Braydon(89)

“No,” she replied.

A second later, the door was opening and Jessie flew up from her perch on the closed toilet seat. “What are you doing?”

“I’m checking on you?”

“I wanted some privacy, Ky,” Jessie disputed.

“You’ve had enough. Now come on, let’s go to the break room.”

Unable to find any objection that would get her sister off her case, Jessie followed Kylie into the break room.

“I want to introduce you to Cheyenne,” Kylie told her after she had retrieved two cans of Diet Coke from the refrigerator and planted them on the small table.

Jessie dropped into one of the chairs and reached for the drink. She didn’t bother opening it, but she wrapped her hands around the cool aluminum.

“I don’t want to meet her,” Jessie mumbled.

“Oh, come on. Quit being a brat.”

Jessie glared at Kylie for a moment. “Fine, I want to meet her. But I don’t want her to have Braydon.”

“What the hell are you talking about? She doesn’t want Braydon.”

“No, but she apparently wants Brendon. And . . . God . . . I know it sounds stupid, even when I think it, but what if Braydon . . . ? What if he decides . . . ?”

“Lord have mercy.” Kylie sighed. “Do you hear yourself right now?”

Yes, she did. And yes, she thought she sounded crazy and paranoid—which so wasn’t the case—but she couldn’t help herself.

“Braydon loves you,” Kylie stated.

“I don’t know why, if that’s really the case,” Jessie returned. He had mentioned that once, but he’d never brought it up again. Granted, she hadn’t shared her true feelings with him then, and especially not now, so she couldn’t necessarily blame him.

“Have you told him?”

“Told him what?” Jessie asked, pretending not to understand.

“That you love him?” Kylie smirked.

“Well, no,” Jessie said in an isn’t it obvious we don’t talk about that stuff sort of way. “We’re taking things slow.”

“Yep, that hickey on your neck sure tells me that you’re taking things slow.”

Instinctively, Jessie reached up and covered the hickey that Kylie was referring to. She hadn’t even realized he’d left a mark on her until she made it into work that morning. And at that point, she’d already put in too much time getting her hair piled on top of her head, so she hadn’t bothered to mess with it. Clearly she was going to have to be more careful.

“Okay, fine. You win.” Jessie didn’t know where Kylie was going with this.

“I don’t want to win,” Kylie said, reaching across the table and touching Jessie’s hand. “I want my sister to be happy. I want you and Braydon to have a chance at this. I personally don’t see Cheyenne as a threat.”

Jessie considered that for a moment. She couldn’t disagree, although she desperately wanted to, but that was her inner five-year-old talking. She wanted to argue for the sake of arguing. Mainly because she was scared. “I love him, Ky,” Jessie blurted.

“I know you do.”

“I don’t even know how to tell him. And I don’t think that we can do anything until we get Brendon under control.”

“Brendon’s a big boy. He’s going to figure this out. We just need to make sure he goes about that the right way.”

“And how do we do that?” Jessie asked. “Braydon’s practically babysitting him.”

“I think that’s why Travis called Cheyenne. He asked for a favor.”

“What sort of favor?”

“We were talking and we think it might be a good idea if Cheyenne can assure Brendon that she isn’t pissed at him. He hasn’t been right ever since he called her out at Moonshiners, treating her like a slut. He feels like shit about what he’s done to her. And to you.”

“To me?”

“Yeah, to you,” Kylie answered. “He wants to be friends, but he thinks he’s messed that up.”

“But he hasn’t,” Jessie assured her. “I’m his friend.”

“Have you told him that?”

“Well . . . no. I haven’t really talked to him though.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

“So what? Are you suggesting some sort of intervention?”

Kylie laughed. “God, no. That won’t work with Brendon. Even I know that much. I just think he needs some reassurance. Everyone seems to be talking, but they aren’t talking to him.”

Jessie thought about that. Her sister was right. Jessie had kept all her feelings guarded, bottled up inside. Especially when Braydon had been gone.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t make things right. After all, she was dating Braydon, and that was going to be a long-term thing. So it only made sense that she reach out to Brendon.

After all, they all had to shoulder some of the blame.



BRENDON HAD JUST stepped out of the shower when he heard a knock on the front door. He wrapped a towel around his waist and listened for a moment, wondering if Braydon had made it home yet. When he didn’t hear his brother moving around, he opened his bedroom door in time to hear the knocking once again.