Liam: Branded Brothers (10 page)

Better was the key
.

“So, are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. Why would I not be okay?”

“Your ex-wife getting remarried situation…” she said,
treading carefully. She’d seen the look of disappointment that flashed in his
eyes back at the tattoo shop and wondered if he’d ever get over her. She
wondered if
she’d
ever get over Rex.

Liam’s hands tightened against the wheel. “As long as she’s
happy…”

“You really feel that way?” she asked. “I have to admit, I
would be devastated if Rex was engaged right now.”

“I take it Rex is the ex-fiancé?”

“Yeah. Soon to be Dr. Rex Callahan.”

“His name was Rex? You deserved to get your heart broken.”
He laughed and slid on a pair of aviators. “I’d never go see a doctor whose
name was Rex.”

“Me neither,” she replied. “At least not anymore.”

“Is it pathetic that it still fucking hurts after two
years?” Liam asked. He was quiet for a second before he added. “I can’t believe
I’m talking to you about this.”

“You were married for eight years. I don’t think it’s
pathetic,” she answered. “But I would be worried about getting into a relationship
with you if you still loved someone else.”

She bit her lip and felt a bead of sweat drip down her back.
She didn’t know why the hell she mentioned anything about a relationship. She
wasn’t ready for one anyway, plus Liam was exactly what she needed to stay away
from. She recited the last item on her list:
Don’t fall in love with Liam
Murphy.

“A relationship, huh?” Liam said, the corners of his mouth
curling up. “I just met you Charla Taylor and now you want to jump into a
relationship with me? The player bartender?”

“I didn’t mean
me
, I just meant someone,” she said
quickly, trying to cover her tracks. He put his hand on her leg, just above her
knee on the frays of her jean shorts. The touch sent a warmth flooding through
her thighs.

“How about we start here?” he asked.

The thirty minute ride was going to be excruciating.

***

They pulled up in front of the green
awning of The Lucky Ink in downtown Hudson. A lot had changed since Charla had
been here last. The bricked building was sandwiched between two larger
buildings. Charla ducked her head down to read the sign on the furthest side:
The Paradise Club. A silhouette of a naked woman hung on a pole, and the
windows were blackened. The strip club had been here since she could remember.
She looked back to the other side: Green Insurance Agency. Ronan’s neighbors
were a strip club and an insurance company. She wondered how that conversation
went with the town board.

“You ready?” Charla asked. “There’s no turning back. Hudson
has a way of sucking you in.”

“You been here before?”

“I grew up here.”

“So Hudson’s home?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call this home.” Charla looked around.
“Never really had a home growing up.”

She dropped her eyes and cleared her throat. “But I don’t
want to talk about it. We’re here to find your brother not to talk about my
shitty past.”

Liam squeezed her leg before taking his hand away. She
breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know how much longer she could stand to
have his hand on her leg like that. She swore she was going to melt right into
the goddamn seat.

“There’s only one way to find out if he’s my brother,” he
added.

They stood in front of the building, reading the hours on
the door. Wednesday: Closed.

“Who closes on Wednesdays?” She pressed her hands on the
glass, peering into the shop. The inside looked nothing like the outside. The
wood floors shone a bright sheen and huge wall hangings of tattoos decorated
the walls. It was a mix of modern meets tattoo-bad-ass.

Liam appeared next to her and slid down his sunglasses to look
through the window. “Looks nice.”

“Yeah, it does,” she said. “Now what?”

“We have two options. We can go home and come back
tomorrow,” he said, turning toward her. He leaned against the window and
pierced her with his deep blue eyes. “Or, which I happen to think is the better
option of the two, we can do a little investigative work. I have someone
covering the bar tonight, so I won’t need to pop in until later.”

“What does that investigative work entail?” she asked, leery
of the silhouette behind her.

“We ask around to see if anyone knows where he lives or if
they have his number,” he said with a smile. “And there’s only one place I can
think of going.”

“Green Insurance Agency?” she asked with a hopeful look.

