Leverage (The Brannock Siblings)
Read Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) Online
Authors: Jessica Wilde
Leverage
By: Jessica Wilde
Other titles by Jessica Wilde
Every One of Me
Our Time
Coming Soon
Conned (The Brannock Siblings, #2)
Copyright © 2014 Jessica Wilde
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce,
distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means without written consent
from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or
dead, is coincidental.
Cover photo from iStockphoto.com
Cover design by Jessica Wilde
ISBN-13: 978-1495276989
For you, because let's face it…
without you, there is no point.
Table of Contents
Ash
My life has probably been the least exciting that a life
could possibly be.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I've had a good life. A happy
life for the most part. I just always felt like something had been missing.
Adventure. Thrill.
I wanted to live a stimulating life. Make memories that I
could tell my children about and keep them captivated by the stories of my
experiences.
Nothing so far, unless becoming a workaholic is thrilling to
you.
I worked from the very moment I turned 16 and between school
and work, never had time to do anything else.
But I was taken care of.
My dad has been a cop since before I was born and has been
the captain for as long as I can remember and a damn good one. He knows
everything that happens in his city and would give his life for his men.
He
has stories.
Lots of them.
He has seen a lot in his 63 years, so you can imagine how
protective he would be of his youngest child and only daughter. My two older
brothers followed in his footsteps. Both of them cops, both of them adrenaline
junkies, and - thank the good Lord - both living far enough away that I was able
to breathe a little easier in my early adult years.
I didn't date in high school.
The reason, you ask?
Their names are Conall and Fergus. My brothers and quite
frankly, pains in my ass.
My parents were really into names that meant something.
Especially Irish names since my dad, William, is Irish. He always reminded us
that his name, when broken down, meant 'desire to protect'. Just a convenient
excuse, I think. Conall means 'strong wolf' and Fergus means 'man of vigor'.
Each chosen perfectly since they seriously lived up to the meaning.
Ridiculously lived up to it.
Mom and Dad named me Aislinn, meaning 'dream' or 'vision'.
Apparently, Mom had a dream the night I was conceived and saw me. She said when
I was born, it was like reliving a memory.
I love my name, honestly. But a lot of people aren't sure
how to pronounce it. I got a lot of 'Ace-lynns' and 'Eileens' throughout my
life. Another pain in my ass, but tolerable. It's pronounced ASH-ling. I just
tell everyone to call me Ash.
But I digress.
My brothers. Conall and Fergus. They chased off every boy
that looked my way. Well almost every boy. They let the ones they liked hang
around, which was maybe two guys, but I was still completely off limits. They
never treated me like the annoying little sister, but they made it their life
mission to ensure I never saw adventure or the back seat of a car with a guy.
Told me I couldn't be a cop like Dad if I wanted to and that I was supposed to
act like a lady.
A
lady
.
Did I ever get the chance to be a lady, a girl, a woman?
NO!
They are both as protective of me as my father, but at least
Dad never locked me in my room on Prom night and told the only guy who asked me
- who I would later find out was
paid
to ask me - that I was in the
bathroom with diarrhea from a bad burrito and it - I quote -
"Didn't
sound good."
I spent the next hour plotting my revenge on them.
That is until they started feeling guilty and got Lucas to
take me at the last minute.
Lucas Shade.
The Lucas that took me to my Junior Prom when he was a
senior because my brothers told him that he was the only guy they trusted
because he didn't think of their sister 'that way'. We danced once the whole
night and he didn't say more than a few words to me the entire time, but it was
still one of the greatest nights of my life.
The Lucas that more than frequently left the room the second
I walked in after I turned 15.
The reason I am even telling you all of this.
Because Lucas is right now standing at my father's front
door, looking at me like I just grew another head or two. Or maybe he was
looking at me like I was the lost city of Atlantis and he had just stumbled
upon it. I couldn't decide. I tend to imagine things.
He has been my brothers' best friend since the time they all
said their first swear word, which unfortunately for Mom, was around the age of
one.
He has been the kid who always came over for dinner and
slept on the couch because his mom was too drunk to cook and had a 'special
friend' over.
