Hot Shot (Hot as Puck Book 2)

29. Blake

The noise my brothers make coming through the front door is enough to wake the whole house.

Good thing no one is sleeping. We’re in the living room, where we settled after dinner.

Bran didn’t hunt down Mom and Dad before we ate like he wanted. Instead he waited to tell them over dessert what he did for Laura, for the twins, for them.

I could have predicted my parents’ response to his words. Could easily have told Bran he’d have my mom in tears before she could leave the room and my dad close.

Since then we left the subject alone, all of us aware we’d be revisiting it once Corbin and Landon arrived. Instead we’ve talked about the Rogues and how Bran wants to sign the contract we offered without an agent’s input but I won’t let him.

Dad in his typical fashion decided he and Bran would call Drake tomorrow afternoon and iron out the deal between Bran and his new agent before setting said agent loose on the deal with the Rogues.

I love that my dad is taking an active role in Bran reclaiming his life. I know he had a lot of input into Bran’s previous deal, the same as he’s done with my brothers over the years. And I know I don’t have to worry about Bran on that end. Not when he has my dad at his back.

No, what I have to worry about are the two men standing in the living room doorway with angry scowls on their faces.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Landon demands, his voice loud and harsh as he steps into the quiet room.

“There will be none of that in my house. From either of you.” Mom gives both my brothers a look that used to have us shaking in our shoes when we were little. It has the same effect now.

“Sorry, Mom,” Landon says at a more acceptable volume, his angry eyes dropping from Bran for a moment.

“So you should be. Now come over here and give me a hug.” She stands from the couch but doesn’t move toward them. She’s showing them where her support lies. And right now, after Bran revealed he gave Laura her name as a homage to her and his mom as well as the last name Watts, she’s firmly in his corner.

Corbin sends me a look. He’s always been the more circumspect of the two of them, Landon the hot head who lets his mouth—and actions—run away from him more often than not. But Corbin’s look. It has me thinking and before anyone can say anything else I’m on my feet.

“You know!”

Corbin glances at Landon before meeting my gaze head on. “I know a lot of things.”

“Don’t. Don’t you dare give me the runaround on this.”

Bran’s hand presses into my lower back when he stands beside me. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Corbin knows. He knows what you’re going to tell him.”

“What? How?”

My brother looks at everyone in the room and I know he’s trying to gauge our emotions, the possibility of his words causing the already volatile situation to explode. With a deep sigh, he locks eyes with Landon.

“Celeste came to me after she married Bran. Told me the baby wasn’t Bran’s.”

Bran goes rigid beside me. “Why didn’t you tell me she did that?”

“Because she was full of shit. She told Landon I fucked her—sorry for the language Mom—when I didn’t.”

“Then…”

“No. Your daughter wasn’t mine. I never touched the woman. I wouldn’t touch her if she were the last woman on the planet,” Corbin growls.

Everyone turns to Landon. It’s only a second late that he grips his head.

“Fuck!”

The curse is loud, ragged, filled with agony and no one moves, pretty sure there isn’t even a drawn-in breath.

“That fucking bitch!”

In the blink of an eye, Landon is gone. Corbin turns to follow but Dad jumps up and grips his shoulder, holds him in place.

“No. Let him go. Explain what happened and why your brother seems oblivious to it.”

“He’s oblivious because I didn’t want her getting her claws in him again. She did a good job of snowing him and screwing with his head the first time and it wasn’t until she lied about me sleeping with her that he saw her true colors.”

“He would never believe you’d do that,” I say. “Because you would never do that.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Corbin turns his gaze to Bran. “I swear, if I believed her, I would have said something in spite of you cutting us out. I would have made you listen.”

“I…” Bran swallows hard. “I honestly don’t know that I would have. I was in protection mode.”

“You would need an armored suit to protect yourself from her.”

“Son.” Mom moves to Corbin, cradles his jaw with her hand. “Tell me why Landon had the reaction he did.”

“I’m not sure. He hasn’t said anything, but I know when Bran and Celeste got married, he went crazy for a bit. He didn’t tell me details but I know he saw her the week before we found out.”

“You think she told him about the baby?” Dad asks.

