Staking Her Claim...: Book 1 in the Patricks' Brothers series (6 page)

My training hasn’t been focused on building muscle or bulk, but learning how to take down a man and keep him that way without having to use excessive force. Holds, grips, pressure points. That kind of shit.

In the beginning, I assumed it would be all bullshit wrestling style moves, but I was way off the mark. Watching Finn, who’s the same height as me at six-foot-four and two hundred odd pounds, bring down a man with three inches on him and a good fifty pounds was a sight to behold. In less than ten seconds, the guy was flat on his back on the mat, and gasping for breath.

He wasn’t injured, but Finn had flipped him, the man landing so hard he’d winded himself with no hope of getting up quickly. From that second on, I vowed to absorb everything Finn could teach me and have been doing so ever since.

“Nah, I got this, Rob,” Brookes says with a smirk. “He isn’t running out of here with his tail between his legs in ten come check on him would you?”

“Sure thing. You planning on needing help disposing of the body, or do you have someone you employ that does that sort of shit,” I ask just as amused.

With a chuckle, he shakes his head.

“No, not really. There isn’t a lot of call for cleaners in my line of work, but I’ll consider it if we get many more of his kind that’s for sure.”

Taking her hand in his, Brookes squeezes Harper’s hand quickly before letting it fall back onto her lap.

“I’ve got some stuff I need to go over with you regarding my schedule for next week, Sunshine. Give me fifteen then meet me in my office.”

He didn’t voice it as a request, more like a demand, and it’s plain to see that Harper isn’t fond of those in the least.

“I’ll be there when I finish tearing jackass number two a new asshole, Boss.”

“Who’s jackass one,” Jett asks, grinning wildly.

Flourishing her hand around, she replies,

“Our almighty ruler of course.”

“Of course. How could I forget,” he mumbles, trying to hold back a laugh.

Waiting until Brookes stalks from the room and the rest of the Patricks’ men leave, Harper keeps quiet, her intense scrutiny of me never wavering. Not even when Jett and Landen place smacking kisses on both of her cheeks does she tear her eye away from my face. She simply smiles at them and waves them away, muttering something about Herpes and manwhores.

“I’ve always had a theory about you, Rob,” she says cryptically.

“Do tell.” I really don’t want to be having this discussion with her, but there’s no escaping it now. If I tired she’d only hunt me down and have it later, so I might as well get it over and done with.

Sighing, Harper smiles sadly.

“Well my theory isn’t limited to you, but all men like you.” This is getting stranger by the second, but I keep my mouth shut and let her go on regardless of how uncomfortable this conversation may get. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and you’re a big man, Rob, so I can only assume your fall will be huge. I can’t say I’ll be sad when it happens, it should be fun to watch, but my concern is who you’re going to take down when you do indeed fall. Because it’s coming, Rob. I can feel it.”

“What the hell are you talking about,” I snap.

“She waited years you know,” Harper states changing tact. “Even with everyone telling her you were long gone, that you wouldn’t ever come back, she waited. I thought she’d give up after a while if everyone left her alone, me included, but she didn’t. Nine years, Rob. Nine years she waited for you to come back, but you never did.”

Jesus Christ. I was wrong, so fucking wrong. I thought that Alysia would have forgotten about me as soon as I left. I figured that without me around to hold her back, stop her from living her life to the fullest she’d move on, but if what Harper is saying is true she didn’t. She may never have moved on for all I know.

Alysia was only seventeen when I left to my eighteen. She was young, fucking beautiful, and destined for bigger things than being stuck with a loser like me. It should make me feel guilty that Alysia had held onto the idea of me, but it didn’t. It made me feel insanely good, like beat my fists against my chest and roar in pleasure good.

“Then she got hurt,” Harper whispers, her voice laced with despair. “I thought we were going to lose her. I sat with her for hours after they shipped her home from Germany where she’d originally been treated. I sat and held her hand, promising her that if she woke up, I would do anything I could to make sure she would never hurt again.”

