Chapter 4
CHAPTER
FOUR
I have to drive the airport loop three times before I find the exit for the American Airlines cargo terminal.
Which means by the time I get there and find it’s basically an industrial loading dock, I’m fifteen minutes late with a headache coming on.
The sun has already set, and the building looks mostly deserted, so when Scooby Doo starts playing in my pocket, it just adds to the overall aesthetic.
“I hope you didn’t really expect me to take an Uber,” Theo says.
“Bro, relax. I’m here in the parking lot. Can you find me, or do you need me to come in there and retrieve you?”
He pauses. “Can you come in, actually?”
That weird tone is back in his voice. The uncertain one that has no business coming out of my military-trained twin brother. I want to question him on it but decide it’ll be easier face-to-face. “You’re so buying me dinner.”
A jet roars overhead, vibrating down my spine as I exit Lydia’s SUV.
I check over my shoulders, waiting for normal sound to return.
A few other people are going to and from cars, but I don’t know how busy this place gets.
Once I climb the steps and open the door of the cargo pickup, however, everything is chaos.
Vaguely, I register a few people in line and a person behind a counter with a great pile of cardboard packages.
Beyond that, toward the back, I spot the familiar, muscular shape of my brother.
He’s arguing with an employee in front of two large dog crates, and the animals inside sound like they’re losing their minds, barking, whining, and scratching to get out.
The noise intensifies as I draw closer, and now I wish I had something to take for my headache.
“Look, my supervisor called asking me to hold this shipment. I’m just following orders.”
My brother looms large. “Sir, I know all about following orders. However, I am the guy who shipped it, so I’m not sure why you’re giving me trouble about this.”
“Well, for one, your name isn’t on the shipping order—I have the recipient down as a Caprice Phipps.”
“That’s me,” I yell over the fray, shooting my brother a withering glare. My head is fully pounding now, and with all the noise, I’m struggling to figure out what he’s trying to do.
“Okay, yes. That’s my sister—who is right there—but I am the guy who shipped him. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She’s here now. Can we please claim him?”
Wait. Claim him?
All at once, my senses sharpen. I watch my brother gesture at one of the two crates beside him.
The ones with the green LIVE ANIMALS stickers on the side, where all the whining, barking, and crying is coming from.
Suddenly, all the pieces of this scenario fuse in my stupid, lagging brain.
The last-minute trip. Theo’s caginess. His request that I borrow a car for the “important” item of Kyle's.
“Theo, what is this about?”
My brother’s deep brown eyes fix on mine. I watch his Adam’s apple bob, the way it does every time he explains that it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. But before he can speak, his gaze strays to a commotion behind me.
My ponytail rustles like someone’s come in the door on a breeze. But my head hurts and the barking hasn’t stopped, and I am so acutely tuned in to Theo’s face, I don’t turn right away. Not until a booming voice breaks through the cacophony.
“Excuse me, I am here to claim that dog.”
My heart skips at least a couple of beats. I know it couldn’t be who it sounds like at first. The person I’m always desperate for it to be.
But that voice.
I turn, and at once my brain struggles to sift through an onslaught of shock and disappointment.
At first, I’m sure the man standing there is a ghost. Tall and broad, with a face I’ve often longed to glimpse just one more time.
A long, straight nose. Tan, determined jaw.
And green eyes that used to look at me with such tender affection . . . except right now they’re glaring.
I blink.
Reality catches up to me. Because this is most definitely not the person I wish it was.
There’s something different about his posture.
His hair is darker, longer, with a little curl.
This man wears glasses. And while the eyes behind them still seem haunted, they aren’t troubled the same way Kyle's always were.
“Drew Forbes,” my brother says flatly. “Imagine meeting you here.”
The ghost walks toward us, and as he does, the last of the spell breaks. He doesn’t grace my brother with a reply. He doesn’t even look at me. Just approaches the man in the American Airlines shirt like they’re the only two people here.
“Are you the guy who called earlier?” the employee asks.
“Yes,” Drew says. “I got here as soon as I could. This dog belonged to my late brother.”
From inside the crate on the right, there’s a low whimper. But no more barking.
“Okay . . .” The airline guy looks at my brother and me. “Well, they say it’s theirs.”
“Uh, no—I don’t,” I say quickly, waving my hand. “I want nothing to do with this.”
“Caprice,” Theo hisses.
For the first time, Drew Forbes glances my way.
And in the instant our eyes meet, we both flinch as if it stings.
He stares at first like he has no idea who I am or why I’m even here.
Honestly, that makes two of us. But after a long pause, recognition settles on his features. His jaw tightens. Then his lip curls.
“As you heard,” he says, turning back to the airline employee. “They don’t want him.”
“That is not what she said,” my brother growls. He’d been hanging back, clearly taking stock of the situation before deciding how to act, but now he steps right up in Drew’s face.
