Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) (3 page)

Against my better judgment, I nodded, my mind already
planning a perfect meal to serve him. His favorite, my lasagna. Never had he
spoken to me more than when I made lasagna. He praised and praised and praised
while he was eating it and it had been too long since I heard him tell me how
perfect of a cook I was.

"Great. I'll see you later tonight, my beauty."

He kissed my forehead and walked out of the room, leaving me
to catch my breath and think about what I had moved back to.

Any other woman would take it as an opportunity to seduce
the man she had loved for so long without interference from her overprotective
brothers.
I
was hoping to take it as an opportunity to get over him and
show him what he had missed out on.

"It's the only logical choice," I mumbled to
myself.

Lucas wasn't going to know what hit him, but it was too late
for him to do anything about it. I was going to be over it by the time dessert
was over.

Lucas

He should have known he wasn't over her.

How could he
ever
truly be over Aislinn Brannock?

As a girl, she was always looking for adventure, never
finding it because Con and Gus never truly let her. As a teenager, she was too
busy to look anymore. Worked to earn enough money to make her own way and never
really knew how incredible she was. She always made him wish that he could give
her what she wanted, but her brothers made it more than crystal clear to him.

"Stay away from her, Luke. Let someone else break her
heart so we don't have to beat the shit out of you," they always said.

It infuriated him. How could they let
anyone
break
her heart?

Now she was a woman. A stunning and frustratingly confident
woman if that kiss had any say in it.

And he was definitely not over her.

Every year, he couldn't resist the need to send her a gift
on her birthday. The same gift he gave her those few times they were alone in
the early morning hours of her birthday when her brothers were still asleep or
otherwise occupied. The only time he ever got a chance to just look at her
without someone smacking him in the back of the head or threatening bodily
harm.

When she had turned 15, he noticed how incredibly gorgeous
she was becoming. Her dark brown hair, that she always kept long, always
shimmered in the sunlight showing tints of red hidden within. Her stormy grey
eyes pierced through him whenever she glanced his way, which was a lot over the
years, and he always felt so vulnerable under her stare, like she would uncover
all his secrets and the way he felt about her. Her lips looked like they were
made to kiss, full and soft, and her little nose always twitched when she was
upset. He and her brothers had pissed her off a lot over the years, something
he couldn't make himself regret. He would have missed that little nose wrinkling
in anger.

It had taken everything he had in him to leave the room when
she entered after he realized she was something special to him and after her
body had started to really change. She was short to a lot of people, but to
him, it was the perfect height. The top of her head reached just passed his
shoulders, so it would be easy to wrap his arm around her shoulders and pull
her against him. Except her breasts had went from nothing to incredible in the
span of several months so pulling her against him had been out of the question
if he didn't want to embarrass himself. He did that enough in school just by
staring at her all the time.

He grew up with her and her brothers, but always considered
her like a sister when they were younger. Teased her along with Con and Gus and
protected her in the same way. Until the day he finally convinced her to show
him her secret hiding place. He saw the few possessions she kept hidden from
everyone and it made him care for her that much more.

That's why, after her mother died, he couldn't help but
bring her a little joy. A reminder that the day didn't need to be about
mourning, but about celebrating
two
lives instead of just one.

Her
mother was worth celebrating. His… not so much.

He grew up knowing that he wasn't going to get a good meal
unless he went searching for it. His mother had been attentive enough up until
his Dad showed up and found out he had a child. She had told Lucas that his
father had left them both, but he realized he had just left
her
and had
no clue Lucas was even around. He started getting involved in his son's life
more and more and it was the greatest thing a 7 year old boy could ask for.

Then he was killed.

He was a cop, went out on an investigation, and ended up
getting shot in the chest during an ambush.

His mother was never the same. Started drinking more,
gambling more, and inviting her special friends over to take away the pain of
losing the man she still loved, but was stubborn enough to push away.

