looked scared. “Good. I’m glad.” I sighed in relief. “I’m glad you’ve got Maze to help you through this. He won’t let Matt get anywhere near you.” “Maze?” She looked at me guiltily. I sniggered. “It’s so obvious a blind man could see.” Lauren shook her head. “He kind of crept up on me.” “In a good way, I hope?”

“Yes!” She laughed. Running a hand through my hair, I needed to focus. “As much as I want all the details, we need to focus on this situation. I had Austen over at my house sorting out my security system in case Matt comes back.” “Do you think he will?” “We’ve no idea what he’ll do.” I shook my head. “I had to stay with Dominic last night.” “You stayed at Dominic’s?” She asked, once again in shock. “He never has anyone at his house. Ever.”

“I got that impression from Lily.” My eyes sparkled at her. “You met Lily? Oh my god, this is more serious than I thought.” Lauren grinned over at me, her mind working over-time. I had to nip that one in the bud. “Nothing’s going on. He was just keeping me safe.” “Yeah, yeah. Just like Maze is only keeping me safe.” Rolling my eyes at her I got up to help myself to cup of coffee. I usually needed at least two cups on a morning to

be able to function and the one I’d had at Dominic’s hadn’t done the job. “You need to be serious about this. We can talk about those two later. For now, we need to focus on Matt.” “What are they planning?” “I’ve no idea. I got the feeling that something more is going on, but I couldn’t figure out what. Did anyone tell you anything?” “Nope.” That didn’t surprise me. They didn’t even have the balls to tell her what happened to me.

We sat at the kitchen table and spoke about everything to do with Matt, trying to come up with some idea of what he would do in the future. Honestly, we had no idea. He was unpredictable, as him turning up to my house had proved. I didn’t think he would ever pull something like that. He was full of surprises. After Dominic and Chester had spoken in private with Maze, they came into the kitchen. They were none the wiser, either. We were all clueless. Matt seemed to have the upper hand. We had

no idea what he was going to do next. We were just pretty damn sure that he would do something. Luckily, I had the next three days off rotation and hadn’t volunteered to cover anyone else’s shifts as I normally would. My mother and sister had demanded that I spend some time with them to help plan the wedding. I’m sure the state of my face wouldn’t go down well with them. I would send them a text later, coming up with some lame excuse to stay away until the bruising had disappeared.

It was decided that I should stay with Lauren. She had the boys looking out for her, so I would be safe there. Honestly, I thought it was overkill. I didn’t think Matt would come back for me again and even if he did, I’d be ready for him this time. But they wouldn’t listen to me, so I was staying. It wouldn’t be much of a hardship. Lauren had cover for her shifts at Sinners so we had nothing to do but enjoy some girly time together. At first, she’d been annoyed that they went behind her back to arrange cover, but as

soon as we figured we’d be having some girly time, she soon came around. It would be good for us. Lately, with all my shifts at the hospital and her around-the-clock security, we hadn’t had that much time to spend together just the two of us. Now, we had the time to do all the girly shit we’d been missing out on. It was a shame Matt was the dark cloud that hovered above us.

Chapter Fifteen Fallon The next morning, Lauren was up before me. I didn’t have the most restful sleep, but I did feel slightly more refreshed than I had. Missing Dominic’s arms around me, I’d tossed and turned yet again. After a day of pottering around Lauren’s house, watching movies and

generally doing nothing, I’d been just as tired as if I had done a full shift at work. It was a strange thing, how boredom is tiring. Lauren didn’t sleep well either. I wasn’t surprised. It was a lot for her to wrap her head around. Her ex-boyfriend was even more of a nutcase than we thought he was and she was now coming to accept the fact that he may be a danger to her. I did feel sorry for her. I didn’t think it would ever come to this, either. I thought that he would give up after the

chocolates and flowers didn’t work, but we weren’t talking about a rational mind here. Anyone else would have taken the hint and left her alone, but Matt wasn’t normal in the head. “Do you want another drink?” Lauren asked as she bustled around the kitchen. It was a sunny morning and the kitchen was blindingly bright in the sunshine. I knew exactly what she was doing. She was avoiding speaking about what was going on with her and Maze. He’d called in this morning to let her

know they were changing shifts and I’d seen the way they looked at each other. If they didn’t get together after all this madness came to an end then I was going to bang their heads together. I had the distinct feeling that she felt she was being unfaithful to Matt by starting up something with Maze, which was completely crazy. I’d told her so and she tried changing the subject. She was within her rights to be confused and messed up, but she had to try and clear her mind. Matt was the one with the problem, not her.

How she still felt so much attachment to that psycho, I had no idea. He had obviously done more of a number on her mind than the rest of us suspected. It was would take her time to get over it. But, with our help, she would. I would see to that. I wouldn’t let someone like him ruin her life. “If I drink anything else, I’ll be peeing all day.” I joked, hoping to bring her out of her mood. I was a two cup of coffee kind of girl and she’d already poured three down my neck since we woke up at the butt crack of dawn.

Lauren stopped mindlessly cleaning everything over and over again and leant against the counter. “Tell me what’s going on with Dominic?” she said with a smirk. “Didn’t we talk enough about this yesterday?” “Not enough. I didn’t get answers.” I laughed. “So it’s alright to grill me but I can’t do it to you?” “Something like that.” She grinned. Hearing a bang outside, she cocked her head. “I wonder if that’s

them demanding coffee again.” “It wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve never known anyone have so much caffeine.” The men that were watching over her were drinking endless cups of coffee and energy drinks to keep alert, which again I thought was overkill. Why we needed two men watching the house was beyond me. It was all locked up tight and no one was getting through. There was only one way in and out of the house and that was at the front. Even though I knew how violent Matt was, I thought having two watching the house

was over the top. “Let me go see.” I watched her walk out of the room. Quiet enveloped the room. It was better when we were talking, even when she was trying to information out of me about what was going on with Dominic. The silence let my mind wander to what happened with Matt. Although, not all the thoughts were bad when they returned to Dominic. That night had seemed to change something between Dominic and me. Before, it had been forgettable sex, at

least on his part. But now? There was something there, something more. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but I had the feeling I would be seeing more of him in the future. Lauren couldn’t believe that he had taken me to his place and introduced me to his daughter. Admittedly, now that I thought about it, it was huge, but I didn’t want to make it into something it wasn’t. I was having hard time trying to rein Lauren in. Hearing another thud, I called out, “Lauren? Do you need a hand?” I

immediately felt an idiot. She’d gone out to see Maze. Anything could be happening between the two of them. There was an energy that she was desperately trying to deny, but she wouldn’t be able to do it for much longer. Maze was going to get to her in the end and rid her of all thoughts of Matt, of that I was sure. And he was a good guy, so I was going to encourage her as much as I could. Getting up from the table, I walked out into the hallway and stopped dead in my tracks. The blood froze in my

veins. My heart dropped to my feet. “Move, Lauren.” Matt said with his arm around the throat, making her walk towards me. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s walk.” His tone was almost loving, much in contrast to his actions, sending shivers up and down my spine. “What’s going on?” I croaked, looking behind him, waiting to see Maze come flying through the door to our rescue. He didn’t. Where the hell were they? They were supposed to be

watching the house so something like this didn’t happen. “Fallon, would you go on into the living room?” Matt asked politely, tightening his hold on Lauren as she started to turn a disturbing shade of red. My feet didn’t want to move. I was too scared. He was there, holding her in a forceful choke hold, but acting as if everything was normal and okay. It was far from that. A glare in my direction from Matt had my feet moving quickly. His eyes were blank, a void. He wasn’t right in

the head and I had no idea what he was going to do. All I did know was that this wasn’t going to end pleasantly. Matt followed me into the living room with Lauren looking wide eyed and scared. “Sit.” He demanded me with a glare and pushed Lauren down into a chair before running a hand gently over her hair with a soft smile. Gasping for breath, Lauren’s hands went to her neck. “Why are you doing this?” Matt chuckled. “Because they’re

trying to keep us apart.” Lauren stared over at me, puzzled. I wished I could smile at her to reassure her, but we were in deep shit. She had to stay strong to get through this. This was going to be a real eye opener for her. Even after seeing the state of my face, she didn’t really believe that Matt would ever be violent towards her, but I knew different. I’d seen that emptiness in his eyes and knew that he was capable of anything. Now, I wished we had more men watching over the house. It had only

been a few minutes before that I hadn’t believed Matt would have been stupid enough to turn up here, and now this. Why hadn’t I taken it more seriously? I had no idea what had happened to Maze or Chester. They could have been out there seriously hurt, but there was nothing that I could do to help them. All I could do was try to get Lauren and myself through this, hopefully unscathed. “What are you talking about?” Lauren cried, the tears now pouring down her face. “It doesn’t matter now.” He said

as he lovingly brushed the hair back from her face. “We’re going to be together now.” “No!” “Of course we are, Lauren. We’re going to go far away where they can’t touch us.” She jerked her head away from him and I saw the flash of anger cross his features only a moment before his hand slapped across her face, leaving a bright red hand print. “Leave her alone!” I shouted, standing up from where he’d ordered me

to sit. I knew I shouldn’t anger him further, but I couldn’t see him laying a finger on Lauren. He’d already attacked me, so what more could he do? Hit me again? I didn’t care. Plus, if I was loud enough, hopefully the neighbours would hear and call the police. I had to try and draw some attention. We needed all the help we could get to get out of this one. “You.” He pointed at me and it had me taking a step back. “You’re one of the one’s who has been poisoning her mind against me.”

