“Rush, meet Blaire. I believe she might belong to you. I found her outside looking a little lost.” Grant’s voice broke into my thoughts. I looked up at my stepbrother and then at the girl standing beside him. I’d seen that face before. It was older, but I recognized it.
Shit.
She was one of them. I hadn’t known their names, but I’d remembered there were two of them. This one was . . . Blaire. I cut my eyes toward Nan to see her standing not too far away with a scowl on her face. This wasn’t going to be good. Did Grant not realize who this girl was?
“Is that so?” I asked, racking my brain for some way to get her out of here—and fast. Nan was going to blow any minute. I studied the girl who had been a source of pain for my sister most of her life. She was gorgeous. Her heart-shaped face was highlighted by a pair of big blue eyes with the longest natural eyelashes I’d ever seen. Silky platinum-blond curls brushed against a pair of really nice tits that she was showing off in a tight tank top. Damn. Yeah, she needed to go. “She’s cute, but she’s young. Can’t say she’s mine.”
The girl flinched. If I hadn’t been watching her so closely, I would have missed it. The lost expression on her face didn’t add up. She’d walked into this house knowing she was in unwelcome territory. Why did she look so innocent?
“Oh, she’s yours, all right. Seeing as her daddy has run off to Paris with your momma for the next few weeks, I’d say this one now belongs to you. I’d gladly offer her a room at my place if you want. That is, if she promises to leave her deadly weapon in the truck.” Grant was finding this amusing. The dick. He knew who she was, all right. He loved the fact that this was upsetting Nan. Grant would do anything to piss Nan off.
“That doesn’t make her mine,” I replied. She needed to take the hint and leave.
Grant cleared his throat. “You’re kidding, right?”
I took a swig of my beer, then leveled my gaze at Grant. I wasn’t in the mood for his and Nan’s drama. This was taking it too far. Even for him. The girl had to go.
She appeared to be ready to run. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting. Had she really thought her dear ol’ dad would be here, waiting for her? That story sounded like bullshit. She’d lived with the man for fourteen years. I had known him for three years, and I knew he was a piece of shit.
“I got a house full of guests tonight, and my bed’s already full,” I informed her, then looked back at my brother. “I think it’s best if we let her go find a hotel until I can get in touch with her daddy.”
Blaire reached for the suitcase that Grant was holding. “He’s right. I should go. This was a very bad idea,” she said with a hitch in her voice. Grant didn’t let the suitcase go easily. She tugged hard to get it out of his grasp. I could see the unshed tears in her eyes, and it tugged at my conscience. Was there something I was missing here? Did she really expect us to open our arms wide for her?
Blaire hurried to the exit. I watched the gleeful look stretch over Nan’s face as Blaire walked past her.
“Leaving so soon?” Nan asked her. Blaire didn’t respond.
“You ’re a heartless fuck. You know that?” Grant snarled beside me.
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. Nan strutted over to us with a triumphant grin. She’d enjoyed that. I understood why. Blaire was a reminder of all that Nan had missed out on while growing up.
“She looks exactly like I remember her. Pale and plain,” Nan purred, sinking down beside me on the couch.
Grant snorted. “You’re as blind as you are mean. You may hate her, but she’s mouthwatering.”
“Don’t start,” I warned Grant. Nan might appear happy, but I knew that if she dwelled on it too much, she’d break down.
“If you don’t go after her, I will. And I’m gonna put her sexy ass up at my place. She isn’t what you two assume she is. I talked to her. She hasn’t got a clue. That dumb-ass father of yours told her to come here. No one is that good of a liar,” Grant said as he glared at Nan.
“Dad would never have told her to come to Rush’s. She came here because she’s a mooch. She smelled money. Did you see what she was wearing?” Nan scrunched up her nose in disgust.
Grant chuckled. “Hell, yeah, I saw what she was wearing. Why do you think I want to get her back to my place so bad? She’s smoking hot, Nan. I don’t give a shit what you say. The girl is innocent, lost, and smoking damn hot.”
Grant turned and headed for the door. He was going after her. I couldn’t let him do that. He was easily fooled. I agreed that the girl was easy on the eyes, but he was thinking with his dick.
“Stop. I’ll go after her,” I said, standing up.
“What?” Nan asked in a horrified voice.
Grant stepped back and let me pass him. I didn’t turn back and acknowledge my sister. Grant was right. I needed to see if this was an act or if she really had been told by her douchebag father to come here. Not to mention that I wanted to get a look at her without an audience.
CHAPTER TWO
She was walking up to an old, beat-up truck when I opened the door and stepped outside. I paused a moment, wondering if it was hers or if someone had brought her here. Grant hadn’t mentioned anyone else. I squinted against the dark to see if I could make out someone inside the truck, but I couldn’t tell from this far away.
Blaire jerked open the driver’s-side door and then paused to take a deep breath. It was almost dramatic, or at least it would have been had she known she was being watched. But from the way her shoulders sagged in defeat before she climbed up into the truck, I knew she had no idea that she had an audience.
But then again, maybe she did. I knew nothing about this girl. I only knew that her father was a fucking mooch. He took what my mother and Nan gave him, yet he never returned their tokens of affection or love. The man was cold. I had seen it in his eyes. He cared nothing for Nan or my stupid mother. He was using them both.
The girl was beautiful. There was no question about that. But she had also been raised by that man. She could be a master manipulator. Using her beauty to get what she wanted and not caring whom she hurt along the way.
I walked down the steps and toward the truck. She was still sitting there, and I wanted her gone before Grant came out and fell for this act of hers. He’d take her home with him. And she’d use him until she was bored. I wasn’t just protecting my sister; I was protecting my brother from her, too. Grant was an easy target.
She turned, and her eyes collided with mine before she let out a scream. Her red-rimmed eyes sure looked like she’d been crying real tears. No one was out here to see her, so there was the slight possibility that this wasn’t part of an elaborate scam.
I waited for her to do something other than stare at me like I was the stranger when she was on my property. As if she’d read my mind, she swung her gaze back to her steering wheel and made a move to crank the truck.
Nothing.
She started to become frantic in her attempts to get the truck to crank, but from the click I’d heard, I guessed there wasn’t a drop of gas in her tank. Maybe she was desperate. I still didn’t trust her.
The sight of her hitting her steering wheel in frustration was funny. What good was that gonna do if the idiot had run her tank completely empty?
She finally opened the door to the truck and looked up at me. If she wasn’t as damn innocent as she looked, then the girl was a hell of an actress.
“Problems?” I asked.
The look on her face said she didn’t want to tell me that she couldn’t leave. I reminded myself again that this was Abe Wynn’s daughter. The one he had raised. The one he had abandoned Nan for all those years. I would not feel sorry for her.