aisling grimlock 03 - grim discovery (3 page)

“This is my story to tell,” Aidan argued.

“How do you figure?”

“I’m older.”

“By like three minutes.”

“That still counts,” Aidan said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“If you think I’m letting you steal the one good story from my day … then you’re as crazy as Corinne Nesbitt,” I challenged.

“Of 34592 Lawton Street,” we both chimed in simultaneously, causing the other to laugh.

Aidan slung an arm over my shoulders as we left Corinne’s house. “I love you dearly, but we need to stop spending so much time together.”

“I should be off probation soon.”

“I’m worried Dad is never going to let you off probation because he worries about you too much.”

“Oh, please. He has to let me off probation,” I said. “Those are the rules.” Secretly I was starting to wonder whether Aidan was right. I would never admit that to my brother, though. It would be like ceding power to him.

“I’m still telling Jerry this story,” Aidan said.

“I’ll hurt you if you try.”

“Promises, promises.”

Two

“Why are you two so late?” My brother Redmond sat on the leather couch in Dad’s office, barely glancing up from the catalog he flipped through as Aidan and I shuffled in a few hours later. “You had an easy schedule today. You should have been the first ones back.”

As the oldest brother, Redmond often thinks he’s in charge. As the lone female in the family, I always know I’m in charge. It causes us to butt heads from time to time. He’s also the one I go to more often than not – other than Aidan, of course – when I need to talk. Since he inherently knows when I’m lying, I’d been avoiding him for almost two weeks.

“We were running ahead of schedule until the last one,” Aidan replied, throwing himself on the couch next to Redmond and glancing at the catalog to see whether it was something that interested him. “Why do they ruin good motorcycles by putting almost-naked women on them when they take the advertising photos?”

Redmond snorted. “See, you’re into dudes, so you can’t grasp just how hot this chick is,” he said. “She makes me want to buy the motorcycle.”

This seemed a safe enough conversation for me to engage in. I’d been hiding a huge secret for ten insufferable days – seriously, it feels like an eternity when you’re part of an over-sharing family – and I longed to be able to spend time with my brothers without the weight of the world causing my shoulders to slouch. I pushed between them and settled on the couch, grabbing the catalog so I could study the blonde in question.

“Her boobs are huge.”

“Thanks for stating the obvious, kid,” Redmond said, slinging an arm over my shoulders as we flipped through the catalog. “What do you think about the bike, though? I want one.”

“There’s a bike there?” I feigned ignorance. “I thought she was selling her boobs.”

“You’re a funny girl, Ais,” Redmond said, tweaking my nose. “Seriously, though, I need a chick’s opinion. How hot would I look on that bike? I think women would flock to me if I had that bike.”

I’d never known Redmond to have trouble finding selections in the dating herd. “Are you having trouble making women flock? If so, Aidan and I saw a guy today you should take lessons from.”

Aidan wrinkled his nose. “I told you, that’s my story to tell!”

“Oh, stuff it,” I muttered.

“You two fight like cats and dogs when you’re forced to spend twenty-four hours a day together,” Redmond pointed out. “I think things might be spiraling. Maybe Cillian or I should take over Aisling duty.”

“You can have her,” Aidan sneered, making a face and sticking out his tongue in my direction.

“Are you two fighting again?” Braden breezed into the room, every dark hair on his head perfectly in place. “Can’t we all just get along?” Braden plopped down on my lap as if he didn’t see me. “That’s an awesome bike, Red. The chick isn’t bad either.”

I struggled beneath Braden’s muscular form, trying to push him off my lap. He refused to get up. “Move, jerk!”

“Do you hear something?” Braden asked, cocking his head to the side.

I hated this game. My brothers played it at least once a week when I was growing up. “Ha, ha.”

Braden lifted slightly and then dropped down harder on my lap. “This couch is really lumpy.”

For lack of anything better to do I grabbed a hunk of Braden’s skin on his hip and viciously twisted it.

“Ow!” Braden jumped to his feet. “That hurt, Aisling.”

“It was meant to hurt,” I shot back.

“Oh, I can just feel the love in here.” The final member of the Grimlock brood, Cillian, wandered into the room. He was more of a thinker than an agitator, but he could give as good as he got when the mood struck. “What happened to you, Braden? Did Aisling beat you up again?”

