Chapter 1
The arguing had been going on for hours, so Ellen was better off where she was, sitting with her cup of tea in her hands and a blanket tossed over her shoulders. She’d originally thought to come out and watch the sun set but now she was just watching the stars and honestly, it was just as satisfying as anything else at this point.
A final slam of the door seemed to end the fighting inside. But Ellen wasn’t in the mood to listen to her mother’s wailing about the teenage version of herself. Ellen had had enough of that earlier in her life. She’d been raised by a young mother who’d gotten pregnant at twenty and now when she was doing it all again ten years later, she couldn’t handle the daughter that happened to turn out exactly like herself.
Ellen often felt like she didn’t belong. She was the odd man out since her father had died. So, she usually tried to keep away from the fighting that often occurred.
When her phone started vibrating, she smiled at the picture of a blond girl grimacing and answered. Christine Wilcox’s laughter echoed loudly through the phone.
“You’ve got to get over here, Ellen. I know you said you were tired but we’re having a blast and the night is still young. Will you get over here, please?”
Ellen glanced toward the watch on her arm and sighed. It was after all Saturday, she thought and gave in. “I’ll be there in thirty.”
Chris’ happy shout sounded before Ellen hung up the phone.
With a last glance up at the sky she rose and strolled inside. After having put the tea away and the blanket she stepped to her closet and wondered how she’d make it over to the pub in thirty minutes. She usually needed more.
Simple, she reminded herself. Simple. She’d go simple. She pulled out a marine dress with a tight waist and a flowing A-line skirt. It would do, she decided and quickly changed into it. She brushed her hair and managed to French Braid it and laid it over her shoulder. Crawling into her closet she found her marine pumps. Inspecting herself in the mirror she smiled slightly at the sight. The dress made her curves show tastefully and it was just what she’d been going for. Before she would take off, she decided to touch up on her make-up.
The pub was packed that night, she noticed as she pushed through the crowd to find her friends. She found Chris by the bar and tapped her shoulder.
Chris let out a happy yelp before throwing her arms around Ellen, telling her she was halfway to drunk already.
“Wow, you look so hot!” Chris exclaimed in her black miniskirt matched with a glittering patch of fabric covering her chest and belly but leaving not much else to the imagination. Chris’ short curls were free tonight, and she looked slightly crazy, but everything just worked. She managed to make crazy look sexy, somehow.
“You too!” Ellen called out over the music and didn’t object when Chris handed her a beer.
“My idiot brothers are here tonight.” Chris called out and nodded toward a booth further off.
Ellen followed her nod and found a table with three men she knew and one she didn’t. The three older siblings of Chris’s sat with a beer each in their hand, laughing and talking with the fourth, unknown man. Seeing the three of them together made her grin slightly. They were like triplets, alike from head to toe with their blond curls, grey eyes and sturdy bodies reflecting their physical occupations.
“Every now and again I see them watching over me. One guy that was hitting on me earlier totally freaked and left when Justin was staring at him from the bar.” Chris rolled her eyes and handed Ellen another beer so they could bring the four of them back to the table. With Chris leading the way, Ellen sent a glance over her shoulder toward the brothers, finding Brian – the middle brother – watching them. When he noticed her, he smiled slightly and nodded a greeting.
She smiled but was grabbed by Chris, as they were at the table. She huffed out a breath as she was pushed down into the booth with the three other girls from their High School class. Lisa, a gorgeously tall Hispanic was rocking a strapless blood red dress with her wavy raven black hair tumbling down over her left shoulder. She winked at Ellen as she received her beer.
The twins Carol and Hannah were engaged in a hectic discussion of what Ellen judged to be about men. Of course. Carol and Hannah had one problem. They usually fell for the same guys. Which made it impossible for either of them to be happy since they couldn’t part from each other more than a few hours it seemed.
Chris just rolled her eyes at them. “Couldn’t we just dance or something?” Chris asked and looked longingly toward the dance floor.
Lisa shot up from the booth. “Yes, please!” She exclaimed, as if she’d been waiting for the chance to leave the booth.
Ellen smiled at the two of them swaying off toward the little area by the stage cleared for dancing. She sipped her beer and had that weird feeling of being watched. Glancing toward another table she noticed a man leaned back relaxed with a beer in his hand, resting on the table and a direct stare at her. When their eyes met, he nodded once, as if he was trying to be cool, and winked.