Pinning me with an angry glare, she adds,

“And that’s why we’re talking now because I can promise you this; if you hurt my friend if you break her any more than she already is I’ll kill you, Rob. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

If any other woman issued a warning like that, I’d have laughed at her. But based on the look of resolve on her face, the steel determination in her eyes, and her clenched fists, Harper means every word. And I don’t doubt for a minute that if she couldn’t carry the threat out herself, she’d find one of the Patricks’ men, probably all of them, that would.

“I don’t want to hurt her, Harper,” I admit sadly. That’s the truth. The last thing I want to do is hurt Alysia. I’d rather cut my own arm off than cause her another ounce of pain she doesn’t deserve.

“But you will, I know you will. That’s the problem, Rob, you being here is hurting her. When I saw you walk into the office with Brookes, I knew this was finally going to come to a head. It’s been fifteen years, and I knew the second you set up offices here, took the job the guys offered you and moved in with Brookes that my best friend was going to get hurt.”

Her words slice through me like the sharp blade of a knife, the pain is intense and complete, and I can’t speak to defend myself. That’s how much her statement hurts. It eviscerates me that she thinks me being here is causing the woman I love pain, but what’s worse is the fact she could be right.

“I’ve been thinking about whether I should beg you to leave, to just disappear like you did before for her sake, or if I should stay out of it and let the chips fall however they may. Do you want to know what I decided?” Nodding my head, she says, “I decided that this is something that needed to happen. Alysia needs to see that you’re not still the same man she loved more than anything all those years ago. She needs closure, Rob. And no matter how hard it is going to be to watch her hurting because of you again, it’s necessary for her to move on.”

Fuck no that’s not happening, there will be no moving on for either of us. If I hadn’t already decided I was going to pursue Alysia until she gave in and accepted she needed me as much as I needed her, Harper’s confession that she’d never gotten over me would have clinched it for me. It only served to prove what I already deep down knew; Alysia was put on this Earth for me and I was made especially for her.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work for me, Harper.”

Frowning in confusion, she asks,

“What? What’s not going to work for you? The hanging around part, or the not hurting her part?”

Crossing my arms across my chest, I mirror her angry glare.

“All of it,” I snap. “I get that you’re trying to look out for your friend and that’s an admirable thing to do, but you need to understand that my relationship with Alysia trumps yours.”

Scoffing, Harper cocks a brow in question.

“Does it now? And why would you think that, because you know her so well? Because you’ve been her for her when she really needed you? Why the hell would you think that you have any relationship with her, let alone one that is as important as you say it is?”

I know getting Harper offside isn’t the smartest move I could make, but I need her to understand that I won’t tolerate her getting in between Alysia and me. Not when everything I’ve ever wanted is just within reach finally.

“This isn’t a competition and we’re not in middle school, Harper. I don’t give a fuck about winning unless it comes to Alysia. I’m not here to hurt her that’s the last thing I want, but I’m not going to lie to you and tell you dealing with the history we've
1
got is going to be easy, it’s not. She’s going to want to punch me in the face more times than I’ll be able to count in the weeks to come, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up. I want her back in my life. In the end, it’s up to her how much or little she decides to include me, but don’t for a second think I’ll ever stop chasing her or stop begging her to give me another chance, because I won’t.”

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I man up and make the admission I should have made to Alysia all those years ago. I hate I’m telling Harper before her, but I need her to fully comprehend how serious I am.

“I love her, Harper. I’ve always loved her, and if that hasn’t changed in all the time we’ve spent apart, I don’t think it ever will. I love her more now than I ever could have imagined loving her when I was a stupid, fucked up kid trying to make it from one day to the next. She’s the only person who can chase away my nightmares. She’s the only woman I’ve ever wanted. She soothes my fucking soul, Harper. She’s everything to me, but you already know that don’t you?”

