Braydon(28)

“You havin’ babies yet?” Braydon asked, figuring the question was suitable for the moment.

“We’re tryin’.”

“Of course you are.”

“How’s Jess?” Zane questioned, smoothly changing the subject.

“Don’t know,” Braydon uttered as he gazed out at the land rolling for miles in front of them. “I was gonna ask you the same thing.”

“I haven’t seen her in a few days,” Zane told him. “She hasn’t been to Moonshiners much lately. The only time I do see her is on Sundays.”

Sunday dinner with his folks. Braydon was glad to hear Jessie had been going. His parents loved her. At least they hadn’t shut her out while he was gone.

“My two cents . . .” Zane said, and then paused, clearly waiting for Braydon to look at him. When he did, Zane continued, “Don’t let her go. If you know what’s best for you, you won’t let her go.”

“Is that how you felt about V?”

“Damn straight. When you know she’s the one, you just know.”

“How do you know?” Braydon asked, not intending for the words to come out.

Zane lowered his voice, his gaze colliding with Braydon’s. “When you have to ask that question, then you already know.”

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” Braydon finally said, pulling his gaze from Zane’s.

“It never is.” Zane chuckled. “But we don’t get much of a say in the matter.”

Braydon glanced back at the house, figuring he’d find Brendon standing in the doorway. Much to his relief, he wasn’t there.

“I’ve f*cked everything up,” Braydon said, hating that he was spilling his guts, but he welcomed the opportunity to talk to someone about it. Someone who wouldn’t judge him.

“Did you really think you’d find a woman who wanted to spend the rest of her life with both of you?” Zane asked, his voice still low.

“I never thought about it.”

“Man, you can’t question this shit. Just go with it. It’ll work out, bro,” Zane offered, his gaze darting at the house as well. “We’re brothers. We stick together. It might be weird at first, but it’ll work itself out.”

Braydon wasn’t sure about all that. In all his life, he and Brendon had never been at odds like they were now. The confusion and guilt that settled in his gut were reminders that things weren’t working themselves out yet.

Braydon didn’t ask Zane to elaborate. They were all well aware of Brendon and Braydon’s unconventional behavior, especially Zane. Considering the man used to engage in the same sort of activities with his best friend, Beau. Those days were behind Zane now that he was married to V and Beau was married to Ethan. But for reasons they couldn’t explain, Braydon and Brendon had always shared women, and up until now, their intentions hadn’t appeared to be changing. Sharing women was natural for them.

Or it had been anyway.

“So, does that mean you’ll stay?” Zane asked when the silence wore on.

Braydon glanced back at Zane. Never in his life had he thought he’d be taking relationship advice from his youngest brother. But for whatever reason, he felt better after talking to Zane.

“Yeah, I’m gonna stay,” he told him. He wasn’t sure how things were going to work out in the end, but for now, he needed to come home and figure it out.

“Aww, hell,” Zane groaned as his eyes darted toward the road. “I gotta run.”

Braydon glanced down the driveway to see Travis’s truck kicking up dust as it came toward them.

“Chickenshit,” Braydon offered when Zane made his way down the steps toward his own truck.

“Damn right. I get enough of his shit, remember? I work for him.”

Zane stood outside of his truck—a new truck, Braydon realized—as Travis’s came to a stop just a few feet away. Once their oldest brother climbed out, Zane gave him a quick salute and a holler and then jumped in the cab, grinning back at Braydon.

Great.

Just what he wanted.

A f*cking welcoming committee.



BRENDON STOOD INSIDE, staring out the big picture window in the living room that overlooked the front yard. He watched as Zane sidestepped an altercation with Travis by taking his leave. He damn sure didn’t blame the guy.

Shit, Brendon had been doing his best to avoid Travis for the last few months. With Braydon gone and their relationship with Jessie stalled out completely, he hadn’t wanted to endure Travis’s wrath. Surprisingly, it wasn’t because Travis was grumpy the way he used to be. Luckily, Kylie and Gage had managed to come along and fix whatever was broken in his oldest brother’s heart. So as far as that went, Travis was just fine.

No, it seemed Travis had a real beef with Brendon. Back when Brendon first set his sights on Jessie, Travis had threatened him within an inch of his life if he hurt Jessie and . . . Well, they all knew how that had worked out.

He hadn’t meant to hurt her. It still made his stomach ache when he thought about how he’d reacted when he came home to find Braydon gone. Even though he had expected their relationship was going to come to an end, Brendon had prayed that the three of them hadn’t gotten in over their heads. But the last damn thing he’d expected was for his twin to disappear without saying a word. An altercation, maybe. A heated throwdown to blow off steam, sure. But Braydon had knocked him for a loop by running.