Page 6 of Deserving Maisy
Turning her attention back to the man resting on thebed, Maisy studied him. He was exceptionally good-looking. She guessed he was in his thirties. Built. His stubble enhanced his square jawline rather than hiding it. And the glasses? She was a sucker for a man who wore them as well as Jack did. Back in high school, the last time she’d had any interest in boys, she’d always been drawn to the smart, nerdy-looking guys. Not that Jack looked like a nerd. Far from it. But the glasses took him from handsome to crazy hot. She’d also caught a glimpse of a tattoo on his right shoulder.
In short, he was way out of her league, and there was no way a man like him would tie himself to a woman like her if he didn’t already think they were married.
Which brought up another issue…her lack of sexual experience. Thank God she wasn’t a virgin.Thatwould be impossible to explain away when they’d supposedly been married for two years.
She’d had sex exactly once, not long before her parents had died. She’d been young,tooyoung, and sneaking around had felt liberating. She’d felt so grown up at the time. But the experience had been awful. Was over in minutes and had hurt horribly.
Then her parents had been killed and her brother moved back into their family home and before she’d realized what was happening, Jason had taken over her life. Had arranged for her to be homeschooled and earn her GED, sequestered her away from the few friends she’d had, and had brought in a doctor who kept her sedated with drugs, at first to manage her grief, then allegedly to help her deal with stress. And she hadn’t complained. It was easier to just go with the flow, and the drugs helped her avoid thinking about everything she’d lost.
She sighed. Jack would discover they hadn’t been intimate when she balked at sleeping with him. How the hell Jason thought she could make this man believe they’d been married for two years was beyond her.
“Maisy? Come here.”
As if thinking about her brother had conjured him out of thin air, Maisy turned toward the door.
“Did you hear me?Now.”
Sighing, Maisy nodded and turned back toward Jack. He was still sleeping. Without thought, she reached out and gently took his glasses off his face and placed them on the small table next to the bed, so they wouldn’t get crushed if he turned over, before walking toward her brother.
As soon as she was within reach, he grabbed her upper arm in a cruel grasp and hauled her out of the room. He closed the door softly, then dragged her downstairs and toward his office.
Maisy hated the room. It used to be her dad’s, and once upon a time she’d had wonderful memories of sitting on the sofa, playing while her father worked. Or sharing the oversized armchair with her mom while she read to her.
But now, the room was filled with bad memories and pain. Her brother liked to bring her there to yell at her. To tell her how stupid she was, how lucky she was that he was around to manage her life. Remind her that she’d be homeless if it wasn’t for him. He also had a tendency, more so in the last few years, to use physical force to get his point across. Slaps, shoves, and he particularly loved pinching her, bruising her skin.
The brother she used to know was nothing but a memory, and in his place was this cruel, greedy man whothought he was entitled to whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.
“We need to get our stories straight,” he said as soon as the office door shut. “Tell me what you talked about. What you’ve already told him.”
“This isn’t going to work,” she said with a small shake of her head.
Pain burst in her cheek when Jason smacked her with his palm.
“It’ll work if you want it to,” he growled, then got in her face as he squeezed her upper arm hard enough that Maisy knew there would be bruises on her skin later. “You owe me,” Jason told her. “I wasted my entire fucking life coming back here to make sure you were okay after Mom and Dad died. I gave up my dreams to babysit you. And we need the money you’ll get for marrying this guy.”
Maisy didn’t dare show the doubt she was feeling on her face. She’d learned over the years to not show emotion, to hide what she was thinking from her brother. She really had no idea how Jason had managed to spend not only the life insurance payouts, but his trust money as well. The amount had been in the millions.
“Besides,” Jason said, letting go of her arm and giving her a shove away from him. “It’s not likeyouneed the money. It’s just sitting there gathering dust, and I’ll be damned if it goes to charity. Mom and Dad worked hard for that cash, it would be a slap in their faces for it to go to strangers.”
Maisy resisted the urge to rub her arm. That was one more thing her brother loved; proof that he’d hurt her. “He asked questions that I didn’t know how to answer,” she admitted.
“Like what?” Jason asked.
“How old he was.”
Her brother waved his hand in the air as if brushing off her concern. “Doesn’t matter. Just tell him he’s thirty-six or something.”
“He’s gonna be suspicious when there aren’t any clothes or IDs or even a toothbrush of his own in the bathroom,” Maisy warned.
“Way ahead of you. I’ve arranged to get some shit brought in. Remember, I told him that you guys had been having a rough patch. If nothing else, just tell him you decided not to move back in together until after the ceremony.”
“But isn’t he still going to want his own stuff? Or to see where he was living?” Maisy asked. This plan was horrible. How in the world did Jason think they could pull this off?
“Shit, Maisy, don’t be so goddamn annoying. Figure it out! Right, sorry, you’re too fucking stupid to do that. Fine—say that he lived in Spokane or something, somewhere that isn’t too close, and the place burned down. So all he owns is what’s here. He just moved back in right before his hiking accident.”
Maisy stared at her brother. He was sitting at their father’s desk now, and she was standing in front of it as if she were a kid being reprimanded by the principal or something. He had an ability to make her feel small, and she hated it. Hatedhim.
The thought startled her. She’d spent her life giving Jason the benefit of the doubt. Brushing off her concerns about him even as he got rougher, scarier. After all, he was herbrother. The only blood relative she had left. And hehad taken care of her, had been there for her when she’d been at her lowest.
