Let It Go (14 page)

“A multitude of crimes he’s been committing since the age of thirteen. The one that got him put in jail for five years was an attempted murder charge.”

“And prior to that?” she asked.

“Sexual assault with a weapon. Charges were dropped,” the Chief told her.

She felt like throwing up. She could feel the sensations of fear, of the tears filling her eyes, and the idea that everything she had worked so hard for was once again being threatened by a man. A dangerous man she didn’t even know, never mind trusted, like she had with Kevin.

“We’re going to protect you, Brooklyn. We know who he is, we’ve got friends helping us. Friends with connections,” Finnian said to her. She shook her head and she looked at her sister, who had tears in her eyes and was shaking. The Chief had his hand covering Antonia’s hand in support.

“No offense, Finnian, but I don’t know you well enough to put my life and my sister’s life in your hands, or your so-called friends’. Excuse me,” she said and made her way out of the living room and back to the bedroom.

As she closed the door, she sat on the edge of the bed. Her thoughts immediately went to New York. To Kevin and the days that she’d found out he was stealing money from her, from the business investments, and forging her signature on things, on documents that would give him full control of the companies she invested in and made money off of. He somehow used his connections with shady businessmen and lawyers that to make it look like she was stealing. She had caught onto it in the nick of time and called in a few of her own friends. Through their connections, she was able to get the Feds involved and was working with them to plan a setup that would land Kevin and about a dozen other men in federal prison for their crimes that consisted of money laundering and alleged accusations of murder. The case against Kevin and his associates was huge and she was smack in the middle of an ongoing investigation when she’d nearly become collateral damage.

Kevin had showed up at her apartment in the middle of the night. She let her guard down. She’d believed the agent who was working with her would help her, but then Kevin attacked.

She tightened up and exhaled, not wanting to think about how he forced himself on her, used a knife to threaten to kill her and told her about all the other people he’d killed and gotten away with killing. When he held her gaze and cut the skin along her ribs and explained how he would chop her body up and get rid of it, and that he had help, she knew she was as good as dead.

The days that followed sent her into a downward spiral. Added to her misery was the fact that the federal agent she had been working with suddenly turned up dead. She thought Kevin had done it and showed her that he had more power and control than anyone. She backed down, afraid of what would happen when Kevin attacked again. This time, the anger at what he had done—how he had stolen money from her, planted incriminating evidence against her to make it look like
she
was the criminal, not him, and then forced himself upon her—made her lose control.

She had loved him. Confided in him about her childhood and about Owen. He used it against her. Made her feel like she was at fault and then told her that he didn’t believe she’d stopped Owen from taking from her body. That she probably liked it and had wanted revenge against her mother. It was sick. Kevin was sick, and as he assaulted her, she fought back. She could hardly remember the details of how it turned out, just that she wound up on top of him, stabbing him. It took months to prove it was in self-defense. It came down to the last days of a trial, of all the counts against her of criminal activity, and she thought Kevin would get the final laugh from prison. Then a group of federal agents arrived, friends of the agent who had been helping her and had been killed, and they proved she was the victim in all of it.

Now here she was, once again a victim. Some man she didn’t even know or have any issues with was coming after her, trying to rape her and assault her, and she didn’t know why—nor did she feel like she could handle something like this again.

The tears flowed and Brooklyn wished for a normal life. A peaceful, loving, happy life, but it just didn’t seem like it was in the cards for her. She was destined for misery, or maybe even death.

“The damn stubborn woman. She’s been painstakingly walking around this place for three days trying to pretend that everything is just fine. She’s got her game face on, handling all the concerned citizens and pretending she isn’t scared,” Jagger said to Finnian.

“Don’t forget about what we all learned about her life in New York after the Chief got that phone call.”

“I know. Zeke was beside himself with worry.”

“Well, he shouldn’t have tried to talk to her about it last night. She looked pissed off and maybe embarrassed,” Finnian said to Jagger.

“She has no reason to be embarrassed. Zeke and Aero saw the scar on her ribs and knew something was up. The things we learned just emphasize how scared and untrusting she is. We’re peeling away her layers.”

“She’s so skeptical, Finnian. I can’t stand to see that fear in her eyes. Every time I try to hug her and hold her close she pulls away after a few seconds. Sometimes I think she believes we could hurt her, too.”

Finnian exhaled and then looked at Brooklyn, who was heading to her office.

“I’m going to go talk to her now. Maybe try and smooth things over.”

“Good luck,” Jagger said.

Finnian headed down the hallway and knocked on Brooklyn’s office door. He opened it up and she was standing there with her hand on a hammer on her desk. He eyed the hammer and then raised one of his eyebrows up at her. She swallowed hard. The poor thing was scared.

He closed the door and headed straight toward her. Their gazes locked and he saw her chest rise and fall as if she really was breathing heavily and fearful.

“Come here,” he stated, but before she moved he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. He felt her tense, but his hold was firm and he caressed his palm down her back, up and down. When he felt her ease closer against him and not feel so tight, he moved his hand a little lower.

“Tired?” he asked her.

“A little,” she replied.

“You work very hard, run a really great place. You know we’re not going anywhere, my brothers and I. So if you need more time, and doing the construction is too much right now, we can hold off on the plans. It’s okay, baby,” he said to her.

She pulled slightly back and tilted her chin up toward him.

“I don’t want to hold back. I’m not letting this situation, this guy I don’t even know, run my life. I’m not, Finnian.”