“For the record, Aisling has never beaten me up,” Braden countered. “She was always spoiled rotten because she was the only girl and Dad and Mom let her have her way because of it.”

“All I hear is, ‘Wah, wah, wah,’” I muttered.

“What are you even doing here, Ais?” Cillian asked, flopping onto one of the wingback chairs across the way. “I wasn’t sure you were still a member of this family.”

Uh-oh. “I … what do you mean?”

“I have seen you exactly one time since the showdown at the mausoleum,” Cillian replied. “I hate to admit it, but I’ve kind of missed you.”

It was a sweet sentiment. Unfortunately, it was wrapped around dangerous territory. “I’ve just been … busy.” I averted my gaze and turned back to the catalog. “How do you think Redmond would look with a bike like this? Personally, I think he needs bigger boobs and a thong to pull it off if this model is to be believed, but what do I know?”

“You don’t think like a normal chick,” Redmond argued. “I need to take this over to the townhouse so Jerry can look at it. He’ll know if I’d look hot on this.”

Aidan appeared intrigued with the suggestion. “I’ve always kind of wanted a bike. I would be smoking hot on a motorcycle.”

I rolled my eyes and when I risked a glance back in Cillian’s direction I found him studying me with a thoughtful expression. “What?”

“You totally dodged that question,” Cillian replied, leaning forward. “I asked why I haven’t seen you since … well … you literally burned the mausoleum down and killed two people, and you shifted the conversation back to a motorcycle I know you don’t care two figs about.”

“Honey, I don’t care two figs about anything,” I deadpanned, going for levity. “I don’t even like figs.”

“Don’t do that,” Cillian said. “What have you been doing?”

“I haven’t been doing anything.”

Redmond shifted his gaze to me and snagged the catalog from my hand. “He’s right. You’ve been avoiding us.”

“I have not!” Boy, that sounded a lot shriller than it should have.

“Leave her alone,” Aidan ordered, taking me by surprise. “That’s a lot to deal with. She caused two deaths while saving my life. Duke Fontaine was willing to kill me to get to her. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m not saying she did anything wrong,” Cillian protested. “She’s usually over here at least three times a week, though … more if she’s hungry and doesn’t want to go to the grocery store. We’ve seen her once and she couldn’t get out of here fast enough.”

While it was true that doubt about ending Duke Fontaine and Sylvia Dobbs’ lives plagued me, that wasn’t the reason I’d been hiding. I wasn’t particularly remorseful about killing them. They’d stalked my family, kidnapped my brother and had horrible plans in store for me. They got what they deserved.

No, I’d been keeping my distance because of something Fontaine admitted before he died. He told me my mother was alive – even though she purportedly perished in a fire a decade before – but she was also in cahoots with the individuals trying to harm us. I was still trying to wrap my head around the information, and until I understood what was going on there was no way I could unload something this big on my father and brothers. Since they can all tell when I’m lying, I decided distance was the best option. It looked as if that was about to backfire on me.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” I said, moving to climb off the couch.

Redmond grabbed my arm and hauled me back down, forcing me close to his side so he could study me. “There’s nothing to feel guilty about, kid. They were going to kill Aidan. You did what you had to do.”

Part of me was glad that my brothers worried about me – and this guilt thing was something I could work to my advantage if they crowded me too much. I hated lying to them, though … especially about something this emotional. “I don’t feel guilty,” I said, searching for something that would get them off my back without making them feel sorry for me. I really couldn’t take that. “I’ve just been … processing.”

“Well, we’d like to see you while you’re processing,” Redmond replied.

“I wouldn’t,” Braden said, although he winked in my direction to let me know he was joking.

Redmond ignored him. “You don’t have to hide from us because you’re thinking about what happened, kid,” he said. “We don’t demand that you be upbeat and happy every time we see you. Heck, if you were, we probably wouldn’t recognize you.”

I forced a smile.

“That was supposed to be a joke,” Redmond said, grabbing a strand of my long hair and tugging on it. “What are you doing if you’re not hanging around with us?”

“She’s doing Griffin,” Aidan answered for me, causing my cheeks to burn. “They lock themselves in her bedroom for hours every night. I think he might be a sex fiend.”