Risking a glance at her, I see the tears welling in her eyes and sink further into my chair with relief. Harper’s tears can only mean one thing; she believes me.

A small smile cracks the sadness in her eyes when she speaks.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” she says with a nod. Brushing her skirt down as she stands, she makes an offer that blows my mind. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, Rob. I just want my best friend to be happy, and if it’s you that’s going to make that happen, then I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

As she leaves, I stay seated, stunned by her words. Slowly the room fades around me and I get lost in memories that have laid dormant for years. Memories of Alysia’s smile and the way her soft hands felt on my skin. I can remember like it was yesterday; the way she made me feel special, cherished, important.

I remember everything about her. And regardless of how much time has passed, it only makes me want her more knowing that she’s still the same beautiful girl I once knew. She might have a tougher exterior now, have hardened her heart toward me, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to experience everything with her.

If I have to fight for her to give us a chance, convince her to risk her heart with me one last time it will be worth it because she’s my everything. This is me staking my claim. I will win her love back whether I deserve it or not, because there is no other acceptable option. She is mine, and I won’t stop until she knows it.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You did what?” I exclaim. Feeling the desperate need to see if Harper is running a fever, or requires a mandatory psychiatric hold at a state-run facility, I touch the back of my hand to her forehead and sigh. With no signs of fever or sickness in sight, I have a distinct feeling it isn’t the latter. And that’s what worries me most about her declaration.

“I said, I talked to Mr. Hunky McHunkerson today after your brothers…”

Throwing my hand up, I interrupt her recollection of the uncomfortable conversation she had with Rob after I’d stormed out today. I heard her the first time, and I do
not
need to hear it retold again. After all, my question was a rhetorical one, dripping with disgust. An answer is not required.

As a matter of fact, I’d prefer she just not speak for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, sensing my desire to tear her a new one she snaps her mouth shut, not saying another word. She honestly has no idea how close I came to killing her for meddling in my life this time.

Sure, there have been plenty of times in the past that we’ve both come precariously close to crossing the unspoken line in our friendship that would find the other partaking in an extreme form of retribution, but until today, I didn’t honestly believe either of us would take that last step. But obviously in light of recent conversations, I was oh so very wrong. With that in mind, my thoughts turn to how I intend to repay her for opening her big mouth when she should have had my back and kept it closed.

Just as I’m formulating the perfect plan, Harper snaps,

“Don’t even think about it, chicky. I know what you’re thinking and I promise you if you go there I’ll cut your hair off in your sleep like I did when we were ten.” Damn her for knowing me so well. My plan was a good one too, but not good enough to risk her hacking my hair off. She took eight inches off it back then, it was not a god look for me, so I suppose I’ll just have to settle for thinking about all the things I’d like to do to her instead of actually doing them.

“It’s not funny, Harp,” I spit when I see the evil smile stretching across her face. Her smirk has me reconsidering immediately.

Throwing herself back into the soft cushions of the couch she hums happily, downing the shot of tequila she’s been nursing for the last five minutes.

“It really is, babe. You should have seen his face when I told him I’d considered running him off. It was priceless.”

I have no doubt it would have been, but not even her description of Rob’s irritation is enough to ease my desire to kick her tiny ass.

“You know I could have you hog-tied and stuffed in my closet in less than a minute, don’t you?” I say, trying to make her understand how frustrated and angry I am at what she’s done.

Apparently it doesn’t work because she responds, saying,

"Yeah, good luck with that, Aly.” She doesn’t believe for a second I’ll follow through with it. Even I can admit for the most part it was an idle threat, but that doesn’t mean I won’t if she continues on her one-woman quest to find everyone, myself included happy endings. In this case, she’s barking up the wrong tree, however. There will be no happy endings with Rob. He had his chance and he threw it away like yesterday’s trash. So regardless of what my best friend has planned when it comes to, Rob, she will be sorely disappointed with the lack of results it yields.

