Brazen (Brazen #1)(13)

They looked like two lovers curled tight around each other. It didn’t matter that Jasmine was dressed. All Seth saw was the intimacy between the two of them.

As if feeling Seth’s heated glare and the rage billowing off his shoulders, Zane stirred and opened his eyes. The two brothers stared at each other, Zane’s head visible over Jasmine’s shoulder.

Seth jerked his thumb over his own shoulder in the direction of the door. “I want to talk to you. Now,” he said in a low enough voice not to wake Jasmine.

Zane’s eyes narrowed, but he carefully extricated himself from the bed and gently tucked the covers around Jasmine’s sleeping form. She stirred for a moment, but sighed and snuggled back into her pillow.

Zane padded across the room toward Seth, not bothering to snag a T-shirt. Seth turned and walked out into the hallway, leaving Zane to follow.

As soon as they reached the stairs, Seth rounded on Zane. “What the f**k do you think you’re doing?” he demanded through clenched teeth.

Zane’s expression darkened, and he didn’t back down an inch. “You can shove the big brother lecture right up your ass, Seth. I don’t need a f**king babysitter, and I damn sure don’t need you hanging out posing as my goddamn conscience.”

Carmen stomped up the stairs, hands on her hips. She pinned both men with a don’t-f*ck-with-me stare just before she took them both to task.

“Jasmine is trying to sleep, and you boys are just outside the bedroom arguing like two-year-olds. If you must continue, then take it downstairs. Preferably outside!”

Seth sucked in an annoyed breath. “Sorry, Carmen,” he said shortly. Then he pointed at Zane. “Outside. We’re not finished.”

“You know what? We are. I don’t have a damn thing to say to you. I don’t know what the f**k your problem is. I suspect I do, but that’s your deal, not mine.”

He turned and stalked back to his bedroom.

Seth glanced at Carmen who stared at him, a disapproving frown marring her usually warm features.

“You boys are going to drive her away,” she chided. “Now is not the time to be pushing her. She’s very fragile right now. She needs you both. You are both important to her.”

Guilt flushed like a damn toilet through him. “You’re right,” he said quietly. “She doesn’t need this.”

Carmen nodded approvingly then turned and walked back down the stairs. Seth watched her go, helpless confusion wracking his mind.

He wasn’t entirely sure why the sight of Jasmine in Zane’s bed, in his arms, set him off. It wasn’t as if it was something new. Jasmine had spent a lot of time in Zane’s bed. If Seth was honest, he’d admit he resented Jasmine and Zane’s closeness. Zane was who she turned to when she was scared and alone.

But now, that resentment was something more. It felt an awful lot like jealousy, and he did not want to go down that road. His hands trembled and he balled his fingers into fists to control the shaking.

Had last night been more than Jasmine needing comfort? Something he knew Zane had given her in the past. He knew Zane was attracted to her, but had he crossed the line?

And why did the idea bother him so damn much?

Because you want her, dumbass. You want her so bad you can’t see straight and it pisses you off that she might want Zane and not you.

Now that he’d laid it out, it made sense. It was twisted. It wasn’t something he even needed to entertain, but there it was, staring him in the face like an affronted lover.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed downstairs. As he passed the kitchen, he muttered to Carmen that he was going to his meeting with the wildlife biologist.

* * *

Jasmine woke, expecting the warmth of Zane’s body. But her back felt strangely cold, and the space behind her was barren. The pillow she held to her chest was a poor substitute, and she thrust it away.

Her first instinct was to burrow deeper into the covers, hold Zane’s scent to her a little longer. She had no wish to get up, to face the day, but with the new day also came an unwelcome realization.

She’d made a big mistake.

Maybe she’d known it at the time. And maybe in that moment she hadn’t cared as she’d sought Zane’s comfort. But in reverting to a practice that was indicative of a much younger Jasmine, she’d lost any progress in her quest to make Zane and Seth see her as something other than a frightened sixteen-year-old.

With an unhappy sigh, she got out of bed and hurried back to her room. It was time for her to grow the f**k up and take control of her own destiny. Time to stop allowing her past to dictate her every action and reaction.

It was hard to convince the two men she loved that she was a woman full grown when she persisted in throwing them into the role of protectors.

She damned the meltdown of the previous day. Damned the fact that her fears still ruled her. She was only the product of her past if she allowed herself to be. She was so much more, and her year away from the ranch had proved it to her. Now all she had to do was present that woman to the world.

She knew Zane had felt the tangible connection between them last night. It went beyond their affectionate relationship that had formed over the years. She knew it. He knew it. But he’d pulled away, and rightly so.

She stepped into the shower, determined to wash away the girl she’d been for so long. Nothing could hurt her here. The only people here who had the power to hurt her were Seth and Zane, and she doubted they even knew it.