Chapter 6

 

Shane found himself torn.

He stood in front of a mirror in a shop that he normally wouldn’t be caught dead in, staring at his own image and cursing himself.

He looked like a fucking idiot.

Holly had invited him to dinner at Tommy’s restaurant and he was making every attempt to dress nicely, but he looked like absolute shit in a suit. He felt strange when he visited his brother’s grave in one, and he felt strange now.

The shit just didn’t fit him properly. It was too narrow at the shoulders, too wide at the waist – and despite the shop clerk’s insistence that the damn things could be tailored to fit, he still found himself skeptical. If he was going to be eating and drinking, he wanted to be comfortable. The simple truth of the matter was that when he sat down in suit pants, they strangled the fuck out of his cock, and he’d be damned if he would forgo underwear to compensate.

Looking at himself from several angles, Shane frowned hugely.

No way was he wasting six hundred dollars on this mess. That was about half of what he made in a week anyway, and he’d never wear the fucking thing again. In a fit of frustration, he yanked off the tie and suit jacket, tossing them on a nearby chair before he sauntered back to the dressing room, ignoring the salesman’s vain pitches.

If he was going to look nice, he would look nice his way, and that was that.

 

Two hours later, he reluctantly handed the keys of his bike over to the valet in Tommy’s parking lot before eying the building dubiously. When he and his brother had their falling out, Shane had sworn that he’d never set foot in what he declared to be a “shit establishment”. As he walked through the doors now, the comment came back to haunt him. Tommy’s restaurant was clearly very high class, and he imagined his brother had worked hard to make it that way.

“Oh my God, Shane?”

He looked to see none other than Kelly standing in front of the hostess’ podium, her blue eyes wide in shock.

He was less surprised to see her – but only because Holly already told him that Kelly worked as a manager in the restaurant. That, however, made her no less a sight for sore eyes. He couldn’t help but grin, holding out his arms. She came into his embrace without the slightest hesitation and he squeezed her hard.

She, like Holly, had obviously matured over the years. Kelly had always been the stereotypical beauty. In high school, she could have had any boy she chose, but she stuck with Holly, he and his brother because Holly was her best friend. All of them had been close and, despite the few times he and Kelly had hooked up, they remained that way with no hard feelings. In Shane’s humble opinion, Kelly had always been a bit more…forward than Holly. She wasn’t afraid to kiss a man – hell, she’d never been afraid to kiss him. And even now, there was a subtle slide of her body in the way she hugged him – something that said she was used to getting her way and using her curves to do it.

If Shane’s mind hadn’t been full of Holly, he might have been taken with her subtle offer. But instead of being aroused by the blonde minx in his arms, all he could remember was the way Holly clung to him when he hugged her a few days ago. There had been no sensuality in gesture – not the slightest suggestion. Instead, she clung to him as if she was afraid he’d let her go – afraid that something beyond the scope of her vision threatened and he was her port in the storm.

Meanwhile, he was trying to force his dick to behave.

The feel of Holly so warm and tight against him wreaked havoc on his senses. She smelled like lilac and vanilla and, in that moment, all he wanted was to carry her upstairs to her bedroom and love her until all she remembered was his name.

But that was out of the question. She was his brother’s widow, and if the look on her face when she received Tommy’s pendant was any indication, she was still grieving.

But Kelly…Kelly was a different story. “You look good!” Pulling back, she eyed him the sensual smile he remembered from their high school days. The blonde might have grown older, but her coy technique was still the same. “Better than good.” Sliding her hand up his shoulders, she squeezed his biceps suggestively and he smirked.

“Down girl. Your boss around?”

Kelly merely laughed, stepping out of his way to bow low playfully. “Let me show you to your table, sir.”

“Thank you very much.” He returned smartly, winking at her.

