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He rolled his eyes. "Ostentatious, right?"
Surprised, I laughed. "A little. I wouldn’t have expected—"
"No, me either. Da had it built after the accident. He wanted me close so that if there was a problem, I was nearby."
"It looks like he dismantled a house from the UK."
"Probably did, knowing him. The masonry is definitely from another property, but the design inside is more modern. We even have running hot water and everything."
Chuckling, I unfastened the seatbelt and asked, "Is the place empty?"
He nodded. "I sent the staff away while I was with Conor."
"There are rehab centers with crazy strict NDA rules," I mused, "strong enough that most of the times my dad and his band mates attended, no one even knew, so why did you do that? Why go to your brother?"
His jaw tensed, and I knew, point blank, that he was going to lie to me. "He’s one of the few people I trust."
I frowned at him. "Don’t lie."
"I’m not lying," he grumbled as he climbed out of the car.
When I hopped out and met him at the front steps, I groused back, "You totally are lying. I just don’t know why."
"It’s insane," he groused as he pulled out his keys from a pocket.
"I can deal with insane."
"You say that now," was his droll retort.
"Aidan," I growled, exasperated because I sensed something was going on. My spidey senses were tingling. "Tell me!"
He shot me a mutinous look. "You were on the floor below."
I blinked. "Yeah. What about it?"
"I’ve known you lived there for fucking months, Savannah. I’ve avoided Conor’s building as a result, even though I know there was little chance of us ever meeting because the penthouse has different entrances, but when I cleaned up, I just... it sounds insane to me too, but I wanted to be close to you."
For a second, I just stood there, processing his words, and then I pulled my arm back and socked him in the chest.
"You jackass," I yelled, doubly pissed when my socking him in the chest didn’t even rock him back on his heels, which then made me gasp as I grabbed a hold of him as I remembered his injury. Oh, my God, I was such a bitch! "I’m so sorry! Did that hurt your knee?"
His hands came up to cover my wrists, as both sets of fingers were clutching and creasing his very expensive jacket. "Savannah, it’s okay."
"I could have hurt you."
"No offense, sweetheart, but Brennan is starting to train my brothers’ women in self-defense... You really need to take that class."
I squinted up at him. "Are you trying to tell me I have a weak right hook?"
He smirked. "I’m not trying to tell you anything. I’m telling you."
"Don’t make me forget about what you just said, you asshole. Not only did I not move from my old building for years, I was in The Sharpe for months! I picked that building to be close to a goddamn O’Donnelly. I was hoping it was you but didn’t know for sure.
"You felt that much for me that, at your lowest, you wanted to be close, yet you still didn’t reach out?" I wanted to rail him, and then, when I saw the gentle amusement in his eyes, I processed why. "I need you to stop looking out for me, Aidan."
"Not going to happen."
"No, seriously." I grabbed his shirt. "If it means you don’t get to be a part of my life, then you need to stop it. Now."