He shook his head and pointed to The Paradise Club. “Something
tells me that the people inside that place might have a better idea of who
Ronan is and where he might be.”

“As long as I get a lap dance, I’m in,” she said. Liam
raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to reply, but Charla beat him to it.
“I’m totally kidding.”

“Well, you would have experienced something I never have,”
he said as he walked past the boarded up window and grabbed the handle.

“Are you for real?” she asked as she walked through the open
door. “I find that highly unlikely.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He laughed behind her as they
walked into the pink neon glow and low music of the Paradise Club. Charla
squinted, trying to make out the surroundings as her eyes adjusted to the
darkness.

“Ladies are free.” A burly bald man announced at the
entrance.

Liam handed him a ten and gave Charla a smile. “You’re a
cheap date.”

“You call this is a date?” Her eyes widened.

“Of course not,” he replied. “Our first date will look
nothing like this. I already have something in mind.”

Charla’s heart fluttered. He was definitely making it hard
to avoid that last item on her list.

“Over here.” He guided her to the empty bar with his hand on
the small of her back. They slid onto stools next to each other. She saw a
cluster of heads near a bare stage and gold pole. There were more people here
than she expected on a Wednesday afternoon.

“How can I help you?” A woman popped out from behind the
counter wearing a glittery gold bra and tiny black shorts. Her blonde hair was
long and loose, falling over her shoulders. She leaned across the counter at
the sight of Liam, pressing her breasts together.

Clearly one of the girls.

“A Guinness and cranberry vodka for my girlfriend,” Liam
replied without missing a beat.

The woman shot a look of disdain at Charla and then
straightened up. Her voice was suddenly more casual. “You got it.”

“Girlfriend?” Charla whispered, eyeing him.

“Whatever gets her off my back and out of my wallet.” He
winked at her before pointing to the stage. “Looks like we’re just in time for
a show.”

A blonde woman wearing nothing but a man’s collared shirt,
tie, and top hat seductively walked out on the stage. She twirled a cane in her
hand as she stopped near the men cheering beneath her. A loud whistle erupted
as she passed it between her legs. She tipped her hat toward the men before
taking it off and then tossing it at them. Then she whipped her blonde hair in
a circle before moving toward the pole.

“I’ll be sure to take notes.” Charla squinted, studying the
face of the stripper on stage. There was something about her that looked
vaguely familiar. Charla’s attention was pulled back to the bar when the
bartender slid their drinks in front of them. She looked back at the face of
the bartender and her flowing blonde hair, which reassembled the stripper on
stage. Apparently, all blonde strippers looked the same.

Liam smiled before taking a gulp of his Guinness. Then he
called down to the bartender who had walked to the other side to watch her
co-worker on stage. “What do you know about the tattoo parlor next door?”

She pulled her eyes back to Liam and walked toward them. “You
mean Ronan’s place?”

“Yeah, Ronan’s place. What do you know about Ronan?” Liam
asked.

“Who’s asking?” The bartender leaned against the counter and
snapped her gum. “You looking for trouble? Because if you are, you ain’t going
to find anything here. I know nothin’.” She looked up toward the bouncer at the
door. Charla swiveled around to see the burly man with his arms folded across
his chest.

“Not at all,” Charla jumped in. “I want to get a tattoo, but
his shop is closed.”

“You want a tattoo?” she asked, eyeing her up with her hands
on her hips.

“Yeah, a footprint near my hip. My dad just died, and I want
to get something to remember him by. We were walking on the beach one day when
I was little, and he pointed to the two set of footprints we had left in the
sand. He told me there would always be footprints next to mine because he would
always be there for me. And if I ever saw just one set of footprints, it would
be the time he’d carried me.” Charla finished softly, trying to ignore the
stripper on stage who was now rubbing the tie between her legs.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s so sweet.” The bartender put her
hand over her heart. “Ronan’s shop is closed because he’s down at the track. He
closes up early because he races every Wednesday night. Car number four.”

“Oh,” Charla replied, leaving it open-ended in hopes the
bartender would bite.

