Sweet Obsession (Men of Whiskey Row Book 1) (2 page)

Without looking at each other, the brothers quickly unzipped their pants and relieved themselves into the grave. Once finished, Darby contemptibly spat into the hole then shook lighter fluid down into it. When the can was empty he nodded at Jack.

Jack reached into his pocket and produced a lighter. He flicked it open and a blue flame shot out almost hypnotizing him. As he spoke, his voice took on the Irish accent that only came out when the boys were emotional.

“We do this to honor our ma, Moira Sullivan. A kind and beautiful lady she was. May she finally rest in peace without having to look over ‘er shoulder for yer’ sorry arse. She was a true angel, loved by everyone who knew ‘er, especially her boys. I know she’s happy now to be rid o’ the likes o’ ye as we are. Yer’ gone but will never be forgotten, Ma. May you rot in hell for all eternity, Patrick Sullivan, and even then t’would be too short a time for ye in our opinion.” Darby nodded; and with that, Jack dropped the flame into the pit of hell, his eyes burning with unshed tears of rage and sorrow.

Quickly the flames spread, consuming the casket in a blazing fury and almost reaching the top of the grave. As the fire burned, Jack and Darby both looked on serenely. It climbed higher just as the rain started falling softly. They gave the burning pit the one-fingered salute before quickly gathering up their trash and stuffing it into the backpack. Darby pulled out their raincoats before putting the backpack on, while Jack wrapped Casey in the blanket, making sure he was protected from the quickly-falling rain. They started down the hill when Casey stirred sleepily, opening his big hazel eyes.

“Is he truly gone, Jackie?” Casey asked in a whisper, as if afraid to believe it.

Jack squeezed him closer as he answered, “Dinna fash yerself, Case. He’ll not be botherin’ you again. Get some rest now.” And Casey went back to sleep, a peaceful smile on his face.

The rain started to come down harder, and by the time they reached the bottom of the hill, they were exhausted; and it would already be a long way back to town. It was at that moment that they noticed a black sedan on the side of the dirt road. Two men, underneath umbrellas, were leaning against the hood. They appeared to be waiting for the boys.

The dark-haired one had a full beard and wore his hair slicked back in a ponytail. He was a huge, muscular man that stood six feet six inches tall and wore a lumberjack plaid shirt and well-worn jeans with work boots. Jack recognized Alexei Romankov, the town’s richest business man. The boys nodded in respect to him, and he did the same.

The other man wore an expensive dark suit, and his long dark blond hair was pulled back from his angular face. His expression was intense as he watched them through narrowed, dark eyes. He was a stranger, and that was completely unacceptable to the boys as it was synonymous with danger. Darby quickly pulled his trusty switchblade from his front shirt pocket. The blade gleamed with deadly intent as he placed himself in front of his brothers.

“Who the fuck are you?” Darby snarled. Alexei quickly hid a smile. The blond stranger raised his eyebrows and stood up straight. He murmured, “You weren’t joking, old friend,” before turning to face the boys again.

“Young man, if you don’t wish for me to give you the ass kicking you rightly deserve, you will put that knife away. NOW!” he spoke sharply, in a gentrified tone.  To Jack’s surprise, Darby obeyed immediately. Nodding at Jack, he continued. “My name is Ian Rusnik, and I knew your mother. In the event that something happened to her, I was to come immediately for you. Unfortunately, I did not hear of her passing until this morning,” he said sorrowfully. “You are to come live with me now.”

“How do we know you are who you say you are?” Jack asked suspiciously. He was unaware his ma had any friends other than the ones his father had allowed her to have, including Alexei’s wife Vivienne. She was certainly not allowed to be friends with any man. Suddenly he was very tired. His arms were heavy from carrying Casey. He just wanted to get out of the cold rain and be alone with his thoughts.

At that question, Darby’s blade came out again. As Jack glared at the stranger defiantly, he could feel Alexei’s sharp gaze on him. He daren’t look his way, because then he would be reminded of his mother’s friendship with the man’s wife. For sure he would lose it. He needed to be strong for his brothers, not bawling like a stupid baby. Thanks to his bastard da, he was now the head of the Sullivan family.

Ian gave Darby a disapproving look and cleared his throat. To Jack he said calmly, “Loose wall in the pantry.” Jack froze, remembering his last conversation with his mother as she furiously whispered to him while his father screamed through the locked bedroom door.

Grabbing his shoulders, Moira looked him in the eye. “Looks like we’ve been found out, boyo. I want you to take yer’ brothers far from here. Yer’ now in charge, Jackie. Go to the McNally residence; they’ll know what to do. Stay off the main road. When this all settles down, the money I’ve saved for us is in the loose wall in the pantry. Remember that. Loose wall in the pantry. You boys are my greatest loves
.
Always remember that and be happy.” She said this calmly as she kissed and hugged each of them tightly. They sobbed quietly as their father’s roars filled the house. “Now go, Jackie! I’m counting on you. Go!”

With tears in her eyes, Moira shoved the bedroom window open for them. Jack knew in his heavy heart that this would be the last time he saw her alive. Grabbing her hand he pleaded. “Come with us, Ma!”

Moira Sullivan touched her eldest son’s face and offered a smile full of heartache and regret. “Jackie, I’m giving you and yer’ brothers a chance to be free of this hellhole I’ve created. I wish things coulda been different, but they can’t. Be happy,
a stór
.”

Straightening up, her eyes cooled as she said firmly “Now as yer’ ma, I order you to leave this house and not look back.” And with that, she shoved him halfway out the window. He jumped the short fall to the ground and ran with his brothers towards the woods as they heard the bedroom door burst open.