That's when the Brannocks became his new family. Isabelle
and his mother had been good friends up until there was nothing left of his
mother to befriend, except her little boy. Isabelle had taken him in without
question even after his own mother stabbed her in the back and tried to destroy
her reputation as a captain's wife. Con and Gus had always been good friends of
his. Con was three years older than him and Gus was one year older, but you
would never know it. They were as close as brothers could be and took him in as
one of their own.

Aislinn was a pleasant bonus. She followed him around like a
lost puppy and dealt with the endless teasing they all dished out to her. She
was the only one who saw how much he was truly hurting from his mother's
abandonment. How much he wished he had gotten to know his father more before
losing him the way he did.

That's why he became a cop, to follow in his father's
footsteps. He worked hard and made detective faster than anyone else in the
department. He was good at it, noticed things others would easily look over and
dismiss. He liked his job and it had been the only thing he had truly felt was
his
accomplishment in life.

Walking into the station, he noticed that the captain hadn't
arrived yet. He had only spent a few minutes catching up on some new
developments in his case and then left before Ash could make her way back
downstairs. He lived just down the street and thought that by the time he got
his things together and took off, the captain would be getting into his own car
to head to work.

Apparently not, and for some reason it made Lucas jealous.
Captain Brannock would probably spend a few minutes talking to Ash about dinner
later that night. He would have loved to see the look on her face when she
found out.

She couldn't hide anything from anyone. Her face gave everything
away. She thought she was good at keeping her feelings hidden or that she was
sneaky with the way she maneuvered herself so she could smell him when he
walked inside the house.

He smiled to himself, because she hadn't changed much,
except now she was a strong and confident woman who had been on her own for the
most part over the last seven years and had so obviously grown up in more ways
than one. Unfortunately, she had been betrayed and when she told him about what
that guy did to her, he wanted to run to Ohio and string him up by the ankles
to use him as a punching bag. She didn't need him to do that, though, no matter
how much he wanted to. It had taken a lot for him to let the subject go when
the captain had walked into the room. He had to keep telling himself that she
had probably already dealt with the annoyance of her brothers and didn't need
his, too. She could take care of herself, but she was still his little admirer.

He had known she had a crush on him throughout the years,
but he never knew how deeply it went until the day after her brothers had
embarrassed her on her 21st birthday.

Her father had ripped Con and Gus a new one and told them
that if they interfered in their sister's life again, he would personally see
to an ass whooping. Then he turned to Lucas and told him the last thing he
wanted to hear.

"She's leaving. Thanks to you, my daughter is leaving
me and I have no choice but to let her go. I don't know whether to kick your
ass for not loving her back or kick your ass for making her fall in love with
you in the first place."

Thankfully, he had waited to tell him this after he already
sent his sons outside to chop firewood for their punishment. It was punishment
because they had a gas fireplace. He had been saved from the beating they would
have given him at the very
idea
that he may or may not have hurt her.

Lucas wanted to talk to Ash, but wasn't ever able to catch
up with her. She left two days later.

He would never forget the look on her face when she waved
goodbye to her dad at the airport. He had not so subtly gotten her flight out
of her brothers and didn't think he would actually make it in time to tell her
goodbye. He did make it, but never did anything other than watch her go.

After seeing the smile she gave her dad and giving him her
famous kiss on the cheek that the captain lived for, he couldn't risk ruining
it for her. She was finally living her life. Seeing him and remembering how he
acted that night would have taken her smile away. He deserved it, too.

He had laughed with her brothers. Teased her about how she
felt, knowing exactly what he was doing.

He was breaking her heart and wanted to kick his own ass,
but her brothers didn't expect anything else. They wouldn't allow anything else
and he would have rather made himself look like an asshole to her than lose the
opportunity to know how she was doing while she was away and they would have
made sure to keep it from him.

When she had disappeared through the sliding doors that led
into the terminal, he saw her dad do the impossible. Watch her go, all while
holding back the emotions he was actually feeling. Then he had looked over at
Lucas. Found him so easily it was as if he knew the boy had been watching the
whole time. Then, he nodded, a thank you for not interfering that day. For
letting him watch his little girl walk away with a smile on her face, excited
about the life she would live.

