Braydon (9 page)

Braydon flipped on the television, hoping his brother would get the hint. He wasn’t interested in talking, and he damn sure wasn’t ready to go home.

Liar.

“Is someone there with you?” Brendon asked.

Braydon snagged the remote and muted the television. Two chicks were arguing, which probably sounded like Braydon had company.

“No. No one’s here,” he assured Brendon. Why he even bothered, he didn’t know.

Actually, he did. He didn’t want Jessie to think he had someone there, and if she was listening in then that’s exactly what she would think. As much as he wanted to punish Brendon, Braydon didn’t want to hurt Jessie.

“Fuck,” Brendon said in a rush. “Get home, would ya? Drop the woman at her house and just keep drivin’. You’ll be here within an hour.”

Braydon didn’t miss the fact that Jessie had probably just heard his brother’s instruction and now she would think Braydon had run off with some chick.

“I’m not—”

Brendon’s voice came through the phone, this time even lower than before. “Bray, get your ass back here. Jessie’s worried. Really worried. You can’t keep this shit up forever. And we need to talk.”

They did need to talk, but Braydon wondered just what Brendon wanted to talk about. Probably not the same thing as what Braydon had in mind.

Neither of them said anything for several moments. Braydon was just about to tell Brendon that he had things to do when his twin said, “Please tell me you’re gonna drop the woman and come home.” This time, Braydon heard an unfamiliar plea in his brother’s tone. Brendon didn’t usually ask nicely.

“There is no woman, dammit,” Braydon bit out, tossing his hat on the bar.

“So you’re comin’ home?” Brendon asked, this time sounding hopeful.

“Fuck.” Braydon exhaled.

“I’ll be waitin’ for you,” Brendon finally said, and the phone disconnected.

Braydon dropped his phone on the counter and then put both hands on his head, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

Going home had been inevitable. He knew that.

He just didn’t know why he was choosing today to finally give in.

JESSIE HELD HER
breath the entire time Brendon was on the phone. From the moment she realized that Braydon had answered, she’d been damn near close to passing out. She was almost worried that the lack of oxygen to her brain was becoming a problem. And at first, her belly had actually started to churn with anticipation and hope.

But the moment she heard Brendon make reference to another woman, her heart had deflated. And now she just felt oddly empty even though she knew it was an unreasonable reaction. Would Braydon really be with another woman without Brendon? He’d never done it before, but then again, he’d never left on his own, either.

Oh, crap.

Maybe during his time away, Braydon had ventured down a different path and realized he liked the one-on-one contact and that’s why he’d left. So he could find someone to be with and not have to worry about hurting Brendon. After their argument at Zane and V’s reception, it was clear the two of them had come to an impasse of sorts.

“Is he coming home?” Jessie asked when Brendon ended the call.

“Yeah.”

“Now?”

“That’s what he said,” Brendon said brusquely, turning away from her.

Jessie was tempted to stop him, but she didn’t even know how she was supposed to act around Brendon. This was the most time they’d spent together since Braydon up and left right after Zane’s wedding.

She contemplated for a moment whether she should stay or go. Neither option would be easy, but she had to do something. There was no way she could just stand there and wait for Brendon to talk. She’d probably be waiting for an eternity before that happened. As it was, she was surprised he’d let her into his house, much less held her when she first broke down.

Trying to pass the time and ignore the awkward silence, Jessie glanced around the house, trying to see if anything was different from the last time she was there. The focal point of the living room was still the huge television mounted on the wall, the one Braydon and Brendon had both repeatedly told her was the best of the best. Good thing too, since they spent a lot of time watching it. It was on now, which meant not much had changed even with Braydon gone.

The mantel above the fireplace was still bare; the well-worn leather furniture was still in the same place: a long, off-white sofa flanked by two matching oversized recliners that faced the television, separated by a coffee table. Memories of what had happened right there on that coffee table came flooding back, and Jessie had to look away to keep from blushing.

“Right this second, I’m watching
you
,” Brendon told her as he clicked off the television with the remote he held in his hand. “I’m waiting patiently for the gift you promised us.”

“Patiently, huh?” Jessie chuckled, her nerves turning her muscles to mush.

“Sure,” Brendon said seriously. “If I wasn’t a patient man, baby, you’d be flat on that coffee table right now.”

“I would?” Jessie decided to play along, inserted a little innocence in her tone.

“You would,” Brendon confirmed as he flopped onto the couch, propping his feet on the coffee table in question and crossing his ankles in a deceivingly laid-back gesture.

“And what would I be doing if I were flat on that coffee table right now?” Jessie asked, dividing her attention between the two of them.

“Do you want a play-by-play?” Brendon asked.

Okay, so she really needed to get going. Standing around and waiting for Brendon to talk to her was a waste of time and energy, and the last thing she cared to do was to rehash old memories.

“Would you mind texting me when Braydon’s back?” she asked softly. “I just want to know that he’s okay.”

Brendon whirled on her then, his blue-gray eyes fierce. “Oh, no. No way. Bullshit. You’re gonna stay right here until he gets back, Jessie. The three of us have some things to talk about.”

“The three of us?” she asked dubiously, her own anger beginning to simmer.

“Yeah. You wanted me to call. I did. Now you’re gonna stick around to face the music, too.”

Face the music?
Was he insane? “This isn’t about—”

“You think this is about me?” Brendon interrupted.

Actually, she thought it was about Braydon, but whatever.

