Page 62 of Keys

Wisely, her brother nodded his head just before he let it hang on his shoulders in defeat. My woman’s family was fucked in so many ways, and I knew it had to be tearing her apart inside, even if she put on a brave face as we handled everything.

Chapter 23

We used the lawyer’s office to reconvene once we had everyone straight. Since he was still acting as Brian Cassidy’s lawyer, Grady Johnson called for the police to show up and arrest his client. He then turned over the information Keys gave him that would hopefully keep him locked up until trial, including the fact that June had been kidnapped from her home and that she had also been trafficked nearly thirty years before as well.

When everyone else was busy giving statements, I made my way to Keys and wrapped her up in my arms. It didn’t matter that she might hate me, the woman seemed like she was just barely hanging on to her sanity. That much was evident when she collapsed against my body, allowing me to take her weight and hold her up. “Everything is going to be okay,” I whispered into her hair. She shook her head against my body in an attempt to deny what I was saying to her. “It is. It Will.”

I promised her those things with words, but I knew in that moment that I would do whatever it took to make sure that’s exactly what happened. My woman had been through enough. It was about damn time she was able to live a peaceful fucking life for once without having to look over her shoulder at the mess her parents made of everything.

We stood like that for a few minutes before I managed to get her into a chair where Keys collapsed and quietly thanked me.

“Is there anything I can get you?”

“Outside of a really strong drink?” She joked darkly and shook her head before changing her mind. “Actually, if you could find some coffee, I’d appreciate a big cup. I’m starting to get the jitters from the adrenaline dump.”

“I’ll go find some.” It killed me to leave her side, knowing how awful the day had been, but I also knew she needed the caffeine boost before everything was settled with the police and she was able to take a breather.

I was just adding a splash of cream and two sugars, hoping like hell Keys liked her coffee like that, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned and saw Aubrey standing there I immediately whirled and stepped to the side. She moved in closer, and I side-stepped again so that we somehow danced our way around one another, taking opposite positions. Once we stopped moving, her back was to the breakroom counter while mine was to the door.

“What in the hell do you want?” I asked, not bothering to hide the snarled way the words stabbed the air between us.

She grinned at me like I was the finest steak in a five-star restaurant, and she wanted to savor every bit of me. I took another step back, trying to add more space between us.

“You know,” she started to say, and I didn’t miss the way her words were a tease as they left her pouty lips. “I never meant to hurt you. At first, it didn’t matter – you didn’t matter.” The clarification was wholly unnecessary because I wasn’t, even for a minute, buying what this bitch was selling.

“But then I spent time with you and you’re not what you seemed. There’s something special about you. You’re genuine.” The last word was more reflection than admission on her part. “We could have that again,” she finally offered.

“Earlier today, you told your sister that you wouldn’t have hurt her by trying to use me if you’d known the reality of her situation. Not that it makes your attempts okay since that woman in there never got a say in what the fuck her parents were doing or how it was fucking up other people’s lives.”

“I get that, but…” she tried again, but I shook my head, not willing to allow her excuses any longer.

“Are you sure you don’t have any involvement with your dad’s bullshit?” Her sputtered non-answer wasn’t good enough for me. I didn’t care how shocked the little drama queen attempted to look. “It sure as fuck seems like it since you’re standing here trying to pull this bullshit again.”

“Of course, I don’t have anything to do with the good Senator’s bullshit,” she sneered. “Sarah said you were over before you started. I just figured that meant you were free to move on. No offense to my sister, but she’s an idiot if she lets you slip through her fingers. I’m not. I know a good man when I see one. You and me,” she grinned seductively again, “since you’re really free now, could be great together.”

“No, the fuck we can’t. And I’m not free either. I was stupid to let her go to begin with. It has always been her since the moment I first met her. I tried to use you and whoever else to forget after I stupidly ran her off, but if for some fucking reason she ever decides to forgive me, she’s not going to have another damn thing sitting between us to keep us apart.”

“She’ll never date you now that you fucked her little sister.”

“We never fucked, and you know it.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Bet she doesn’t know that, and I don’t play fair. I take what I want.”

“Obviously, since you couldn’t even fathom sharing your piece of shit father with the daughter who had dibs on him by age,” I argued.

“He was always mine, and never hers, you heard her.” The hurt tone in her voice called out her lie.

“Yeah? Do you hear yourself? You’re still fighting some fucked up battle to one-up your sister where your father is concerned. Doesn’t matter though, because I’m telling you now that I will do anything to be with her, and no one – definitely not someone I only hung out with a few times and made out with once – is going to stand in the way of that.”

She grinned at me and then winked at someone over my shoulder before pushing past me to leave the room. I turned to see Sarah standing there. “So, the two of you arranged that little set up?” I asked.

“Nope, I guess my sister thought it might help you out.”

“Did it?”

She shrugged her shoulders in a way very reminiscent of her sister’s recent actions. “I don’t think it was necessary to begin with. Like I told her, we weren’t together when you two had your little tryst.”

This was it. This was my in, my way back, and probably the only chance I’d ever get of having my woman in my arms on a permanent basis again. I wasn’t about to fuck it up either.

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