Chapter 9

For four days, Nebraska walked around, a shell of who she had been before the attack. Her phone rang incessantly, mostly her mother trying to get a hold of her.

Her mother trying to apologize.

Only, she didn’t have anything to apologize for. She’d paid for Nebraska’s protection when Nebraska was too proud to do it for herself.

Too arrogant to even admit that there was a problem.

Nebraska had to come to terms with the fact that one of her own could do this to her. Her own brother, someone she considered a protector as they grew up. Someone she relied on to show her the ropes when she visited him and her mother in California.

Someone dead to her now.

There was only one thing left to do.

She needed to see him face to face.

For herself.

Dylan arranged for a private meeting at the Long Beach prison. Nebraska waited in a dingy gray room at a metal table bolted to the floor. The coldness of the folding chair under her seeped into her bones. Disinfectant burned her sinuses.

Her heart knocked hard when the sound of the lock clicking open filled the room.

An officer led her brother in and sat him in the chair across from her, keeping his hands cuffed.

His disheveled hair stood at awkward angles, his unshaven face making him look more like a vagrant and less like her brother.

Tired eyes stared back at her, dull and lifeless.

It took seeing him like that for her to realize that there hadn’t been that much there to begin with. She had memories of the young boy she’d loved, but when he’d turned into a man they had drifted apart. If she really thought about it, the only time the adult Aaron showed much interest in her at all was based on her success and nothing else.

She grieved for the brother she needed, the brother he hadn’t been capable of being.

She cleared her throat. “I thought I had a lot to say to you. I was angry and I wanted you to know it, but looking at you, all I’m wondering is why.”

“It was always so easy for you, wasn’t it? You were the pretty princess. You chose Dad and broke Mom’s heart,” he bit out, his hands fisting on the table between them. “Not that she would ever say, but it was there in the way she’d stare at your picture and gush over packages Dad sent of your school projects, or pictures you made for her. She had me, but all she wanted was you. When you chose Dad, you turned me into an orphan. I had no parents. I hate you for that.”

Her heart cracked. All this time, he had hated her. And all this time, she had thought they were a family. Maybe not your average family, but she had been proud that, despite their differences, they’d stayed a unit. “So what was with all those attempts at getting me to sign you on as my manager? Why, when you hated me so much?”

“Because you make big money, and I deserved a cut of it for the life you cost me,” he said, his blue eyes narrowing on her.

It had come down to the money. Of course, it had. Didn’t it always? Her mother had tried to use things—presents, trips—anything she could to sway them into choosing her, and Aaron went for it. Maybe Nebraska should have known this entire time.

“So, every time I spoke out and risked my contracts, I might have been risking your future payday. Is that it?”

“That about sums it up.” He leaned back in his chair.

She slid her chair back, the scrape echoing in the desolate room. “I hate to break it to you, Aaron, but you did it for nothing. I was never going to let you manage me. Never. I run my own life. All of it. And that will never change. Mom might be okay with being a puppet, but I’m not.”

The guard opened the door and Nebraska slipped out. She leaned against the hallway wall, dropped her head back, and took a deep breath.

And she still ached.

Not for her brother this time, but for Slyder.

In such a short amount of time he’d turned her world inside out, and made her want things she never thought she could have.

A relationship with someone who respected her.

Maybe a marriage and family.

And she’d thrown it away on a wave of anger and knee-jerk reactions.

“You okay?” Dylan said, leaning a shoulder on the wall next to her.

“Not really, no,” she said.

“Your brother—”

She shook her head and sighed. “It’s not him.”

“Slyder?”

“Bingo.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. He knew it was likely a family member. He found out it was my brother but didn’t say anything.”

Dylan scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, about that…if you had given him a chance, he might have been able to clear up a few things for you.”

“Like?”

“We all knew it was someone in your family. It’s why we brought Slyder in. We branched out, each covering a member and digging into their affairs, looking for clues. So if you’re mad about that, you need to be mad at all of us. We decided to not take your family away from you until we were sure.”

So they’d done it for honorable reasons. And knowing that soothed a bit of the hurt—since it wasn’t about not respecting her enough to trust her to handle it, but respecting her so much that they didn’t want to shake up her world without being positive. She rolled her head to the side, and sighed. “He knew it was Aaron. That’s different.”

“He knew for all of five minutes. I had only just called him before he found Aaron’s hitman in your house. There wasn’t time to tell you.”

She bit her lip, a tear rolling down her cheek. “I’m an ass.”

“Nah, you’re human. One of our toughest cases but, then, I knew Slyder could handle you. He can handle anything.”

She swiped the tear and straightened. “Where is he now?”

Dylan laughed. “Outside, waiting for you to come to your senses.”

She smiled, and pushed away from the wall. “He didn’t give up on me,” she murmured.

“Slyder sticks. No matter what,” Dylan said.

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that.” She kissed Dylan’s cheek. “Thank you. I know my mom paid you, but thank you for hanging in there and taking care of me when I was too proud to take care of myself.”

“Anytime. Now go out there and put Slyder out of his misery. He only has a few days before he has to return to work.”

She gasped. “He’s leaving?”

“For a bit. It’s not like he’ll be halfway around the world. He has an assignment in Northern California. However, I’m pretty sure you have some free time in your immediate future, so maybe you can keep him company while he’s there.”

Yeah, she could do that. If he’d have her.

She exited the prison and took a deep breath as the sunshine poured over her face. For the first time in a year, she didn’t have to look over her shoulder and wonder who might be lurking.

She laughed.

Her first realization that she was free from danger came to her just outside of the prison holding her brother.

How sick was that?

She opened her eyes, her gaze landing on Slyder as he leaned against his Charger. Faded blue jeans hugged his muscular thighs. A black T-shirt stretched tight across his wide chest. Aviator sunglasses hid his eyes from her view.

And he was there for her.

She headed for him, and came to a stop just inches away from those boots of his. “I’m a pain in the ass,” she said, figuring she might as well acknowledge the truth.

His mouth twitched. “You are.”

She ran the tip of her finger over the veins in his hand and hoped she hadn’t ruined things, because she wanted to know what it was like to have him touch her everywhere. “I was hard on you,” she admitted.

He shrugged. “I can take it.” He linked his fingers with hers and squeezed her hand.

She tipped her head back and smiled. “I heard you’re going to Northern California.”

He nodded. “I am.”

“Want company?” she asked, praying he wouldn’t reject her.

“It’s cold this time of year. You up for that?” he asked.

“I’ve no doubt you’ll make sure I don’t freeze,” she said with a smile.

He pushed away from his car and curled his hands behind her neck, pulling her to just under his lips. “I’ll make keeping you warm my first priority.”

“I’m sorry I pushed you away,” she murmured, pushing up onto her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

He ran his thumb over her cheek. “I’m sorry we were right. You deserve better, Nebraska.”

She kissed his thumb before biting it, making him hiss. “I don’t know—had I gotten what I deserved I never would have found you.”

“I have a plan. I’m looking to make that home I can always go back to. I’m hoping you’ll want to be a part of it,” he said.

“I’d be honored,” she whispered.

He took her mouth in a hot kiss, pulling her body against his. The pain of losing a brother faded away under the flood of love filling her heart.