No Regrets: Jani Kay (Firebird Trilogy Book 2) (20 page)

A
fter Alain and the police left, Maxwell excused himself to talk to the security guys about getting the glass cleaned up and the window repaired.

Maxwell rubbed the back of his neck. “Isn’t much of a fortress if any asshole can get in.” Was he referring to intruders in general or specifically to Alain?

I went to the kitchen to see what was being served for dinner with Chloe following close behind me. We talked about Lily and everything that happened, but I knew her well enough to know she had more on her mind. I was used to her directness and candor. She wasn’t one to hide her feelings or beat around the bush.

“So...about Alain. I can't believe you don’t want him back. What’s wrong with you?” Her tone was light and blasé, but underneath her casual enquiry was a touch of anxiety.

I sighed. “It's over. That’s all.” I opened the fridge and found a bottle of water. I unscrewed the cap and drank a few sips, hoping she’d let it go.

She raised an eyebrow. “And Maxwell? Even a blind person can sense how much the two of you are into one another.”

I sucked in a breath. “Really?”

“Yeah.” She took a bite out of an apple she had taken from the fruit basket. Narrowing her eyes, she stared at me while she chewed and swallowed. By the expression on her face, I knew her brain was working overtime. My lovely sister was scheming as she always did.

“What? Spit it out.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“So if Maxwell is your man...you shouldn’t mind if I see more of Alain.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I took a deep breath before answering. “Yes, I mind. I don’t want you to get mixed up with Alain. Things aren’t sorted in his life—he told me some disturbing things about his ex-fiancée and his father. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Um...Becca, I'm old enough to make up my own mind about who I see. Alain is fucking hot...and I’m attracted to him. Sucks that you fucked him first, but I can look past that.”

“Jesus, Chloe, that’s exactly why you shouldn’t go there. Alain and I were very intimate. It's just weird if you slept with him, too.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I'm not all prim and proper like you, Becca. I'm...more adventurous. Not prudish like you and Lily when it comes to sex. I see a man I want to fuck; I go for it.”

I nearly spat the mouthful of water I’d just taken all over the kitchen counter. “Stay away from Maxwell,” I blurted. “He’s mine.”

“Haha, Sis, you can have Maxy all to yourself if you don’t like sharing. I’ll take your sloppy seconds—the totally fuckable Frenchman.”

Maxy?
Cheeky little bitch.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Chloe, aren’t you listening to what I’m saying? It's not a good idea going after Alain. I've told you about the family history and the countess. Believe me, you’ll get your heart broken like I did.”

Her voice got louder. “Which is it, Becca? Were you in love with him or not? No, let me rephrase,
are
you in love with Alain or not?”

I shook my head, certain about my answer. “No, I’m not.”

“Thank you. That’s all I wanted to know. That means he’s fair game. He’s not married yet, and I don’t give a fuck about the countess and her claims to him.” She took the bottle of water from my hand and drank a few mouthfuls before handing it back to me. “If you still had feelings for him, I'd step back, but since you emphatically told me you don’t, I'm planning to get to know him a hell of a lot better.” She grinned at me. “I already know what he likes in a woman, so it should be easy to get him to like me too.”

My jaw was about to hit the floor. “Why would you want Alain?”

She laughed. “I'm sure he’s hung like a stallion. I'm looking forward to riding French cock.”

“Chloe!”

“What? Since the first moment I laid eyes on him at the airport, I've been wet for him. I would have dragged him into the SUV and fucked his brains out if he hadn’t mentioned
you
. Thanks for smashing that fantasy of mine.”

I shook my head. “You really have middle child syndrome.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

I closed my eyes and rubbed my throbbing temples. “You always want what I have. You had a high-school crush on Julian, now you want Alain—”

She shrugged, taking another bite of her apple. “Can I help that you have excellent taste in men? Guys who are hot as hell and built like sex gods? We’re more alike than you want to admit, Becca.” Silent for a few moments as she chewed, I thought about her statement. No way in hell did I have to share anything with her. I’d had enough of that as a kid. Sisters were such a pain in the arse.

I grimaced. “First my shoes and clothes...now my men—”

“For the record, Maxwell Grant is yummy too. If you ever decide to invite others into your love nest, give me the heads up, okay? I'd fuck him in a heartbeat. Only problem is, he has eyes for no one else but you.”