Jessie didn’t answer him. It wasn’t like she could tell him all the reasons she believed Braydon had left. If she did, it would likely come back to bite her in the ass. It was an odd situation they had been in, but in a way, it had worked. Now it was over, and she was supposed to be moving on. If Braydon could walk away from her without a backward glance, then she should be able to do the same thing.

“He didn’t leave because of me, Jessie.”

Jessie lifted her eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. She didn’t bother to tell him that they should’ve had this conversation a long time ago.

“He left because he loves you,” Brendon stated flatly, and the air left Jessie’s lungs in a rush.

“He doesn’t love me,” she shot back.
Because if he did, he wouldn’t have left in the first place
, she thought to herself.

Brendon laughed, but the sound was rough and lacked any humor. “He’s loved you since the day he met you. And I think that . . .”

“That what?” she asked when Brendon stopped talking, taking a step forward when he turned away from her.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Braydon’s comin’ back. We’re gonna figure this out.”

We.
Right. Figure this out. Whatever
this
was.

Jessie knew how this was going to end. She was going to get kicked to the curb and Brendon was going to move on, which meant Braydon was going to follow his brother’s lead. She was pretty sure Braydon had hated himself after giving in to the threesome the last time in the storeroom. After all, he’d limited their time together during the few weeks that led up to that. But then he’d given in. Why, she didn’t know.

So they’d all fucked up. And now it was time to move on.

Jessie didn’t want to admit it to herself or anyone else, but she had developed feelings for Braydon. Not quite love, because she didn’t think she had it in her. And even though she cared about Brendon, what she felt for him wasn’t the same.

Not that any of it mattered, because Jessie wasn’t about to admit it to them. She didn’t want a relationship. At the moment, her life was just fine. It would be even better with Braydon back home just because she wanted to know he was doing all right. Not because she wanted to be with him.

No. Definitely not that.

“Just call me when he gets here,” Jessie stated. “I’m going home, so I won’t be far.”

Currently, Jessie was living in Travis’s house because Travis had since moved in with Kylie and Gage, the three of them living in wedded bliss together. When Travis had moved out, he had offered Jessie his house so that she would be closer to her sister.

Jessie hadn’t argued. At the time she’d been without a home, staying in a hotel because she had grown quite fond of Coyote Ridge and hadn’t been ready to leave. And now she was working for her sister, helping Kylie run her thriving home restoration business, and she loved her job. Spending time with Kylie every day was easier than she’d ever thought it would be. They even had an office now, which Jessie spent most of her time in, thanks to that surprise Christmas gift that Travis and Gage had given Kylie.

Not wanting to hash it out with Brendon, she turned toward the door.

“Don’t walk away, Jessie,” Brendon rumbled.

That had her spinning on her boot heel as she turned to face him. “Walk away? Is that what you think I’m doing?”

“It’s what you did the moment Braydon left.”

“Bullshit!” she yelled. “Braydon walked away.
You
walked away, Brendon. Not me.” She circled her hands to reflect the two of them. “I took it to mean it was over. And you know what? I’m good with that. I just want Braydon to be okay. I don’t want to come between the two of you, and if you think Braydon loves me, then I really do need to get going.”

Because she desperately needed time to think about what that meant.

“You’re gonna run from him, too?”

“
Too?
” Jessie’s face heated with her anger. “I’m not running from anyone. I know when I’m not wanted. I get it. You found someone else . . .”

Jessie bit her tongue and closed her mouth, but not before Brendon’s eyes flared.

“What are you talking about?”

Not wanting to fight, Jessie turned to go again, but this time Brendon placed his hand on her arm. It was a gentle touch. Just enough to stop her from walking away, but she flinched nonetheless.

“Whoa,” Brendon said softly, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m not gonna hurt you, Jess.”

“I know that,” she snapped back. She didn’t want any apologies, didn’t need his sympathy. She didn’t want
anyone’s
sympathy.

She just wanted . . .

Jessie didn’t even know what she wanted. She certainly knew what she
didn’t
want.

Jessie wasn’t ready for the relationship between the three of them to end, because the twins had given her something to look forward to, but she knew it was inevitable. All good things came to an end. But, if nothing else, she wanted to be friends. These men were important to her. She cared about them. And more importantly, they were Travis’s brothers, which meant that because Kylie was married to Travis, they would be a part of Jessie’s life whether she wanted them to be or not.

Brendon urged her to turn around by lightly pulling her, his hand even gentler than before. When she did, she looked up into a face that was so familiar, even if it didn’t belong to the man she’d spent too many nights dreaming about, although it was disturbingly similar. “Just stay, Jess. Let’s wait for him together.”

The urge to tell him no was so strong, but then Brendon placed his hand on her cheek and she had to fight back the tears. For months, she’d wondered what had happened between them. Tried to figure out why Brendon would turn his back on her the same way Braydon had.

All of a sudden, here they were, staring at one another, and she saw something she’d never seen before. Usually, when she met Brendon’s gaze she saw lust and passion. Those emotions were absent, and in their place . . . Jessie swore she saw something akin to worry. Fear.

Yeah, she knew that when Braydon left, Brendon had been hurt. She didn’t blame him. The twins were inseparable, yet she’d come along and look what happened.

Unable to find the energy to argue, Jessie nodded her head and shrugged out from beneath Brendon’s touch.

She would stay.

But for how long, she didn’t know.

chapter
FIVE

W
ith the radio blaring and his windows down, Braydon pulled onto the dirt road that wound through his parents’ land, the same one that would ultimately lead back to his house. The drive from Devil’s Bend had taken a lot less time than he’d thought, and certainly not enough for him to prepare for being back home.