Braydon (40 page)

Jessie chuckled, partly in amusement, partly in disbelief. He understood her point.

“I get that we don’t do things the conventional way. I’m not going to make excuses for that or say that I’m sorry, either. It’s the way things were.” Keeping his gaze locked with hers, Brendon said, “I wouldn’t change a thing, Jessie.”

The way her face softened, he knew she understood his meaning. He didn’t want to go into details with Cheyenne outside waiting for him, but he wanted Jessie to know that he did care about her. Sure, he had a shitty way of showing it. It didn’t change the fact that he considered her a friend. He wanted her to be happy. And if she found that with Braydon, then he was going to be happy for them both.

“I knew there was something going on between you and Braydon,” he added, holding up his hand when Jessie would’ve interrupted him again. “Not like that. I knew the two of you had feelings for each other. Feelings that . . .” God, this was harder than he’d anticipated. “I didn’t have.”

Neither of them moved, neither of them said anything until the silence was practically suffocating him. Only then did he say, “I want us to be friends, Jess.”

“I’d like that.”

“And when you and Braydon get married and have babies, I want to be around for that, too.”

Jessie’s face fell and Brendon realized he’d said the wrong thing.

“I’m not sure Braydon and I will be together anymore,” Jessie said sadly. “I’m kind of an idiot.”

As if they had somehow summoned Braydon telepathically, Brendon’s phone chirped. He reached for it in his pocket and glanced down at the screen. Sure enough.

What the fuck are you doing at Jessie’s?
was the text he had received.

Came to talk to her,
was his reply.

Five seconds passed. Ten. And the next text made Brendon actually breathe easier.

I need to talk to you when you get a minute.

Will now work? Cuz this is getting really awkward.

Another brief pause before he finally received an answer.

Meet me at the house.

Done.

Brendon looked up at Jessie, trying to determine how he could get out of this easily. Since he had learned there wasn’t an easy way to do much of anything these days, he just blurted, “I need to go talk to Braydon. Do you mind if, uh, Cheyenne stays here for a little while?” he asked, glancing at the front door.

“I’d like that,” Jessie answered.

Well, hell. That was easier than he’d thought.

Pushing to his feet, he didn’t run to the door like he wanted. Instead, he waited for Jessie to stand and then he made his way over to her. Cupping her face briefly, he smiled down at her and then pulled her into his arms. “I really am sorry, Jess,” he whispered into her hair.

“Me too,” she said, her arms trembling as they wrapped around his back.

Drawing back from her, he kept his hands on her upper arms, forcing another smile. “This is gonna work out. Trust me on that.”

Jessie nodded, but he could tell she didn’t agree with him.

That was okay though. Brendon didn’t need her to.

Despite what Jessie thought, or even what Braydon thought, the two of them were meant for each other. He could feel it.

BRAYDON WANTED TO
put his fist through the wall.

He hadn’t yet, but he feared he was going to soon.

The sound of Brendon’s truck pulling into the driveway relieved a small amount of the tension, but not much. Rather than wait for Brendon to join him in the house, he made his way outside.

The sun was settling down over the trees, the sky a hazy shade of blue. It made him think of Jessie’s eyes, which didn’t help his darkening mood at all.

He stepped outside, shutting the front door behind him. Leaning his hands on the wood rail that surrounded the porch, he took a deep breath. When he realized Brendon hadn’t gotten out of his truck, he looked over. That’s when he realized Cheyenne’s rental car was still there. But from where he stood, he could see that she wasn’t in the truck.

A minute later, Brendon was climbing down out of his truck.

“What did you do? Kill her and hide the body?” Braydon asked, only half kidding, as he nodded in the direction of Cheyenne’s car.

“She’s still with Jessie.”

“Why?” he asked, suddenly curious.

“Girl time. Shit, I don’t know.”

Braydon nodded, trying to appear as though he didn’t care. But he did.

Mainly because he wanted to be the one talking to Jessie.

“Feeling better?” he asked Brendon as he made his way up the steps.

“Still feel like shit,” his twin admitted. “But yeah.”

“I know the feeling.”

They were silent for a minute as they both stood on the porch, Braydon leaning forward with his hands on the rail, Brendon perched on the edge, leaning back against the wood post that held up the roof above them.

“Something happen with you and Jessie?” Brendon finally asked.

“Last time I saw her, she was packing her stuff,” Braydon admitted.

“Really? Why?”

“She thought you, me, and Cheyenne were making out on the couch.”

Brendon laughed. “Are you serious? Why the fuck would she think that?”

“She came over right after you passed out. I guess from the doorway it might’ve looked like we were . . . It probably looked awkward from where she was.”

“Did you tell her what happened?”

“Yeah.” He had told her what happened. He still wasn’t sure she believed him.

“What did she say?”

“She gave me one excuse after another as to why we can’t be together.”

Another couple of minutes of silence passed. Braydon was just getting used to it when Brendon spoke up. “She loves you. You know that right?”

“I’m not sure that she does,” he told him. He wanted to believe she did, but he really didn’t know. She hadn’t told him she did. There were plenty of times when they were together that Braydon noticed something deeper in Jessie’s eyes. Something compassionate. But then there were days like this that he just didn’t understand.

