Page 17 of A Corruption Dark & Deadly

Annie rolled her eyes, a teasing smile on her face. “Stop,” she instructed. “I’m fine with some eggs benedict and breakfast potatoes.”

He shot his brow up in surprise. “Breakfast for dinner,” he murmured. “My kind of girl.” Before Annie could register his comment, he headed to the door to his office. “I’ll put this order in for you and let your brother know you’re here. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Annie shook her head. “I’m fine, thank you,” she mumbled. She had no idea why she felt so shy suddenly. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t expected him to be so… nice. Genuinely nice. It made her insides buzz with warmth and she eased into one of the cushy chairs in Jericho’s office, feeling herself flush.

Her mind started to go over the facts as she knew them: Jericho was insanely attractive. Somehow, she managed to refrain from acting like a complete idiot in front of him, which was a miracle unto itself, probably because she didn’t trust him. Which brought her to fact number two: she was starting to trust him, which was a dangerous thing. It was an unspoken fact that he did some shady business dealings, including taking advantage of the corruptible law enforcement at the Seattle PD. He was known for violent offenses – drug and gun trafficking – but never against women or children. And he was right when he said he was a fair employer and gave back to local community charities. He was dangerous but sweet and Annie had no idea how to handle that.

What did you expect, Annie? she thought to herself. No one is black and white.

Perhaps not, but Jericho was somehow simultaneously on both ends of the spectrum. Were these feelings for him – feelings was a strong word; attraction seemed to work better – appropriate? Could she actually rationalize feelings?

Now she was thinking too much on it.

She just hated that this was what she had to think about. She actually didn’t feel bad about being attracted to Jericho. Every woman and some of the men in Seattle were attracted to him. Hell, she had been attracted to him before she even knew him. But there were underlying feelings that accompanied that attraction, things like – she liked the way he smelled, she felt special when he cooked things, and she appreciated the fact that he took care of everything. Things like that. Things that had the potential to make her fall for him.

How could it have only been a week? How had her feelings completely turned around?

Probably because you know him better now, a voice in her mind pointed out. Not how the media portrays him but who he actually is.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Before she could respond, the door opened and in walked Bruce, a sheepish look on his face.

“Why didn’t you text me when you were here, Annie?” he asked. “I totally would have come to get you.”

Annie opened her mouth to respond but she shut it. She wasn’t in the mood to get defensive with her brother or start a fight with him. They hadn’t ended things on good terms since they last saw each other. In fact, they hadn’t spoken since Bruce’s meeting with Jericho. Then, randomly, Bruce decided to text her, asking to come down to the club so they could talk. She had no idea why he required her presence at the club, why they couldn’t go out to dinner where it was just the two of them, but she refrained from asking any questions. Truth be told, she wanted to resolve this as quickly as possible. She wasn’t that mad at Bruce anymore – not that much, anyway.

“I’m here,” she said. “What did you want?”

“No, hi Bruce, how have you been, I haven’t talked to you in forever,” he drawled. His eyes were wary, unsure of how much he could push her but his lips were curled into a smile and she couldn’t help but appreciate what he was trying to do for them.

“You never picked up the phone, either,” Annie pointed out. “You could have done it too.”

“Oh, Annie, every time I dialed your number, I couldn’t bring myself to actually make the call,” he admitted. “Same with the text. You have no idea how badly I feel about the whole thing.”

Annie clenched her jaw to keep from immediately responding. He felt bad? No shit, he should feel bad. He literally gave away her home. He gave away their parents’ legacy because instead of working hard for his money, going out of his way to save for it, he borrowed money from a criminal and didn’t pay it back for a year. She was surprised Bruce was still able walk and that Jericho hadn’t resorted to violence – which he could have. And he would have gotten away with it, too, considering he got away with pretty much everything. At least, that was what rumors said and rumors weren’t always to be believed.

“You have no idea how many times I texted you something,” Bruce continued. Annie wasn’t sure if he hadn’t seen her facial response or if she just didn’t care. Regardless, he felt the need to fill the space between them with words, as though to give the appearance that everything was still okay between them when just the opposite was true. “Even a word, like Hi or Hey or How are you? I just assumed you wouldn’t have responded.”

“You probably would have been right,” Annie mumbled. “To be honest, I have no idea how I feel about the whole thing, Bruce. Some stranger, some strange man, is living with me and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Is he hurting you, Annie?” Bruce asked. She couldn’t tell if it was because he was genuinely concerned or if he was trying to make a point that maybe the situation she was currently in sucked but at least he was a gentleman about it. Like that made it better.

“Well, no,” she said, and Bruce jumped in.

“Okay, good,” he said. “See? Nothing to worry about. Jericho is a good guy, Annie.”

“Just stop.” She rolled her eyes. “Just because he’s nice does not mean he’s good, Bruce.”

"He's been nice to you, hasn't he?" Bruce asked, pointing out, pushing up eyebrow as if to say, See? He isn’t as bad as you think he is.

"You are not going to win this argument, Bruce," Annie told him, shooting him a serious glare. "Yeah, things could be way worse. He could have thrown me out. He could have hurt me to get to you since, I don't know, you borrowed fifty grand and it took you a year to pay him back."

He winced. "Maybe I fucked up," Bruce admitted. "I can admit when I'm wrong, okay? But this worked out way better than I thought. I'm no longer in his debt and you still have a roof over your head." He caught sight of Annie's look and threw his hands up. "Gosh, that was just a joke." He perked his brow. "Too soon?"

"It will always be too soon," she told him, her voice droll. She paused and took a deep breath, trying to get ahold of herself. She had agreed to meet Bruce here, which meant she was open to at least hearing him out. She could do that, couldn't she? Yes, she was still mad and that wasn't going to be taken away from her, but she could see what he had to say. She did want to move on, after all. "What did you call me here for, anyway?"

Bruce smiled sheepishly. "Can't a big brother just want to see his little sister, especially after everything that happened between them?" he asked.

Honestly, yes, he could. And typically, Annie would never think to question that. But Bruce had forced them into opposite directions and now, her trust in him had been knocked down, bruised and battered. It was still there, but it would take some time. She needed some time to herself to regenerate, to really be able to forgive him. She wasn't sure if she was there just yet, truth be told. Each time she thought about Bruce and what he did, her teeth would clench on their own so tightly together her jaw would pop. She never understood where the phrase 'so mad her blood was boiling' until that night at The Red Door. She had no idea how she made it through the night without going off on Bruce but she was so mad once everything was said and done, she couldn't even formulate any words. The car ride was silent, to say the least. Annie wasn't even hungry after that.