He has been the one guy, I knew with every fiber of my
being, I was in love with. Completely. Irrevocably. Miserably.
But there was no way he would ever feel anything for me. If
not for the way my brothers protected me and scared off any human being with a
penis or the way my dad kept a shot gun hidden in a secret compartment in the
grandfather clock right by the front door… if not for any of that, then for the
fact that I was me.
Aislinn Brannock. Captain Brannock's only daughter and the
least exciting person in the city of Oakland, California.
He was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear a damn
thing because the loud rush of blood flooding my head drowned everything out
and I was standing there like an idiot, trying not to drool because… damn he
was fit.
"I'm sorry?"
He smirked because he was well aware of the little problem I
had when it came to him. My brothers told him I had crushed on him since I was
5 years old and the real reason I never went anywhere was because I didn't want
to miss the nights that he came to our house.
The assholes did this
in front of me
, too.
That was the last time I saw him. Seven years ago on my 21st
birthday. Not the worst birthday of my life, but all of my birthdays were bad
since the 17th one.
It's the same day that Mom died.
Talk about a buzz kill when I was finally old enough to
drink. My brothers and Lucas took me to the only bar Dad allowed, the one that
all the cops went to after work. They ordered me all the drinks I wanted and by
the time I got to the point where the memory of Mom didn't quite hurt so much
anymore, it was too late to take back the three words that had spewed from my
mouth due to 'loose tongue syndrome' that occurs after one too many tequila
shots.
I tried to take it back, but Asshole #1 and Asshole #2 took
it to a whole new level.
"I asked you when you got back," Lucas said, his
tone more than a little amused.
Right, someone at the door.
Rein in the flashbacks, Ash.
"Oh, um, I got back last night. I had a late flight so
no one really knows that I'm back, yet. Dad didn't really want to announce it
since it wasn't a for sure thing and I didn't really want him to because I
really didn't plan on moving back in with him. I'm just here for a little while
until I can find a place…"
Oh, God. I was rambling and Lucas was smiling at me. The
crooked one that always made me want to kneel down at his feet and thank the
good Lord for creating such a beautiful creature.
"Sorry," I said weakly, and tugged on the end of a
lock of hair, something I did when I got nervous. If I was around him too much,
I would end up bald one day.
He chuckled and winked at me, "It's good to have you
back, Ash."
The wink.
The famous wink that caused me to never have any
girlfriends, they were all extremely jealous of me because he only ever winked
at
me
. I always thought it was because he knew I was the only one that
could handle the force of that sexy tease and unleashing it on the other girls
of the world would lead to the dwindling of mankind because women wouldn't ever
settle for anything less than Lucas. Of course, he would probably take it upon
himself to replenish the earth with inhabitants and have a great time doing it.
Another reason why I was nowhere on his radar.
He was experienced.
I was not. Not even a little bit.
"Are you okay?" His voice was deep and smooth, so
incredibly sexy and it washed over me and snapped me back to the reality I
couldn't seem to stay in for longer than a few seconds.
"Huh?"
"You seem a little distracted. I was asking you if your
dad was still in or if he left for the station already."
"Oh! No, he is still here. Come on in."
I opened the door a little wider and stepped to the side,
making a space big enough for him to move his gorgeous frame inside, but small
enough that he had to come a little closer so I could smell the familiar scent
that always seemed to radiate off of him. I was good at this little move after
years of practice. No one had a clue what I was really doing.
And there it was.
A spicy, masculine scent that made me dizzy and brought back
memories that wouldn't help me with my lack of attention at all.
He cleared his throat when I stood there longer than what
was considered normal with the door still open and my eyes grazing his entire
body. He was tall, standing at about 6'3", a little bit wider in the shoulders
than before, a lot more muscular, and it was glorious.
I finally shook my head clear and shut the door with a soft
click.
"I don't mean to pry," he said cautiously,
"but why are you back?"
Pry? He could pry me all he wanted. I wouldn't complain.
I stifled a girlish giggle that bubbled up from my thoughts.
"Oh, um, had a little mishap back in Ohio."
"A mishap," he repeated and his brow furrowed in
confusion.