I couldn’t back away any further, the arm chair stopping my retreat. Yanking me towards him by my shirt, the buttons ripped free, exposing my bra. He eyes didn’t falter from mine as I scrambled to cover myself. He jerked me closer and I felt the material rip along the seam in the back. His fist slammed into my stomach, robbing me of my breath. I bent over, gasping, before he wrenched my head back with a fistful of my hair. “Matt, no!” Lauren shouted, her voice breaking.

Cowering as his fist flew out again, punching the wall next to my head, sending the mirror crashing to the floor. Back handing me across the face, I fell to the floor. Tasting blood in my mouth, the splinters of mirror on the floor bit into my naked back. Watching as he advanced on me again through hazy red vision as my eye throbbed like a drum beat, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he didn’t ever mean for me to leave this room breathing. “Please stop. Please, please, please stop.” Lauren begged, sobbing so

hard she had to hold her chest. “She’s the one that has been keeping us apart. This is the bitch that got those fucking Saint Brothers involved in my business.” “No, no! She didn’t!” “I can’t have that, Lauren.” He took another step towards me. “I won’t allow her to come between us. I won’t allow anyone to come between us.” Before I could even take a breath, blows rained down on me and I fell to the floor, curling up in a ball to try and protect myself.

It was no use. There wasn’t a part of me that Matt didn’t take his anger out on. Pain crawled across every inch of me. Bloody and beaten, I lay on the floor gasping for breath. Every part of me hurt like a bitch and he was still standing over me, wanting to do more. “You’ll think twice next time you mess in someone else’s business, bitch.” He smiled down at me gloatingly. Cowering, I knew that he wanted me to die. My body couldn’t take much more of this agony. He was going to

pound on me until I was nothing but a pulp. “Matt, no, please, no.” Lauren begged, moving closer to where I lay. He rounded on her with a fierce expression. “Sit over there. Do not get involved.” He demanded. “Please, Matt. You’re going to kill her. Please stop.” She pleaded. He chuckled. “And then we’ll be free to be together.” Lauren gasped. She hadn’t realised that was his plan all along. I’d known it. From that first blow, from the

first moment I saw the look in his eyes, I knew. He was going to take me out of the equation, thinking that I was the obstacle in their love life. But I couldn’t accept it. I truly wanted to live. I didn’t want to die. I had too much to live for. There was no way I was going down without putting up a fight. I had the feeling it would be futile, but I had to try. I couldn’t let Matt win. If he managed to do what he set out to do, Lauren wouldn’t be able to escape him. Presuming he had done something to

Maze and Chester that meant that no one else knew Matt was here. No one else was coming to our rescue. She couldn’t do anything. Every single time she moved, Matt rounded on her and the look in his eyes froze her to the spot. Not that I could blame her – he was terrifying. After seeing what he was doing to me, Lauren knew that she was no longer safe from him. It was up to me to stay alive until help came. Which was coming to come first? Help or my death? Skirting around the shards of

broken glass, I tried to drag my body away from him. His mocking laughter followed me before his booted foot crushed down on my hand. The crack of the bones was audible in the room before I screamed out in pain. Pulling me back off the floor, his hand closed around my neck as I gasped in a breath. As his hold tightened, my eyes felt like they were bulging out of their sockets as I tried to keep focus on Lauren, trying to fight against the darkness. She was unharmed and as long as he kept taking his anger out on me, he

was leaving her alone. I couldn’t let him do this to her. Throwing me back onto the floor, dots in my vision fought against the darkness that wanted to take me under and away from the pain. Sneering down at me, he spat in my face. I didn’t even have the strength to lift my hand to wipe it off. “You just won’t fucking give up, will you?” Matt hissed at me, obviously talking about my fight to hold onto my life. I couldn’t reply and I didn’t think

he really expected one. My throat was too bruised to talk. My left eye had swollen shut, the blood crusting on my eyelashes. Barely being able to see out of my right eye, I watched as he prowled around the room like a caged animal. That was just what he was. An animal. Lauren whimpered on the sofa as he drew near her, bending down to tenderly brush the hair from her face. Tears streamed down her face as she refused to look at him. “Come on, baby. This is the way it has to be.”

“Look at her.” She sobbed. “Lauren. She brought this on herself. Anyone else would have given up long ago. She kept holding out, needing more from me. Do you need more from me, too?” “No, no, no.” Lauren cowered from him. “Baby, I’d never hurt you. I love you.” He smiled down at her, taking hold of her hand and holding it tightly as she tried to pull it away. “No, Matt.” “I do. I love you. I’m doing this

for us. This is what we both want.” “No it’s not! I didn’t want you to hurt Fallon!” She cried. “She’s irrelevant.” Matt dismissed me with a wave of his hand as the darkness crept closer to me, threatening to take me away. “No, Matt, please, no, please don’t.” Lauren whimpered but I couldn’t focus anymore. I couldn’t see what was happening. Unable to speak, I gurgled out a croak, wanting him to stop whatever he was planning to do to her.

“Fuck! Why don’t you just die?” Matt roared and I felt the thunder of his footsteps cross the room before my head exploded in imaginable pain and mercifully, unconsciousness claimed me.

Chapter Sixteen Dominic What a clusterfuck. The last thing I wanted to do was to leave Fallon at Lauren’s, but I had more important things to think about. Like getting hold of that asshat Matt and beating the living shit out of him. He was going to wish he hadn’t been born by the time I was through with him. That wasn’t going to be easy,

though. As soon as I contacted my brothers to trace him, Matt had dropped off the map. We couldn’t find him anywhere. It didn’t help that we didn’t know who the fuck we were actually looking for. Nothing had come through about his real identity and as much as I wanted to keep this off the police radar, I’d had to update Ethan on the situation. He was trying to keep things as quiet as he could, but I had the feeling we wouldn’t be able to keep this from blowing up for too long.

Driving around the city mindlessly, there was nothing I could do. All I was doing was wasting time. We had no clue where he was, where he could go or if he had any known contacts in this city. We were fucking clueless. Heading towards the security office, I had to meet with Austen and Kellin to see what we could do. They had to have come up with some ideas by now. It had been at least a couple of hours since I last checked in with them. Sending off a quick text to Lauren, I threw my phone on the passenger seat

and put my foot down. Pulling up outside, I took a moment to clear my head. All I could feel was red hot anger. That man was putting not one, but two of our women in danger and there was no way we were going to let that slide. It wasn’t only that, though. Kellin and Austen were pulling men off other jobs to keep the girls covered. That couldn’t go on indefinitely. Fallon was now one of us. I couldn’t do anything about it until after this mess had been cleared up, but I was

willing to give it a shot if she was. It took a lot to come to that decision and I’d battled many demons in my mind, but I thought it was worth a try. Fallon was the one I wanted in my life. I think it was seeing the way she was with Lily that did it. Or maybe it was the way Lily was with her, I’m not sure. But I realised that by keeping Lily to myself, I wasn’t doing her any favours. She needed people in her life beyond my family. Plus, I couldn’t keep worrying about her losing the people she loved in

her life. Her mother had walked out on her, but that didn’t mean everyone else was going to. It was a natural part of life to love and lose, but I hoped that Fallon would be a permanent fixture in our lives. If she wanted to be, that is. And I wasn’t doing myself any favours. I knew that now. I was long past the time that one night stands with faceless women at Sinners was satisfying. I needed something more. Intimacy. Closeness. And all that other pussy shit I wouldn’t be caught dead speaking to my brothers about.

