Trouble Read online

  I let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, okay, I’m ready, let’s go to the beach!”

  Her furrowed brow faded away and a huge smile spread across her face as we left our hotel room. Sophie had not had sex in three months and she made it perfectly clear that she was on a mission to change that in Mexico. One night stands were not my thing, but I didn’t judge her or her begrudge her for wanting to scratch that itch.

  The waves crashed against the shore as the warm ocean breeze lifted my hair and brushed it across my shoulders as we made our way to the beach. I took a deep breath, smiling as I looked around, so happy to be away from the biting cold weather in Chicago. The sun’s rays enveloped me as Sophie and I chatted with a couple of guys, and I was having a great time when I suddenly felt a cold chill run down my arms. I glanced around wondering if anyone else had noticed a sudden drop in temperature, when my heart leapt into my throat.

  Motherfucker. Is that Declan over there? Whatever Eric, the guy I was flirting with, was saying to me went in one ear and out the other as I strained to subtly glance toward the ocean to see if it really was Declan. Thank god I was wearing big dark sunglasses so he wouldn’t see me looking for him. Son of a bitch. It was Declan. With all of the people that were in Cabo I couldn’t believe I saw him again.

  When my mom told me that she was getting married again for the fourth time and the guy had a son, she failed to mention that he was a superstar MMA fighter. I didn’t really follow that world but Sophie was obsessed with it. When she found out our parents were dating I thought she was going faint. Her face got all red and she could barely breathe so I was concerned she was going to pass out right in front of me.

  *~*~*~*

  “You have to introduce me, Brielle! I can’t believe you know Declan ‘Trouble’ Ryan! If they get married you’re going to be related to him!”

  I quickly jumped in. “Only by marriage, no blood relation, so I don’t think he counts as a relative.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I can’t believe you are going to be sleeping under the same roof as that walking sex machine!”

  I could see her eyes glaze over as her mind wandered off into some ridiculous fantasyland, so I shook her to snap her out of it.

  “Sophie, slow down, they’re just dating. Besides, the man is 23 years old, a superstar and his dad is loaded. I can almost guarantee that he will not be living in the house with us if they tie the knot. I’m sure he has his own place in the city somewhere.”

  I met Declan for the first time the night my mom insisted that I join her and her new fiancé for dinner. It was the last thing I wanted to do. My mom’s boyfriends were a revolving door ever since my dad left for the last time a couple of years back, and I knew she was proud of herself this time for bagging a billionaire.

  A driver picked us up at our apartment in Uptown and drove us to North Pond in Lincoln Park. As we rode in the car my mom was a nervous wreck.

  “Brielle, please be on your best behavior tonight. Artemis is a really good guy, so don’t give him a hard time.”

  I snorted. “Artemis? What kind of name is that? I thought his name was Arty.”

  “It’s an old family name. I call him Arty most of the time.” She slathered on more lipstick, eyeing herself in her compact and fluffing her hair. I watched her examine herself in her mirror and marveled at how gorgeous my mom was. She really was stunning.

  Her raven colored hair fell past her shoulders in soft waves and her honey almond eyes followed her hand as she carefully applied her lipstick to her perfectly plump lips. I have to say I was happy that I took after my mom with my looks and not my dad. I was a total mini me of my mom, and like her, I never had a problem turning a guy’s head. As she put the compact away I could see that she was super jittery and I knew in that moment that this was the real deal for her. Or so I thought.

  My mom practically salivated when she first told me about him, and I thought that she had just bagged another sucker when she told me about her trip to Italy on his jet for their first date. To spend that kind of money on a woman on the first date seemed pretty silly to me. But the more time they spent together, the more I realized that she was really falling for the guy, not just his wallet. At least that’s what I thought.

  From that day on he showered her with expensive bags, jewelry and flowers. I don’t know what kind of hold she had on him, but he asked her to marry him three weeks after they met. I should not have been surprised, but I was even though my mom was the biggest gold digger on the planet. She had never worked a day in her life and she always depended on a man to support her. I figured even though he had proposed, he would only be around for a couple of weeks just like all the rest and then he would disappear.

  Arty came along just in time for her. She was almost flat broke having spent nearly all of the money various men had given her along the way. Rent was due on our crappy one bedroom apartment in Uptown and it was an all-time low for my mom.

  A normal person with half a brain would be excited for their mom that she was marrying rich, and rescuing us from the possibility of living on the street. But this wasn’t the first rich guy she’d dated. Her previous husband was loaded too, just not as loaded as this new guy. I actually liked him, he was really nice to me, but my mom screwed that up. My dad came back around and he wanted her back so she dumped her husband and they got divorced exactly one month after they got married. She had a bad habit of doing that. Whenever my dad showed up she dropped everyone and everything for him.