Growing up the way I did, I learned to be smart, and not
just smart in school or with numbers, but street smart. I was always careful,
always weighed my options before making a decision, and rarely made mistakes.
Guess I shouldn't be too surprised that he would be confused.
"Yeah, I guess the guy I was dating thought I had more
money than I actually let on, but instead of leaving me a few bucks to keep on
living, decided it was more frugal of him to just take it all."
I had been staring at his chest while I rambled and noticed
his muscles tense a little more with each word that left my mouth.
Good.
At least the people that mattered to me were upset by what
happened. The so called friends I had back in Ohio told me it was my fault and
laughed about it. Another reason I didn't belong there anymore.
"How the hell did that happen?" Lucas asked, his
voice now strained with the first signs of anger. I wasn't sure what to expect
from him since he always reacted the way my brothers always did. He grew up
protecting me the same way, at least, when they were around he did. My brothers
had been close to coming to Ohio to drag me away, but only after torturing the
man who cheated me. Dad talked them down, barely.
"I trusted him? That's the only thing I can come up
with. He took my cards out of my purse when I wasn't in the room and when I got
back from work the next day, I found my apartment empty. He sold all my stuff,
too."
Now, I know how this sounds. Extreme. What kind of a person
does that to the woman he has been dating for 5 months and how does she not see
any sign of foul play beforehand?
A desperate kind of person does that and the woman who
doesn't see it coming, well she was just being ignorant. Apparently, his
real
girlfriend was pregnant back in Virginia and he was just killing time before
the baby came, screwing over anyone who was stupid enough to trust him.
One day later and he would have left with a lot more than my
Visa. I thought I had been ready to give up the other V-card currently still in
my life.
Yes, I am a 28 year old virgin.
Unheard of nowadays, right?
Well, I guess my brothers did
something
good for me.
They taught me to keep my legs closed until I was absolutely one hundred
percent ready to give that part of me to someone. The trail of broken hearts
they left behind reinforced my resolve every day. I had no intention of ending
up like one of those girls.
Lucas looked like he was ready to tear someone apart while I
just kept rambling.
"The funny thing is that all but one of my cards was
already closed. All he got was my bank card, so he got a little over fifteen
hundred bucks after five months of paying for dates that were really just a
waste of his time," I laughed. Really, it was funny if you thought about
it.
Why put all that time in for someone who you weren't
absolutely sure was rich? Just because I dressed nice and had a nice apartment
didn't mean anything. Dad helped me out with that stuff. I made just enough to
feed myself every month and pay my bills.
"There is nothing funny about it, Ash. Who the hell is
this guy?" he bit out, his bright blue eyes flashing with fire.
"I already took care of it, Lucas," my dad said
from the kitchen doorway. His tall frame and broad shoulders filled the space
he stood in. He was what my idea of a fairytale hero looked like. Strong and
confident. No one could mess with my dad and get away with it. "Wish I
could have beat the tar out of him myself, but not much I can do from across
the country."
He stepped over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek before
patting Lucas on the back.
"True," Lucas said, but he was still frowning.
"You ready for the meeting today?" Dad asked him,
changing the subject for good. He knew I didn't really want a lot of people to
know what happened, but around Lucas, I lost my head and always said too much.
His grin finally appeared and his eyes flickered with
excitement for a brief moment. "Always."
Oh yeah, Lucas is a cop, too. A detective, working for my
dad.
Yet another reason why nothing could ever happen between us
if he was ever interested.
God, I wish he was interested. He was dressed in dark jeans
that hung from his hips just right and a white dress shirt that looked like it
was made for him and was opened at the collar. His sleeves were rolled up to
his elbows showing off his tanned muscular forearms. Arms I would kill to have
around me. His tie was loose at the collar, like he was waiting to cinch it up
the minute he got to work. It was the same blue as his eyes, like the sky on a
cloudless summer day. Holy crap I was getting poetic
already
. I really
tried to stop my eyes from wandering, but they did their own thing and like
always, I didn't punish myself. He was just too handsome from his tuggable dark
hair, his sharp jaw, full lips, and dimples that were hidden at the moment but
I knew popped out when he
really
smiled. He rarely smiled like that, but
the few times I caught it were singed into my memory.