Screams of fury and agony filled the night air and twice he had to wrestle Darby back as his younger brother tried to return to the house, tears of rage streaming down his face. Casey’s cries of terror were shrill, giving Jack a headache, but he forged ahead to their closest neighbor’s home, not once looking back.

“Jack?” The sound of Darby’s worried voice shook him from his reverie. “Jack… what should we do?”

“We should go with this man,” Jack said softly as he and Ian continued to stare at each other. The older man smiled slightly and reached for Casey. Darby stepped forward, “I’m watching ya’. Try anything stupid and you’ll not live through the night. Do ya’ ken?” 

Ian rolled his eyes and picked Casey up gently. “Young man, you are entirely too blood thirsty for your age. Perhaps a stint of military academy will straighten you out.”

Jack placed a hand on Darby’s shoulder to calm him while looking at the blond man now cradling his youngest brother. “We stay together, Ian.” His tone was ice cold and his eyes far wiser than his years.

Alexei gave a sharp bark of laughter and Jack could sense his approval. Eyebrows raised, Ian said calmly “Of course, Jackson. Please, let’s leave now and get out of this dreadful weather.”

As he walked past Ian to the car, Darby muttered under his breath, “City girl.”

“Go on, boys. I’ll take care of this,” Alexei said in his heavily accented English; his gaze approving as he looked up the mountain to the flames burning bright despite the rain.

Jack started to follow his brother to the car, but Ian stopped him with a question.

“Want to tell me what happened up there?” He asked speculatively. Jack looked up at him and could see the reflection of the fire burning in the older man’s eyes.

“Bonfire party,” he murmured, not looking back as he stepped into the warm vehicle.

Chapter One

Present day…

New York City, New York

The door to the study flew open, startling the tall, handsome man who was just about to knock on it. He immediately stepped out of the way as a ball of fury with a mutinous expression flew by him, leaving a cloud of orange blossom and white gardenia in her wake. The scent instantly aroused him just
as it had for the last four years whenever he encountered it. He watched for a moment as her long, lean legs carried her swiftly towards the front doors; a butler with a bland expression, already holding one open for her.

“Get back here, Noelle! We are not finished! Noelle! Noelle!!” The older black gentleman shouted furiously as he stood behind his desk waiting for his command to be obeyed.

He’ll be waiting awhile,
Jack thought before he spoke for the first time. “She’s gone, Ronald.”

Jack watched with a barely suppressed smile as the other man, now annoyed, threw himself back into his chair. The normally personable senator looked more like a petulant child throwing a tantrum. “Anything I can help you with?”

Jack was curious as to what would make the normally shy and quiet woman break that pattern and rise like a stormy phoenix. The transformation had been magnificent, he mused, thinking of the fire in her eyes and elevated color to her face. Her movements reminded him of an electric storm back home in Tennessee.

Ronald sighed, shaking his head in the negative. “Noelle’s asking me to release some of her money from the trust fund my parents left her so that she and her girlfriend can start that damned event planning business. I don’t think it’s a good idea. There are already too many companies like that in this city. They’ll get swallowed whole by all the bigwigs, and then she’ll be out of that money. I tried to explain that to her, and what do I get for my troubles? Ungratefulness and a temper that rivals her mother’s to boot.”

Jack inwardly cursed the older man for his assumptions. Didn’t he know that doubt was the biggest
killer of dreams, and not failure? As he looked at the well-polished man sitting across from him, he knew that Ronald Kramer didn’t have a clue. He and his wife Alicia came from old money. From birth, he’d been groomed to be a successful politician like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him. His idea of struggling would be whether he should wear the dark red tie or the burgundy one.

“How much was she asking for?” Jack asked casually, hoping his tone conveyed just the right amount of disinterest. “By the way, here’s the list of charity events that I thought you and Alicia might want to look into sponsoring. I highlighted the ones that are close to the First Lady’s heart.”

Ronald eagerly reached for the papers that Jack held out. “Noelle wanted a two hundred-thousand-dollar advance. Thanks; I’ll go over these with Alicia tonight when she gets in from Florida.”

Jack frowned. This was Alicia Kramer’s third trip to Florida this month. “What’s going on in Florida?”

“We’re looking into having a home built there, and she’s been scouting properties,” Ronald replied absently as he flipped through the pages. “I see a couple already that I know she’ll want in on.”

Alicia Kramer, with her coolly unflappable personality, was the epitome of class. Secretly, her staff called her “The Robot” as she appeared devoid of emotion. This statement wasn’t entirely true though because she did have two passions: The first was meddling in her children and grandchildren’s lives, often by giving tons of unsolicited advice. And the second was Michelle Obama.

Alicia was obsessed with being at every event that the First Lady attended as well as what she wore. It was in the Kramer’s contract with
R.R. & S Relations
that Alicia was at every event that Mrs. Obama attended, if possible. Jack had to also add his own clause that the Kramer’s would be on their own if they were deemed a stalking threat due to Alicia’s extreme fondness for Mrs. O. Normally, Ronald indulged his wife to her heart’s desire, but even he had to draw the line at spending Christmas in Hawaii just so they could run into the First Family.

When it came to her passions, Alicia was nuttier than a squirrel’s den before winter. It was one of the main reasons that made Jack hesitant to jump into her crosshairs regarding a certain beauty. Not that he’d had much of an opportunity to, considering she avoided him like the plague whenever they happened to be in the same vicinity.