She had long dark hair, silky smooth like a curtain that’d never tangle. Her skin was olive and flawless, reminding me of warm sunny Mediterranean beaches. Dark brown eyes, a tiny waist and a big juicy butt. But it didn’t seem like she knew how sexy she was. How her curves made my cock throb.
The way she swung her hips when she walked…
And now I had to do everything in my power to not undress her with my eyes. How much longer was I supposed to keep it in my pants around a chick like her?
“So, none of you trust me?” she asked, crossing her arms over her big tits. I pushed my hands deep into the pockets of my pants, hoping she wouldn’t notice my boner.
I was cursed with having a boner around her constantly, which was a pretty fuckin’ painful way to live your life, in my opinion.
“I don’t know what to think of you,” I replied and she shook her head.
“So I have to convince you now?”
This was the first time she displayed some kind of emotion. It was anger. She was mad at me and mad at the world, even though none of it was my fault.
Brendan had a point. How could we trust this chick we knew nothing about? She claimed she’d made an escape from Aldo’s clutches and rescued our nephew in the process, but how did we know she wasn’t working as a spy for him? Maybe this was Aldo’s plan all along—to infiltrate our family by pretending to have rescued a family member.
After all the shit Aldo had pulled recently, we couldn’t put this past him, in an attempt to win the war. He was willing to kill, destroy and betray anybody who stood in his path, with a Doherty being the prime target of his violence.
“Convince me of what?” I challenged Elsie.
She had her lips pursed tightly together.
“You and your family don’t trust that I’m telling the truth, right? You think I’m lying. That I’m working for Aldo and just trying to trick you guys into trusting me and giving me information?” Her shoulders heaved while she tried to reel in her anger.
She’d hit the nail on the head, so all I could do was shrug.
I went over to the bar in the corner of the room and grabbed two cans of beers from the fridge.
“Yeah, you’ve summed it up pretty accurately,” I replied.
Elsie’s nostrils flared. When I offered her one of the cans, she rejected it.
“What do I have to do to convince you my life is in real danger? If Aldo Baron or his people find me, they’ll kill me?”
“You could start by telling me everything that’s happened to you so far. Every detail,” I said.
“I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“The less you tell me, the more suspicious I become.”
Her eyes filled with tears but she quickly blinked them away.
“I think I’ll need that drink after all,” she said, grabbing the can out of my hand.
Three
Elsie
If I had to be honest with myself, I’d have to admit that trusting Tristian or anybody from his family was a pretty bad idea for me. If there was anything the past few months had taught me, it was I couldn’t trust anybody. Not even my own family. Not even my own father.
Tristian stared at me while I gulped down most of the beer in the can. I didn’t usually drink much, in fact, I rarely ever touched alcohol. I wasn’t sure why imbibing that quantity of beer seemed like a good idea to me at the time. Wasn’t that what they did in the movies? Liquid courage?
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Maybe it gave me some courage I lacked before, because I felt compelled to speak to him truthfully.
“I shouldn’t trust you either.”
Tristian took in a deep breath, then nodded.
“You’re right, you shouldn’t. Why don’t you start off by telling me exactly why you thought you’d come to us for help.”
“I didn’t plan on calling your brother and asking for your family to help me. That was what happened. They were the circumstances I found myself in. I wanted to get out of there for a while, I just didn’t know how. And when they brought your nephew in…he’s just a kid. So small and fragile. I wanted to help him.”
Once again, I felt myself tearing up and getting misty eyed. All that time when I refused to speak to Tristian, trying to keep my distance from him—I was able to keep it together. But now, it felt like the floodgates had opened. It all spilled out uncontrollably. I was embarrassed.
It didn’t seem as though a man like him would be moved by my tears.
“So you just happened to be in a position where you had something to offer us and now you think we owe it to you to offer you protection?”
No matter how sexy he was and how I imagined sparks flying between us, the way he spoke to me reminded me he wasn’t on my side. I had nobody on my side. I was completely alone.
“Isn’t that the least you people can do in exchange for the life I saved?” I asked bitterly.
When Tristian didn’t reply, I drank the rest of the beer. It tasted bitter and disgusting and I almost gagged on it.
“Something tells me you don’t come from this world, do you, Elsie Harlow? This isn’t reality for you,” he said.
“No, it isn’t. I have no idea how any of this works. I’m just trying to survive.”
“What is your profession? Do you have a job?”
He looked me up and down, almost like he tried to assess me—playing a guessing game in his head. I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought I did.
“I’m an accountant,” I replied, putting a stop to the mystery. “I’m good with numbers and that makes me an asset to Aldo Baron.”
“An accountant?”
I registered the surprise in Tristian’s voice.
So, whatever