“You’re such a slut, Chloe. Alain and Max are both out of bounds. Find your own man for a change.” I was seriously close to losing my shit with her.

“I’ll stay away from Alain for one reason only... if you tell me you still want him and plan to fuck him again. If not, he’s fair game. I’ll be his next woman.”

She wasn’t going to listen to a damn thing I was saying. Maybe she had to learn her lesson the hard way. “You’re playing with fire, little sister. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Chloe stiffened. Her face turned red as she glared at me. “Yeah? You’re a hypocrite. You fucked Julian after he was married to Melanie. You fucked Alain when he was engaged, and Maxwell is still married!”

Her words stung, lashing like a whip over broken skin. I sucked in a deep breath. “It's different and you know it. Julian was my boyfriend before he got Melanie pregnant. We’d be married now if she didn’t seduce him that one night. As for Alain, I didn’t know about the witch. And if you knew anything, you'd know Maxwell
isn’t
really married; it's just a contract.”

“She doth protest too much. Look, I totally get what you’re going through. That’s why I was expecting more understanding from you.” Her eyes softened and her voice was low and raspy as she continued, “The truth is...there was a spark when I first saw Alain. Something that’s never happened to me before. I don’t know what it is, but I sure as hell plan on finding out. I know he felt it too. It just
happened,
Becca, out of the blue. I have as little control over it as you have over how you feel about Maxwell. It hit me like a lightning bolt.” Vulnerable Chloe rarely appeared, tripling my worry. She was on a collision course and nothing I said was going to change her mind.

“Ohhh, shit, Chloe. That sounds like trouble. Be careful though. Don’t get your heart broken.”

She shrugged, a frown between her perfect brows. “Like I have a choice here. I need to explore this thing. I would prefer if I had your blessing. Yeah, it will be difficult knowing you’ve been with him, but I can look past that if he can.”

Scared for Chloe, I pulled her to me for a hug. Showing her soft side wasn’t something she often did. “Sis, I can't speak for Alain. He did come here to ask me to take him back. Being his rebound woman is dangerous. Why can't you fall for a man who can give you everything—including truth and honesty? Alain has so many skeletons. Things that are coming out of the woodwork that...frighten me.”

She pulled away and stared into my eyes for a beat. “Now see, I don’t get that vibe from him. I get that he’s searching for true love and happiness just as hard as any one of us. You’ve said yourself that the heart cannot be told who to love. Alain draws me to him. I can't help how he makes me feel.”

I sucked in a breath. “Chloe, when you say it like that, how can I deny you that chance? I want you to be as happy as I am, whoever the man is. I wish that for you, Sis.”

Tears brimmed her eyes. She swallowed hard before changing the topic. “Let’s go to the hospital to see Lily. Now that she’s woken from the coma, she must be wondering where we are.”

“I’m sure Kurt is with her. He hasn’t left her side since she landed in hospital. I think he’s smitten with our baby sister.”

She frowned. “Who the hell is Kurt again? His name keeps popping up.”

I chuckled. “If you listened, you’d remember he’s the doctor I told you about over the phone. The friend who saved me from throwing myself in the gutter after Alain and I broke up. He’s been really good to me. Like the brother we never had and I always wanted.”

“Yeah, you were so mad when Mum had another girl when Lily was born. Wanted to send her back to the hospital.”

“God, I know. But I wouldn’t change Lil for the world. Her soft and gentle soul calms the two of us.”

Chloe laughed. “I think all the fire was poured into you and me. There wasn’t any left for Lily.”

Maxwell came up behind me and slid his arms around my waist, hugging me to his body. “Just as well. Two fiery sisters are enough, don’t you think?”

Chloe nodded. “Yeah, I guess we cause enough mayhem. Someone needs to balance our fire. It's just so horrible what happened to her. It will scar her for life.” She indicated between the two of us. “We’re fighters, but Lily, she doesn’t have a mean or angry bone in her body.”

I nodded, feeling worse for her than before. “I’m horrified she was mistaken for me. It's all my fault she’s battered and in hospital. I wish I could change that. Kurt doesn’t know about that part yet. He’s not going to like it.”

