Page 5 of Broken Mercy
I swat her hand away which doesn’t seem to bother Annie at all. It’s strange, walking through the crowd like this, falling back into my old habits with my sisters and my family, knowing what I did upstairs. Brenden’s mouth between my legs lingers like a filthy secret or a very good dream. I hold it in my mind and try not to let it slip past, try to tell myself I can be the girl in the library again, the girl who takes risks and does stupid, ill-advised, but very fun things, when really I know that’ll never happen again. I’m back here, in reality, trying to be a personI doubt I’ll ever successfully become, all because that’s what everyone expects.
“Talin! Anahit!”
As always, we hear him before we spot him moving through the crowd. Papa’s voice booms like a cannonblast and more than one person turns in his direction. Annie’s smile tightens and she gives me one of those looks,typical Papa, before she seamlessly falls into the perfect daughter yet again, striding forward to greet our father. She kisses his cheek and asks how the party’s been as Papa turns his big, somewhat red, jovial face in my direction.
“It’s been good, darling Anahit, very good, but I have need of my two youngest daughters. Where did you disappear to, Talin?” He shuffles closer and his big, meaty fingers pluck at my blouse. “Wasn’t this tucked in before?”
“I got hot,” I say too quickly. He doesn’t notice though, since he never notices much, though Annie shoots me a curious frown. “Are you successfully courting more business, Papa?”
My clumsy attempt at deflecting from my embarrassment works. Papa takes me by the arm and lumbers through the people, heading toward the back garden. “I make friends wherever I go, darling youngest. This party’s been rather fruitful in that regard.”
I don’t like the way he says it, and I especially don’t like the way Annie’s hovering so close. She’s practically fretting at me, which is a bad sign. That means I’ll be needed to do something important, or at least to smile and seem polite and pretty to someone meaningful, which is usually the extent of my usefulness to the family. Sometimes, I wish I could be like Miriam, falling for a civilian and moving away, or like Tate,straight up getting the heck out of Baltimore. The way Papa treats me and Annie though, I doubt we’ll get off so easy.
We’re led out into a quiet, breezy yard, with nicely maintained grass patch, concrete slab, high-end furniture, and beautiful blooming bushes. A group of people stands at the far end speaking softly to each other. Papa steps in front of me, blocking my view of them, and takes me by the shoulders. He leans in close and I smell the vodka on his breath.
“Tallie jan, listen to me now.” I go very still. He hasn’t called meTallie janin a long time; addingjanto a name is a pretty common Armenian thing, like referring to me asdear. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve either beendarling youngestor just plain Talin. “You are about to do something very important. Something I should have prepared you for sooner, but I wasn’t sure if this was actually going to happen.”
My stomach’s knotty and twisted. I look for Annie and find her lurking nearby, wringing her hands together, her perfect smile completely gone now. That look on her face scares me even more than Papa’s pleading tone.
“What’s going on? What do you need me to do?”
“You are going to meet someone, Tallie jan. He is a member of the McGrath clan and the brother of Cousin Alexan’s wife. You remember Riley?”
“We’ve met a few times.” I try to look over Papa’s shoulder, but he’s large and round and doesn’t budge. “Why am I meeting this person?”
“Because there are deals happening. Your cousin Arsen… there are business reasons… you know, the Brotherhood…” Papa trails off. I’ve never seen him lost for words in my life. He’s always thecenter of attention, brash, in control, confident to a fault. Any silence is filled by a joke, a compliment, some mundane piece of conversation that keeps an entire room at ease.
Now it’s like he’s forgotten how to be himself.
Annie appears at his side. Her hands are clasped together and her face is serious. “It’s going to be okay, Tallie, I promise. Just do as Papa says, okay?”
“Annie? You know about this? What’s going on?”
“I found out a few minutes ago—“ She looks over her shoulder and curses softly. For once in his life, Papa doesn’t correct her. I’m practically spinning. Annie never talks like that around our father, and he’d never allow it. And yet. “They’re coming over, Papa. You have to tell her.”
“Tell me what?!” Panic sets in. Sweat prickles down my chest, and god, why the hell is it too damn hot today? I’m intensely aware of the stolen lighter nestled between my breasts, the cool metal the only thing keeping me from a total meltdown.
Papa grips my shoulders. “We have an arrangement with the McGraths. An arrangement Patron Arsen specifically requested. You will be strong now, Tallie jan, for the whole family. Do you understand?”
Patron Arsen? Papa never calls Arsen by his formal title. Which means this is Brotherhood business, which means… which means…
Papa moves aside as the group of people speaking near the bushes steps forward. Among them is Riley McGrath, or now she’s Riley Sarkissian, along with Cousin Alexan, her husband. Riley’s always been really nice, though Alexan’s kind ofterrifying. She’s got a sad smile on her face that makes me want to shove Papa sideways and start running the hell away from here.
What arrangement? What could Patron Arsen possibly want from me? He’s the leader of the Armenian Brotherhood, nephew of Papa, my cousin, and I barely ever see or hear from the man. Why would I get anywhere near Brotherhood business?
“Hello, Talin, it’s really good to see you again.” Riley would normally come give me a hug, but she stays on her side of some invisible line.
Cousin Alexan only nods. He studies me intently and I don’t know what he’s looking for, but I’m positive he’s not finding it.
Papa finally speaks into the excruciating awkwardness. “Tallie jan, I want you to meet someone important. His name is Brenden McGrath, and if everything goes as planned, you two are going to get married.”
That name.
It strikes me like a kick to the spine.
I look at the third member of their group, a man standing off to the side, so easy to miss the way he holds himself with quiet confidence, like he was built to be overlooked and hard to stare at. But the moment I realize he’s there, all I can think is his mouth, his taste, his lips between my legs, my orgasm tearing my body to pieces, and the stolen lighter between my tits, still cool on my skin.
Brenden’s smile is guarded as he nods, and I think there’s a warning in the way he tilts his chin. There’s definitely a cheeky sparkle in his eyes.