Like I said, my best friend is a hopeless romantic, albeit an unlucky in love one herself, she doesn’t let that slow her down any. No, Harper is the epitome of the unwanted fairy godmother. In my case, a very annoying one. Especially seeing as all of her recent and previous attempts have failed so spectacularly.

For too long Harper has tried to get me back in the dating game. A game I was never a player in. She gave up trying to reason with me over a year ago, deciding it was much easier to intervene on my behalf, setting up blind dates with the multitudes of single, eligible men who inhabited our great state of, Texas. When I realized Harper wouldn’t give up her one-woman mission, I relented and begrudgingly went along with several of her half-assed attempts at matchmaking.

Why were they half-assed?

Well, the first guy and I decided to meet at my favorite Italian restaurant for dinner but arrived almost an hour late. I was just getting ready to leave when he sauntered in the door acting as though he owned the place. He then proceeded to spend the rest of the date talking about how beautiful his mother is, and how he would never begin to consider moving out of his Mom’s house.

Our pathetic excuse for a date ended when he asked if I’d be okay with splitting the bill with him. Now can you see why I wasn’t all fired up to try again. But try I did. After all, they couldn’t all be that bad, could they?

I was wrong, the dates got progressively worse. My next foray into dating ended with my date for the night handcuffed and stuffed into the back of a police cruiser. Apparently he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. For armed robbery no less. When I asked Harper why in the hell she would set me up with a felon, her response was to laugh her ass off and claim she didn’t know. Likely story.

My third and last date was a week before I headed to Blackwater, Colorado to help my brother Liam and Devil’s Spawn with a situation they needed my particular skill set for.

I can’t say that I was overly enthused to travel out into the middle of nowhere, Blackwater wasn’t exactly a raging metropolis, but when my brother called asking for help, there was no way I would consider turning him down. Family always helps family. And if Liam needed me, I’d be there for him.

Aside from that dates poor timing, I have to say; it had seemed promising. Until he dropped me home afterward. That’s when everything I’d considered attractive about the intelligent, handsome man in front of me turned to shit.

Alex, my date, had been attentive, kept the conversation flowing throughout the evening, and he was sexy as hell to boot. The holy trifecta. What we lacked in common ended up being great talking points. Something I hadn’t experienced with many men other those in my immediate family, friends, and the men in my unit while I was enlisted. It had been years since I’d had an intelligent conversation with the opposite sex that I found engaging. It was just a shame he had to go and ruin it.

Opening car doors for me, pulling out my seat at the restaurant, and bringing me flowers weren’t things I expected. It was nice, but not expected. Alex pulled out all the stops that night. Walking me to my front door wasn’t necessary, but it was appreciated. And making sure I was safely inside before he turned to leave was sweet, but also not required. It seemed chivalry wasn’t dead after all.

Where the date fell flat was the goodnight kiss portion of the night. For lack of a better description; Alex kissed like a dead fish. Too much tongue, too little finesse, and altogether too stomach turning to let it go any further.

I could only imagine what having sex with a man that couldn’t get it through his head that you don’t need to inhale your victim would be like. Actually, scratch that. I didn’t want to imagine anything of the sort. I was all for fumbling in the dark, messy, no holds barred sex, but that wouldn’t be happening with Alex.

The sad part was, if he were even half as attentive during our one epically disappointing kiss as he had been on our great date, I would have slept with him. And, I would have done it on the first date. It’s not something I usually do, sleep with men after one date. But I’m a single woman, attractive, or, at least, I think I am, and fucking lonely. So yes, as sad as it is, I most definitely would have given it up if Alex had shown any potential in the intimacy department.   

“I’m serious, Harp. What were you thinking? You know better than to encourage any of those assholes. They see it as a challenge, and will stop at nothing until they win. They’re competitive like that. And you of all people are fucking well aware of the fact that everything ends in tears when it comes to those moody assholes.” She knows I’m not wrong, and by the look on her face she’s beginning to understand. Her look of chagrin doesn’t fool me, though. I know it’s only a matter of time before she forgets this conversation and continues to meddle.

