Daniel spoke up then, looking earnest.
"It has to be all three of us. It's one of the codicils. It's all three of us, or none."
"What? If I don't stay, nobody gets to?"
I stared at my brothers but they didn't blink. The wily old man had really put me up against a wall now. Hell, he'd put us all up against a wall.
"We need you Jake-besides no one can work the difficult horses like you can."
I stood up and crossed to the bar. I poured a generous helping into my glass and drank. Then I refilled it again.
"That was a lifetime ago."
Jackson grabbed my arm.
"This is here and now-why can't you let go of the past? No one meant to hurt you. Least of all mom. And she sure as shit didn't deserve to die without seeing her son."
I knocked Jackson's hand away.
"You know I couldn't come back. And you know why."
I glanced at Daniel.
"Goodnight Daniel. I'm sorry about your-problem- but I can't do a damn thing about it."
I turned and left the room without a backward glance.
Elle
I leaned into the microphone, singing with everything I had. This was it. The band finally had a gig booked a couple of weeks from now. It was our first. And the club owner Tom was there to watch rehearsal, even though it was off hours.
I had a sneaking suspicion he was there to watch me too.
Tom had a way of hanging around whenever we came to the club. He was always nice. Almost too nice.
To be honest, he made my skin crawl.
Male attention was part of the gig though. I knew it. So I always let loose when I performed, letting out all the pent up sexual energy ride out and over the audience.
Lord knows, I had a lot of pent up energy.
Normally I was utterly focused on the music. But tonight I was distracted. Restless. In fact I'd been like that all week. Ever since Jake Delancey had cornered me in the alleyway.
He'd been about to kiss me. I knew it. And damn if I hadn't wanted him too.
Just for a moment. But it was a moment of pure weakness. A moment I'd been revisiting non-stop for days now.
What the hell had gotten into me???
I closed my eyes and let it rip. The song was an upbeat take on an old standard. I loved singing it. But all I could see when I closed my eyes were his bright blue ones staring back at me.
Damn it all to hell and back again!
I finished the song and stalked off stage without a word. I needed to take a break. I had to focus on the task at hand. I was here to sing dammit! And to be dreaming about Jake Delancey of all people was foolish in the extreme.
Oh yeah, I'd heard all about him this week. Jake Delancey was back in town. He was the talk of the club. The town too. And with good reason.
He was born rich but a rebel, choosing to eschew all his family wealth and trappings. Shirl had told me that he was persona non grata at the Country Club and everywhere polite company met. People put up with him for his father Harrison's sake.
Jake Delancey was bad news. Everyone said so. I knew it my gut.
But not for the reasons that everyone else thought he was dangerous. Oh no, this was a very specific kind of danger. To me.
And that didn't even begin to cover what I'd heard about the women he'd dated.
Apparently, Jake Delancey went through women like tissue paper. Rich, poor, it didn't matter. The only thing they had in common were good looks. That and the fact that they all ended up falling in love with him.
Damn if it wasn't easy to see why.
Jake was exceptionally handsome. His symmetrical face, the straight nose and strong jaw, the wavy sandy brown hair that curled just so over his forehead.
Never mind those bright blue eyes. The damn things looked radioactive. But in a good way.
And that wasn't even talking about his body. He was tall but not too tall. Built but not too built. Slim but not too slim.
In short, Jake Delancey was perfect.
Cruelly and impossibly perfect.
Impossible to resist.
Which was bad news for me because he seemed to have taken a shine to me. More than a shine. I just knew I hadn't seen the last of him. The way he'd looked at me had sent shivers down my spine... and elsewhere.
It had been a long time since I felt anything even close to that.
"There you are."
I turned to see Tom watching me smoke and pace. He looked like a cat watching a mouse. I did my best to hide my annoyance.
Did he have to skulk about when I was just trying to be alone?
"Hey."
"Are you going to do another song? Because I thought we could get a drink or a bite to eat after."
I shook my head and tossed my smoke to the ground.
"I have to be at work at 6. I'm working a double."