Braydon(27)

Suddenly, all the frustration and resentment that had been bottled up since he walked out of this house the last time came rushing back. This time it was targeted at Brendon. How the hell could he treat Jessie like that? How could he possibly just . . . “You haven’t talked to her in three months?” Braydon yelled, unable to maintain even a fraction of his control. “What the f*ck?”

Brendon stood up straight, and that was when Braydon realized he was nearly face-to-face with his brother.

“You’re the one who left,” Brendon ground out through clenched teeth. “Turn this on me if you want, but you weren’t here. You have no f*cking right to be pissed at me.”

“You’re the reason I f*cking left,” Braydon growled, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “You f*cking knew. God damn it. You knew and you tried to keep her for yourself anyway.”

Brendon’s eyebrows rose and then his face fell. “That was stupid, I know.”

“What?” Braydon didn’t know if his brother even knew what he was talking about.

“What happened at Christmas . . . I shouldn’t have done it. I was f*cking jealous.”

“Of what?” Braydon yelled again. “What the f*ck do I have that you could possibly be jealous of?”

“Goddamn, Braydon! Are you that f*cking obtuse?” Brendon yelled back. “You f*cked her in a storage room, for chrissakes. I saw the way you looked at her. I’ve seen the way you’ve looked at her for months.”

Braydon stared blankly at his twin.

“Get it now?”

No. No, he didn’t.

“You’ve got feelings for this one,” Brendon said seriously, albeit heatedly. “You care about her. I know you do. But . . .” He clamped his mouth shut, and Braydon waited for him to continue even though he knew he wouldn’t.

And true to form, Brendon turned and stalked off.

Braydon took a deep breath. This was not how he had envisioned their first conversation after three painfully long months going. He didn’t want to fight with Brendon. Shit, at the moment he wanted to go to Jessie.

How the f*ck could Brendon have left her alone all this time?

Braydon was just about to follow Brendon when a knock on the door pulled him up short.

He glanced at the door. Then back toward Brendon’s room, where his twin had disappeared.

With a resigned sigh, he headed for the door. He figured the lesser of two evils was the person standing on the other side of that damn door.

Big mistake. Huge.

“’Bout damn time.”

Good Lord. Could they come up with some other way to greet him?

“You knocked one time,” Braydon argued, staring back at Zane, who was leaning casually against the doorjamb.

“I’m not talking about how long it took you to answer the door, dumbass.”

Braydon couldn’t help himself, he grinned. That was Zane. His brother was actually smiling.

“You here to see Bren?” Braydon asked as he took a step back.

“Nope,” Zane said with a smirk.

“Want to come in?” Braydon asked.

Zane leaned his head forward and made a big to-do about looking around the interior of the house before standing up straight and glancing at Braydon. “Fuck no. I heard the two of you when I pulled down the driveway. I happen to like my head on my shoulders, thank you very much. Y’all can duke it out when I’m gone.”

“Then what the hell’d you come over here for?” Braydon asked, joining his brother outside and shutting the door behind him.

“Figured I’d warn you.”

“About what?”

“Your secret’s out. They all know you’re back.”

“I’m not back,” Braydon grunted. Not that he was surprised. It could’ve been anyone who triggered the news flash. They lived in a small town, which meant word spread fast.

“No? Then why the hell are you standin’ here?” Zane countered.

“At this point, I don’t even know,” Braydon answered heatedly.

“Well, at least you’re here right now.”

There was that.

“And Travis ain’t too happy with you.”

Of course not. Braydon remembered Travis’s interference back when they’d first met Jessie. The man had been surprisingly protective of her. It wasn’t until Braydon learned that Travis was married to Jessie’s sister that he understood why. Thankfully, Travis hadn’t threatened bodily harm. At least not to him. Brendon, on the other hand, was the one who’d been keeping one eye open at all times.

“How’s V?” Braydon asked, choosing to steer the conversation to something less frustrating. Thinking about the ass-chewing he was going to get from Travis wasn’t helping his souring mood.

“Good,” Zane said with a shit-eating grin.

“What’s the smile for?” Braydon asked.

“Dude, she married me.”

Braydon laughed. “I know that. I was there, remember?”

“Yep, you were. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m still stunned she married me.”

Braydon laughed again. Yeah, Zane was wholeheartedly in love with Vanessa Carmichael—now Walker—and had been for quite some time. Braydon remembered all the hell they’d gone through back when Zane first started dating V. The assault that had nearly taken Zane from them wasn’t something Braydon wanted to think about.