“Rebecca, you can't blame yourself. How were you to know there’s some crazy out there wanting to harm you? And I'd feel just as bad if it was you lying there,” Chloe said. Tears welled up behind my eyelids. That was the closest Chloe would get to admitting she cared about me.

“We’ve got to find the fucker. Fast. Ladies, neither of you can leave this house without the protection of one of my guys. Not until we’ve caught the sick fuck. Do I make myself clear?” Although Maxwell’s voice was stern, it was laced with concern.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded.

Please let this nightmare end soon so we can go back to our normal lives.

“I'm sending Brent and James to take you to the hospital while I take care of urgent business.” He turned to Chloe, his tone serious. “They’re both ex-Marine and know how to take care of you, so stay close to them at all times.”

Chloe nodded.

Thank God, she didn’t argue. She was probably just as freaked out as I was by the thought of a crazy person out there. We’d never experienced anything like this before. It made me long for uncomplicated times when our biggest worry was what we were wearing to a party.

T
ears threatened to overwhelm me. I grabbed Chloe’s hand and squeezed hard as we shuffled closer to Lily’s bed. Lying back against the stark white linen, Lily looked fragile, her hair spread around her angelic face like a halo, tubes stuck into her arms and machines rhythmically going about their work.

Kurt sat holding her hand, gently rubbing over her knuckles with his thumb. Her eyes were closed and she looked as if she was sleeping. Kurt raised his head, eyes widening as his gaze went from Chloe to me to Lily and back again.

“Rebecca?” His gaze rested on my face, but I sensed his uncertainty.

“It's me, Kurt, and this is Chloe.” I pushed her forward to shake his outreached hand.

“Wow. You could be triplets.” If I had a dollar for every time someone made that comparison, I’d be a wealthy woman. I smiled at him, nodding toward Lily. “How is she? We were told she woke from the coma?”

“Becca.” The voice from the bed sounded weak and small. Her eyes fluttered open and rested on Chloe. “You came too,” she whispered, a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth. I noticed the swelling of her lips and bruise marks across her body that were turning from purple to yellow. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. Although she sounded tired, she was at least awake. Alive.

“Lil, I'm so sorry, baby girl.” My throat thickened, my chest burning with tears I fought to hold back. I needed to be strong for Lily. This wasn’t the time or place to fall apart.

“The one night I decided to be brave and venture out by myself, didn’t turn out so good, did it?” Her hand went up and ran over the bandage still tightly wrapped around her head and over one ear. Kurt had told me over the phone that her eardrum had burst with the impact of the blows to her head.

“Darling, you have to promise to never do that again. Not without me,” Kurt said, his voice filled with concern.

Darling?
Chloe pumped me in the ribs.
Yeah, I heard it.

Lily nodded, smiling at a frowning Kurt. She turned her gaze to Chloe. “So you came to Munich after all. Sorry it had to take this to get you on that plane.”

“Cupcake, I'm sorry. If I came like you asked me to, you wouldn’t have been alone.” Chloe swallowed hard, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You wouldn’t be here,” she sobbed, clutching Lily’s hand.

Earlier I’d planned a weekend away in Paris for the three of us for my birthday, where Jade and Lexi would join us. I'd also invited the only girlfriend I’d made in France and was looking forward to introducing Celeste to my family. Chloe had skirted the issue repeatedly when I’d offered her a return ticket to join us in celebrating my thirtieth in style.

“Don’t be silly. You passed out on the couch, Becca It happened. Neither of you are to blame for my impulsiveness.” Lily turned her gaze back to Kurt. “But I never want to go out alone again. Not without Kurt.” Their fingers were intertwined on top of the bed covers, and he leaned down to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. Oh my, Kurt and Lily. I should have known from the first day they met, all that talk about books and studying and reading. They were made for one another.

Kurt looked up, training his gaze on me, silently asking for my blessing. I nodded my head slightly, a moment passing between the two of us. I couldn’t be happier, knowing the caliber of man he was. Lily was a lucky girl to snag a man like the young doctor. He’d look after her and protect her.

“Well, I should be out of here in time for our Parisian weekend. Only two weeks to your thirtieth birthday, Becca.”