Page 11 of The Hero I Can't Resist
I should probably be nervous. Miller and Penn are two guys I don’t want to mess with. Heck, you don’t want to get on the bad side of any of the Brody brothers. But I’m not bothered by this. I’m looking at it as two of the many obstacles I’m going to have to overcome to earn Sky’s trust.
I keep waiting for Sky to come back to the living room, but I don’t see her until there’s a heavy knock at the door. She meets me there, and I stand in front of her. “I’ll get it.”
She points at the door behind me. “We know it’s my brothers. Maybe you should go do something while I talk to them.”
I shake my head. What kind of men has she been with that would just walk away and let her deal with a problem? Just the thought has me scowling. “Let me take care of this, Sky.”
She seems shocked. “You want to deal with my brothers?”
I nod. “I think it’s best.”
She laughs. “Okay, have at it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
She steps to the side, and after looking out the peephole to make sure it’s her brothers on the other side, I undo the lock and open the door.
Miller doesn’t hesitate when he sees me. He pushes me backwards into the house, up against the wall of the entryway. I don’t react. I don’t blame him, really. Her brothers have always been protective of Sky, so I expect nothing less.
I let Miller get a punch into my stomach. I’m not going to lie; the hit hurts.
I normally would react, but I know I can’t. Not if I ever want Sky to be mine.
She yells at Miller and comes to grab her brother, trying to pull him off me, but Penn jumps in, wrapping his arms around her middle.
Rage goes through me. I know it’s her brother, but I can’t contain it. My voice is laced with a threat. “Let her go, Penn.”
Miller pauses in his attack, and both of the men stare at me. I grit my teeth. If he doesn’t let her go, I’m going to fight back. “I’m telling you one last time, let her go.”
Penn must see something in my face because he releases his hold on his sister. Even Miller’s hands lighten against my chest. Sky is looking up at me in shock, and I have to drag my eyes from hers. “Now, Miller, can we go in the other room and talk for a minute?”
He releases me and without a word walks down the hallway. I stop in front of Penn. “You want to get a hit in?”
He smirks and holds his hands up. “I have surgery in the morning. I can’t hit you. I’ll leave that for Miller.”
I shake my head and look at Sky. She doesn’t know what to make of all this. I’m sure she feels like I walked into her world today and turned it upside down. I give her a reassuring look as I walk past her to follow Miller.
He’s pacing the kitchen when I walk in. I lean against the counter, feigning a calmness that I don’t really feel. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel calm now, not while there are men like “bakersking” that believe they can terrorize my Sky.
Miller stops, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. He has a dress shirt on, sleeves rolled up, revealing the tattoos on both his arms. He’s a millionaire, but right now, he looks like a man about to lose his shit. “I paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for my sister to be protected, and you’re turning it into a booty call.”
I push off the counter and stalk toward him, hands fisted at my sides. “First of all, be very careful how you talk about your sister. Second of all, I told Logan I didn’t want to take the money. He said you alreadypaid it, so I told the accountant to pin it for a future case. I’m not taking payment for protecting… Sky.” I almost saidmySky, and it’s good I caught myself because I can’t imagine that would have landed well.
Miller is taken aback. “Wait. What?”
I start to repeat myself, and he holds his hands up. “Why would you do that?”
Fuck. How do I even answer that? I decide to just be honest. “Because your sister means something to me. Because I want her safe, and it kills me to think that this guy is terrorizing her.”
He walks slowly to me and stops. “What do you mean, she means something to you? Is there something going on here?”
I jut my chin. “Today is the first time I’ve seen her since she was a kid, if that’s what you’re asking.”
He looks at me with doubt in his eyes. “And what? You decide you need to be the one to save her? This isn’t adding up, Zach.”
My voice is quiet and tense. “Trust me, I know how the video looked, but I can promise you, none of it was planned. All I can tell you is the truth. I was watching her from the sidelines, and I knew the minute her stalker joined because Sky lost some ofher joy. I moved closer to see her phone, not even thinking I could have checked mine. And when I saw his comments, I did what I thought I had to do. I wanted the asshole to know that she had me in her corner. That she was protected. I acted on impulse, but I think it was the right move.”
He looks at me through scrutinizing eyes. “You like her?”
My jaw tightens. “I do.”