They never spoke about it, but Captain William Brannock knew
everything. Lucas had no doubt he was aware of the feelings he had for Aislinn,
but he never said anything. Never
did
anything about it. He just kept
him updated on how she was doing and left it at that.

Con and Gus had kept in touch with him, too. They had gone
their own way shortly after their mother passed, giving Ash a little bit of a
reprieve, but they had always come back frequently. Enough that it was like
they were never far away in the first place.

After Aislinn left that day, they came to visit their dad
more often, playing it off as wanting to see their old friends, but really
being there to make sure their father wasn't as lonely as they thought he was.
They contacted her just as frequently and made sure they discussed her while
Lucas was around. He would never let on how desperate he actually was for that,
but he had a feeling it was pretty obvious.

There was nothing he could do about it anyway. They knew
that, too.

"Hey, Shade!"

He looked up from his desk, quickly wiping away the memories
Ash's arrival had conjured up so he could focus on the day at hand. Detective
Justin Rains, the one guy who knew how often he actually thought about Ash and
the only man in the department who was actually willing to be partners with
him, was propping himself up against his desk that sat across from Lucas and
frowning at him. The man may have looked like a kid, but he was several years
older than Lucas and had experience up his sleeve, however, he usually let
Lucas lead the way.

"What's up, Rains?"

"You look like you've been through the ringer this
morning. Rough weekend?"

"Nah, just got a lot to think about before the
meeting."

"Right."

Lucas looked down at the files spread out on his desk and
avoided his partner's knowing eyes. "I want to catch this guy. Before he
does any more damage. Damage that may hit closer to home."

The smirk on Rains' face disappeared. "That's what I
wanted to talk to you about. We got something this morning that will do nothing
more than piss everyone off."

"What is it?" Lucas asked impatiently. The Banetti
case had already become a complete clusterfuck for the city of Oakland. Drugs,
guns, and most recently, women, had been the business Banetti made his fortune
off of. Too many men had been lost in the last month, too many wives had lost
their husbands. Good cops, good men. He was desperate to take the bastard down
before more lives were lost and before more women were kidnapped and sold to
the highest bidder.

"A threat. To the captain."

Lucas' heart pounded deep in his chest and his stomach
rolled. "What kind of threat?" he asked dangerously. Any threat was
to be taken seriously, any threat was going to cause a whole lot of chaos in
his head, but any threat that would touch Aislinn in
any way
was going
to cause a war. He wouldn't allow it.

"Why don't you come down to evidence with me? It showed
up on the captain's desk early this morning and everyone is having a fit.
Theresa found it when she was picking up the evaluations. Said it had looked so
out of place from the usual crap on his desk that she didn't hesitate to tell
someone to check it out."

He stood quickly to follow Justin down to evidence and
pulled out his cell phone, dialing the captain's number. It was two rings
before he answered and Lucas waved Justin ahead of him. He didn't want anyone
listening to his conversation, one of the many things he took from William
Brannock's many lessons over the years, keep what you know close and covered
until you have no doubt it's safe. Aislinn's face kept flashing before his eyes
and he knew the captain would agree with what he was about to propose.

"Shade? I'm almost to the station."

"I realize that, sir, but I wanted to talk to you about
something. There was a letter on your desk this morning that Theresa found. A
threat. I'm about to head down to evidence to take a look at it. Rains
suggested it might be connected to Banetti. I wanted to talk to you before you
said anything about-"

"Aislinn. No one, but you knows she is back,
right?"

"That's what she said this morning, sir. I think it
would be better if it stayed that way. I have a feeling this threat is
personal. We got close last week. You got
too close
and they know
it."

He sighed and grumbled a few curses under his breath that
normally Lucas would laugh about because Liam Brannock had always tried to hide
his cursing around Isabelle and Ash, but was never really good at it,
especially after the two boys started to swear like sailors in front of
everyone.