Page 12 of Twisted Secrets
So why was her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest? She’d never feared her brothers before—though Aiden made her a little nervous these days—but the tang of bitterness on the back of her tongue was hard to ignore. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.” He drummed his fingers on the dark wood. “Have you given any thoughts to your future?”
She simultaneously wanted to laugh and cry. “What future? You know better than anyone that I don’t have a choice. Father hasn’t moved on any marriage prospects, but no doubt he has a little niche he’d like to shove me into when it suits his purposes.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
“It doesn’t matter how I feel about it, does it? There are no other options.”
He was silent for a long time, silent and still. Finally he said, “What if there were other options?”
Fear unlike anything she’d ever known rose up and clawed at her throat. It was so easy for him to offer heroptions, and to talk about defying their father when he’d danced to Seamus O’Malley’s tune. Despite his big talk while they were growing up, when push came to shove,hejumped when their father said jump.Hehadn’t taken any risks.Hehad done exactly as their father wanted and marriedCallie Sheridan.
And now he was asking her to…what? She shoved to her feet.I don’t want to know. I don’t want to hear it. I’m not going to stick my neck out to make his guilt at leaving me behind more bearable.
But what if she did?
The thought brought her up short. She’d spent her entire life being tossed from one wave to the next, with about as much control as a rowboat in a hurricane. All she had to do was look around to see her siblings taking control of their futures in whatever way they could. Even if it was destructive, they weredoingsomething, which was more than she could say for herself.
Sloan made herself sit back down and turn to face him, even though every muscle shook with the effort to keep still. “What other options?”
“What if…” He hesitated, searching her face. “What if I could get you out—reallyget you out? You could have that little house in a small town like you’ve always dreamed of. You could leave the politics and danger and Boston behind.”
It was almost too much to comprehend. She swallowed hard, a different kind of fear rising inside her. She might hate so much about her life now, but she knew the ins and outs and the risks down to the tiniest detail. To leave that all behind meant opening herself up to the greater unknown, which was scarier than she could have dreamed.
If I stay here, it’s only a matter of time before our father recovers from how things played out with Carrigan and tries to push me into an advantageous marriage.When he did, she’d say yes. She always said yes. It would be the beginning of the end for her. She wasn’t naive enough tobelieve otherwise.
So she took a deep breath and forced herself to nod. “Yes.”
“Yes?” Teague looked like he was almost afraid to hope that he’d heard her right.
She nodded again, her voice so low it was barely a whisper. “Yes. Get me out.”
***
“That everything?” Olivia finished balancing out the till and stuck the extra money into the appropriate zippered bag. It had been a good night. The businessmen bought enough alcohol to rival any frat boys, and they’d tipped well beyond that. She peeked out the back office to find Benji wiping down the last of the tables. Technically he should be the one closing the till, but he said he’d rather do just about any other job in the pub. Since she didn’t mind the tedium in the least, she’d pretty much been doing this particular job since she started here.
The problem was that tonight the tedium had been her enemy. It gave her entirely too much time to think, which was thelastthing she needed right now.
Benji stood up and wiped his brow. “Yeah, I got the rest of this covered. Your tips are on the bar.”
“Thanks.” She shouldered her purse and skirted around the boxes that would need to be taken out back. A quick count of the cash had her frowning. “Benji—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” He glared, though it was about as menacing as a teddy bear. She’d seen him muscle grown-ass men out of the pub more than once over the last six months without breaking a sweat, but his moods didn’t faze her. She knew all about being pissy to forcepeople to keep their distance, and normally she respected his space when he turned that expression on her.
But the last few days had pushed her tolerance almost to the breaking level. “Benji, this is nearly double what I actually earned tonight. Those guys tipped well, but notthiswell.” She made her hands unclench from around the cash and set it back onto the bar. “I’m not looking for charity.” Someday she might have to get the hell out of town without a word to anyone, and she’d hate feeling like she left the scales unbalanced behind her. Benji was too nice for her to take advantage of.
“Listen here, Olivia, because I’m only going to say this once. Are you listening?”
She sighed. “Yeah.”
“You bust your ass. You’re the hardest worker in this place, including myself. Now, I’m a firm believer that a good work ethic should be rewarded, and that’s what I’m doing as your boss. It’s not a handout, and don’t you dare insult me by saying it is. I reward hard work in the way I see fit, and this is how I see fit. Got it?”
She swallowed past her suddenly dry throat—and the powerful urge to hug the big man. “I got it.”
“Good. I don’t want to hear any of this nonsense again.” He started to turn away. “Do you need a ride?”
“No, I got it.” There was another half hour before she had to be down at Charles Station to catch the last red line home. She managed a smile. “Thanks, though. For everything.”