The place was surprisingly packed, considering that Holly had mentioned their profits went down after his brother died. If this was down, he could only imagine what Tommy’s had been like in its heyday. The place was high-ceilinged and well lit, with polished wood paneling lining the walls and pristine while marble on the floor. Booths lined the back half of the restaurant while a smattering of tables seating four to twelve people filled the interior, with a few spilling out onto the front walkway to serve those who wanted to dine beneath the stars. The décor was classy without being obnoxious, the music tasteful and low.

Kelly led him to a booth in the back where Holly sat alone, a huge stack of paperwork on the table before her. Though she was clad in a knockout black dress that skimmed her curves and fell down past her knees, her expression was grim. She chewed her full lower lip, completely absorbed in the forms she read over.

At least, until he reached her side. “Stop that.”

Holly actually jumped, almost scattering the papers as she looked up at him in surprise. “Dear Sweet Jesus, Shane, you scared the shit out of me.” Immediately, she whisked the papers from the table to set them on the leather seat next to her, a smile turning the corners of her mouth upwards and banishing her gloom. “You look nice.”

He could only hope so. After the suit fiasco, Shane had returned to the loft and settled for the cleanest pair of black jeans he owned along with a black button up he rolled up past his elbows. Sliding into the seat across from her, he chuckled. “You kiss your kid with that mouth?”

Rolling her eyes, Holly stuck her tongue out at him. “Bite me.” It was startling how easily they slipped into their old rapport. Almost as if they had never been apart.

“I would definitely volunteer to have this man bite me,” Kelly pointed out, pouring glasses of water for each of them. “I might even suggest where to bite.”

Holly’s cheeks flushed as she waved her friend away. “For the love of God, Kelly, if you’re going to hit on Shane, save it for when I’m not around.”

“Yes ma’am.” Kelly saluted her before providing them with menus. With a final wink, she disappeared, and Shane sighed shaking his head in amusement.

“She hasn’t changed much.”

Laughing, Holly took a sip of her water. “She has half the male population of Miami in the palm of her hand.”

“Yeah…and balls deep in her goods.” Holly choked on her water and Shane had to reach over to smack her on the back a few times to help her clear her windpipe. “Sorry.” He added. “That was shitty of me.”

“No, no.” Holding up a hand, Holly shook her head as she recovered. “You’re right. Even if you’re blunter than I’d ever be with her. I just want her to be safe, but right now, she’s hell-bent on every sexual encounter putting her on top of the world.”

“Yeah…just as long as she doesn’t go home with the wrong people.” Shane glanced over at the blonde, who was shamelessly flirting with a party of businessmen near the front of the restaurant. “You’d think eight years would have mellowed her.”

Holly shrugged, looking over the menu as if she didn’t know every inch of it by heart. “Kelly’s looking for something. Heaven knows if she’s ever going to find it, but I hope to God she does.”

Well, that sounded familiar. Shane himself was looking for something – and he hoped that his family could provide him with it. “I’ll drink to that.” He raised his water glass to tap against hers, the fragile clink echoing about the back corner of the restaurant.

Holly chuckled softly. “To Kelly’s happiness then.”

Shane nodded. “And to yours.”

For some reason, Holly’s expression darkened at the statement. She set her water glass down on the table, twisting her fingers around its base until she leaned back against the seat, dropping her hands into her lap. As quickly as the cloud had passed over her, however, she forced a smile back onto her face as she fixed him with her gaze once more – but this time, her enthusiasm failed to reach her haunted gaze.

“So…how are things with your father?” Shane blew out a breath, deciding to let the matter pass for the moment as he accepted Holly’s subject change.

“He was an old, grumpy bastard before. Since Tommy died he’d become an old, reclusive grumpy bastard. He’s probably just about as hung up on my mistakes as I am.” Tossing the food menu on the table, Shane picked up the wine and liquor list. “If we’re going to talk about Dad, I’m going to need something stronger than water.”

With a soft laugh, Holly nodded, sliding to the end of the booth to rise from the table. “Right. I’ll be right back.”

Shane was sad to see her go, but it was damn delightful to watch her leave. For someone with so minute a waist, Holly’s behind was pert, round and tempting as fuck. That, he believed, was something she’d been blessed with after giving birth. He watched the way her hips swayed, transfixed, until he noticed something that sobered him substantially.

