Free Leverage (The Brannock Siblings) by Jessica Wilde

that there was a reason the
captain had said those words.
    He just had to figure out what that reason was.
     
    ***
    It was after six in the morning by the time Lucas walked in
his front door. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so completely
exhausted. He could barely walk up his front steps without collapsing.
    Thirty minutes after the ambulance had disappeared, Lucas
had gotten the call from Mark. The call that had torn his heart right out of
his chest from what he was going to have to tell Ash.
    Her dad was gone. Her hero.
    It had taken every bit of strength he had to listen to
Mark's words. They had tried to revive him, tried to save him, but there was
nothing they could do.
    The second he got inside, he put his things down on the
table next to the door and looked around for Ash, almost missing her when he
passed his living room. She was curled up in a ball on his big leather recliner
with her head hanging at an awkward angle and her hair covering her face. It
looked like she hadn't meant to fall asleep, but hadn't been able to hold on
any longer.
    He quietly walked over to her and gazed down at her tiny
frame. She looked so small, almost lost in the cushions of the chair. She had
always been so short, he remembered, like her mother, Isabelle. It didn't help
his need to engulf her in his arms and protect her from anything that could
possibly harm her.
    He reached out to brush the hair back from her face and she
stirred at the contact. Her eyes fluttered open and when she looked up at him,
he knew his world would never be the same. No matter how much he fought it or
how much he didn't deserve her, he would always know she was it for him, and he
would do anything for her.
    Anything.
    "Lucas?" she said, her voice nothing more than a
whisper.
    His heart was still pounding hard against his chest, hadn't
stopped since she had first pounded on his door. He knelt down in front of the
chair as she straightened herself to face him.
    "What time is it?" she rasped and rubbed a hand
over her eyes. They were red rimmed and swollen from all the crying she had
done. He felt like such an asshole leaving her all alone without knowing what
was happening. It must have been torture for her.
    "It's after six. I just got in." His throat felt
raw and his voice was husky when he spoke. He didn't like feeling this way. So
helpless.
    She looked down at her hands. They were shaking and she was
trying to hold them steady while she took deep breaths. Trying to be strong
when she didn't have any strength left in her. He reached out and grasped her
hands in his, they were so cold and small, and he steadied them for her while
he smoothed his thumbs over the silky skin of her knuckles.
    "Look at me, Ash."
    He needed her stormy grey eyes on his. He needed to make
sure she understood what he was about to say. When her eyes lifted, he almost
decided to lie to her, just so he wouldn't have to see her cry again. He
couldn't do that, though, not when he needed her to trust him now more than
ever before.
    "He's gone… isn't he," she stated softly.
    He couldn't get the words out. Couldn't tell her that
everything was going to be okay, because he wasn't sure what the hell was going
to happen now. Liam had found something, and he didn't get the chance to tell
anyone before they took care of him.
    "I'm so sorry, baby."
    "I should have done something. I should have done CPR
or… something. I didn't even check his pulse to see if he was still alive. Why
didn't I do that? He told me to come here, so I did."
    He realized that he never did either. The ambulance had
arrived quickly and there wasn't time to do anything at all but pray for a
miracle.
    "It was someone who knew him, Lucas," she said
fiercely. She looked like she was about to burst, but she didn't cry. She was
letting herself be furious, which was the right thing to do, otherwise, she
might not make it through.
    "How do you know that?" he asked, just now
remembering that she had heard them talking