Shaking his head, Corbin says, “No. There’s no way he knew before the rest of the world. He would never have let Bran marry her if he thought there was a chance she was pregnant with his baby.”

“The woman seems to have been filled with lies.”

“And venom,” Corbin adds to Mom’s assessment. “Lies and venom and she’d turn it on anyone in her way.”

“But I don’t understand why she would lie to me about the night of the party. Why tell me we slept together and then come at me weeks later? What was her goal?”

“She wanted Landon. He ditched her when she tried to drive a wedge between us. She did it the whole time they were together and for a while it was only little things, things he could overlook but the lie about me and her? Yeah, that was too big a deal to ignore. They had a huge argument because he also found out she’d hooked up with Carl Burgan a few times when they were first together. That was the end for Landon.”

“So why did he see her the week before she came to me?” Bran asks.

“I honestly don’t know. All he told me was that they’d spoken, that she told him to fuck off and he’d be sorry for letting her go.”

“Was he sorry?” Mom asks. “Because I’m not sure what was going through his head just now other than distress.”

“No. He’s been seeing someone. A woman he met at a cafe.”

“He’s got a girlfriend?”

“I wouldn’t call her that exactly, but they hang out. A lot. He hasn’t been with anyone since the debacle with Celeste. As I said, she did a number on his head.” Corbin glances over his shoulder. “I’m not sure how this is going to affect him.”

“So you know what I’m going to say?” Bran asks.

“I’m assuming you’re here to tell us Celeste said Landon is Laura’s father. What I don’t understand is why you’re only now telling anyone.”

“I didn’t know until after Laura… After Celeste…”

“How is that possible?”

“She left a note. Wrote it while washing down a bottle of sleeping pills with two bottles of vodka.”

“Jesus.” Corbin’s gaze moves to Dad. “Someone needs to go find him.”

“I think it should be Branton.” Mom’s words have us all looking at her. “I think it’s between the two of them at this point.”

“But—”

“No.” Mom cuts Corbin off. “She played the two of them. Pitted them against each other even if they weren’t aware of it. I think they both have insight into her that the other can use to understand more of the situation and possibly move past the damage she caused each of them.”

“And they have that in common to bring them back together,” Dad adds with a nod.

“And me?” Corbin’s gaze flits between Mom and Dad. “How do I fit into this?”

“You don’t yet.” Bran leaves my side and goes to my brother. “After, once Landon and I have cleared the air. Then we’ll both need you to add what you know.”

“I don’t know much more than what I just told you all.”

“No. Maybe not. But you know Landon, you were there when he was seeing Celeste, which I was clueless about, by the way. How the hell were they together and I not know?”

Corbin shrugs. “I didn’t know he’d been seeing her until he was three months in. I told you, she tried to drive a wedge between us, most of that was done by her insisting they keep their relationship a secret.”

“I don’t understand this woman at all,” Mom mumbles.

“I was married to her, lived in the same house as her, for months, and I don’t understand her.” Bran rubs a hand over his chin. “I’m beginning to think I’ll never understand.”

“That might be, but do you need to now? She’s no longer in your life, and you’re doing your best to move past what happened, to reclaim the man you used to be?—”

“I’ll never reclaim him.” Bran cuts me off. “He no longer exists. She made sure of that because I’ll never have the ability to trust anyone at their word again. She stripped that away. That naive belief in people being honest.”

“But she hasn’t done that. All she’s done is make you more cautious. You still trust people, Bran. You trust me.”

“I have always, will always, trust you. You’ve never once lied to me. Never once done anything to hurt me or manipulate me. If anything, you’ve always let me control our relationship and I’m sorry I put you through that. I will never do that again.”

“Bran.”

“No. I know you could have fought against me, you should have, but you didn’t. And after this is over, after I set things straight with Landon, I’m going to show you my appreciation of that. Of you. Every day for the rest of my life. If you’ll let me.”

I have no words. We’ve talked about how we feel, what we want, but he’s basically just declared his intentions in front of my parents, my brother.

It doesn’t matter how things turn out with Landon, I will do everything—anything—to make sure we get the chance we should have had, the chance Celeste derailed when she set out to hurt two of the most important men my life.

The chance Bran—I—deserve.