When I said Harper knows just as well as I do that they are relentless in their competition, I wasn’t joking. There was one time when Harper and I were fourteen that Brookes and Brandt had a thing for the same girl and that didn’t end well for anyone. Actually, that’s the understatement of the century. It ended horribly for
everyone
.

With only eleven months between them, Brookes and Brandt have always been highly competitive. The sad part is, as many times as Brandt had his ass kicked by Brookes he just wouldn’t give up. He still doesn’t.

I respect the hell out of him for his determination, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s stupid for always going into a fight knowing he’s lost before it even began. Sometimes you have to pick your battles. And no matter how many times I’ve tried to tell him that, Brandt still won’t listen.

At almost six-foot-six, Brookes has a good two inches on Brandt and, at least, thirty pounds of solid muscle. It’s clear to anyone who set eyes them side-by-side that Brandt won’t last five minutes in the ring with Brookes. But seeing as Uncle Luke has decreed the only place for the boys to fight their battles and get out their pent-up aggression is at the gym in the boxing ring that’s where they more often than not end up if neither are willing to back down.

Sadly, Mom has doctored more split lips, black eyes, and fractured ribs than any woman known to mankind by the time my brothers were eighteen that I considered her to be a fully qualified nurse. If not, then she was by the time they hit twenty-one, because the two hotheads were, and still are, going at each other at least once a week.

The time I’m referring to, when we were fourteen was worse than their usual disagreements, though. That time it didn’t end with a simple visit to Mom’s kitchen, an ice pack, and some strapping. It ended with a trip to the local emergency department, a cast, some stitches, and both of my brothers being grounded until they turned sixty.

Not that Mom could actually follow through with that last part. Brookes and Brandt were nothing if not creative when it came to getting out of being grounded. Sneaking out of their bedroom windows to meet up with girls or their friends to attend some party had become second nature to them.

Years later I found out that it wasn’t a girl they’d been fighting over as we’d all been led to believe. It was actually Harper they’d fought over. Not in the sense that Brandt had any interest in her ‘that’ way. No, my brother wasn’t that stupid. It all boiled down to one of Brandt’s friends on the high school baseball team making inappropriate comments about, Harper and how he’d like to tap that.

It wasn’t the first time things like that had been said about my best friend. Far from it. But it was the first time Brandt hadn’t spoken up to defend her. And unfortunately for him, it was the one time Brookes was around to hear it.

Brandt tried to explain why he didn’t defend Harper’s honor, but Brookes wasn’t in a place where he was willing to listen. As far as he was concerned, his younger brother had committed a cardinal sin in not speaking up and had to pay for it. A punishment he took great pleasure in dishing out.

By the end of the ass kicking Brookes delivered, Brandt was sporting a broken arm, split eyebrow, and a fractured rib. Mom was furious, Uncle Luke was livid, and Brandt wasn’t talking. I don’t know if that’s because Brookes had sworn him to secrecy or if it was simply because he was so humiliated he’d let Harper down, but regardless of the reason he didn’t utter a word about what had caused his beat down. Again, I respected him for protecting Brookes, because, after all, that’s what families do. They protect each other. But I can’t say that I wasn’t concerned about the impact that would have on their relationship.

Brookes and Brandt were close. In fact, I’d be willing to say they had the closest bond out of us all. Me and Finn aside, that is. I despised they were at each other’s throats because they’d never fought like this before. Not ever. If they did, it was over as soon as the ass-kicking ended, and they were back to their usual selves. This was different, though. Brookes was holding a grudge. One I didn’t think he’d be getting over it anytime soon.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d believe you were pissed for another reason altogether. One that has more to do with your latent attraction to the hot man-meat that graced the meeting this morning. I know you better than anyone, and I know you can’t possibly be pissed I issued some sort of a Neanderthal challenge to the big man,” Harper states, grinning.