  As usual, my dad left again, mom was single for two years after that and was desperate to find someone. She had a million dollar wardrobe thanks to her many rich boyfriends, so she would dress up every night, go downtown to the five star Harper Hotel or some other fancy hotel, and sit at the bar hoping to meet a rich businessman. She met quite a few men but no one lasted more than a couple of dates, until she met Arty. When I met him that night at dinner, I could see that he only had eyes for her.

  I know I sound super harsh toward my mom and I don’t mean to. My resentment toward her came from always playing second fiddle to the boyfriends. She told me that she loved me all the time and that she was trying to meet someone who could take care of both of us, and give me the life I deserved. My mom was unwilling to get a job and take care of us on her own, so by the time I accepted that’s who she was our relationship got a lot better.

  I spent most of my time with my grandmother growing up. I lived with her for a few years while my mother was out and about going back and forth between my dad and trying to find a man to take care of us. My mother cried many nights over my father and it made me sad because I could see how much she loved him. He was in and out of my life and it wasn’t until recently that we started emailing. I had a distantly cordial relationship with him, and when I was a little girl it was weird to see the relationship my parents had. It was not the loving relationship that people were supposed to have and I never understood why my mother let him treat her the way he did. Whenever my dad came back into the picture no one else stood a chance with her. She loved him that much.

  Living in Uptown was almost her rock bottom and I could see the desperation on her face when she would go out each night. For the longest time I thought she was a prostitute because there were so many men throughout her life, and so many gifts. But no, she was just trying to find a rich husband and she knew where to look. The night she met Arty, everything changed.

  From the way she talked about Arty, I thought she had finally found life long happiness. He worshipped the ground she walked on and she seemed to really enjoy being with him. My dad had been out of the picture for years, and I just knew that Arty was finally it for her and she was going to live happily ever after.

  So as I sat there, in the gorgeous BMW sedan, on the way to the nice restaurant, I had to give my mom props. She’d found a super rich guy and in all her years of digging for gold, I had never seen her happier.

  We pulled up to the restaurant and she looked over at me, her eye
s pleading.

  “Please be nice, baby.”

  The worried look on her face really got to me, so I gently put my hand on her arm and smiled at her.

  “Don’t worry, mom. C’mon, let’s go see this guy you can’t stop talking about!”

  Chapter Four - Declan

  I peered over at Brielle through my shades as she tried to be subtle about looking at me. I chuckled softly to myself as the dude who was chatting her up had no clue he was being ignored. She was killing me in that red strappy bikini. She was so damned beautiful. My eyes slid over her perfect tits down her flat stomach to the tiny triangle between her legs, and I could feel my dick growing. I ripped my eyes away. Fuck! I closed my eyes and let the sun wash over me, willing my hard-on away. Every time I saw her she turned me on even more than the first day I met her.

  When she walked into the restaurant with her mom that first night I was blown away not only by how stunning she was, but also by how beautiful her mom was. I snorted to myself as I watched them come in looking like a pair of bona fide gold diggers. They could have passed for sisters and I immediately saw why my dad was so smitten. I also knew their type; dressed to the nines looking sexy as hell, leaving a vulnerable man helpless. I was surprised my dad fell for it. I knew he was lonely, but I didn’t think he was stupid.

  Instead of saying something I decided to keep my mouth shut thinking it would be a good lesson for my dad to learn if she used him. He wasn’t really there for me growing up, so why should I be there for him? I couldn’t wait for the night to be over so I could get back to training.

  Dad introduced us and as soon as Brielle looked at me my penis twitched. I was so shocked I actually stood there for a minute, speechless, trying to decide if it had really happened. She shook my hand and it twitched again as her buttery soft hand rested in mine. My world had just been turned upside down. Before I could even process what was happening her mom slipped in between us, causing Brielle’s hand to fall out of mine.

  "Declan, it is so nice to finally meet you!"

  Brielle's mom was all smiles as she pulled me in for a hug. I didn't want to be rude so I smiled. I'm not that much of an asshole that I don't have manners. She smelled really nice and I appreciated a gorgeous woman, no matter what the circumstances were.

  "It is nice to meet you as well, Ms. Peterson."

  She gently laid her hand on my arm and flashed me that beautiful smile again.

  "Oh sweetie, please call me Valerie."

  She was definitely a charmer and I could see how my dad became smitten so quickly. There was something about her that made me feel instantly at ease.

  My eyes slid over to Brielle and I quickly looked her over and then looked away. I couldn't let her or our parents see that I wanted to devour her.

  "My father has had nothing but nice things to say about you ladies so it is nice to finally put faces with names."

  Just then the hostess came over to seat us. Brielle sat across from me and my dad was next to me.

  I could tell that Valerie wanted to impress my dad by showing interest in my life, so I acted nice and played along.

