Bryce

Chapter 18

“You realize this is crazy, right?” Bryce asked, keeping his eyes glued to Samantha as she moved around the kitchen.

She didn’t respond, she simply glanced at him over her shoulder before returning her attention to the stove. Despite his misgivings, she had insisted he convince Lizzy to come back over for lunch. Samantha cited closure as the reason behind her demands, and that was one thing he couldn’t argue with. If he could do anything to help her find closure, she could consider it done. Honestly, he could use some of that closure as well.

“What else do you need me to do?” he asked for about the fiftieth time that day.

“Bryce, relax. I’m only making soup, and this is just lunch. I’m feeling much better, and I can handle this. I need this. I can’t keep burying my head in the sand and avoiding conflict. That part of me is over. I need to face this head on if I’m ever going to leave the past in the past,” Samantha explained gently.

“You’re right. I just feel like I should be helping somehow.”

She laughed. “I know, and it’s adorable. Just being here while I confront this woman is all the help I need. If she talks to me crazy and I try to climb across the table, then you can hold me back.”

At that, he felt his shoulders go back to their normal position as he began to relax. Picturing the gentle artsy woman climbing over the table to attack someone was nearly laughable. He had no doubt she could hold her own in a fight, and he had seen the strength she possessed in times of stress, but going on the attack? Now that he would have to see.

Walking up behind her, he pulled her into his arms and placed a kiss on her exposed shoulder. There were work emails to respond to, phone calls to make, and orders to track, but as he watched her in the kitchen, he couldn’t quite bring himself to walk away. She wore a pair of relaxed-fit jeans and a slouchy black sweater that hung off one shoulder, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Or his hands.

“You should turn the stove down,” he suggested into her shoulder.

She shivered before turning to look at him. “She’ll be here in less than thirty minutes. We don’t have time.”

“I can be quick.”

Laughing, she pushed him away playfully before turning her attention back to the stove. Her laughter was a good sign. Apparently, she really was feeling good about the lunch meeting. He considered it a meeting since they weren’t exactly getting together to socialize. Samantha had questions and so did he.

The quiet knock at the door startled him since Lizzy wasn’t expected for another twenty minutes. He made his way to the door as he heard an “I told you so,” mumbled behind him. He opened the door to an incredibly weary Lizzy standing on the step holding out a bottle of bourbon.

“This can’t be a good sign,” Bryce said with a chuckle escaping. “Come on in.”

After taking the bottle from Lizzy, he turned to see Samantha heading toward them from the kitchen and wondered if it was still considered déjà vu when the events really had happened before. Samantha stopped at his side, gripping his arm, before she finally greeted Lizzy.

“Thanks for coming back,” she said softly. “I’m sorry about the way I disappeared last night.”

Lizzy’s face was a mask of confusion as she stared at Samantha. “Why are you apologizing to me? I figured I was here to do the apologizing.”

“No. No, I wouldn’t ask you to come over here for that. Maybe if I was still in denial about my marriage. But I’m not,” Samantha clarified. “Should we sit in the living room and talk? There’s still about twenty minutes left before the soup is done.”

Lizzy nodded slowly, continuing to stare at Samantha as if she had sprouted a second head. Bryce took a moment to look her over when he took her coat to hang it up. She was not the Lizzy he knew. Her face was free of makeup, and she wore jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. She was much more approachable when she was dressed down like a normal person.

Lizzy was seated on the far end of the sectional, and Bryce took a seat on the opposite side, next to Samantha. Placing a hand on her thigh, he gave her a squeeze of encouragement.

“Did you know about me?” Samantha asked, leaning forward to study Lizzy.

Samantha stiffened beside him, and he heard her loud gasp before his brain registered Lizzy’s response.

Samantha didn’t expect to be the level-headed one calming Bryce down. She figured on things going the other way. As soon as Lizzy said she knew, Bryce was moving to stand. Samantha kept a firm grasp on his shoulder as he sat beside her with his arms folded.

“What do you mean, you knew?” she asked as calmly as her unsteady voice would allow.

“Can you let me explain? Please? I feel awful and I know what I’m going to say is going to make me look terrible.”

Samantha took a deep breath and nodded before looking at Bryce. He closed his eyes and gave a single nod. Anger radiated off him as he clenched and unclenched his fists. She rubbed his arm in an attempt to calm him down.

“Please,” Samantha encouraged. “I asked you to come here with the hope that we can all get some closure. I need to hear it. Whatever it is.”

“Sorry,” Bryce mumbled. “She’s right. Go on.”

Lizzy folded her arms around her middle and took several slow breaths. When she looked up her eyes shined with unshed tears and her lip quivered. This wasn’t the over-confidant woman Bryce complained about. She wasn’t even the same woman who was there the night before. This version of her was broken and it hurt Samantha’s soul to see another woman hurting the way she used to constantly hurt.