It was going to take a lot of trust to get involved with someone, especially because of Lily, but I thought that out of all the girls I’d been involved with, Fallon would be the one to do it. She was a fantastic woman and I should have treated her better. It was clear from the first time that she wasn’t the kind of woman to go out and hook up with a random guy. But that didn’t stop me from taking what I wanted from her, what she willingly gave to me. But even from that first time, it had been more than just the sex. I

couldn’t shake her from my mind. Fallon haunted my days and my dreams. It took me until now to realise that I was going to have to take that step or be alone until Lily had grown up. Seeing her hurt like that and then seeing her tortured sleep, it cut me deep. It was then that I realised how much I cared for her. She was mine and someone had hurt her and they were going to pay. “What have we found out?” I demanded as soon as I walked in. The office space was modern and

spacious. They were building up a large client base and had to expand, taking over the office building next door. The building work was going on as we speak and all I could hear was banging and clanging which rattled my already frazzled nerves. “Absolutely fuck all.” Kellin shook his head. “Where have you been all morning?” “Out looking.” “Come up with anything?” I shook my head in frustration. “Where’s Austen?”

“Chasing a lead.” He got up from behind the desk. “It’s like he’s a ghost. We can’t find the bastard anywhere.” I shook my head in frustration. How could this be happening? My brothers were the best at their profession, yet they couldn’t find him. And if they couldn’t, no one else would be able to do. “Where’s Jared?” “He’s taken Maren to the doctors. She hasn’t been feeling well.” Kellin explained. “I told him we could take care of this.”

Sitting down in the chair, I ran a hand through my hair. I couldn’t just sit there doing nothing. It was driving me nuts. As I stood up, Kellin asked where I was going. “I need to do something. I can’t just sit here. Where’s Austen? I’ll go find him and see what he’s come up with.” “I don’t know where Austen is. He said he’d call as soon as he came up with something.” “Well, I can’t just sit on my ass and do fuck all.” “But what are you going to do?

We’ve no idea where the hell he is.” “I don’t fucking know!” I shouted, slamming my fist onto the desk. Getting up to pace around the room, I felt like a caged tiger. The phone rang and I glared at Kellin as he picked it up. The last thing I needed right now was for him to have more work to pull his attention away from getting this situation sorted. He had enough men to cover the work that they had on at the moment, but their workforce was already being stretched thin. They were going to have to take

more people on soon, which was a good thing. It meant business was booming. It just wasn’t great for me at the moment when I wanted every man on finding Matt and keeping the girls safe. I didn’t take any notice of what Kellin was saying on the phone until he slammed the handset down on the desk. He looked over at me with wary eyes. “What is it?” “We’ve found him.” “What? Where is he?” I was ready to storm out of the building and go and find his sorry ass.

“At Lauren’s place.” “What the fuck? What do you mean he’s at Lauren’s place?” Kellin shook his head, moving around to gather up everything he’d need to take with him. “Kellin, fucking talk to me.” “He took out Chester and Maze.” “Where’s Fallon and Lauren?” My anger rose as I was met with silence. “Where the fuck is Fallon?” “We need to get there.” Grabbing his car keys, Kellin looked at me pointedly. “Keep your shit together. This

is bigger than any of us could have anticipated.” “And what the hell does that mean.” I stormed after him. At least he wasn’t wasting any time hanging around at the office. We were striding out towards his car that was parked outside, getting in and setting off quickly. “It means that Ethan got back to me with his background check. Matt’s real name is Russell Eastman. He’s wanted by three different police forces for sexual assault, rape and attempted murder.”

I stared at him. Kellin was busy keeping his features neutral as he concentrated on navigating around the busy morning traffic. I could see by the twitch in his eye that this was getting to him, but he had moved into a professional mode. There was no way I could do that. Kellin and Austen encountered messed up shit like this every day in their line of business, but I sure as hell didn’t and this was personal for me. “What else did Ethan say?” “He’s got men on their way to

Lauren’s.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And how did you find out that Matt, or whatever his name is, is at Lauren’s and had taken out our boys?” When Kellin stayed quiet, my temper spiked. “How did he know, Kel?” He slammed a fist on the steering wheel. “Dammit, Dominic!” “Just tell me!” “Ethan is there. He’s outside.” “He’s there and he’s not doing anything about it? What the fuck?” Kellin glared at me. “He’s doing

us a fucking favour. He’s managed to check on Maze and Chester and they’re still breathing. Backup and medical assistance are on the way.” “And what about Fallon and Lauren?” He was quiet for a moment. “Lauren seems unhurt from what Ethan can tell.” “And Fallon?” I was about ready to strangle the motherfucker if he didn’t start talking. “What about Fallon?” “Ethan hasn’t been able to… he doesn’t know.”

I wanted to kill something, to rip it apart. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Ethan was there and not doing anything to stop that maniac? What kind of cop was he? “Are you listening to me?” Kellin snapped. Swinging my eyes to him, if looks could kill, my brother would have been six foot under. “When you stop talking shit, maybe I’ll listen.” Kellin rolled his eyes. “Stop being such a stubborn son of a bitch. You’re not the only one involved in this

you know. Lauren is in danger. Two of our men are down, luckily not dead. Ethan is there, but he’s waiting for backup before they storm in.” “Why wait?” “Because this asshole has already taken out Maze and Chester and they’re big motherfuckers. Ethan wouldn’t stand a chance against him. If he decided to play hero and run in there all guns blazing, he could end up getting the girls killed.” He glanced over at me to make sure I was listening. “We need clear heads on this, brother.”

I shook my head at him. This was a goddamn mess. We thought that we were doing more than enough posting two men to watch over Lauren while we gathered more information on her ex, evidently it was not enough. It seemed to take forever to get to Lauren’s neighbourhood. We rode the rest of the way in silence. What else was there to say? He had one up on us and we now had to rally to take back control of the situation. I couldn’t think about what could be happening to Fallon. To do that, I

would lose my mind. We weren’t even involved, but she already meant something to me and I wasn’t ready to let go of that. Fallon was a special woman and it made my blood boil that he had already laid his hands on her, let alone to think what could be happening to her right now. It was also a concern as to how Lauren would deal with this. I knew what kind of girl she was and she was going to lay all the guilt for this situation on her own shoulders. That was going to

be a lot for her to bear, but it would take some work for her to understand that this wasn’t on her. This was all on him. And he was going to pay. God, was he going to pay. Pulling the car to a stop at the end of the street, I glanced over at Kellin. “What are you doing?” He frowned at me, “What were you planning on? Storming in there?” “Well, I’m not just going to sit here twiddling my thumbs.” I scowled at him. “We need to wait for word from

Ethan.” “Why?” “Back-up is on the way.” Staring at him in surprise, I had to rein in my temper. “You’re just going to sit there and wait? Do nothing while anything could be happening in there?” “Well, have you got another plan?” Kellin sneered. “Fuck yeah I do.” I wrenched open the door and slammed it shut behind me. Kellin was behind me in two seconds flat, grabbing hold of my arm and trying to drag me back. “I’m not

waiting!” Kellin all but growled. “You’re not going in there alone.” “I will if I have to.” He rose his eyes to the sky. “Fuck.” He mumbled before nodding me on. “What’s the plan?” “Tell Ethan I’m going around the back. You go in the front.” I didn’t wait for Kellin to say anything. Nothing was going to stop me from going in there. It wasn’t that I was playing hero. I just wasn’t prepared to wait around any

longer. He could be doing anything to them in there while we were sat around waiting for backup to arrive. Scooting down the side of the house, I couldn’t see anything as I peeked through the windows. I knew that Kellin would be ready to go at a moment’s notice and I didn’t plan on going in quietly. He would know I was coming. Matt wasn’t going to know what had hit him once I got my hands on him. I didn’t give a flying fuck what his real name was. It didn’t matter to me. All that

mattered was that I got the girls away from him and then we could do this man to man. As I rounded the corner, I saw Chester lying on the floor. He was still unconscious. Even though it concerned me, I had to keep moving. Help would be on the way for him. They should be here any minute. I had to concentrate on getting the girls safe. Crouching by the patio door, I couldn’t see anything. The curtains were drawn, but they didn’t block out the sound. I could quite clearly hear

pleading from Lauren mingled with her pitiful cries. There was no way I was holding off any longer. I wasn’t going to put her through any more of this. Moving around to the side of the house, I tried the back door. I couldn’t believe my luck when the door handle moved and the door opened without any resistance. I was beyond grateful that I didn’t have to waste precious time trying to kick it in or having to smash a window, although the thought was at the back of my mind that the boys had done a

shitty job of securing the place. Opening up the door, all plans for going in all guns blazing went out the window. Hearing all that noise, Matt could do something rash, something that we would all regret. I had to proceed slowly and quietly and hopefully I’d catch him unawares. In doing that, I would be on my own. Kellin would be waiting for some noise or some kind of sign that I was in. In a way, this would be better. In taking the girls, and in particular Fallon, this was now personal. This would be my

fight. “No, Matt, please no, please, please, please.” I could hear Lauren sobbing from in the other room, but there was no other noise. Moving towards the sound of her voice, I kept my eyes wide open, taking everything in. There were signs of a struggle. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. From all I had heard about Fallon from Lauren, and what I knew of her myself, she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She was a loyal friend and would

have done everything in her power to protect Lauren from Matt. I just wondered how far she would have gone and how bad the outcome would have been. “Lauren, pick up the bag. We’re leaving.” My ears spiked at Matt’s voice and I wanted to bundle in there and beat the ever loving crap out of him, but I held back. He clearly didn’t realise he had company just yet. “No, Matt. I can’t leave Fallon.” “She’ll be fine.”