“It’s just a mile south of here,” she offered. “But he’ll be
back in the morning. He’ll be able to help you. He’s amazing. Look what we did
for me. Covered up my scar.” She flipped down her bra to expose a small heart
near her right nipple. “Isn’t it great?”

“Sure is.” Liam smiled as Charla hit him in the leg.

“Well, thanks,” Charla said. “I’ll definitely be working
with him then.”

“No problem. Just let me know if you need anything else,”
she replied before she turned her attention to a man just a few feet from
Charla.

“Well, look at you,” Liam said, tilting his bottle toward
her. “I should bring you along when I’m searching for my bail jumpers. You’d
find them in no time. Good story by the way.”

“Thanks.” Charla tipped back her drink and polished off the
rest of it. “It’s actually a religious story about Jesus.”

“You religious?”

“Not really, but it helps a lot of people get through tough
times in the hospital. You?”

“Catholic.”

“Surprised you didn’t hear that one before.” She twirled the
empty glass in her hand.

“Guess I should have paid closer attention in church.” He
shrugged his shoulders.

“Another Miller.” The man beside Charla said to the
bartender.

Charla froze, still grasping the glass. She’d recognize that
voice anywhere. After all, she’d heard it every day for three years. She closed
her eyes and thought of the last vision she’d seen of him. It was with the
blonde.
The blonde
. That’s where she knew the stripper. Rex was here
watching his girlfriend or whoever she was. She swiveled in her seat to see Rex
sitting a few feet from her. His eyes met hers.

“Charla?” He sputtered with a shocked look on his face.

“Rex,” she replied, looking back at the second most hated
person in her life.
Both him and my mother in the same damn day.
She
slid her glass across the counter, but this time, she didn’t try to force a
smile. She didn’t have anything to say to him. She wasn’t about to kill this
asshole with kindness. She learned her lesson this morning.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.

“That’s what you said the last time I saw you,” she
muttered, wondering what future employers would think of his stripper
girlfriend. She thought about all the “late night” study sessions he complained
about. They had become more frequent right before she had caught him. She
guessed studying the blonde at Paradise Club must have been grueling. Charla
wanted to lay into him, but he wasn’t worth the energy.

“How are you, Charla?” Rex asked.

“Good. Real good.” She nodded her head and clenched her
fists beneath the counter. She hated that seeing Rex made her feel this way.

“You move back to Hudson?”

“No,” she replied shortly. “You done with medical school?”

“Dropped out.”

Satisfaction curled around her body. At least there wasn’t
going to be a Dr. Rex anymore. She unclenched her fists. “That’s too bad.”

“Yeah, things didn’t exactly work out how I thought they would.”
Rex’s words hung in the air as the naked blonde grinded on the stage behind
him.

“That’s too bad,” Charla said to Rex before turning to Liam.
“Let’s go.”

“That’s him? That’s your ex-fiancé?” Liam whispered.

“Yes,” she whispered back. “Like I said, let’s go.”

Liam threw some bills on the counter and jumped out of the
stool, wrapping his arm around Charla. He lifted her gently out of the stool
and turned her chin toward him. He leaned in and suddenly pressed his lips
against hers in a hot, passionate kiss. He held the back of her neck and leaned
her against the stool. Charla melted into his arms, feeling a surge through her
body. Just as he was about to pull away, he gently squeezed her ass, making a
soft moan release from her lips.

“You’re driving me crazy, babe. Let’s get out of here,” he
said loudly as he grabbed Charla’s hand. “This place is filthy.”

“See ya, Rex,” Charla said, passing one last look at Rex and
his open mouth. The bouncer stepped aside as they walked through the doors,
Liam guiding Charla again, but this time with his hand much lower.

“You okay?” Liam asked as they stepped out onto the
sidewalk.

“Your hand is still on my ass,” Charla replied. He pulled it
off and shot her a crooked smile.

“So, that was Rex, huh? The guy you were going to marry.” He
looked back at the Paradise Club before turning to her, staring intently into
her eyes. “The guy you were going to spend the rest of your life with.”