She inhaled and glanced around, trying to find a way out that didn’t include stumbling around on the dance floor. When her eyes landed on Justin, the third oldest in the Wilcox clan, at the bar she rose and strolled over. Glancing over her shoulder to still find him staring after her, she stepped up close to Justin.
He turned, a bit surprised, but didn’t move away from her as she leaned forward.
“Just want someone off my back. He keeps staring at me.” She said and was pleased to feel Justin’s arm wind around her waist. When she pulled back, she noticed Justin’s eyes follow her subtle nod. He snorted.
“Obvious much?” He nodded a thanks to the bartender when he received a beer. “I was heading back to the table. Care to join me?”
She shrugged and didn’t object when Justin kept his arm around her waist as he walked her over to the other side of the room to the table he’d been sitting at before.
“I’m not sure you’ve met John, Dean’s business partner.” Justin pointed to the man Ellen hadn’t seen before. He seemed tall, even though he was sitting down, and had chocolate brown hair matched with emerald, green eyes. She held out her hand toward him as she slid on the bench next to Brian and was squeezed in between him and Justin.
“Nice to meet you. I think I’ve heard of your name being mentioned.” John commented and nodded toward Dean, sitting next to him.
Dean, the oldest sibling of the Wilcox family, shrugged with a slight smile. “She and Chris used to be joined at the hip in High School. Now, it appears as if they are occasionally.”
Ellen just smiled and sipped her beer. “We have a unique connection. By the way.” Ellen turned her eyes to Justin. “I think you should stop staring at the men flirting with your sister. You’re totally ruining her game.”
Justin rolled his eyes.
“She doesn’t have game.” Brian commented sourly.
Ellen sighed. “I forgot I was talking to the Wilcox Neanderthals of the year.”
“Have you even seen what she is wearing tonight? Or more like not wearing.” Justin commented and sipped his beer as he was watching his sister dancing with some guy. The deadly glance he gave her almost had Ellen laughing.
“She’s a gorgeous woman, men notice her. Always have. Let her be. She can handle herself. Once she punched a guy for getting too close to her when she wasn’t feeling it.”
Brian chuckled. “I guess Dean taught her how to throw a punch then.”
Ellen shifted her eyes to Dean as he rolled his eyes. “Oh, I almost forgot you were the king of throwing punches back in the day.”
Dean shook his head slowly as he stared down into his beer. “I haven’t thrown a punch in years.”
“Seems like it’s time, bro.” Justin rose from the bench, seeming to want to walk off. He groaned and looked at Ellen. “Let’s dance.”
Ellen snorted and shook her head. “I don’t dance. You know that.”
“I just need a reason to go over there.”
She just shook her head and sipped her beer, untouched by his disturbance of his sister’s game. The fact was, Chris did have game. When she wasn’t disturbed by her brothers. Mostly Justin but Brian and Dean could interfere just as effectively.
As Chris had basically forced liquids down Ellen’s throat, she was now slightly unsteady as she stumbled out from the bathroom. She touched the wall to steady herself a moment, feeling her entire mind spin. Afraid to trip and fall, she leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment to steady the spinning. When she’d managed somewhat, she noticed a man passing by but then stopped and turned toward her.
Glancing over she noticed Dean’s business partner, desperately trying to remember his name. Was it Jack? Perhaps it was best to keep names out of the mix, she decided.
“You okay?” He asked as he stepped closer, so he didn’t have to yell over the music.
She nodded and touched her fingertips to her forehead. “Sure. In a moment or two.”
He smiled and nodded gently. “I was watching you before. That dress… Wow.”
Ellen was slightly shocked when he stepped closer and closed the distance between them. She felt his hands on her waist, pulling her closer.
Not sure what she thought about the sudden attack on her lips, Ellen felt the wall against her back as he pressed her up against it. When his greedy hands roamed down her sides and over her hips she placed her hands on his chest and pushed gently. When he didn’t budge, she pushed harder to get him off of her.
When she’d managed to push him back a step, he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. As he was about to close the distance once again, Ellen acted on instinct and reached up and slapped him across the face.
As he, shocked, let her arm go, she marched off only to notice Brian watching her. Something about his stare made her realize he’d caught the last of their encounter. She pressed her lips together, slightly ashamed of what had happened and passed by him to rejoin her friends. She wanted to get back into the happy mood she’d been in before. Dinking and having fun with her friends.