  "So your father tells me that you are into mixed martial arts, and he tells me that you are very good. How long have you been doing that?"

  I put on my sexiest smile and looked across at Brielle expecting to see her waiting eagerly to hear my story. That is what happened with most chicks. They couldn't get enough of me. Instead of those beautiful green eyes eagerly staring back at me, she was busy on her phone looking less than interested and it turned me on. She was a challenge and I never backed down from one.

  Valerie must have seen the puzzled look on my face because she glanced at Brielle and pursed her lips.

  "Brielle, you are being rude. Put your phone away."

  Brielle frowned and muttered a quick apology.

  Valerie looked at me and smiled.

  "Okay, you were saying?"

  "I have been fighting for about four years, got started right after the Navy. So it's been pretty great."

  "Oh, you were in the Navy?”

  “Yes ma’am, a SEAL.”

  She looked genuinely impressed. “Oh wow! Why are you not still doing that? Did you retire early?”

  “Yes ma’am, I did.” My tone was short and I hoped she got the message that I didn’t want to get into my Navy life.

  “Well, thank you for your service. So MMA was your next step? Don't you get hurt doing that?" Valerie looked worried.

  I think my heart stopped for a second as I looked into Brielle's gorgeous eyes. Was that concern I saw?

  "Sometimes but not too bad because I haven't lost a fight in a long time."

  "Really? From the little I know about that sport it's pretty bloody."

  "It can be. The Navy trained me pretty well and I have an incredible trainer. The loser is the one who sheds the most blood, and that hasn't been me for about two years."

  "Wow. Impressive." Brielle finally spoke.

  That definitely was sarcasm I heard. My heart beat a little faster as I realized she wasn't falling all over me. I was not used to a chick acting like that and the less impressed she seemed by me, the more I wanted her. She was feisty and I liked it.

  I looked across at her and our eyes caught, held and stayed.

  "What do you do, Brielle?"

  She gave me a sly smile as those sexy green eyes sparkled at me and I could see that she knew she had piqued my interest in her. She was sexy as hell. I kept telling myself before the night was over she would be dreaming of the night she could scream my name.

  "I am a senior in college, so I will be graduating soon."

  Mmmm. Fresh meat.

  "Oh yeah, good for you. Any idea what you're doing after school?"

  "I eventually want to open my own interior design studio, and I am interning with an interior designer downtown."

  "Brielle is very talented, she has a beautiful eye for interior design." Valerie was practically beaming but when I glanced over at Brielle I could have sworn I saw a scowl on her face. There's definitely a story there.

  "I'm sure she does." I smiled as I held Brielle's gaze. Was she blushing? Good.

  Chapter Five - Brielle

  So to say I was completely tongue-tied when I walked into the restaurant with my mom, is an understatement. Not only was Artemis a really good-looking older man, Declan was gorgeous in the panty-dropping kind of way. I usually had the upper hand with guys but I was completely out of my element with Declan. For a few minutes as we stood there waiting to be seated I seriously didn’t know if I was coming or going.

  We were finally seated and I was able to pull myself together. As Declan was talking to my mom telling her about his fighting, I put on my best ‘I couldn’t be more bored about this’ face and tried to appear pre-occupied with what I was looking at on my phone, which was nothing but my email. Declan knew he was hot. I could see it in the way his eyes twinkled at me and I was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I could barely breathe around him.

  I heard him mention something about winning fights and I instantly was worried. Before I could stop myself I blurted out something about him getting hurt and I didn’t even have the good sense to hide the fact that I was concerned. After I asked my question I could have sworn I saw a smug look of satisfaction on his face. Damn it. The absolute last thing I wanted was for him to see that he was getting to me.

  My mom had always been a chatterbox and it usually annoyed me, but this was the one time I didn’t mind. Declan was looking at me with that sexy smirk, causing my breath to catch and stay in my throat when my mom jumped all over him about being careful. She looked at Artemis and then looked at Declan.

  “Arty, you can’t approve of this. Don’t you worry?”

  Mr. Ryan clenched his jaw and then gave Declan a pained look. “More than you know. But Declan is an adult and this is what he wants to do so, I do my best to support his dream.”

  I glanced at Declan and his jaw was
clenched too. “Oh really, dad? That’s news to me.”

  You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.

  Mr. Ryan gave Declan a stern look and for a few seconds I don’t think that he remembered we were in the room.

  He slammed his fist on the table. “You know I want the best for you, Declan!”

  My mom gently put her hand on Mr. Ryan’s arm and he quickly glanced at her and then me and composed himself.

  “I apologize for the outburst, ladies.”

  I glanced at Declan, surprised we had witnessed that little family moment and I could have sworn I saw an apology in his eyes as he held my gaze. It was quickly replaced with disgust as he looked over at his father.

  “Let’s change the subject. How did you meet my dad, Valerie?”