Chapter Five #2
Rachel. She knew her brothers were playing around but Rachel was worried, and
this would make her feel like her worry was foolish.
Rye’s eyes had widened. He was the brother who never got
caught because all he ever had to do was stand behind Max and people forgot he
could be annoying, too. “What the hell is going on, Brooke?”
This was when Bay ran. He was probably panicking and
wondering why the hell Shane wasn’t back because it looked like his getaway
would have to be on foot.
This was how she paid back all the men who annoyed her, and
maybe that wasn’t fair because she’d had a nice night with Bay and Shane, but
none of this would have happened if they had done what they were supposed to do
and gone home early this morning. Then she wouldn’t be dealing with her
brothers being nosy and waking her up way too early. And thinking less of her
because she had perfectly human needs.
This was stupid. She should own up to her dumbass mistake.
It wasn’t like they’d never had a wild night.
Of course, they probably hadn’t done it on their sibling’s
property, where their three and an almost kid were hanging around and asking
tons of questions.
“Mr. Harper.” Bay greeted her other brother.
She was sure he was about to tell him how this had all been
a mistake.
“This is a huge misunderstanding,” Bay began, proving her
right. And then his arm curled around her shoulders, and he stood beside her.
“We didn’t plan to tell you this way but then you annoyed my baby here, and she
can only handle so much. You see we’ve been talking online for months.”
Max’s eyes were narrow, and he still had a damn piece of
bacon in his hand. “You have? Brooke didn’t mention it.”
Because it hadn’t happened. Well, she supposed they had
watched her online since they knew way more about her business than they
should.
“Auntie Brooke is getting married?” Paige’s eyes lit up. “I
can be the flower girl. I’m better at it than I was for the last one. I won’t
even eat the rose petals. They didn’t taste good but Charlie said they did, and
so I made him eat some, too.”
“Violently and in front of the entire congregation,” Rye
added. “Honestly, I’m surprised Georgia decided to have kids after she saw what
this one can do.”
Max waved it off. “He deserved it for trying to poison my
baby girl. I don’t trust those boys. They look too much like Zane.”
They didn’t. As they grew up, the twins looked so much like
Nate Wright it hurt, but she wasn’t pointing that out. She was too floored that
Bay’s arm was around her. Like he belonged there.
“We haven’t decided on how big the wedding’s going to be,”
Bay hedged, and she realized he was giving her space. Good. He was allowing
room for them to get out of whatever this thing was she’d managed to get them
all into. “We might elope. We’re not getting any younger, but Max would
understand that… I’m sorry, sir. I shouldn’t have made a joke about your
advanced age.”
She kind of liked it when Bay was an asshole.
Max finished chewing his bacon and eyed Bay like he was the
enemy he was about to take out. “You little… If your brother wasn’t so good
with bacon, I would kill you myself.” He frowned Rye’s way. “It was good
bacon.”
“Why do you want to kill him, Daddy?” Paige had her hands on
her hips, staring up at her most annoying father. “He’s going to be my uncle.
You told me I couldn’t kill family even when Ethan breaks my toys.”
“And that also means she shouldn’t kick me in the shins.”
Bay seemed way too pleased with himself.
Paige looked up at him like he’d said something terrible.
“Then how will you know if I like you or not?”
“I could ask,” Bay offered.
Rye chuckled and put a hand on Paige’s head. “Baby girl,
your aunt is playing a joke on us. Your Aunt Brooke is a good girl. She doesn’t
do this kind of thing. This is a practical joke and one your daddy and I
probably deserve richly after all the pranks we pulled on her as a kid.”
Good girl. She’d been Bay and Shane’s good girl the night
before, and it had felt fabulous.
“She’s pulling your daddy’s leg, and he’s taking the bait,”
Rye explained with a certainty that rankled. “Brooke is concentrating on her
career. She’s smart and would never cause a scandal.”
A scandal? Where was she? This was Bliss. Sleeping with two
men at once was a tradition, not a freaking scandal.
They thought of her as some sexless work machine who smiled
and never caused any trouble and never had a moment’s real heartache. They had
never really seen her. Never knew who she was at her heart. She was in a box,
and she was supposed to stay in it or it would be a scandal.
They had basically been her dads, and she’d never once
rebelled.
