Page 18 of Hard Ruck
Chelsea
The guys droppedme back at my apartment and headed off to training. I decided on a long soak in the tub to loosen my aching muscles. The guys had given me one hell of a workout. Few places on my body weren’t sore. I’d never been so thoroughly fucked in my life. It was absolute perfection.
After an hour, and several chapters of the romance book I was currently reading — a hockey romcom — I reluctantly dragged myself out of the bath and dried off. I stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a towel and let out a squeak.
My brother stood in the kitchen, making coffee. His back was to me, but I’d know that man bun anywhere.
He turned around and smiled. “Hey.”
“Hey. You know you shouldn’t break into people’s apartments, right?” I eyed him meaningfully.
“I have a key.” He reached into his pocket and pulled it out.
“Do I want to know how you have a key to my apartment?” I asked. I held the towel in place with one hand and waved the other in front of me. “Never mind. I’m guessing you’re here for a reason?”
“I don’t do anything without a reason.” He turned back to pour two coffees before adding three scoops of sugar and about a quarter of a cup of milk to his.
“Are you going to tell me what it is? Is this about Belinda Simmons?” I winced. Did I want to know? “Is she?—”
“Dead?” he suggested. “Yeah. She was disappointing, to be honest. I didn’t think she’d give up so quickly. She’s been dealt with. I know you don’t want to know how.”
I shook my head. “You’re right, I don’t.” I stepped over beside him and picked up the other coffee. “Thanks.”
He grinned. “What are big brothers for if they can’t make their sisters coffee once in a while? And bring them good news about the problems they’ve solved.”
“I’m not sure if it’sgoodnews.” I ended the sentence with a sigh. “I didn’t want it to come to this. If she’d just kept her nose out of my business…”
He placed a hand at the base of my neck, just above my shoulder blades. “You always had a big heart. You want people to be better. If they were, the world might be a nicer place. Boring, but nice.” He ran the pad of his thumb up and down my spine. Soothing like no one else could.
“Boring isn’t such a bad thing,” I said.
“Boring is a terrible thing,” he contradicted. “Imagine what I’d get up to if I was bored for too long. No one would be safe.”
I snorted a laugh. “That’s true. Are they safe now, though?”
He chuckled. “Probably not. There’s only a handful of people in the world I would never hurt. You’re high on the list. I can’t say the same about whoever left the cuts and bruises on you.” He grazed the tip of one finger across a nick on my throat, making me shiver.
“It was consensual,” I said quickly. If he thought otherwise, the guys would be chained up side-by-side in his workroom. Not in an enjoyable way.
“It better be,” he growled softly. “No one hurts my sister and lives to tell the tale.”
“Your concern is sweet,” I said, “but I’m big enough to take care of myself.”
“You’ll never be too old for me to stop worrying about,” he said. “And taking care of. Who else is going to kill your enemies for you?”
I shivered. “Honestly, I hope the answer to that is no one.” I wished the answer was that I had no enemies. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that, not exactly. They might not be my enemies directly, but rather people who’d come after me to get back at my brother, or the rest of my family.
“In reality, Mannix and Ares would help if I asked them to.” He lowered his hand from my throat and picked up his coffee. “Also, I bought you a present.” He nodded over to a bag on the coffee table.
“Please say that’s not Belinda’s head in there,” I groaned. The idea made my stomach turn. I’d seen plenty of dead people at work. I didn’t need parts of them at home.
He snapped his fingers. “I should have thought of that. Too late. No, I got you something else.”
Warily, and with one eye on him, I stepped over to the table and gingerly opened the bag.
“Oh, you brought me pyjamas and bed socks?” I asked.
He grinned. “They have little footballs all over them. I couldn’t resist.”