“Look at her! Look what you’ve done to her!” Lauren wailed. If I was a cat, my hackles would have been rising at those words. I couldn’t hear Fallon and if Lauren’s distress was anything to go by, it wasn’t going to be a pretty sight. My fingers clenched into fists. “I didn’t do anything to her. She brought it on herself. She shouldn’t have meddled in our relationship.” “We don’t have a relationship.” Lauren cried. “Don’t say that!” Matt roared and

his words were followed by the sound of a slap, the crack of flesh on skin audible in the silent house. That was my cue. I couldn’t let this go on a moment. I was already pissed enough at Ethan for sitting outside and waiting for backup, there was no way I was going to hide in the house like a pussy and let him beat up on the women. Kicking the door open, Lauren screamed. My eyes were trained on Matt, who had whirled around to face me. Surprise flitted across his face

before a smirk settled into place. “Well, if it isn’t Prince Charming.” He sneered. I glared at him. There was no way I was going to take my eyes off of him for a second to look around the room. He was the only threat, and one that I was about to eliminate. “Don’t you realise yet? Lauren doesn’t need rescuing.” Without looking at her, I asked, “Lauren, are you hurt?” She gasped, “Fallon…” “I didn’t ask about Fallon.” It took

all my strength not to jump on that, wanting to know how Fallon was. If I heard that she was hurt or worse, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from pulling him limb from limb and I didn’t want to do that in front of Lauren. “I asked if you were hurt.” “She’s fine.” Matt waved a hand at me, dismissing the question. “Lauren.” I snapped. This was a bad situation, I understood that, but if I was going to be able to get her out of it in one piece, she was going to have to pull herself together.

“I can walk.” She finally confirmed in a small voice. “Then get up and walk to the front door. Kellin is there waiting for you.” “She’s not going anywhere.” Matt stepped in front of her when she got up to leave, pushing her back down on the sofa. Fury took over every part of me. He had the audacity to man-handle her in front of me? He was going to pay. Striding forward, I didn’t hesitate to wrap my hands around his neck, wrenching him up off the ground and

throwing him to the floor. Shouting to Lauren over my shoulder, I didn’t stop to check that she was following my instructions. My fists flew as if they had a mind of their own, wanting to incapacitate, wanting to maim, wanting to kill this sick son of a bitch. “Dominic!” I didn’t register that there was anyone else in the room until I was pulled backwards. “Fucking get off me!” I roared, throwing my elbow back and connecting with flesh. As soon as their hold let up

on me, I lunged for Matt again who was lying motionless on the floor. Hands reached for me yet again. As much as I struggled, they weren’t letting up on me this time. “Fucking pack it in, Dominic. You’re going to kill him.” Kellin. As I turned my eyes to him, blood was pouring from his nose and I narrowed my eyes in question. He chuckled and shook his head. “You did this, dumbass.” Kellin put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back against the wall. “Let them do their

job.” As soon as those words were out of his mouth, the room filled with police, shouting instructions for everyone to put their hands up. Kellin and I stayed against the wall, only relaxing when Ethan walked into the room. Ethan walked over to where Matt lay on the floor and shook his head. “How the fuck am I supposed to explain this?” Kellin stepped forward, “It was self-defence.” Ethan shook his head but refused

to say anything else while the rest of the officers were within ear shot. From the look exchange between him and Kellin, they already had a story worked out. Not that I gave a shit. That asshole would be worth getting a criminal record over. Paramedics swarmed the room and I bent over, taking in a deep breath. The adrenaline was running through my body but I knew that it was going to only last so long and then I’d be in for a hell of a crash. Shouts could be heard and I glanced over to where the medical

assistance were working. I didn’t let myself look around before now, concentrating only on getting Lauren out of there. I couldn’t think about Fallon. Now I could see her. Shoving everyone out of the way, I stood over her with a look of complete horror on my face. She was lying in a pool of her own blood, breathing but not conscious. He had really gone to town on her, worse than the beating I’d given him. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to move.” One of the paramedics asked

firmly. It didn’t register at first, but Kellin pulled on my arm again, allowing the medics room to move. “Dominic?” Kellin moved to stand in front of me, blocking my view of Fallon. “Look at me. She needs help. You need to move.” I nodded dumbly and moved to the side to allow more help to get to her. It made me sick to the stomach to see her looking like that. “Come on, man. We need to get to the hospital.” Kellin urged me out of the house. I didn’t want to leave her, but she

was in the most capable hands and he assured me that we’d meet the ambulance at the hospital. “Come on, man. You can’t do anything for her here.”

Chapter Seventeen Fallon Blurred voices. Bright lights. I tried to open my eyes but everything seemed like too much effort. It hurt too much to try. Feeling the soothing touch of someone brushing the hair back from my face, it lulled me back to sleep, back where I didn’t hurt so much.

Blinking several times, the stark lighting burnt my eyes. At first, I couldn’t understand why everything was so bright, but then the pain in my body brought back the memories of what had happened. Matt. Where was Lauren? Was she okay? Had he taken her? The thoughts whirled around in my mind, a jumbled mess I couldn’t get straight. “I think she’s awake.” Who was that? Why were they shouting? My head was feeling fragile,

like the worst hangover none to mankind. “Fallon? Can you hear me?” I felt someone gently take hold of my hand, but my eyes wouldn’t open again. “Is she okay?” “Can you all please leave the room? I need a moment with the patient.” Voices. Words. People. It was much more peaceful when I was asleep. “Fallon?” I could have sighed if I’d had the energy. It hurt to open my eyes. The lights in the room were too bright, but I

had the feeling that they wouldn’t give up until I’d opened my eyes. Blinking slowly, my eyes felt dry and scratchy. It took several moments for my vision to focus. Everything seemed too sterile and white. “Fallon?” I turned towards the voice. An older gentleman, possibly in his late fifties, was standing at the side of the bed patiently waiting for me to come around. He was clearly a doctor, if his white coat and smart suit were anything to go by. He was smiling down at me

with kindly eyes. I didn’t recognise him. In a way, I was glad that it wasn’t one of my colleagues in here treating me. They wouldn’t be able to do it with an impartial eye and the last thing I needed right now was someone looking at me with sympathy. “Do you know where you are?” “Hospital?” My voice was raspy and my throat felt like I hadn’t had a drink in about a month. Everything hurt like a bitch, talking was like torture. “You’re at St Thomas’. My name

is Doctor Jenner. Do you know why you’re here?” I closed my eyes for a moment. The pain wasn’t anywhere near as bad now but as the memories started to flood back to me, agony spiked along my body. Matt. He’d done this. I still couldn’t believe how quickly and how badly it had all gone down. One minute, we thought we were safe with our man-mountain bodyguards outside Lauren’s place, and then the next? Glancing down at my hands, I

noticed one was in a cast while the other was looking bruised. I knew just by looking at them that the rest of me would look so much worse and that I must be on quite heavy painkillers for me to still be feeling like I was floating on a cloud. The pain I was feeling was from memory. Right now, I couldn’t feel anything. I was only feeling what my brain thought I should. I was thankful that the painkillers were doing their job. “Fallon? Do you know why you’re here?” I nodded slowly, mindful of my

