Braydon(24)

“I just wanted to stop by to see you first,” he explained. “I’ve got to go talk to Brendon.”

Braydon noticed the look that his mother passed to his father, but before he could ask what that was about, his mother said, “Dinner’s at seven o’clock. I expect you to be there.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there,” he assured her. He’d missed way too many Sunday dinners with his family. He knew he couldn’t get out of another even if he wanted to. So, for now, he was going to be in town for a little while at least.

For a brief few minutes, he talked to his parents about his drive back, how Tessa and Cooper were doing, and when he was going to make a decision on whether he was staying or not. It didn’t last long, unfortunately. The next thing he knew, Braydon was back in his truck, pulling onto the narrow drive to his own house. The one he shared with his twin.

The first thing he noticed as he pulled up to the rustic two-bedroom cabin that he called home was that Jessie’s car was out front.

His chest immediately ached and he absently rubbed it, hoping the pain would subside. Pushing open the door, he took a deep breath and resigned himself to what was to come.

“Braydon.”

He hadn’t even stepped foot on solid ground before he heard her voice. He turned, and there in all her astonishing beauty was Jessie, standing on the front porch, her arms wrapped around herself. She was still just as stunning as he remembered, standing there in a pretty little sundress and boots, her hair shining in the bright morning sun.

Three months without seeing her brilliant smile had been the equivalent of an eternity as far as he was concerned.

She wasn’t smiling now. Nor was Brendon, who was standing just behind her.

“Hey,” Braydon offered nonchalantly. Or so he hoped. He didn’t feel at all nonchalant. In fact, he was tense to the point that he wasn’t sure he could get his legs to work to walk toward them.

For all the time he’d tried to pretend he didn’t have feelings for this woman, he was finding it more and more difficult now. The fiery passion she had ignited inside of him had been stoked into a conflagration of anger and resentment that he found himself trying to hold inside for three painfully long months. But the anger wasn’t directed at her. It was all for the situation that the three of them had found themselves in. Some of the antipathy was directed at his brother, the man who had kept Braydon from loving Jessie the way he wanted, even if it hadn’t been intentional. But Braydon had yet to determine whether that was the case or not.

The same man who clearly was interested in another woman, but refused to allow Braydon to have Jessie for himself. And now . . . Now he didn’t even know if Jessie and Brendon had reconciled and maybe the two of them were together.

Fuck.

Not that he could change any of that.

Closing the door slowly, Braydon ignored his gear in the backseat of his truck. It was there if he decided to stay and it was there if he decided to go.

Walking up to the porch, he met Jessie’s pretty blue eyes. She’d been crying, he could tell. The thought made his chest clench painfully tight, but he kept moving. He couldn’t touch her. If he did, he’d be the one reduced to tears, and the last thing he wanted was to let either of them think he was affected by their relationship.

He had to brush by Brendon to get into the house, their shoulders bumping as he did. His brother didn’t say anything, but the tension radiating from him was powerful.

Today wouldn’t rate among the best days of his life, he knew that much.

But it was time to face the music.



JESSIE DIDN’T TAKE her eyes off Braydon as he passed by her. She absorbed the massive sight of him, cataloging all the things she remembered as well as the noted differences in his appearance since the last time he was there. When his eyes met hers, she tried to read what he was thinking, but there was nothing reflected in the once-warm blue-gray depths.

No, this Braydon wasn’t the same man who’d left all those months ago. Where his quick humor and easygoing manner once were, there was something much more resigned.

She turned to face Brendon as the two brothers made their way into the house. He cast a glance back over his shoulder, signaling for her to follow. Intending to do as he’d requested, Jessie nodded and then took a step forward but stopped. She couldn’t do this. Not yet.

It was hard enough seeing Braydon. Harder than she had thought it would be. Talking to him would be damn near impossible.

So, instead of following them inside, she bolted to her car. Her key remained in the ignition, where she’d left it, and she sent up a silent prayer as she twisted her wrist, praying the damn thing wouldn’t decide to die on her today. A second later, the engine was humming to life, choking only once or twice before it was good to go.

Without looking up, she put the car in gear and headed back the same way she’d come nearly an hour and a half ago. The longest hour and a half of her entire life had been spent in silence with Brendon just a few feet away. They’d both pretended to be interested in whatever was on the television, but she hadn’t been paying much attention at all. Hell, he could’ve actually been talking to her, but she was so lost in her own thoughts, she had no clue.

It didn’t take long before she was pulling up to her little house—correction: Travis’s house. After turning off the engine, she yanked the keys out of the ignition and scrambled out of the car. She didn’t stop until she was safely inside the house, the door solidly closed behind her.