She found Chris at the bar and didn’t waste time as she was handed a drink before she downed half of it at once.
Chris arched an eyebrow at her but didn’t say a word, probably picking up on her suddenly foul mood. She just shrugged and strolled off.
Ellen was about to follow when Brian walked over and grabbed her arm to stop her from walking off. He glanced around before he met her eyes. “You need to tell Dean.”
“I’m not telling Dean anything, and neither are you, Brian. What happened is between me and…” Her mind blanked. She couldn’t even remember his name.
“John?” He asked, with an amused smile playing on his lips.
“Right. John. Look, Dean’s working with that man. I’m not going to drive in a wedge between them, so drop it, alright?”
Brian sighed but seemed to agree eventually. Or perhaps he just didn’t want to drive a wedge between himself and Ellen. When he let her arm go, she was free to march off – which she did.
With a headache still raging inside her head, Ellen stopped at the end of the park and took a deep breath as she watched the movements inside and outside of the new private clinic Brian was setting up with the help of Dean’s construction business during these first stages of development.
Chris had told her something about it but never any details because it didn’t interest her enough to know them anyway.
Today’s trip to the clinic served two purposes. First off, she needed to talk to Brian, make sure he’d hold his word about not telling Dean about John’s actions. Second, she was actually interested to see what was happening with the clinic.
Making sure it was clear; she crossed the street and stepped inside the wide-open door. The walls were in place, and she noticed a painter setting up to start painting.
A construction worker passed her by.
“Excuse me.” She waited till he turned and looked at her. “Is Brian Wilcox here?”
The broad man shrugged and pointed toward a back room. “Dean Wilcox is.”
She nodded a thanks and deliberated on whether she should leave or ask him where Brian was. She didn’t have time to decide as Dean strolled out from the back room with another worker following him.
“Give John these, will you?” He asked as he’d stopped by the sight of Ellen. Dean’s shortly cut blond hair barely showed off the curls his family had inherited from his father and the white shirt was rolled up at the sleeves in the heat of the afternoon.
“Hey.” She said awkwardly as he shuffled a few things on a counter. She could see in his stance that he was going somewhere. Perhaps even in a hurry.
“What’s up?”
She cleared her throat. “I was actually looking for Brian. Have you seen him?”
“He’s upstairs.”
Ellen glanced toward the ceiling before she could stop herself. It wasn’t like she could see him even if she glanced upward. “Oh, right. Thanks.”
Dean nodded and passed by her before he stopped. “You know.” He turned and waited a beat until she turned to look at him. “You don’t need to dress up in tight skirts and dresses to get men to notice you, Ellen. Neither does my sister.”
Ellen pressed her lips together, not sure what to think or even say to that comment. But apparently, he didn’t need a comment as he hurried off. She sighed and started up the stairs to the second floor.
The room opened into a large living room and kitchen, separated with a large kitchen island. The apartment was about to be finished as she could see the finishing touches almost in place.
Brian stood in the kitchen discussing something with a construction worker. When they were done, Briand glanced around and seemed to hesitate when he noticed her.
Already having his attention, she marched over and made sure no one was in hearing distance before she spoke. “I need to make sure you won’t repeat what you saw last night to anyone, Brian.”
He sighed and ran his hand through his curly mess of a hair. “Jesus, Ellen, you can’t ask me to lie. If someone asks me what happened, I won’t lie.”
“Okay, okay, I guess I get that but… Dean shouldn’t know. We both know how he’d take the news.”
Brian sighed but nodded. “Alright. I won’t tell him, but you really should. Dean would protect you just as much as the rest of us would.”
Ellen closed her eyes on a heavy sigh. “I know. That’s why I don’t want him to know.”
“Look, I know you think it’d ruin his work and all that, but Dean deserves to know who he’s working with. I don’t know John all that much, but he seems like a decent man. But if what I saw last night is how he treats women, I’m willing to change my mind. So would Dean. If Dean decides to break off his partnership with John, it would be up to him, not you.”
“I would never want to be the reason for it, Brian.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Agree to disagree then.”
She sighed but nodded. When his phone rang, she hugged him quickly and hurried out the door. Brian was a man of his word. He wouldn’t say anything to Dean or Justin unless he was backed into a corner – unwilling to lie.
They were all good men and even if Chris complained a lot about them, she knew as well, she was lucky to have them.