injuries. “I was attacked.” Looking back at him, I saw the concern in his eyes. “How bad is it?” “Admittedly, most of the wounds are superficial and looks worse than it is, but saying that, you have sustained some significant injuries.” He moved to sit down on the cushioned chair next to the bed. He ran through a list of my injuries, from the minor to the more extreme, like the several broken bones in my hand, bruised vocal chords and the broken ribs that were causing some

breathing problems. Luckily, there was no internal bleeding and no life threatening injuries, but I’d been in a medically induced coma to reduce the swelling to my brain. “We have several more tests to do, but so far, everything points towards a full recovery.” I closed my eyes in relief. As the memories of what Matt had done rushed back to me, I thought I was going to die at the time. And now that I was here in hospital and relatively lucid, I was worried that he had done something that

would permanently scar my life. The doctor stayed with me a little longer, explaining what they had done to me, what they expected of my recovery and the suchlike. As he moved to leave, I asked, “Do you know how Lauren is?” “The girl that came in with you?” I nodded. “Admittedly, she wasn’t my patient, but you were calling out her name last time you woke up. She’s fine. She was discharged.” He smiled reassuringly. “Thank you.” I sagged in the bed in relief. I could remember every single

detail of what had happened and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Matt stalking towards her. It was an immense relief to know that he hadn’t go to her. “How long do I have to stay here?” Doctor Jenner chuckled. “Why is everyone always so eager to leave? The food here isn’t half bad.” I tried to smile, but it felt alien and hurt my face. “I don’t really like hospitals.” “No one does.” He shook his

head. “I’ll be back to check on you later but I’d like you to stay in for observation. That was a nasty bump to the head and I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting you leave so soon.” I closed my eyes, trying to resign myself to the fact that I was going to be stuck in this bed for a while longer. It was a good idea. I wasn’t feeling myself at the moment. The pain wasn’t as bad as I expected, but I guessed that was down to the amount of painkillers being pumped into my body. I had no idea how I would look after

myself at home, all by myself. “There is a young man waiting outside. Shall I send him in?” For a panicked moment, I thought it was Matt. The doctor saw my distress and smiled again, “He has been with you since you were brought in. Dominic Saint? I think that’s his name.” “Dominic’s here? Why?” The doctor smiled at me warmly, “He hasn’t left your side. He and several of your other friends have been here waiting for you to wake up.” Dominic? What was he doing at

the hospital? In my confusion, I nodded but regretted it the moment the doctor left the room. I didn’t get long to worry as the door swung open and Dominic came into the room. Concern was etched on his face as he came straight to the side of the bed. “Fallon? How are you feeling?” “What are you doing here?” I whispered. Dominic shook his head and started pacing around the room. He looked like he was furious.

I didn’t know what to do or say. I was stuck on the goddamn hospital bed with my mind barely able to focus and he was making me dizzy with all his pacing. “Can you at least sit down?” He looked at me sharply before his face softened and he fell into the chair by the bed. “How are you feeling?” “I’m fine.” “Really?” he smirked. I felt myself smiling, or at least as well as I could. “I’m as high as a kite. Believe me, I’m more than fine at the

moment.” Dominic ran a hand over his face. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” “There wasn’t anything you could have done.” And there wasn’t. None of us had expected Matt to go that far. He was deluded, beyond help. “What happened to Matt?” A scowl scrunched up his face. “He was arrested.” Well, it didn’t look like he was very happy about that. Not that I could blame him. With his state of mind, it was doubtful in my opinion that Matt would

end up in prison. If he was lucky, he’d spend the rest of his life in a mental institute. I could imagine that Dominic would have preferred to exact his own brand of justice on his ass. “Is Lauren okay?” I know I’d already asked the doctor, but Dominic would know more about her state of mind. He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “She’ll be fine.” We sat in an awkward silence for a moment. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t understand why he was there.

Dominic was the last person I thought I’d see on waking up. Hell, I didn’t plan on seeing him again at all. Closing my eyes, I was shocked to realise quite how exhausted I was feeling. It was pathetic really. I’d only been awake for a few minutes and I could already feel myself dozing off. Feeling the hair being brushed off my face was soothing and I could feel myself leaning into the touch, lulling me to a peaceful sleep. “Sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Dominic I hated to see her in so much pain. She looked a fucking mess and it made me want to go and kick his ass all over again. He had gotten off lightly in my opinion. There was no way I was leaving her. I had grudgingly agreed to leave when the doctor or nurses came in to examine her, but that was it. They’d tried pulling the old visiting hour trick on me, but I wasn’t having any of it. I was

staying and they could all fucking lump it. My brothers had all been pacing in the waiting room, waiting to hear news. Austen had gone over to check on Maze and Chester and both men were doing fine. Both had been checked over by the hospital staff and had been discharged. Lauren had been sent home and Jared had gone over to check on them. Damn, he was pissed that he had missed out on all the fun. Fun? It wasn’t so fun seeing the state of Fallon. That

bastard had really done a number on her and it shocked us all to see. We had all been raised to treat women with respect and to never lay a finger on them in anger. How anyone could do that to a woman, I’ll never know. Kellin and Kacey were the last to leave. I’d gone out and told them that there was nothing else anyone could do. Fallon was being kept in for observation and I wasn’t going to leave her side. It was pointless them being there and I promised to call as soon as I had any other news.

Now, Fallon was sleeping again. It was obvious that she was doped up to the eyeballs on painkillers the moment she woke up. I knew that look in her eyes well. She looked so confused to see me there, yet I’d been sat there talking to her for hours. Apparently, Kellin had spoken to Ethan and they had Matt in a holding cell, waiting for processing. Personally, I didn’t give a shit what they did to him as long as he wasn’t let back out on the streets again. Lauren was a complete mess. I

knew she would be. She wasn’t as strong as Fallon and this had hit her hard. Not that Fallon wouldn’t be affected by this. Hell, anyone who had been through something like this knew that they were never the same afterwards. Matt had broken something in her, but I was determined to be there for her while she recovered to help get that special spark back. Sitting back in the chair, I stretched out my legs. Hospital chairs were not the most comfortable things at

the best of times, but trying to sleep in one? It was almost impossible. My back ached, my neck was screaming out and my ass was going numb. But I wasn’t going to leave her. My phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw that a call was coming in from my dad. “Dad?” “Yes, son. It’s me. How’s she doing?” he asked, the concern clear in his voice. He’d known from the first moment I’d mentioned Fallon that she was someone special to me and he and Gemma hadn’t hesitated to look after

Lily while I sat with Fallon. “About the same. She’s woken up a couple of times, but she’s sleeping now.” “What did the doctors say?” I got to walk over to the door when I saw Fallon stirring on the bed. This time, she must not have been sleeping so deeply if the sound of my voice was disturbing her. Opening up the door, I stepped outside, shutting it behind me and leaning my head back against the cool wood. “She was lucky. She’s got several

broken bones in her hand that are going to take some healing, but other than that, it’s mainly superficial.” I closed my eyes in relief even as I said the words. It could have been so much worse, and looking at the state of her, I had expected the worst. That was the thing that hit me harder than anything. I thought she was going to be taken away from me before I’d even been able to take a chance with her. Sure, there was no guarantee that she even wanted anything to do with me after the way I had treated her, but I

wanted to be given that chance and it had nearly been taken away from me. Fuck ‘em and chuck ‘em. That’s the kind of guy she thought I was and I was going to have my work cut out making her believe otherwise. But I was willing to give it a damn good try to show her I was worthy of her. “Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” I sighed, the emotions weighing heavily on me. “She looks like she’s been hit with a truck.” “But you’re there with her, son. That’s the important thing.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “It’s just hard, you know?” “I know, Dominic. It’s hard to see someone you love suffering. But you’re there for her, that’s the main thing.” Love? It was probably a little soon for that word to be thrown about, but I wasn’t going to pull him up on it. There were deeper feelings at play here, but I couldn’t put a label on them. I probably wouldn’t be able to for a long time, but at long as Fallon gave me that chance, we’d be able to see where this thing would take us.

“How’s Lily doing?” I hated leaving my daughter, but I had to be here right now. Part of it was because I felt responsible for what had happened to the girls. They were under our protection and yet they had still got hurt. Obviously, the other part was something else altogether. “She’s great. She and Gemma are busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen, making cookies and cakes and I don’t know what else. All I know is that I’m going to be as sick as a dog if they make me try it all.” My father chuckled.

“That’s good.” I knew she would be fine with my dad. She loved being with her grandparents, so at least I knew me being at the hospital wouldn’t have a negative effect on her. “I’ll give you a call later when I find out more.” And after a few more pleasantries, I hung up the phone. Opening the door again, I noticed she was awake again. Closing the door carefully behind me, her eyes swung to me and a small smile formed on her lips. “You came back?” “I never left.” I assured her.