Holly was limping.

The motion was slight – so tiny that anyone who didn’t look for it wouldn’t notice, but it was there. Holly favored her left foot ever so slightly, and the realization made him frown. His gaze rose to her face, watched her as she reached upward to grab a bottle of whiskey from one of the top two shelves behind the bar. As she did so, she winced.

Visibly.

Shane’s frown deepened.

She was hiding it.

He’d seen it more than he liked to remember in prison – feigned it. When people behind bars saw you were injured, they preyed on you relentlessly. Wounded people had already taken a hit – which meant that another one would land more easily. While he’d been incarcerated, Shane had mastered the art of pretending to be less hurt than he actually was. It was a fucking art that had saved his ass from being beat a multitude of times.

And it had no business here, in Tommy’s restaurant.

When Holly returned to the table, Shane silently watched her pour them each a double Macallan’s – neat. He respected her taste in whiskey, but that wasn’t enough to distract him from the matter at hand.

“Are you ok, Holly?”

Her head immediately jerked up, and for a split second, the alarm in her expression was palpable. But for the second time that night, Holly buried the expression as quickly as it had appeared. “What do you mean?”

Shane’s green gaze narrowed slightly. “You’re hurt. Limping. Did you fall?”

For a beat too long, Holly stared at him across the table before reaching for her drink. Shane watched as she kicked the entire thing back in a single swallow, shuddering, before she faced him again, her smile firmly back in face. “I’m fine. Had a little tumble down the stairs yesterday. Maddy leaves her toys all over, you know?”

Shane nodded in understanding.

For some reason, she was lying to him. It was on the tip of his tongue to press her – a protective instinct so strong it screamed to be released pounded at his ribcage, snarling like a beast.

And Shane restrained it.

As far as Holly knew, he was the same guy he’d been before he was locked away. A trouble maker who had finally chosen the straight and narrow and was ready to get his life on track. If he let his protective side take over, she would see a side of him he wasn’t ready to expose. The darker, primal portion of his psyche that saved him from losing his mind when he was locked up.

If Shane had his way, that side of him would never come out again.

So, for now, he left it.

Taking his own drink, he offered Holly a small smile. “Right. Now, what were we talking about?”

Holly smirked. “My father in law. And how he’s a grumpy, reclusive old bastard.” Somehow, her tone of voice told him that she was both relieved to be changing the subject – and that she agreed with his assessment of Thomas Wilder.

“Right,” he chuckled, enjoying the smooth burn of the whiskey down his throat. “That.”

 

While Holly originally told him that she only had an hour or so to eat before she had to return to work, that one hour quickly bled into two, and then three. They had a few more drinks, and a heavy dinner that was a testament to how well Tommy’s sous chefs had learned his recipes before he died. The food tasted so like Tommy’s cooking that Shane found himself struggling to swallow a few times as he inhaled his meal.

If he had listened to Tommy…if he hadn’t been such an ass…then maybe he would have been able to come to this place while his brother was alive. To have Tommy cook for him like he used to when they were young, dumb, and believed they were invincible.

Shane would give almost anything to have those days back.

Holly told him about when Madison was born – that Tommy had been more strung out that she was. She laughed as she recounted that he had been the one screaming as if he were in labor, and when he first held Maddy in his arms, it was he who had cried.

That was just like fucking Tommy. While he might have feigned a tough exterior, Shane’s brother had really been soft on the inside. Softer than Shane could ever be.

Tommy deserved a woman like Holly…while he himself just sat on the sidelines and mooned like a fucking idiot.

The more alcohol they consumed, the more they reminisced about high school. The parties they had, the classes they skipped – and with a little prodding, Shane even got Holly to tell him about a time she and Tommy snuck away to make out. It was after one of the best football games of the season, and in the revelry, she and Tommy had slipped away.

As she told the story, however, Shane’s eyes widened.

