Babes Stripping For Love

“The best coffee I’ve had in a while.”

“Right?” Keegan grinned, proudly patting his coffee machine before sipping his coffee. He was happy, settled, and his insides never felt so right in so long. Not since the day he left her behind and went back to college.

Keegan was twenty-one and was finishing off college at that time. He had his future in front of him, while she was sixteen and way too young for him. But when he did leave to finish his study he got injured while training. The incident terminated his spot in college football and at the same time shut down his chance to play professionally. His parents helped him finish college, but then they passed away in a tragic car accident which somehow directed him to work for Braddock Senior. Since then he never looked back.

But tonight everything was falling back into place and he intended to tell her exactly that.

“I felt like I’ve been given a second chance with you.” His words were careful, not wanting to sound as if he wanted to take advantage of her situation and be the man she needed just because he was there.

“Keegan,”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“No, Mara, hear me out.” He walked to her side and cradled her hands in his. “You know I have feelings for you all those years ago and I shouldn’t have just left you like that. I should’ve checked in on you. I don’t want to give you excuses. But please know that I intend to help you now. I want to be there for you, keep both you and your brother safe.”

He wanted to be her savior because he owed her for all those years he abandoned her, and also because it turns out that he still has feelings for her after all those years. Back then, the what-ifs would come back when his mind drifted off and wonder about the beautiful sad-eyed girl he’d left years ago. And now that he has her in front of him, in his house, perfectly safe and comfortable, he was going to protect her. Keegan didn’t care if she doesn’t feel the same way about him when it was all over. At least he’d try, she deserved to be free of her problems.

“Keegan, when you left… I have no one. I waited for you, thinking maybe… just maybe you’d come back.” She took her hands away from him and busied them on her coffee cup while Keegan didn’t move, staying near, keeping her feeling safe just by being close.

“But when you didn’t, that was when I told myself to stop thinking that someone would help. Since then, I have made myself able, and I take my baby brother with me. He was barely four when we left town.” Lexie got up, put their cups in the sink, and her hands started to move to do the dishes.

“Lexie, just leave it. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“It’s my thank you for taking us in tonight.” She smiled though there was still a glint of sadness in her eyes.

In silence, Lexie washed the pile of dishes while Keegan quietly dry them once she was done. Together they finish the pile of dirty dishes and mugs. Lexie was still quiet when Keegan checked all the locks and activated the alarms.

“You don’t know what I’ve done just to make sure my baby brother had milk on his diet. I’m no saint, Keegan. And you shouldn’t expect me to be the naive little girl that I once was when I was sixteen.” Keegan heard her explain. There was guilt, so much guilt oozing from his heart. Hearing her made him deeply regret that he didn’t check in on her.

They were still standing in front of the sink when he shared what he never thought he was not going to confess to anyone. “I’m not saying I am too. What you should know is that I’ve done questionable things to deal with the loss of my parents. I had avenged their death and have no regrets about killing the people responsible for their accident.”

“Your parents are dead?” She was shocked. Keegan remembered that Lexie had met them once when they went out for ice cream. She did say that she liked his parents and that she wished her dad was still alive. She hated her stepdad. A lot.

They moved to the sofa where he told her about what happened to his parents. Keegan had vaguely explained how he managed to track down the guys who ran his parents’ car into a cliff because they made a mistake spotting their car from someone else’s that they were ordered to kill.

By the time he ended the story and she shared some of hers, Lexie was under his arm, cuddled to his side, and resting against his chest.

Keegan looked at the beautiful strong woman Mara has become, he remind himself that he too had changed. All in the span of less than five years. He gazed at his surroundings. His house was expensive and very cozy, he had bought it at a really good price. It was way under the market price since the couple who lived there had died from a robbery job gone wrong.

What his neighbors didn’t know was that the former homeowners were involved in shady deals that comprised their living situation. They were caught in the middle and got executed. It was Keegan’s men who did it and that’s how he knew it was vacant and arranged everything to make the place his.

Keegan always lives a private life and never showed anyone his place. Being the right-hand man of Seamus Braddock made him a lot of money which he kept in his offshore accounts. But he did splurge a little when he decorated his place. And by decorating it meant that he wanted the place to be a true man cave, just because of how rarely he usually spent time at the house.

Not wanting to disturb Lexie’s rest, he waited until another hour before he carried her to join her little brother in the guest bedroom. Just like her brother Lexie stirred before she settled back into her sleep when he tucked her under the covers.

“Good night, my beautiful Mara. Know that I will do anything to protect you. I promised.” He whispered knowing that she was asleep. He kissed her forehead before he walked out of the room.

Keegan didn’t go straight to bed, he went to his office which has a sweet setup for his needs. The man had become the right-hand man for Seamus Braddock not because he was the muscle. Keegan didn’t fit into the usual type of football player either. The man was smart, he’s good with computers. Really. Really good. Keegan was a hacker and he went straight to work, digging into Mara’s background. It didn’t take long. He remembered her address. He hacked the police file in her hometown and found her stepdad’s name and case file.

And that was where everything gets interesting. “Fucking police.” He grumbled when he found out the real reason why he was released earlier. It wasn’t a coincidence after all.

Keegan sends everything he found from his computer to his phone, the address, his last known contact lists, friends that would help him out, and of course, the corrupt police officers related to the case. He didn’t realize it took almost two hours before he shut down his computer and go to his room.

He was tired, he had been up since very early that morning and he badly needed his sleep. Stripping his clothes off he gets under the blanket and rests his head on the pillow. That night, he slept easily knowing that he had started taking the steps to make sure that Lexie and Harley were safe.