The Unbreakable Trio (8 page)

“I don’t want to hear this,” Shane said.

“You’re in love with Claire.”

He didn’t dispute the claim. He’d loved Claire for all of his life. It was what made being stuck in the cell all the more hurtful.

His father had been stuck in one of these cells, and he’d taken him out. Shit, his dad used to lock him in the closet as punishment for breaking a plate. The walls were caving in on him, and he closed his eyes, trying to imagine the outside world.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess.”

Shane didn’t respond. Michael had started the fight, but Claire had left him.

Would he ever be able to forgive her?

The night wore on, and soon he was the only one awake. Liam snored on the makeshift bed. As the hours passed, Shane felt the anger and resentment rise up inside him. By the time the cell doors began opening, he was ready to spill blood.

When Claire and Cassidy stood side by side, smiles on their faces, Shane ignored her and moved out to the truck. Opening the door, he waited for his friends to come out to the truck.

Claire tried to speak to him, but he cut her off. The pain in his chest was unbearable against her abandonment. That was what he felt, abandoned.

At home, he ignored her and took a shower before working on the ranch. Shane hated himself for the way he was treating her, but he couldn’t find a reason to stop.

Shane ignored Claire for the rest of the day and all of the weekend. When she entered a room, he walked straight out. The tension between them mounted as he continued to ignore her through to the following week.

All of the ranch hands had heard about the brawl in the bar and Claire leaving Liam and Shane in the cells overnight. No one voiced an opinion. Shane would walk into the kitchen, get his plate, fill it with some food, and leave, eating outside.

At night he stayed in his room, and no matter what she did, he wouldn’t give her the time of day.

Late the following Friday, she baked a cinnamon-and-apple pie, his
favorite
. Liam was working out in the fields, and the ranch hands were spread around the fields with the cattle.

Shane was in his study doing the end-of-month spreadsheets and sorting out workers’ pay.

Without bothering to knock—every other time he’d refused to let her in—Claire walked into the room and stopped by his desk. Shane didn’t look up. She placed a plate with the piece of pie on top.

“What’s this?” he asked. There was no warmth in his tone. She felt frozen to the spot.

“Cinnamon-and-apple pie. Your favorite.”

Her hands clasped together as she waited. He lifted the pie and handed it back. She had no choice but to take the plate.

“I don’t want it. Get out.” He went back to his spreadsheets.

Tears blurred her vision. Shane had never been so mean to her before. She dropped the plate and watched as it smashed on the floor. The hot apple pie crumbled into a mess, like she and Shane were.

“That was stupid. You’re only going to have to clean it up.”

She didn’t know this cold-hearted man.

“Is this the way it’s going to be? You’re going to treat me like an outsider for the rest of my life? Have I really destroyed this friendship?” she asked.

“Get out, Claire.”

“No. I’m tired of this crap. Yes, I left you. I understand that it pissed you off, but deal with it.”

“I am dealing with it,” he shouted and got to his feet. “You know me better than anyone, and you still walked away,” he accused.

Claire couldn’t believe what he was saying. “I didn’t walk away for good. This isn’t like your family, Shane.”

“Fuck off. Don’t bring my family into this.”

“Why not? You bring them into every part of your life. They have more control over you now than they did back then. Look at you. You’re too set on your path, thinking you’re right, to see the blatant facts. You think everyone is going to treat you like shit and so you treat them like shit so you’ve got a good excuse. Open your fucking eyes, Shane, because I’m not going.”

Shane moved from behind the desk. Claire took a step back. She didn’t know this Shane, and for the first time ever, she was afraid.

“Go on, then. What am I missing?”

Claire didn’t miss the sarcastic tone of his voice. “
You
got into a fight. You were in the fucking wrong. That fight or brawl or pissing contest wasn’t yours to win. Unless you’ve been
harboring
something for Cassidy Jocks for the last few years.”

“Of course I haven’t.”

“Wake up, then, Shane. I will be here to help you in pretty much everything, but not in something where you were in the wrong.”

Silence fell on the room.

“You think I was in the wrong?”

Claire nodded and looked away. He reached out and took her arms, slamming her body against him. “Look me in the eyes and say it.”

Claire stared up at him. Her heart was pounding from his aggressive touch. “You were wrong.”

“Then let’s add another sin to all those crimes.” He slammed his lips down on hers. Claire gasped, not sure whether to push him away or wrap her arms around him and not let go.

She loved him with all of her heart, and she hated the distance between them. She would never hurt him, and seeing him behave as if she would chilled her to the bone.

He pulled away. His hand cupped her breast, his thumb stroking her nipple. “You want me. Your nipples are rock hard and I bet your cunt is fucking wet.”

Claire whimpered with need.

Shane thumbed her nipple, creating a mass of sensation all through her body.

“You want me, don’t you.”

She nodded her head. He stopped touching her and pulled away. “I guess having a criminal is what gets you off.”

She turned to ice.

“What are you saying?”

“We’ve got a little thing going on here. Haven’t you noticed? Back then when I turned eighteen, I could take you, the other night on the porch I could take you, and you wouldn’t have been able to stop me. I think, Claire, you like a little force. Is that what it takes to get you off?”

This man wasn’t the guy she loved. The tears she kept at bay spilled over. “Is that how you view that night? As force?” Her world was crumbling far worse than anything she could imagine.

“What can I say? I’m my father’s son, and you made the wrong decision the other night. Deal with the monster you created.”

Shane went to his desk.