He arched a brow, remembering that particular day – when he and Tommy had still been on the fence about who would date Kelly and who got Holly. Of course, both of them held a candle for the dark-haired girl, and they made a deal that whoever scored the most touchdowns would get to sneak off with her after the game.

Shane had won the bet, hands down.

When Tommy argued that he already told Holly that he’d meet her, Shane demanded that his brother switch Jerseys with him – that he’d pretend to be Tommy while his brother took his place.

And, apparently, he’d never told Holly.

“It was…nice.” She blushed as she recounted the experience. “Private…teenage groping. Jesus, you’re probably more interested in remembering the game that night than my stupid love stories.”

At the statement, Shane choked on his fourth whiskey of the night. Both he and Holly had consumed a few, and his head was buzzing pleasantly. Pleasantly enough for him to open his big mouth and spoil a secret he’d kept for years.

“You know… we switched places that night.”

Immediately, laughter bubbled from Holly’s throat. She was gorgeous when she was drunk – her cheeks flushed and her honey eyes slightly glazed. “What are you talking about?”

Shane’s tone sobered slightly as he struggled to keep his gaze adequately north of the tantalizing swell of Holly’s cleavage. “The night you’re talking about. It’s stupid, Holly, and I hope you don’t take offense…but that was me. Wearing Tommy’s jersey.”

For a moment, she just stared at him, her eyes wide, and Shane knew she was remembering that night. He’d been fumbling and impatient, groping her breasts with little to no finesse as he kissed her hotly under the bleachers. At the time, he couldn’t remember anything feeling as good as the slide of Holly Johnson’s bare thigh against his belly as he kissed her.

Come to think of it, he still couldn’t think of anything better.

And that was all it took.

Shane was rock hard in an instant, inwardly cursing at his lack of restraint. “That was you.” Holly’s tone was breathless when she finally answered him, her flush spreading all the way down to the neckline of her dress.

Slowly, Shane nodded, feeling like a complete ass. He’d obviously said too much.

“Holly.”

Before either of them could say another word, however, Kelly popped over to the booth, appearing at Holly’s elbow. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got a table up front asking for a discount on their wine. They say it wasn’t allowed to breathe.”

Almost immediately, Holly leapt from her seat as if it had been heated to two hundred degrees. “Right, I’m coming.”

She fled – and Shane watched her, shaking his head the whole time. “Ass.” He muttered under his breath, his hands fisting on the table as he zeroed in on her limp for the second time that night. “You fucking ass.”

 

Though Holly didn’t return to the table, Shane remained in the restaurant until it closed. He found he enjoyed watching all the people bustle in and out – enjoyed realizing how many people his brother had drawn from near and far with his mouthwatering menu.

Around ten, people stopped coming in, and the kitchen closed at eleven. The bar remained open until two am for drinks, and by that time, the band was packing up in preparation to leave. As they put away their various instruments, Shane watched Holly approach them. Rather than flirting with them, as Kelly did, or being cowed by them like a server, she spoke to them on their level. Smiled and laughed with them, and, when the time came, discreetly passed them their payment.

They were some of the last people out the door, and once they’d disappeared, Shane rose from the table to make his way to the front of the restaurant, where Kelly was stacking her menus. There was, Shane noticed, a table that had been empty all night – right in the front of the restaurant. The gleaming silver Reserved sign in its center hadn’t been moved since Shane came in, and he wondered why.

“Change your mind about the biting?” Kelly jibed when he came near, making him chuckle lowly.

“Nah.” He moved over to stand above the reserved table, placing his hand atop the pristine white table cloth. “Did the people who booked this table never come in? I noticed it was empty all night.”

Kelly’s smile faded at his question and she sighed, straightening the stack of food menus before her before moving onto the slimmer drink menus. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, obviously searching for the right words. “That’s where Tommy died. We keep the table vacant for him.”

The words hit him with the force of a front loader, and for almost a full minute, Shane struggled to breathe.