She tried to step away but he held firm. He kept a hand over her lower back above her ass and used his other hand to caress up her arm and then to her good cheek. He licked his lips and stared down into her gorgeous green eyes. He felt the fight in her. The determination was clear in her eyes.

“Okay, then we need to make some changes. I’m not trying to control you, order you around, since I know that pisses you off,” he said and winked. She smirked.

“What kind of changes? Haven’t I been cooperative with the extra patrols, the security at my house and over Antonia? What more, Finnian?”

“This,” he said and lowered his mouth to hers slowly. When she didn’t pull back, he kissed her gingerly on the lips. When he felt her hands run up his arms and to his shoulders, he deepened the kiss. In no time at all, they were dueling for control over it. He squeezed her ass, pulling her against his body, and he knew she had to feel his arousal. He pressed her gently against the desk and she rocked against him.

He’d never felt anything as powerful as this kiss, these sensations running through his body. He knew in this instant that he wanted Brooklyn in every way. He ran his other hand up her skirt to her hip. She lifted her thigh up against him and moaned into his mouth. She felt sexy, firm, and he was shocked that she wore thigh-high stockings, and even more shocked to feel the thin material of some skimpy, barely-there thong panties.

She pulled from his mouth as his fingers curled beneath the tiny fabric and slid into her slick channel.

“Finnian, oh, God, we have to stop. Oh,” she moaned against his chest and he continued to thrust his fingers into her cunt. She felt tight and wet.

“I can’t stop, baby. You feel it, too. You know my brothers and I want you. We’re not going to hurt you, baby. Please let go.” He stroked his fingers faster and faster and she tilted up to nip at his mouth and then plunge her tongue in deeply. She kissed him with vigor and he pumped his fingers faster and faster before he slid his other finger over her anus. She moaned into his mouth and came.

He released her lips and she panted for breath, her cheek against his chest, their breathing both rapid. He slid his fingers from her cunt and squeezed her ass. He massaged it and then looked down into her glistening green eyes.

“Thank you, Brooklyn. For trusting me, for letting go and admitting to this thing going on between the five of us.” He licked his lips and she lowered her leg to the floor.

“Why do you want me? Why, when you know what I went through in New York? When I’m in danger and anyone around me could be in danger, too?”

He cupped her cheek and held her gaze.

“Because you’re special. You brought my brothers and I together in a way that we could have only dreamed about. To have what our parents have. To love the same woman and cherish her, protect her and support her in all she does. We never wanted another woman like we want you.”

“I don’t do commitments, Finnian. I don’t know if I can give you guys what you’re asking for.”

There was a knock at the door and Brooklyn went to step away but he held her firmly. She looked up at him, shocked by his possessive move, but she didn’t resist. She just stared at him as the door opened.

A glance that way and his brother Jagger entered and closed the door.

One look and his brother knew things were different.

“It’s about fucking time,” Jagger said and stomped toward them. Finnian released her and Jagger pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. Finnian watched as his brother moved similarly to him. His hand cascaded over her lower back then to her ass. He squeezed her closer and moaned into her mouth. Brooklyn raised her thigh up against his hip and Finnian smiled widely as Jagger wasted no time feeling her and testing the waters by pushing a little deeper. The sounds of her soft moans as Jagger fingered her cunt made Finnian move in behind her and kiss her neck. She cried out her release instantly and he knew she was completely turned on by both of them touching her together. She was going to be their woman. She was going to engage in a ménage relationship with them, and her belief that she couldn’t make a commitment would be out the window in no time.

* * * *

It was hard to focus on anything Aero was telling her. She was staring at the muscles in his forearms as he stood by her desk in the office, making her understand the way he and Jesse were going to be laying out the security system in the established part of the restaurant. She lost him a few minutes ago as the scent of his cologne filled her nostrils and thoughts of the multiple times they made out in the office ran havoc on her mind and her body. She was aroused, her nipples hard, and she yearned for his touch. It had started two weeks ago with Finnian and Jagger. A complete shock to her, considering they were quiet men who surely demanded a lot.

“I think this will work out perfectly if we make separate power boxes for auxiliary power in case the electricity goes out.”

She was having trouble breathing. The feel of his large presence behind her, his arm over her shoulder as he pointed at details on paper that were blurred by her desires.
Holy shit. What did he just say?

“You’re expanding the generator’s size and capacity anyway, and this won’t take much power to continue and operate in a power outage. The place will remain secure. What do you think?” he asked her, and she felt his other hand move along her bare arm, back and forth. She leaned back and glanced up at him.

“I have to be honest with you, Aero. I kind of lost you a few minutes ago.”

He squinted his eyes at her.

“Why is that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I trust your judgment on this,” she said to him, feeling so damn aroused, and he was acting like he wasn’t affected. She swallowed hard, thinking she was feeling something he surely wasn’t. They were taking their time with her, going so damn slow she felt tortured. Perhaps they were waiting for her to make the first move to take these feelings to the next level? Maybe not.

“Brooklyn, this is your project, your business, and I don’t want you feeling like we’re taking over or telling you what to do,” he scolded with his hands on his hips and that look in his eyes that was forceful, sexy, and so enticing that she felt like she was drooling over him. She stared at him and his brothers so often now that she could pick out the things she liked about each of them and, of course, the many things that turned her on. Her pussy clenched, her breasts tightened. She was desperate. Holy shit.

Brooklyn stood up and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going? Are you even listening to me? Brooklyn?” he questioned her. She faced the door, had her hand on the handle and her palm against it. She took a few deep breaths.