Chapter 21
Devon
“S he didn’t even look like the same woman to me,” Kaleb said as we all sat in my family room after the women had left for Billings on Sunday.
We’d decided to get together after our women had abandoned us.
Tanner had dropped Hannah off to do her magic on Reese early this morning, and I was pretty sure that Kaleb had decided to come early with Anna to provide moral support.
Lauren had shown up here, too, rather than waiting to be picked up later.
Anna and Lauren really hadn’t needed to be here that early, but the fact that they’d shown up for the entire transformation was a testament to how much they cared about Reese.
I had to admit that Reese had looked different when the women were done with her earlier this morning.
The red in her hair had been completely gone and replaced with a darker, muted shade of dark brown.
Her eye color had been changed to something less startling than her normal color, and Hannah had cut Reese’s hair into a little shorter style.
Yeah, she might look different to most people, but she’d still looked like Reese to me.
And I still hated that she had decided to go to Billings in her current situation.
She was probably safe with her altered appearance, but I didn’t like the thought of her being vulnerable . At all.
My protective instincts toward Reese had hit an all-time high since we’d gotten intimate on Friday.
The only thing we’d done yesterday that wasn’t sexual was taking a ride during the afternoon.
Otherwise, we’d had sex in several areas of the house. I couldn’t say we’d hit every room, but that was bound to happen sooner rather than later.
I couldn’t be in the same vicinity as her and not want to touch her.
My dick was constantly hard whenever we were in the same room.
Not that I was complaining because Reese was always more than willing to take care of that problem.
We were starting to learn exactly how to make each other completely insane.
I’d always known how hot the chemistry was between the two of us, but with Reese, it was sex on a whole new level for me.
I always wanted to claim her body in a way that was probably a little twisted, but I didn’t give a shit.
She was mine now, and there wasn’t a damn thing in this world that was going to tear her away from me.
Except…maybe this trip to Billings.
Given the situation, it twisted my guts up to know that she was more exposed than she’d ever been since the shooting.
“They’ll be fine, Devon,” Tanner said gruffly. “If I thought they were in danger in any way, I would have insisted that Hannah stayed behind. There’s no way anyone is going to recognize Reese as the same woman who had her photo in news articles.
“She needs to get out more for her mental health,” Kaleb added. “This is a stressful situation that’s gone on for too damn long. It’s not healthy for her to feel this confined to a small town.”
“Rationally, I know that,” I said irritably. “I want Reese to have a little freedom to move, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it.”
“We’re always irrational when it comes to the safety of our women,” Kaleb grumbled. “I worry about Anna constantly when I’m not able to travel with her. She’s too vulnerable.”
“And Hannah is pregnant, so I’m doubly protective,” Tanner commented.
“I’m sorry for every time I gave you both a hard time about being overprotective,” I said in a disgruntled voice.
Tanner grinned. “Now you know what it feels like to worry about someone who holds your happiness in their hands.”
“It’s pure hell,” I admitted. “I don’t know how you two have lived with it for longer than I have.”
Tanner shrugged. “You learn to deal with it because any other choice is unthinkable. I’d rather worry than to not have Hannah in my life. I’ve been there, and I was a miserable asshole.”
“I wish this whole thing was over. I wish they’d just apprehend the bastard,” I told my brothers.
“It will get a little bit better if they do,” Kaleb mused. “But those protective instincts are never going to go away completely. I think you’re fucked, little brother. You better learn how to deal with it now.”
I shot him an annoyed look. “Please don’t tell me that I’m always going to feel this fucking crazy.”
“Pretty much,” Kaleb replied nonchalantly. “The protectiveness is part of who we are when we find a woman we can’t and won’t live without. You’ve obviously already made that choice regardless of your no commitment policy. You’re committed to Reese.”
“She’s mine,” I said testily. “Go ahead and say it. Everything is different now that I’ve found Reese. I know you’re dying to make me eat my words.”
I’d told them both that it was never going to happen to me because I’d never get into a relationship with any woman.
“We’re not going to say that we told you so,” Tanner assured me. “I think Kaleb and I both wanted you to find a woman who could stand up to your bullshit and knock you on your ass. But only because we wanted you to be happy. Neither one of us ever bought the crap that you were alone because you wanted to be. You just couldn’t trust a female for some reason. Do you want to share that reason with us now?”
“Not really,” I answered. “But I will.”
Kaleb and Tanner looked surprised that I was finally willing to share something I’d been quiet about for years.
I’d hidden the truth from my brothers long enough, and after telling Reese about what had happened, it didn’t seem that difficult to share it with my brothers.
I went through the whole story again with my two siblings.
“Fucking hell!” Kaleb cursed. “Why didn’t you tell us? You could have died, Devon.”
“I didn’t die,” I said, pointing out that obvious fact. “Both of you had your shit together back then. You were already in New York and busting your asses to be successful. I felt like an idiot, like the failure little brother who couldn’t get things right. I looked up to both of you. I didn’t really want to admit that I’d fallen for some ridiculous bullshit while you two were responsible adults trying to start a company for all of us.”