“You know what the problem is?” Brendon asked.

“No, Dr. Phil. What’s the problem?”

“Somewhere along the way, we stopped talking to each other.”

That was the truth. Braydon wasn’t going to argue, because he wholeheartedly agreed with Brendon. They’d just stopped talking. To each other. To Jessie. Vice versa. That was when it all started falling apart.

Braydon and Brendon had always been close. Really close. They talked about every damn thing. But over the course of this last year, they’d drifted. Mostly in communication. Braydon hadn’t really noticed it until around Christmas, but ever since Jessie came into the picture, they’d stopped really talking. Maybe that was Braydon’s fault. Because he had started falling for her early on and his possessive side had come out. In order to keep from damaging his relationship with Brendon, he’d let it fester until the next thing he knew, the roof had been blown off and their lives had fallen apart.

“You know how you can fix that, right?” Brendon asked.

Braydon didn’t answer. He knew his brother wasn’t looking for a response.

“You can talk to her.”

Yeah, that would probably be a good start, but he didn’t think Jessie wanted to talk to him. The way he’d left things earlier hadn’t exactly been the most mature way to handle the situation. Although he had told her that he would be waiting when she was ready to talk. More aptly, when she was ready to let him in.

God, she needed to let him in. Into her heart.

Fuck.

Shaking off the torturous thoughts, Braydon glanced over at Brendon. “What about us? We good?”

“We’ll always be good,” Brendon said gruffly. “I may not like it, but I get it. Things change. And more than I want to live in my little bubble where things stay just as they’ve always been, I have to accept that I can’t. And who knows?” Brendon nodded toward Cheyenne’s rental car. “Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe there’s a chance for me to be happy, too.”

“There is,” Braydon assured him, looking back out at the still darkening sky. “You just have to stop being a dickhead.”

“Easier said than done, Bray. Easier said than done.”

chapter
TWENTY-SIX

T
he week was finally over, and for Braydon, the last few days had passed by in a blur.

Thank God for that.

He had immersed himself in work in order to avoid his personal life, but even that hadn’t stopped him from frequently thinking about Jessie and where they’d left things between them. Even the distraction that was his twin brother hadn’t helped him to keep his mind off her.

Although Brendon seemed to be on the mend, and he and Cheyenne had actually spent a civil moment together right before she took off on her tour again, things were still taking their own sweet time getting back to normal. Braydon didn’t pretend to understand what was going on between those two, but whatever it was, it consisted of a significant amount of passion. Sexual and otherwise, although he was pretty sure the two of them had no intention of giving in to it.

Now it was Saturday; Braydon hadn’t heard a peep from Jessie all week, but as far as he knew she hadn’t skipped town, either. It didn’t hurt that he’d heard her car was currently out of commission. That was probably the only reason she hadn’t hit the highway going north. But he didn’t know that for sure.

Right now, he was getting ready to head to Ethan and Beau’s for the party the two of them had been telling everyone about. He had no idea what they were celebrating, but at that point, he really didn’t care, either. A little downtime where he got to spend a few hours with his brothers was just what the doctor ordered. And quite frankly, not going to Moonshiners to do so was sort of a plus.

But . . .

Braydon couldn’t seem to convince himself to go straight to Ethan’s. Even after Brendon headed out, telling him that he’d see him at E’s, Braydon continued to contemplate what would happen if he made one little stop, knocked on Jessie’s door, and invited her to go with him.

No, he knew it probably wasn’t the brightest idea. Especially considering her rejection might just break him. But that wasn’t stopping him now.

He pulled his truck into her driveway, hoping she was actually home. After shutting off the engine, he climbed out and headed to the front porch, wishing he didn’t feel quite so conflicted.

Part of him knew he should be stronger, knew he should just leave well enough alone. If Jessie wanted anything to do with him, it was only fair that she reach out to him. Not that she would, whether she wanted to or not. Instead of sticking to his guns and insisting that she be the one to come crawling back, here he was, ascending the steps to her porch, ready to bang on the front door. Before he had the chance, he heard the sound of an engine coming down the road, and he turned just in time to see Zane stopping in the road in front of the house.

“She’s already at the party,” Zane informed him, his head hanging half out the window.

Braydon nodded, feeling like a jackass for just assuming she wouldn’t be there already. “Thanks.”

“No worries,” Zane offered along with a curt wave before he accelerated, kicking up dirt and gravel as he sped off toward Ethan’s.

Well, there went that brilliant idea.

Unable to come up with an excuse as to why he should stall any longer, Braydon climbed back in his truck and followed the trail of dust Zane left in his wake.

TEN MINUTES LATER,
Braydon was wandering through the state-of-the-art kitchen at Ethan and Beau’s, looking for a beer. He didn’t have to search far before he came upon a bucket of ice dotted with longnecks. He grabbed one of the bottles, shook off the excess water, and then glanced down at the label. Nope, no twist top for this bad boy. It took him a minute to locate a bottle opener, and by that time, he was pretty much frustrated and ready to head out.

It had nothing to do with the beer; he knew that much.

“Hey, man,” Beau greeted him with a clap on the back. “Glad you could make it. Jess with you?”

Braydon glanced around, trying to locate Jessie before turning back to face Beau. “Zane said she was already here.”