And why was it a scandal that she had sexual needs? She
wound an arm around Bay’s lean waist, the feel of warm skin bringing her some
power. “Scandal? I’ll tell you what a scandal is, Rye. It’s getting fired from
my job because I wouldn’t sleep with the boss after he stole my designs and
coming home with my tail between my legs because I’m going to have wasted six
years of school, and the only thing that made me feel slightly better happened
on that table last night.” She nodded Max’s way. “Yes, that one, and I am not
talking about sharing late-night pizza rolls. That was not the snack those boys
enjoyed at that table. You know, Max, the one you were just sitting at.”
“Babe,” Bay breathed.
Max had gone pale. “But we bought that table so you could
have a place to eat breakfast.”
She stepped away from Bay, eyeing her brother. “I thought
you built this place so you had a sleeping station when you’re up late.”
Paige frowned at her fathers. “I thought we built this place
because you said Auntie Brooke would need it one day ’cause
she’s going to end up all alone and without a job ’cause
fashion designer ain’t a real job and it’s all
falling apart, but then you knew it would. Shouldn’t you have told Auntie
Brooke? She seems real surprised.”
“Paige,” Rye said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Sorry,” Paige said with a wince. “I forgot. It’s because
being a fashion designer isn’t a real job. It sure cost a lot though. That’s
what Daddy says. I think it is a job. I don’t think these jeans made
themselves. That’s what Mama says.”
“This is my spinster house.” How dare they? And how had they
known?
“Babe, we should talk,” Bay said quietly. “Like away from
your parents. I mean brothers.”
He’d been right the first time. It definitely felt like she
was sitting in front of a set of dads who had way overstepped. “When did it go
in? This house. How long has it been here?”
Rye actually looked a bit shaken at this point. “After
Christmas.”
After she’d talked to Rachel about being lonely. After she’d
told a couple of people around town how hard it was to feel like she wasn’t
going anywhere. She might have mentioned to one of her friends that she was
worried her boss didn’t like her and was keeping her from taking the lead on
projects. She’d been a little drunk, talking to Lucy and River, who had great
relationships and were doing well in the workplace. Lucy and River had it all
together. River had the cutest dog, and Brooke wasn’t even allowed to have a
cat because Ami was allergic. But then she was allergic to everything,
including acting like a decent human being. She was pretty sure she’d told
River and Lucy that, too.
Had her friends… Nope. She knew exactly who it was, or
rather she could narrow it down to a group since she’d been sitting at the bar
at Trio. Neither Lucy nor River would have gone to her brothers, but nothing in
the world would have stopped Callie Hollister-Wright if she thought Brooke was
in trouble.
They had called the week after it all fell apart. The very
day she got fired.
“Who’s paying the PI?” It was the only explanation.
“PI?” Bay asked. “As in private investigator? Why would your
brothers hire a PI?”
She ignored him because she knew exactly why they would.
They were deeply nosy and way overprotective. The question was how since they
were also completely miserly when it came to money.
“I think it’s Uncle Stef.” Paige was the only one who seemed
to be enjoying this altercation. She sat down in the chair Max had recently
occupied and took a piece of toast for herself. “They talk about you a lot, and
there’s that big guy who seems real mean but he’s actually nice. Big Tag is
what they call him. His kids are cool. I like the girls.”
She felt her jaw clench. “You hired McKay-Taggart to follow
me?”
“No,” Max said with the calm assurance of a man who knew how
to lie.
Rye stayed quiet because he wasn’t as good a liar as his
twin.
Now that she thought about it, there was only one person who
would tell her the truth. She could march right over to the big house and tell
her sister-in-law everything. Including how her husbands
ate her bacon.
Her pregnant sister-in-law. Who was under an enormous amount
of stress. Who didn’t need more.
She wasn’t about to cry in front of them. It was obvious
they thought she was a pathetic girl they had to watch over because she
couldn’t take care of herself.
Rye’s jaw went tight, and she watched as he moved into
stern-dad mode. “Brooke, go get dressed. We’ll have this discussion at the big
house and we’ll talk about some of your more reckless choices.”
There it was.
What she’d always been afraid of.
“Bay, I think it’s time you got on with whatever it is you
need to do with your day,” Max said with a frown.
She felt like she was fifteen and caught doing something
terrible, and here she was alone in front of the two men she’d tried so hard to
make proud all of her life.
She’d screwed it all up, and now they would find out she’d
possibly screwed them over in the process.
Except she wouldn’t. She would let it all go if it meant
protecting them, and they never had to know.
She was alone, and if she pissed her brothers off enough,
they might decide they didn’t need her drama.