Ryan (Mallick Brothers 2)

"No. Come on," she said in a more reasonable tone, grabbing my arm to stop me from walking away from her. "Just this once, we'll keep it between the two of us. I won't even tell Hunt I saw you here," she offered, sounding genuine. "I know she has issues and maybe you need someone to talk to about that."

"She dropped me off a Christmas present," I surprised myself by admitting.

"And you of course couldn't stop yourself from going over there and thanking her," she said with a knowing smile.

"Something like that," I agreed.

"Was she freaking out?"

"No. Actually, she was good. Almost calm for the most part."

"Her apartment is her comfort zone and you're a safe person for her. She doesn't have to worry about you getting pissed at her or anything. Did things get... physical?"

"Let it drop with the bet thing, Fee," I warned.

"I wasn't asking for the bet. Christ, relax a little," she said, shaking her head. "I was just asking to ask."

"I kissed her," I admitted, leaving out the fact that it was the fucking best one I'd ever had. Maybe it was as simple as her open, sweet, unexpectedly overwhelmed reaction to it. Maybe it was more than that. Who knew. All I did know was I was pissed as hell when I got a call about one of the guys I had paid a visit to that morning showing up at Ross Ward's underground fighting ring, throwing around money he owed us.

I'd never been pissed to be the one called with a work problem, not even on a holiday.

But just that once, I had been.

And, though I generally wasn't the brother who spilled blood anymore, I had just-healed cuts on my knuckles from the anger I went at that bastard with. First, for screwing with my family. Second, for screwing with something good that was developing with me and Dusty.

"Then invited her over for New Years Eve?" Fee asked, eyes going a little soft. "So you need to get decorations to make a thing of it. I don't use this phrase often, Ryan, but that's fucking cute."

"I think you tempered the 'cute' with the 'fucking' preceding it. No one is taking your badass card away from you."

She ignored that. "What about if she can't come?"

"Then I'm going to her place."

"Solid plan," she agreed with a nod, reaching for her cell as it chirped. "Oh, don't forget food. Not a sit down meal kind of thing. Snacky stuff. So it doesn't get in the way of, ah, other activities. Oh," she added, having started to walk away then turning back, "and condoms. If she's been agoraphobic for that long, I doubt she's up to date on birth control. Actually, I have a whole bag full off..." she trailed off, moving to rummage through her purse.

Fee kept a literal fishbowl full of condoms on the bathroom counters at her work.

"Fee, I have condoms," I said with a smirk as she stopped shuffling.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, babe, I'm sure."

"Okay. Just checking. If you need a reminder of why you need condoms, I am happy to drop off the hellions for an afternoon," she added, waving over her shoulder at me as she walked toward the counter. "Have a happy New Year, Ry," she added as I contemplated the row of black, gold, and silver paper dishes and napkins.

Figuring Anita would hate me less if I didn't leave a sink full of dishes on top of the confetti, I grabbed a bunch and headed to the counter myself.

From there, I hit the liquor store and then the food store and made my way home.

I was barely halfway out of the elevator when I knew something was wrong.

First, the noise.

There was crashing and cursing and yelling and the whacking sounds that my history told me was the unmistakable sound of fist hitting flesh.

My stomach twisted painfully as my eyes went to my door.

Second, there was the fact that her door was wide open.

Everything fell from my hands in a blink as I ran down the rest of the hall and into her doorway.

I froze for the barest of seconds, the message not seeming to transfer from eyes to brain to body fast enough as I watched two men, not Bry and his cohort, but two other men- big, ugly, mean-looking, in her apartment. One was rummaging around the already destroyed living area, overturning drawers, ripping open pillows.

The other, yeah, he was on Dusty.

Meaning he was straddling her waist and those fist hitting bones sounds came from him.

I heard a roaring sound and didn't know it actually came from me until eyes shifted in my direction- the dark, almost black ones from both of her attackers and the one not-swollen-closed green eye of hers.

And I fucking flew at the guy who did it.

He couldn't even get to his feet before I had him by the throat, throwing him so hard that he cracked the plaster in the wall behind him.