“It’s okay,” she encouraged once again. “We were both shocked to hear you say yes, but we want to hear whatever it is you have to say.”

Lizzy took one more slow breath before she finally looked at Bryce and spoke. “When you and I went out that handful of times, I was technically married.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Bryce swore, earning an elbow to the ribs. “Sorry.”

“We were separated, but married is married, right? Our marriage was shit. We weren’t good for each other, and he could be a real asshole. I met you and I knew you were different. It was nice going out with someone who treated me with respect. Anyway, I thought since we’re being honest with each other you should know,” she explained.

“Thanks for telling me. But we were never serious, and Samantha wanted to talk about you and Brandon.”

Lizzy took an unsteady breath as she nodded slowly. It was obvious she was growing more and more uncomfortable with every minute that passed. “I know. And that kind of goes with what else I have to say. I did know about you, Samantha, but I didn’t know the entire story. Apparently, I’m attracted to piece-of-shit men. When I first started talking to Brandon, he told me the two of you were separated. And considering how things were between my husband and me, I believed him.”

“Did you sleep with him?” Samantha covered her mouth as soon as the question left. She didn’t know why she asked. None of that mattered. She was torturing herself.

“Yes.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m sorry I asked,” Samantha rushed to say.

“It does matter. I am so sorry. After all that happened, I saw the two of you at a benefit, so I called him out on it. He said it wasn’t important, which pissed me off. I stopped talking to him and not long after, I got back with my husband for a while. He knew about Brandon, so that’s why I changed firehouses even though our fling was over. My husband never trusted me. Which I guess he shouldn’t have.”

Samantha took in everything Lizzy said. She still had no trouble believing her. The woman sitting in front of her was broken and defeated. Another woman broken by her late husband. Her skin prickled as the old feelings of anger crept back in. So much of her life had been wasted on a man who never gave a shit about anyone but himself.

“You didn’t make a conscious decision to be the other woman. It’s not your fault. You didn’t cheat on me, Brandon did.”

“Yes, but I should have known better. I should have made sure he wasn’t lying or—”

“Or what?” Samantha interrupted. “Or hired a private investigator? This isn’t your fault. Was he really taking you to the benefit that night he died?”

Tears ran down Lizzy’s cheeks. She blinked rapidly and took several deep breaths, but the tears weren’t showing any signs of slowing. “Yes. He was on his way to pick me up,” she choked out.

Samantha stood and went to Lizzy. No way could she sit by and watch this woman fall apart over something Brandon did. She wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

“It’s okay. Don’t cry. This. Wasn’t. Your. Fault.”

“He told me you two were separated for real this time. He told me that’s why he had an extra ticket. And like an idiot I believed him. I thought—I thought he wanted to be with me. It’s my fault he’s dead,” Lizzy sobbed. “If he wasn’t coming to pick me up, he wouldn’t have been on that road at all. I am so sorry.”

“Shh. It’s okay. He was an adult who made his own choices. Nothing is your fault.”

Samantha continued to hold Lizzy, her heart breaking for the woman. She knew all too well Brandon’s ability to manipulate. His ability to destroy anyone in his path without giving a single fuck. This woman wasn’t a predator. She was a victim.

When she met Bryce’s gaze, all she saw was anger. It was obvious he was doing his best to restrain his temper. She’d never seen him truly angry other than when he found out how shitty she’d been treated by Brandon, and she was confident this anger was for the same reason.

Samantha couldn’t be certain how much time had passed, but eventually, Lizzy’s sobs slowed, and she regained her composure. Samantha loosened her hold and rubbed her back as she gathered herself.

“I’m sorry,” she said between sniffles.

“Lizzy. You don’t need to apologize.” This time it was Bryce who spoke up. “This conversation needed to happen. I have to say, I’m not thrilled to find out Samantha isn’t the first one of my brother’s girls I’ve dated.”

Both women snapped their gazes up to look at Bryce, who had a smirk on his face, clearly amused by his joke.

“Seriously, Bryce?” Samantha said in exasperation.

“Yeah, seriously. What are the chances?”

He had a point. The entire time, Samantha kept asking herself how any of this could be true. How could she randomly come face to face with Brandon’s other woman and how could it be the same problematic woman who Bryce was stuck working with? She now regretted prejudging the woman and was relieved she’d gone out of her comfort zone to try to help Bryce. It was a tough situation, but she did feel much lighter knowing the entire story.

“Thanks for talking to us about everything,” Samantha said, redirecting her attention to Lizzy. “You didn’t have to, so thank you. Will you stay and eat now that that’s all out of the way?”

She looked up with a weak smile. “Yes. I’d like that.”