“How are you feeling?” She seemed a little more lucid as she watched me sit down next to her. “I’m aching.” I took that as a good sign. At least she was feeling something. I also knew that the nurses would be in shortly to check out her medication, but as long as the worst she was feeling was achy, then that was alright by me. “You don’t have to stay, you know.” She said hesitantly. I shrugged. “Where else would I be?”

She looked momentarily frustrated. “What’s going on here, Dominic? I don’t understand why you’re here?” “We’ll talk more later.” I didn’t really want to get into it with her now. This wasn’t the time or place. “I want to talk about it now. Why are you here? Did something happen to Lauren?” The real question was plain to see on her face – were we all lying to her? “No. Lauren is fine. She’s shaken up, but she’s come out of it much better than you

did.” “Well, if Lauren’s fine then I don’t understand.” Sighing, I knew she wasn’t going to let this drop. “It’s something I would rather talk about at a later date.” I waved my hand around, indicating the hospital in general. “Now is as good a time as any.” She glared at me. Damn, this was going to be harder than I thought. Fallon was there, thinking the worst and all I wanted to do was be with her. After all this, perhaps my

words were going to be a bit of an anticlimax. Taking a deep breath, I wasn’t sure where to start so I thought I’d just dive straight in. “I’ve been a dick. I treated you like crap.” “You don’t have to stick around here. A simple apology would work for me.” Fallon snapped, averting her eyes. I wasn’t going to let her get off that easily. “Fallon, it takes two to tango. You were into this as much as I was, sweetheart.” “Sweetheart?” she seethed.

“Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me!” Shaking my head, I sat down heavily in the chair. “This is coming out wrong. I didn’t mean it like that.” “Well, what did you mean?” “I meant that you walked out on me the second time.” “So, what? Does that mean we’re even? That doesn’t explain to me what you’re doing here.” “I’m here because I want to be here.” Standing up, I started to pace around the room. I wasn’t big on rejection and I could see this one coming

from a mile off. She didn’t want anything to do with me, hell, I wasn’t even sure she liked me. “I’m here because I like you.” “You like me?” she scoffed. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Fallon looked so mad that I couldn’t help laughing, and once I’d started I couldn’t stop. She was getting red in the face from her anger, which tickled me even further. “If you don’t stop, I’m calling security.”

That made me howl with laughter. I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me but it took a good few minutes for me to calm down enough to talk. Falling back into the chair, I wiped my eyes as I looked over at her fuming expression. “Have you finished?” she demanded. Choking back another laugh, I said, “I’m not apologising for that.” She frowned at me. “Well, I never realised what a bitch you could be.” She smirked. “I think we had this

conversation before when you called me a feisty bitch. I didn’t appreciate it then and I don’t appreciate it now.” “Fallon, for Christ’s sake, will you give me a break? You’re making me feel like some teenager with no confidence.” When she made a move to talk again, I put a hand up to stop her. “I’m here because I want to be here. I’m here because I want a chance to prove to you that I’m not just some dick who took advantage of you.” She looked taken aback for a moment, “You didn’t take advantage of

me.” “Whatever. I’m telling you I want to give this a go.” I waved my hands between us. “Telling me or asking me?” At least she now looked more amused than pissed off. Hopefully, that meant that I was getting my point across. Leaning on the chair so I was closer to her, I looked deep into her eyes, trying to see past the bruising and the bloodshot eyes to see what she was thinking. “Fallon, I’m asking you to give me a chance.”

She was quiet for a moment before smirking again, “I’ll think about it.” Chuckling, I knew that was going to be the best I would get at the moment. But at least it gave me some hope for the future.

Chapter Eighteen Fallon I looked absolutely horrendous. No amount of make-up could cover the mess that my face was at the moment. Shrugging on my jacket, I’d found it infuriating how long it had taken for me to get dressed. Everything ached now that the painkillers had been reduced. But on the upside, my mind was feeling clearer.

Lauren had called into to see me and it had taken everything in me to convince her that I didn’t hold her responsible for what had happened. She had been the victim as well. It was Matt that was the one at fault. It was going to take a long time for that to sink in, but she would get there in the end. Taylor had been running around like a headless chicken, flying between her job and the hospital, making sure that I had everything to make me as comfortable as possible and bringing piles of magazines to ward off the

boredom. She’d been an absolute godsend these last few days. I’d ended up having to stay in for several days for them to keep an eye on my head wound. Although I still had a killer headache, it was my hand that was causing me the most problems. Luckily, it was my left hand and seeing as I’m right handed, it could have been a lot worse. They told me that I was going to have to keep the cast on for at least six weeks and then physio to follow. Depending on how things went, I may

also need an operation, but that wasn’t something I wanted to think about just now. I was happy to be getting out of hospital, I didn’t want to think about coming back in so soon. The others had been great, as well. Kacey and Kellin had popped in to see me and Austen had even called to say hello. It was strange because before this had happened, I wasn’t all that chummy with the boys, but over the last few days, we’d all grown closer. It appeared that my circle of friends was growing.

And Dominic. I didn’t really know what to think about Dominic. He’d come in to see me every single day and night that I’d been in here, which I knew had to be hard for him with looking after Lily, but when I asked him about it, he’d said he had it all sorted. We talked about anything and everything and I saw a side to him that I didn’t think was there. He was much deeper and funnier than I had ever anticipated. He didn’t apply any pressure but I

knew he wanted me to make the move to show him that I wanted him as much as he wanted me, but I thought that was obvious. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and the connection was undeniable. I still thought that he was way out of my league but he didn’t seem deterred. Even looking like the monster I did at the moment, he still looked at me like I was the most beautiful creature he’d ever set eyes on. It was powerful and more than a little scary. Leaving the hospital, I had no idea where things were going to go with us,

but I was willing to give it a try. I was too deep into Dominic to turn back now and although we had done things the wrong way wrong in a traditional sense, we were ready to start over and take that first step. Where it would lead us, I had no idea, but at least we were both willing to try. “Hey, beautiful.” I jumped out of my skin as I stepped out of my hospital room, dropping my bag on the floor. “Jesus Christ, Dominic! You frightened the hell out of me.”

He chuckled. “Sorry.” “No, you’re not.” I swiped at his arm. “What are you doing here?” “I’ve come to pick you up. You’re been discharged, haven’t you?” he looked at me, puzzled. “Well, yes.” “Come on, then.” “I thought Taylor was coming to pick me up?” I looked around for her, but she was nowhere in sight. “Change of plan.” I shook my head at him. I knew that this was going to be something I was

going to have to get used to, Dominic taking charge, but it wasn’t going to be easy for me. I had been independent for so long, especially after getting away from my stifling mother, and it was going to take some getting used to. Dominic smiled at me and held out his hand. Even after the last few days in the hospital, this was going to be our first real physical contact. It wouldn’t be much to some people, but to me? This was big. We’d already done the deed, but this was different. Taking his hand, I couldn’t help

but smile as his fingers lightly squeezed mine. Walking to the car, he helped me in, even though I insisted I was perfectly capable of doing it myself. He was treating me like a fragile piece of china, which was very sweet at the moment but I could see it getting boring very quickly. As we moved away from the hospital, I sunk back into the seat. It was great to be out of there. I knew that it was going to be difficult getting back to my life, especially with my hand, but I was more than ready for it. I wasn’t one

for lying around and letting life pass me by. Looking out the window, I frowned slightly. “Where are we going?” This wasn’t the way back to my place. “Dominic?” “We’re going for dinner.” “Where?” “At my dad’s.” I sucked in a breath and tried to calm myself down. His father’s? Was he kidding me? “Don’t panic. It’s nothing special.”

“Dominic…” I said in a warning tone and glowered at him when he laughed. “Seriously, Fallon. Stop freaking out. We all do this once a month.” Taking another deep breath and trying not to shout at him, I asked, “Who is we?” “Me, my dad, my step-mother and my brothers.” He said simply. “What? I can’t do that!” “Sure you can. Everyone’s been really worried about you.” He glanced at me and saw how mad I was. For a

moment, he smiled and reached across to take my hand. “They all want to see you. My dad wants to meet you.” “Why?” I asked in a small voice, clutching hold of his hand. This was the last thing I had expected to happen today. It was too much after just coming out of hospital and I didn’t think I could handle it. “Because of everything I’ve told him about you. Because of how I feel about you. It’s important to him. And it’s important to me.” What could I say to that? It was a

hell of a declaration and I couldn’t throw that back in his face, especially not after how close we had gotten over the last few days. “Do you think you can do this?” he asked, “Because if it’s too much, I can take you straight home. They’ll understand, I’m sure.” I shook my head firmly. I could tell that this was something he desperately wanted to do, and with how much his family had helped me, it was the least I could do. It was going to be a hell of a jump, meeting his family after

only being together officially for a mere few days, but it felt right. “Let’s do this.” Dominic grinned at me. He was as ready for this as I was. Taking my hand and bringing it to his lips, we rode the rest of the way in silence. We both had a lot to think about, but a hell of a future to look forward to. And it was a future I was looking forward to now that Dominic was in it.

