I rubbed my nose against his. “I’m countin’ on it, sweetheart.”

He kissed me deeply and once more, I was lost in him.

I awoke when I heard a scream, a scream that belonged to my little sister.

“Bronagh!” I shouted and scrambled out of Ryder’s bed, kicking his bed covers off my body.

“Branna, she is fine,” Ryder’s raspy voice—which told me he had just woken up, too—assured me. “Dominic would never hurt her, I promise you.”

I rushed around the room as I pulled my clothes on.

“I want to see that for meself, Ry!”

Ryder reached out and grabbed hold of my arm. “I know your sister, she has done this before. She is probably just arguing with my brother, that’s all.”

He knew Bronagh?

I turned and stared at Ryder. “You knew Bronagh was me sister?”

Ryder blinked. “No, wait a second—”

“You knew who she was and you let me date you while knowin’ what your brother was doin’ to her? Did Dominic know, too? Did all your brothers’ know? Were you all laughin’ at me behind me back because I was too clueless to see what was right in front of me?”

“What? Fuck, no, baby—”

“Don’t baby me, arsehole!” I spat.

I turned and ran out of the bedroom with Ryder cursing as he got out of bed and hurriedly dressed himself. I ran up to the top floor of the house, and banged on the bedroom door that I knew belonged to Dominic.

“Bronagh!” I shouted, wrapping my fists against the door just as Ryder jogged up the stairs and came to a stop behind me. He sighed and placed his hands on my hips, but backed off when I slapped his hands.

I heard a pained groan from inside the bedroom then Dominic shouted, “We’re busy!”

Busy? I gasped. Fucking busy!

I heard Ryder laugh from behind me, so I jabbed my elbow into his gut causing him to yelp.

“Get away from me sister you pervy little fucker or I’ll end you!” I bellowed.

It took a few seconds, but eventually the door to Dominic’s room opened wide revealing my eighteen-year-old sister who looked hung-over as hell, and a half naked Slater brother lingering across the room with his eyes glued to her arse.

Typical man.

“I can’t remember anythin’ or how I got up here, but I didn’t do anythin’ with him. I swear!” Bronagh gushed to me.

I let my eyes roam over her looking for any sign of injury, and luckily I saw none, but what couldn’t be missed were the love bites scattered over her neck. I felt heat crawl up my neck and spread out over my face.

“You better not have touched her without permission—”

“I didn’t!” Dominic cut me off, his anger evident. “I’m not a fucking rapist!”

I growled. “You better not be because I’ll fuckin’ rape you if you harmed her in any way!”

Dominic’s smirk put an instant scowl on my sister’s face, but his reply had her flat out glaring at him.

“You can rape me anytime you want, gorgeous.”

He was a Slater brother, I thought, there was no denying it.

“You’re a prick!” My sister snapped at him.

Dominic flicked his eyes to my sister and rolled them. “I’m kidding, don’t be mad at me for that. Even though your sister is smoking hot, you’re hotter.”

Did he really think that was a smart thing to say? I wondered, because it really wasn’t.

Bronagh set her jaw and said, “Piss off, Dominic!” before turning to me, and grabbing hold of my hand. “We’re leavin’!” She stated.

I nodded my head, wholeheartedly agreeing with her decision. With my sister’s hand in mine, I turned and narrowed my eyes at Ryder.

“Move.”

He didn’t move.

“I’m not letting you leave here until you hear me out!” He demanded, the firmness in his voice giving me chills.

Bronagh scoffed from behind me, and before I could stop her she said, “You can’t keep her here, arsehole.”

I felt Bronagh’s hand tense in mine when Ryder switched his soul-shuttering glare from me to her, and I felt how scared she became of him. She shifted behind me a little bit, blocking most of her body from Ryder’s stare. I had to turn so she wouldn’t twist my arm off at the angle she was tugging it at.

“Don’t look at me sister like that, do you hear me?” I snapped at Ryder. “You’re scarin’ her!”

He scrubbed his face with his hands. “Bran, baby, I didn’t know Bronagh was your sister. You called her Bee when you talked about her. If I had known who she was I would have told you so you didn’t look at me like you did last night.”

I knew what way I looked at him last night, like I did just a few minutes ago. I looked at him like he played me.

“Hold up, rewind and freeze. Branna… are you seein’ him?” my sister asked, blatant shock laced in her tone.

Shit. Fuck.

“I wasn’t keepin’ it from you, sweetie.” I assured her. “I met ‘im at Darkness a few weeks ago when I was there with Aideen. We hit it off and went on some dates since then. I wasn’t goin’ to tell you about ‘im until I was sure about ‘im. I know how you feel about people, and I didn’t want to bring ‘im around unless I was sure he was goin’ to stick around.” I cut my eyes to Ryder then, and found he was looking at me with a deep intensity.

I was beginning to gather that he was always intense, but had a special intense gaze about him whenever he looked at me, and I’d be damned if I didn’t love it.

“What is your deal with people, Bronagh?” Dominic’s voice asked from behind me, making my sister tense up. I felt her hand squeeze mine to the point of pain.

“It’s none of your business,” I snapped at Dominic then looked back to Ryder. “I’m not doin’ this to ‘er. She doesn’t like you, and that means it won’t work between us.”

The pain of Bronagh’s death-like grip on my hand had nothing on the agonising pain that encircled my chest when I spoke those words to Ryder.

Bronagh comes first, I reminded myself. Bronagh always comes first.

Ryder’s face was the picture of rage, and something else, as he reached for my free hand, and tugged me away from Bronagh. He wanted to converse in private, but his raised voice meant Bronagh and Dominic could hear everything he was saying.

“You can’t just dump me because your sister doesn’t like getting close to people, Branna. I really like you, and I care about you a lot,” he said, his eyes drilling into mine.

I knew what the look was. He was telling me that he loved me, but didn’t want to freak Bronagh out more than she already was so he lessened the intensity by changing the word love to care. I greatly appreciated it, and it tore me apart that I might have to let him go.

“I know you feel the same way about me. I don’t want this to end. I want you to be my girl. We can take things slow. I won’t press Bronagh out of her comfort zone but please don’t give up on me, on us.”

Well, fuck him anyway, I thought as I forced the dam in my eyes to stay strong.

I loved this man, and he loved me, but I loved my sister, too, and I couldn’t risk her becoming more withdrawn just so I could be happy. I mentally slapped myself when I realised how unfair that was on me, but Bronagh came first in my life, and she always would. Ryder got that too, which made this harder.

“Branna,” my sister mumbled, pulling me from my thoughts and gaining my attention.

“Don’t break up with ‘im,” she murmured. “I’ll… I’ll try harder for you. I promise.”

I couldn’t hold my tears back at that vow.

“Baby, you don’t have to try for me.” I cried. “Try for yourself, this outlook you have isn’t healthy. I want you to let other people in; you can’t only have me in your life. If anythin’ ever happened to me, you would be all alone, and that terrifies me, Bee, more than anythin’.”

Bronagh was silent for a few moments as she mulled things over in her mind, but when she looked at me, she nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll try harder. I promise.”