Claire didn’t know what to do. The pain in her chest was unbearable. Never had she been so humiliated in all of her life, and Shane was the cause.

On unsteady feet, she walked to the door.

“I never thought you were your father’s son. You were strong and fought his ways. Your time spent was useless.”

“What do you mean?” he asked and looked up. For a split second, she was sure she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. As soon as it happened, it disappeared.

“You wasted your energy. Congratulations. You got your wish. You’re your father’s son.” With as much dignity as she could muster, she walked out of the room.

* * * *

Shane watched her leave. He’d just acted like a bastard to his best friend and the woman he loved. Why? Because of his own wounded pride. For some reason, every time he saw her, the image of her walking away had melded with the memory of his father locking the cupboard.

Claire and his father were completely separate, and yet both had affected him the same.

He swiped the pages off his desk and cursed. He would need to spend more time going through the payments and making do.

Liam found him kneeling on the floor picking up the papers.

“What the fuck did you do?” he shouted.

“Made a mess.”

“Oh, you made a fucking mess all right. The ranch hands are threatening to walk.”

Shane stood and put the papers on the desk. “I’ll get the payments sorted out.”

“Payments? They don’t give a shit about the payments. Claire’s got a taxi outside. She’s filling it up with her bags. Says she’s quitting. You got anything to do with that?”

His gut twisted. Claire was leaving.

“Fuck. I’ll talk to her. Where is she?” He needed to do some serious groveling. Without waiting for a reply, he moved out of the study and went in search of her. The banging alerted him that she was upstairs.

Running as fast as he could, Shane found her piling clothes in a suitcase.

“Claire, where are you going?”

“Away from here. This was the biggest mistake I ever made. I should have taken one of the jobs out of town.” She didn’t look at him. He heard the tears in her voice cutting him to the core.

Of all the shithead things he’d done in this past, this was by far the worst.

“Please—”

“Don’t bother apologizing. You’ve never talked about that night all those years ago, and at least now I know how you feel. Fucking hell don’t I know how you feel.”

“I love you,” he said.

“Yeah, well. It’s not enough anymore. I can’t do this. Be with you and Liam and pretend I don’t want you.” She zipped up her bag, but her words pleased him.

“We both love you.”

Claire walked to where he stood at the door. He couldn’t let her leave.

“You’re in my way.”

“I’m not letting you leave. It took us too long to get you here. I’m an asshole, okay. I shouldn’t have said the things I said. I didn’t mean a word of them.” Shane grabbed her suitcase and placed it back on the bed. He took her hands and led her to the edge of the bed to sit down. The fact that she hadn’t kicked him in the balls was a huge relief. The tears cascaded down her cheeks, making him feel like a bastard. “You know more about me than even Liam.” He knew he would have to admit something to make her understand his pain.

“You know I had problems with my dad growing up.”

“Yes. That’s why you always came to my bedroom bruised and
bloodied
. I knew, but didn’t want you to feel pressured into telling me more than you wanted,” she admitted.

He wasn’t her responsibility, and yet he’d unloaded more on her than anyone else. All the times she’d accepted him in her bedroom without explanation.

“My dad wasn’t the best guy. Do you remember that shed outside near the drains?” he asked. She nodded, and he continued. “I didn’t want to be left in them cells, because growing up, whenever I was bad or a pain or anything, my dad got sick of me. He would put me in that cupboard and lock the door.”

She gasped.

“No matter whether it was hot or cold. Without fail, that man put me there. Sometimes he’d leave me for hours at a time. I hated it. Since then, I haven’t been able to go into small spaces.”

Shane stopped.

“Oh, my God. I didn’t know, Shane. I swear I wouldn’t have left you like that, I promise.”

She wrapped her arms around him, and he accepted the comfort, feeling even worse. The sins of his past weren’t her fault, and he’d judged her as if they were.

“Forgive me,” he whispered.

“Yes.”

They hugged, and he saw Liam nod his head from his position at her door. He hadn’t entered the room or made his presence known. The rest of her suitcases were in his hands.

For the time being, it would be enough. Shane knew it was only a matter of time before they all broke. The unbreakable trio was growing stronger.

The days passed, and tensions grew to unbearable proportions. Liam saw what was happening to his two friends and couldn’t figure out how to stop it. In one simple act from Claire and Shane, it was as if they’d opened Pandora’s box and couldn’t close it. Even though they’d forgiven each other, the argument was still there between them. Liam ended up caught in the middle. One conversation could have them arguing about anything.

Liam watched as the two people he loved grew uncomfortable around each other. Liam was at the breaking point. The love between all of them was what was keeping them from blowing apart.

Liam saw the last of the ranch hands off for the night and walked back to the house. Sleep would be a long time coming. The seduction they’d planned was being fucked up by Shane and Claire’s arguing.

Opening and closing the door was the only peace he heard. The arguing from the front room invaded his ears.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Shane yelled.

“When are we going to talk about it? That’s the only thing between us. Are you really going to keep on living as if there isn’t a problem with us?” Claire argued.

Liam rounded the corner until they saw him.

Silence met his presence.

They weren’t going to work out the problem. The time for waiting had passed. The anger rose up inside him. Liam wanted the truth out once and for all.

“I’m sick of this shit. What the fuck is going on with you two? Don’t give me the
nothing
crap. What happened? I’m supposed to be your best fucking friend. Prove it. What happened?” Liam shouted at the other two occupants of the room. “And I’m not talking about the other day with being left in a prison cell. I’m talking all those years ago when something changed between you two.”