Epilogue The Wedding Fallon “You really don’t have to do this you know.” I said for what felt like the hundredth time. “I told you I would be there and I will.” “You don’t know what they’re like.”

“Stop trying to talk me out of this.” “Look, they’re not like your family. You’ll get on with my father, but my mother is a raging bitch.” I hissed down the phone, giving him one last chance to get off the hook. “From all you’ve told me, I’ve met their kind a million times before. Don’t worry about me.” Dominic chuckled down the phone. “Yeah, but it is one thing for them to talk down to me. I won’t have them doing that to you.”

“Do you really think I’d care about any shit they gave me? Do you not know me at all?” “That’s not the point.” “And I won’t have them talking shit to you, either.” He replied menacingly and I couldn’t help but giggle. It would be a hell of sight to see Dominic telling my mother off. We had talked about this so many times over the last few weeks. I really didn’t think he knew what he was letting himself in for meeting my family, especially on a day that they’d be so far

up their asses they would be totally unbearable. But Dominic didn’t want me having to go through this day on my own. He knew what my mother and my sister were like and that this wedding was going to be pure torture for me. I appreciated him being there for me, but I still thought he was a sucker for punishment. Hanging up the phone, he promised to call by as soon as he could in the morning. Dominic was determined to be my moral support. Tonight was going to be just as

bad for me. There was no way for him to save me from it all. I was going to have to suck it up, and if that didn’t work, I’d indulged in a little Dutch courage. My sister was going down the traditional route all the way with this wedding. She and Alex weren’t to see each other until she walked down the aisle and to keep temptation at bay, she was staying at my parents’ house tonight. I had to laugh when she told me that. My mother thought that she was still a virgin and keeping her innocence for her wedding night. How funny was that!

What wasn’t funny was that I had somehow been dragged into staying the night before as well. It was bad enough having to suffer through the wedding, let alone getting stuck under my mothers’ watchful eye for an extra night. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed with Dominic, but that wasn’t to be. Packing up the few things that I needed, there wasn’t anything else I could do to stall. My hideous bridesmaid dress was already at my parents’ house and they were bringing in professional hair stylists and make-up

artists to make sure that the bridal party looked immaculate for the big day. There wasn’t any point taking too much stuff with me. My sister would only ban me from using it, anyway. Locking up the house, I sat in my car. Before starting up the engine, I ran off a quick text to Dominic. Wish me luck XX “Fallon, darling.” My mother walked towards me with her fake saccharine smile as soon as I walked

into the house. Pausing in front of me, she air kissed me and I couldn’t help but notice her look of disgust as her eyes swept over my casual tee, jeans and boots get-up. “Good evening, mother.” As I made to walk through the foyer to where I could hear my sisters’ tinkling laughter, my mother gently held my wrist to stop me. “You didn’t think to make more of an effort for tonight? Did you bring anything to change into?” “Of course I didn’t. This is fine.” I looked down at myself, knowing what

her problem was, but I wasn’t a twinset and pearls kind of girl and never would be. “This is your sister’s time.” She admonished. I sighed loudly. “What’s so wrong with what I’ve got on?” “What’s right with it?” She sniffed. I shook my head at her. This was just the sort of thing I had been expecting from her tonight so her words rolled off me like water off a ducks back. She shook her head at me when it

was clear that I wasn’t going to make a move to change into something more ‘appropriate’. “Why couldn’t you be more like your sister?” “Why would I want to be?” I shot back. “Fallon!” I turned to see my father walking down the wide staircase with a broad smile across his face. Without hesitation, I stepped into his open arms, relishing the warmth of his love as opposed to my mother’s coldness and once again thankful for his timing.

It was strange how different my relationship was with my parents. I had never really got along with my mother, and a mother/daughter bond is supposed to be the strongest. I was a daddy’s girl, that’s for sure. I had nothing in common with my mother. She and Olivia were like two peas in a pod and no matter what I did, it was never good enough for them. But with my father? I saw a different side to him than the rest of the world did on the outside. He was a man that had got rich off a good name and from sitting on his ass while everyone

else did all the hard work, but to me, he was always the one that showed me how to have fun when I was a kid, while my mother only demanded obedience and seriousness. He was the one that showed me love while my mother had always been stick-up-her-ass standoffish. “Hey, dad. How have you been?” “I’m fine. Trying to stay out of the way.” He threw my mother an amused look while she huffed and puffed. “Would you like to come and have a quick drink with your old dad before the ladies steal you from me?”

“Olivia is expecting Fallon to join us.” My mother interjected. Ignoring her, I said, “That would be perfect.” And taking his arm, we walked towards the library, leaving my mother in the hallway with steam coming out of her ears. Shutting the door behind us, my dad turned to me with a mischievous grin. “You know I’m going to pay for that.” I laughed. Sometimes I honestly thought he annoyed her on purpose, just to have a little park in his life.

“She needs to quit treating me like a child.” “Your mother is never going to change.” I snorted. That was true. She was set in her ways and nothing would sway her now. She treated me like a naughty kid and I wasn’t about to change, so we’d forever clash. “What can I get for you, sweetheart?” he asked as he moved over to the liquor cabinet. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.” I settled down on the leather

armchair, curling my legs under me. This had always been my favourite room in this monster of a house when I was growing up. This was the only place where I could be myself and be left alone. No one ever ventured in there apart from me and my father. He occasionally used this room if he had work to do and more often, to escape my mother. When she had people over, my mother liked to show off the library. It was crammed full of first editions and

leather bound rare books. For me, I loved the escape of the room, how you can be transported to another time, another place, another world just by picking up one of the books in there. To my mother, it was another way for her to show off the family’s wealth. Over the years of my childhood, I think I got through every single book in the place, which was no mean feat. My father had seen my extreme thirst for fantasy and knowledge that he had the library extended to include modern popular novels, ones that held no

financial value but one’s I loved. “So, are you ready for tomorrow?” I glanced up to see him sitting down on the chair opposite me. He looked more relaxed and comfortable in here, away from my mother’s evil eye. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” “Your mother has been running around like a headless chicken all month, making sure the last minute details are perfect.” “I can imagine.” I rolled my eyes at him. She was going to be in her

element with this wedding, no expense would be spared. Luckily for my dad, all he had to do was hand over his bank card to keep her happy. “How are you feeling now?” I flexed my fingers, noting the ache that was still there but it was nothing as bad as it had been. All the bruising was a distant memory and I’d made a full recovery, thank God. My father was the only one that every asked how I was feeling and made any reference to what had happened to me. I didn’t even call to tell them until

after I had been discharged, knowing that my mother would freak out. And she had. But not because I had been attacked and assaulted but because she thought I had brought it on myself by hanging out in the ‘wrong’ parts of town and befriended the ‘wrong’ kind of people. I had stayed away while the bruises had still been apparent, but my father had called to see me. He was the never ending support that I’d needed at the time, and still was now. “I’m totally fine now.” I smiled at him as he looked at me, making sure that