“You were young,” Tanner argued. “You weren’t even quite out of college yet, and you were never a failure. You graduated with high honors for fuck’s sake. We were proud of you. You’re allowed a few dumb mistakes, Devon. Kaleb and I have made plenty of them. We would have been pissed as hell because of what happened, but you should have called us when you were injured. I get not wanting to call our parents because they would have flipped out, but we would have been there for you.”
“I know that,” I said ruefully. “But it wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with anyone until now. I just wanted to put it behind me and move on.”
“Reese changed all that,” Kaleb guessed.
“I had to tell her,” I told him truthfully. “I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t take our relationship seriously. I had a reputation as a hookup guy who never made a commitment. She needed to know why.”
Kaleb nodded. “I agree. I’m glad you finally decided to share it with us, too. Your whole attitude never made sense to me. Now it does. You finally found the woman you could trust enough to take a leap of faith.”
“I had to take that leap or let her go,” I said truthfully. “Reese could have never been a fling for me. She probably deserves a man much better than me, but I’ll figure out how to be a good boyfriend. I just don’t have much practice.”
“You don’t need it,” Kaleb informed me. “You already make her feel special every day because you put her needs before your own. You’re proving that right now. You kept your mouth shut about her going to Billings this morning even though I knew it was eating your guts out to let her go.”
“Did I really have a choice?” I asked drily. “Reese is her own woman. She was going to go.”
She’d already warned me about that, and I’d had to accept her decision.
“Maybe not,” Tanner considered. “But you could have been an asshole about it.”
“I couldn’t,” I told him. “She was too damn excited about the whole thing. For once in my life, it was impossible for me to be an asshole and spoil this for her.” I paused before I asked both of my brothers, “How else can I be the guy she needs? I’ve thought about dozens of things I could give her, but she doesn’t really care about my money or the material things I can give her.”
“Hannah and Anna don’t care about the material things, either,” Tanner told me. “Hannah has always had her own ambitions, even after I became wealthy enough to support both of us. Support Reese in hers. Don’t make the mistakes that I did. Her career is just as important as yours, even though you’re a billionaire.”
“Reese does something more important than I do,” I answered. “She saves lives and takes care of people. I just make a lot of money. Don’t get me wrong, I care about Remington as much as you two, and I wouldn’t want to do anything else, but Reese’s work is important. Anything that’s important to her is important to me. I watched and learned from your mistakes with Hannah.”
“That’s probably the one good thing about being the youngest,” Kaleb joked. “You can learn from the stupid mistakes we made and not make the same ones.”
I grinned at him. “It’s definitely a benefit. But it wasn’t always easy being the tag along little brother when we were younger.”
There wasn’t much of an age difference between the three of us, but I’d always felt like the one who was lagging behind sometimes.
“You weren’t that big of a pain in the ass,” Tanner drawled. “But I’m damn glad you’re with Reese now. What’s the future plan?”
I shook my head. “We haven’t looked that far ahead. I try not to go there and just appreciate the fact that she’s in my life and that she wants my sorry ass. I don’t want to scare her off by wanting to plan our entire future, but it’s not easy for me not to talk about it.”
“That’s probably a good idea given the situation right now,” Kaleb said. “I went through something similar with Anna. Her life was in Los Angeles. Mine was here. I would have relocated for her, but I’m damn glad that she liked it here and wanted to stay. If she’d wanted to keep doing big tours, I would have found a way to deal with that, too. I want to protect her, but I don’t want to stifle her career. She’s busted her ass and sacrificed a lot for her music career.”
“It’s going to be a little bit different for you,” Tanner warned. “Hannah grew up here and her mom is here. Anna didn’t have family in California. Reese’s parents are in Spokane, and from what I’ve heard, they’re pretty close.”
“I’m not even sure she’d be willing to relocate because of that,” I grumbled. “She’s an only child. Her parents are past retirement age, but they work because they still can, and they want to do it. She’s going to want to be close to them as they get older.”
“Can’t say that I blame her,” Tanner answered. “I know how important it is for us to be close to Mom so we can support her.”
“Don’t put those roadblocks in your way right now, Devon,” Kaleb warned. “If you love each other, everything can be worked out. Spokane isn’t that far away. You do have a private jet. I know the need to figure out your future is pretty strong, but sometimes you have to take things one step at a time.”
Love?
It suddenly hit me that I actually was romantically in love for the first damn time in my life.
Why was I only figuring this out now?
Maybe because it had started with friendship.
Followed by fondness and physical attraction.
And then it had morphed into this monstrous obsession that I couldn’t quite get a grip on, no matter how hard I tried to contain it.
I couldn’t say that it was love at first sight for me.
Then again, I was probably slow when it came to matters of the heart since I’d never found a woman I’d felt this way about before.
Love?
Fuck! I had no idea if Reese felt the same way. We were only officially dating right now.
I knew that she cared about me, but love was completely different.
I was going to have to be a damn good boyfriend to make her fall in love with me or I was going to be completely screwed.