Wrapped Up in You (Heartbreaker Bay, #8)(64)

Thug One stepped back just out of reach of the bat, but didn’t look particularly scared. “He’s got twenty-four hours to pay up.” He pointed at her. “Or we’ll be back for you.”

Ivy stood there at the door, watching to make sure they left. When they’d vanished down the stairs, she shut and locked her door and ran to the window just as Brandon fell back inside.

“Shit,” he gasped, hands clutched to his chest. “While you were having a casual—and very long—conversation with those assholes, my life was flashing before my eyes.”

“Well excuse the hell out of me,” she snapped. “I was very busy lying my ass off! I thought you’d left me alone with them.”

A genuine look of regret crossed his face. “I get I’m a huge fuckup, but I wouldn’t have ever left you alone with them to fend for yourself,” he said quietly.

“Who are they?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“You’re right, I don’t,” she snapped. “But seeing as they’re going to come back for me if you don’t pay up, I figure I should know.”

Guilt and more regret were in his eyes as he met hers. “I’ve made a few mistakes.”

“You think?”

“I’m sorry, Ivy.”

She blew out a breath. “Okay, let’s see if I’ve got this right. You either gambled poorly, or . . . you won and blew your earnings, and now the people you owe money to are making you do their dirty work since you can’t pay them. You brilliantly figured stealing something to cover your losses would work, but you failed. You nearly got caught, got shot for your efforts, and now you’re not just on the run from the guys you owe money to, but probably from the cops as well. How am I doing?”

“Pretty good,” he said weakly.

“Oh my God, Brandon.”

“Please, Ivy. You can help me out of this.”

Kel had told her that people make choices. That she’d made good choices and her brother hadn’t. She’d never thought of things that way before, but he was right. She’d chosen to put down roots. She had a nice group of great friends, her own business, and she was buying her first home. She also had Kel—one of her very best choices to date.

Brandon hadn’t chosen any of those things. Or her. And in fact, he’d chosen her now only because he needed something. “The way I see it,” she said quietly. “You have two choices. One, you can stay here with me and face what you’ve done, meaning confess and face the consequences for whatever went down tonight, including jail time, if that’s the sentence. I’ll be at your side, rooting for you. It’ll be a fresh start, a clean start with a new slate, just like I’ve made for myself here.”

“You aren’t naive enough to think it’s that easy.”

“Oh, it won’t be easy,” she assured him. “But I want a long future. And it’d be nice to have you in it under those circumstances.”

“I’m not sure us Snows have any sort of future,” he said quietly.

“You’re wrong, Brandon. You can have a future. All you’ve got to do is live on the straight and narrow for the first time in your life.”

“Or?” he asked tightly. “Door number two?”

“You can walk out right now and run, but if that’s your choice, you can’t ever come back.” Her throat went tight. “Not ever, Brandon.”

He stared at her. “That’s harsh.”

“Is it? I’ve got something here, something good. And instead of being my brother, all you do is threaten it. If you run from this, we’re done.”

He took a long swig of the vodka and set it down. Again his head went back against the sofa. “Okay,” he said.

“Okay what?”

“Okay, I’ll stay, if you want. Which is far more than I deserve and we both know it.”

“You’ll turn yourself in?” she asked doubtfully. “You’ll deal with whatever happens next?”

“With you by my side,” he murmured. “You forgot that part.” He opened his eyes and looked at her.

She nodded and he gave her a very weak smile. “You’re a good sister,” he said quietly.

She let out a slow breath and felt herself relax for the first time since he’d shown up on her doorstep. For once, he was going to do the right thing, and the relief left her exhausted. Or maybe that was just the events of the evening. “And I want Aunt Cathy’s necklace back.”

He grimaced.

“Tell me you didn’t sell it.”

Now he closed his eyes, as if looking at her disappointment and hurt was too painful for him. “I’m sorry.”

Grounding her back teeth into powder, she got him onto her couch and beneath a blanket, where he promptly passed out cold. It was nearly dawn now. Not wanting the bloody towels to stain, she ran them downstairs to the basement where they had a communal washer and dryer. She needed to go to work soon, she thought, shoving the towels into the washing machine and adding soap.

And something else she had to do? Talk to Kel. She’d promised after Brandon had shown up the first time that she’d contact him if she heard from her brother again. She reached for her phone in her back pocket before realizing she’d left it upstairs in her apartment.