I was telling him the truth. “Really, I’m okay.” “How are things going with you? How’s life at the hospital?” My father didn’t like me working at the city hospital any more than my mother, but he was much more tolerant about it. He may not have agreed with my career choice, but at least he supported me. “It’s been pretty hectic. I’ve tried cutting back my hours a bit. They’ve been asking me to cover more shifts again and I had to pull in some major

favours to get tomorrow off.” “Ah, but tomorrow is a special day.” He winked at me. It wouldn’t matter what was going on in my life, I would have to drop everything and anything to be there for the wedding. And I would. She was my sister. No matter how much I was dreading the day. “Your mother mentioned something about you bringing a plus one?” “Are you fishing for gossip, old man?” I smirked. “Too right I am. I need to know what sort of man you’re bringing with

you so I can prepare for the fireworks from your mother.” I wasn’t particularly looking forward to introducing Dominic to my family. I’d told him over and over again what they were like but he wasn’t having any of it. I knew that my father would accept anyone who made me happy, but my mother was a whole different story. Dominic had money. More than I first thought when I met him. Not that it mattered to me and that was one of the things he loved about me. I didn’t give a flying crap whether he had millions in

his bank or a penny. It wouldn’t be like that with my mother, though. She would never think he was good enough for me. I half hoped that he was going to turn up in jeans and a tee with all his tats showing on the back of his Harley. My mother would have a complete shit fit. But, he had already told me that he was going to come suited and booted to the wedding, wanting to make a good impression. “His name is Dominic.” I replied to my father shyly. It was really lame, but this was the first time I would have

ever introduced my family to someone that I was seeing. Up until now, I had been able to get away with it. But Dominic had refused to let me face the wolves by myself, so there was no getting out of it. “Dominic?” “Saint. Dominic Saint.” “Hmm. I don’t think I’ve heard of him.” Even though my father had been there for me after the attack, I hadn’t told him anything about Dominic. I wanted to keep him all to myself for as long as I

could and my time had now run out that the wedding was here. “I didn’t imagine that you would have.” I took a drink of the amber liquid my father had given me. “He doesn’t exactly run in the same circles as you do.” “So, what does he do?” I knew that I was going to get the third degree from my parents about him and I was glad that it was my dad I was facing first. At least he would be able to pass on the information to my mother so she wouldn’t make a scene at the

wedding. “He owns a couple of bars in town.” I also wasn’t going to mention that he owned Decadence. My mother would only get the wrong impression when she found that out, thinking that because he owned that establishment that he was just like them, and he wasn’t. Dominic was much better suited to Sinners. He was my sin. “Well, that’s impressive.” He nodded before sitting forward, looking at me with a serious expression. “And am I to presume that this is serious

between the two of you?” I could feel myself blushing. Even though I got on with my father better than the rest of them, we didn’t often get to talking deep and meaningful like this. “I think things are going well so far.” “I would think they were if you were bringing him into the lion’s den tomorrow.” Holding my head in my hands, I couldn’t help laughing. Talking to my dad had relieved some of the tension building in my stomach. “I should have told him not to come. They’re going to

eat him alive, aren’t they?” “I can’t lie to you, sweetheart. But, if he is half the man I think he is, those women aren’t going to run him off.” “I hope not.” “Have some faith in your man.” My father smiled at me and I knew at least one member of my family would accept Dominic.

My head was pounding like a jack-hammer was going off in there. I

knew I should have cut back on the whiskey last night, but hey, it was medicinal. I had to numb myself against my mother and sister. After spending time with my father, I had played nice with my mother, sister and the rest of the bridesmaids. It had been one of the most boring nights of my life. Olivia had spent the entire evening fretting and going over last minute details with a fine tooth comb. Not that she needed to. This wedding had been so perfectly planned that

nothing could possibly go wrong. After I had stayed with them as long as I could possibly stand, I had snuck back into the library to drown my sorrows with my father. That had been a big mistake. We had stayed up until the early hours of the morning, making a heavy dent in his expensive alcohol collection and putting the world to rights. A late night followed by a ridiculously early wake-up call by my sister didn’t mesh well together. My head was banging and all I wanted to do

was crawl back under the covers and sleep for another ten hours. Not that it was going to happen. Olivia had already been screaming at everyone, making me feel even worse. She was acting like the Wicked Witch of the West and I had to wonder how she was going to manage to transform into a princess in time for the wedding. Not bothering to get dressed, I wrapped myself in my bath robe and slowly made my way downstairs to the dining room which seemed to be the hub of morning activity.

“It’s about time you showed your face.” Olivia snapped as she sat down at the table with a glare in my direction. “You yelled at me to wake up only five minutes ago.” Olivia didn’t reply. She was too busy shouting at one of the other bridesmaids for breaking a nail. My father threw me a sympathetic look as I sat down in one of the empty seats. None of the other women dared to speak back to Olivia, especially not when my mother was stood at her shoulder, backing her up. I only

quietened down because I couldn’t be assed with the drama this early on in the morning. As we were served our breakfast, Olivia continued to bark out orders. It took a lot of restraint not to burst out laughing at her ridiculous demands. We were all to bathe in rose scented water and were allowed no other perfume. Apparently, she was the only one who could smell nice today. Seriously? Rose scented water? She really was on a power trip today. And that wasn’t all. She had

printed out an exact timetable that we all had to follow or there would be hell to pay. A schedule! I hated to think what would happen if one of us fell behind. Getting up from the table, my father kissed my mother on the forehead before making a quick escape. Not that I could blame him. I would have made a run for it too if I could. But I had made a promise to myself to do everything that was expected of me today. This was Olivia’s big day and I would do everything in my power to make sure that her day ran

smoothly. Plus, if I didn’t make waves and flew under their radar, the day would be much less stressful for me. After we had eaten breakfast, we were all ordered to bathe and get ready for the make-up artist and stylist to come. The rest of the girls ran up the stairs like their asses were on fire. I couldn’t help but giggle to myself as I slowly made my way up to my old bedroom. My sister had them all running scared when this should have been an enjoyable day. At the moment, the only enjoyable part was going to be

falling into bed at the end of the day. The bath went a long way to relaxing me after such a crappy nights’ sleep. I couldn’t stand the smell of the water, though. It reminded me of old ladies. Getting out at the time that Olivia had specified, I put the bath robe back on and made my way across to the west wing where I knocked on Olivia’s bedroom door. “Come in.” Opening the door, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nothing had changed in

there. It was decorated in exactly the same manner it had been when we were little kids. Everything about it screamed out spoilt princess. It was much too immature for a woman of her age and was bordering on creepy. Olivia directed me over to a chair to wait in line for my turn to be made pretty by the stylists. It was like an assembly line. My mother and two of the other bridesmaids were currently being worked by the magic fingers of the stylists and I was pleased to see that the

make-up was being kept natural and attractive. When it came to my turn to sit in the chair, I nearly fell asleep. To me, there was nothing more relaxing in the world than having someone play with my hair. They could keep their expensive body massages with their exotic oils, give me someone messing with my hair any day. The morning was a hectic whirl of activity. None of us seemed to have a moment to ourselves, running around to Olivia’s timetable. It wasn’t until my

sister was busy with the stylists that she sent the rest of us to get into our dresses. It was nearly time.

Dominic Her father was just as she had described. He seemed like a good guy, he just needed some backbone to stand up to his wife. Now, Fallon’s mother was a raging bitch, just as she had told me. I’d found it highly amusing when she approached me before the ceremony,

staring pointedly at the tattoos on my arms. At first, I’d dressed as I normally would do if I was going to work at Decadence, but the look in Fallon’s mother’s eyes had annoyed me and I had happily taken off my suit jacket, loosened my tie and rolled my sleeves up. It was apparent from the first look that she didn’t think I was good enough for her daughter, but that wasn’t her decision to make. Fallon was a grown woman and was more than capable of

making her own decisions. Waiting with the rest of the congregation, as soon as I heard the first strains from the organist, I turned to wait for Fallon to walk down the aisle. I couldn’t give a crap about the bride like the rest of the room were waiting for, it was only Fallon I had eyes for. I nearly fell off my seat when she entered the room. She’d told me that the dress her sister had picked out for her was ugly and unflattering, but I thought she looked absolutely stunning. The pale lilac shade perfectly offset her bronzed

skin, her hair fell in soft waves down her back with a simple flower placed on one side. As soon as she started walking down the aisle, her eyes locked to mine and a small, secret smile lit up her face. I couldn’t stop the beam that broke out across my own. She was mine. I didn’t give a flying fuck what her family thought of me, as long as Fallon felt that I was right for her, I was a satisfied man. What they thought of me didn’t matter. She was mine and I was going to

make it official as soon as I could. This was what I wanted for her. Sure, I knew that she didn’t want a big wedding like this one, it would be her idea of hell, but we could plan something smaller that suited both of us. We didn’t need to have a million people that we didn’t care about to share that moment. It wasn’t about putting on a public face. She was mine and that was the way it was going to be. No one was going to get in our way, no one was going to take her from me and she was going to make me the happiest man on

earth. Mine.

AUSTEN A Saint Brothers Novel Coming to you November 2015!

Also by Kristan Belle The Sons of Satrina Series (YA Paranormal) The Sons of Satrina Dawn of a New Age Changing Fates End of an Era Burn for him (NA Standalone Paranormal)