How could he ever have forgotten, even for an instant, that his brother had been murdered in his own restaurant? His hand tightening at the edge of the table, Shane knelt close to the floor, gazing over it. Of course, the marble had been polished to within an inch of its life. There were no signs of food, let alone a bloody struggle.

He didn’t know what he expected to see…Perhaps he was a little too used to watching men die. The aftermath…that was harder to deal with.

“Shane.” He started slightly at Kelly’s hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at her to find her expression sympathetic. “You ok?”

He straightened to his full height to tower over her, his mouth drawn into a tight line. “No. I’m not.”

His brother had been murdered – and not only that, the same motherfuckers had tried to kill Holly. Made her watch as they stole the life from him.

If Holly was in any way, shape or form in danger, she was going to tell him about it, and she was going to tell him tonight.

Turning on his heel, he marched towards the office into which he’d seen her disappear less than an hour ago. He knocked briskly on the closed door. “Holly? It’s me.”

There was a short bout of rustling before the door swung open and he found Holly in the midst of several tall pile of paperwork. Her eyes were red and it was obvious that she was trying to hide that she’d been crying.

Shane’s expression turned thunderous. “What is it? What’s wrong? Who hurt you?”

Holly immediately shook her head frantically, when she spoke, her voice was only the barest whisper. “No one. I’m fine.”

“Bull shit.” Shane knew his voice was harsh, but he hardly cared. If someone was hurting her, he was going to get it out of her, one way or another. “Tell me, Holly. I’m not going to let anyone lay a hand on you, I swear it.”

At his words, a visible shudder passed through her. When she fixed him with her wide, hazel eyes, there was enough pain there to make every muscle in his body tighten. “Tell me who it is, Holly. Tell me right goddamn now.”

Holly’s face crumpled. “Tommy.” The single word escaped her brokenly as she stepped backwards into the office, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Shane froze in the doorway in disbelief. Tommy was hitting her? Hurting her? But Tommy was dead. He’d been six feet under for over a year.

He didn’t understand.

He stepped into the office, reaching back to close the door behind him. “Don’t close it!” Holly’s voice rang out so sharply she startled him, and Shane released the door hurriedly, leaving it cracked. The look of panic on her face cut him to the core and he immediately went to her, taking her into his arms.

Shane knew she was messed up. He wanted to make everything for her – to fix it so she never hurt again. But at the same time, he was consumed with the way she smelled, the softness of her hair and the perfect way she fit in his arms. How could something that felt so right be so goddamn wrong? “Holly, talk to me.” After about five minute of letting her cry, Shane attempted to coax answers from the woman pressed against him. “I don’t understand.”

“He lied to me, Shane.” Holly whispered brokenly. “For the last six months before he died…Tommy changed. Everything changed. He was angry all the time…he drank until the sun came up, and he was always tired. So fucking tired. He never seemed to want to touch me…like he was afraid that I’d run away from him. I tried asking him what was wrong…Jesus, I tried…but he never said a word to me.” She hiccupped, trying to clear her throat as several heavy, salty droplets fell from her lashes. “And then…the night he died…he was finally going to tell me. He was going to tell me everything….”

She shook her head frantically, pressing her face into his shoulder as sobs wracked her slender frame. “After…I found out we were fucking buried in debt. The collectors were at our doors and he never even told me. We were so far under that I had to use every penny of his life insurance money to save the restaurant – to save his dream.” She paused. “I’m just…I’m so fucking tired, Shane. I loved him so goddamn much…how could he do this to me? How could he leave me like this?”

Fuck.

Fuck.

Wordlessly, Shane stroked through Holly’s silky waves, his thoughts thrown into turmoil. Tommy did this? Perfect, superior Tommy, who had his whole life planned out down to the last detail? Tommy who could do no fucking wrong?

When Shane acquiesced to his brother…when he admitted that Tommy could provide better for Holly than he ever could, Tommy had promised to take care of her. Before they fell out, before the screaming match that had all but ended their relationship, his brother swore to him that he would take care of his wife.

For both their sakes.

And now, he was dead and buried, but for the briefest instant, Shane almost wished he could kill him again.