Dad pulled up short as he entered the study, his gaze bouncing from face to face. Of course he would pick that statement to enter on. Cormack Grimlock is many things – dedicated businessman, loving and strict father, heavy reader, rampant complainer – but he is not someone who finds talk about his daughter’s sex life funny. He’s fine hearing about my brothers’ dalliances, though. It’s something of a double standard.

“Why are you all talking about that?” Dad asked.

“We think Aisling is depressed about what happened and we wanted to know what she’s been up to,” Redmond replied. “That was Aidan’s answer.”

“I see.” Dad’s face was an immovable mask when he turned to me. “Are you depressed?”

“I am right now,” I muttered.

“Are you upset about what happened at the mausoleum?” Dad pressed.

“I’m not upset, Dad,” I said. “I’m just … thinking about things. I didn’t realize that was a crime.”

“No one said it’s a crime, Aisling,” Dad said, moving to his desk so he could settle in his chair and study me from his favorite spot. “No one would blame you if you were … struggling … to deal with what happened.”

This was getting out of control. “I’m not struggling with it,” I said. “I just don’t want to talk about it. When did family time turn into an episode of
Dr. Phil
?”

“Someone is cranky,” Braden said.

I really wanted to kick him. “Listen, I know you guys are worried about my emotional well-being, but I’m really fine. I just want a week or so to myself. Is that too much to ask?”

“Of course not,” Dad said, steepling his fingers.

“You’re not spending time alone, though,” Aidan pointed out. “You’re spending all of your time with Griffin.”

“So what?”

“Your complaints that you want to spend time alone might make more sense if you weren’t rattling headboards every night with everyone’s favorite police officer.”

“That will be enough of that,” Dad warned, scorching Aidan with a pointed glare.

“Hey, I have to live with it,” Aidan complained.

“That’s my house,” I reminded him, referring to the townhouse I co-owned with Jerry. “That’s not your house. If you want your own house you should buy one.”

“I’ve been considering it,” Aidan shot back. “Jerry won’t move away from you, though.”

“Oh.” Realization dawned. “You want to move in with Jerry. I … I didn’t even consider that.”

“No one needs to move anywhere right now,” Dad said. “I want Jerry and Aisling to stay right where they are.”

“Since when?” Cillian asked. “You’ve been trying to get Aisling to move back into this house with the rest of us for years.”

“She’s not going to do that,” Dad replied, choosing his words carefully. “I would prefer that she stay with Jerry rather than … strike out on her own.”

Redmond snorted. “You mean you’d prefer she stay with her gay best friend than risk moving in with Griffin,” he said. “Admit it.”

“I … fine,” Dad grumbled. “They haven’t been dating long enough to move in together.”

“We’re not considering moving in together,” I reassured him. “And no matter what Aidan says, we are not rattling headboards every night.”

Dad held up his hands. “That will be enough on that topic. Thank you.”

“I don’t even have a wooden headboard,” I said, refusing to give up the argument. “My headboard is covered with fabric. It doesn’t rattle.”

“Okay,” Dad said, rolling his eyes. “Let’s talk about business, shall we?”

“I would love to talk about business,” I replied, crossing one leg over the other and leaning forward to feign rapt attention.

“I’m not sure what just happened here, but I think we’ve been snowed,” Braden said.

“Sit down, Braden,” Dad ordered. “You’re officially my least favorite child today.”

“What did I do?”

“You didn’t let the conversation go when I told you to.”

“Does that mean I’m your favorite?” I asked, pasting my best “I’m your only daughter and you have to love me” smile on my face.

Dad contemplated the question. “No. Redmond is my favorite today.”

Redmond enthusiastically pumped his fist. “Does that mean I get my favorite dinner tonight?”

This was another little game my family liked to play. Here’s a tip: It’s only fun if you’re the favorite child.

“I believe we’re having rack of lamb and rice for dinner tonight,” Dad replied. “The new cook is … foreign.”

“It sounds like she’s Greek,” Aidan suggested.

“That would make her foreign, wouldn’t it?” Dad asked, nonplussed. “Okay, back to business … .”

“What business?” Braden pressed. “We all deposited our souls. It’s a normal week. Aisling hasn’t been threatened or thrown into a car. What could we possibly have to talk about?”