I reach for him. “Theo—”
“I’ve been trying to track down this dog for a year.” Drew snarls. “Did you have something to do with that, Phipps?”
“Military red tape.” My brother shrugs. “You know how it goes—oh no, wait, you never bothered to care before.”
Something flickers across Drew’s face, but it quickly disappears.
He folds his arms, unflinching in front of Theo—which, I have to admit, takes nerve.
Drew is slightly taller and, from the look of it, comparably muscled.
But Theo has the intimidating don’t fuck with me vibe of the Navy SEALs.
I’m not sure if it’s trained in, or that’s just the kind of guys they recruit.
Airline dude wisely steps away to help other customers.
“Thanks for your trouble,” Drew says in a tone that does not suggest gratitude. “I’ll take Rufus from here.”
“No, you won’t. He belongs to Caprice.”
Drew doesn’t turn his head, but we both say, “What?”
Theo raises his chin and looks at me. “Kyle wrote a will before—” He swallows. “He explicitly stated he wanted you to have his dog.”
“He . . . why?” I ask. Kyle and I had only spoken once after our ill-fated wedding day, and it hadn’t gone well.
That was before his second injury—the one that forced him into medical retirement.
Before he even cut Theo out of his life.
But none of that matters—Kyle knew better than anyone how I feel about dogs.
“Sorry, it makes zero sense that he would bequeath me a pet.”
Behind me, Drew mutters, “That dog is not a pet.”
My brother glares at Drew, but when he turns back to me, his eyes are clouded.
I may have had a complex history with Kyle, but Theo’s is longer and possibly more complicated.
They’d been joined at the hip since they were five years old, played soccer, football, and eventually both enlisted—albeit into separate military branches.
Theo hadn’t been thrilled when Kyle and I started dating, but he couldn’t argue with it either. Kyle was a good guy.
Which is why we both tried so hard to rein in his darkness when he came back broken from one of his tours. My brother might be a member of one of the toughest military units in existence, but I know he feels like he failed on that mission. Right along with me.
I soften. “Theo, I just think—”
“I promised. He made me swear if anything happened to him—”
His voice breaks, and my throat tightens. Because something did happen.
“It’s what he wanted, Reece.”
“But why me?” The words waver coming out of my mouth. “I’ve never even owned a dog. That was always his thing.”
Theo shrugs. “Because Rufus meant more to him than anything.”
I flinch. It still hurts knowing he didn’t feel that way about me.
“Clearly he wasn’t in his right mind,” a sharp voice cuts in. We both turn to find Drew scowling at us. Does he have any other expressions? “She can’t have this dog. It isn’t some fluffy pet.”
I like this guy about as much as a yeast infection.
But when I glance into the kennel at the fur-covered face watching this exchange from inside, I’m inclined to agree with him.
I don’t have much experience with animals, but Kyle and I were together long enough that I don’t need to be told this one isn’t a normal house pet.
I lean closer to my brother. “Maybe he’s right? ”
Theo curls his hands into fists. “I promised Kyle. We have to respect his wishes.”
Drew pushes his glasses up his artful nose. “Can I see these ‘wishes’ in writing?”
I bite back an urge to say Should his own brother have to ask? But I’m Kyle's former fiancée, and I’m just as much in the dark.
“Yeah. It’s right here.” Theo sets down the bag slung over his shoulder and produces a plain-looking manila envelope. He hands it to me first, which earns us further dirty looks. But after I skim the document, I pass it to Drew with a heavy weight in my stomach.
He flips through the pages so roughly, I’m sure they’ll tear. But when he finishes, he raises his head and addresses me for the first time.
“You’re the last person who should have this dog.”
My lips part.
“Now let me take him, and let’s be done with this.” Drew moves toward the kennel, but I manage to find my voice before he gets there.
“Why?” The question comes out dry and cracked. I don’t even know why I’m asking. I don’t care what he thinks of me. I don’t actually want a dog. But maybe deep down I harbor some faded loyalty to a man I wasn’t enough for.
He gives me a sidelong look as he speaks, voice dripping with disdain. “You won’t know how to handle him. You said yourself you’ve never had a dog.”
I can’t argue with that. But I get the sense there’s more to it. And the condescension in his tone gets under my skin. So I push.
“I have a houseplant. How hard could it be?”
Drew snorts, eyeing me up and down. I can’t tell what judgment he’s making, but I have a feeling it has more to do with the past than anything happening right now. “I can give Rufus what he needs,” he says.
I take a step forward, invading his space. “If Kyle thought you could do that, then why did he give him to me?”
Theo steps between us. “You know, I’d like to keep this simple.” He turns to me, lowering his voice. “Are you gonna keep him?”
His deep tenor hits a less keyed-up, more rational part of my brain, bringing my kicking feet firmly back to the ground. I glance inside the kennel again, and a pair of golden-brown eyes stare back at me. The dog whines and paws at the door.
“Um . . .”
It’s difficult to imagine bringing an animal home to my apartment. Permanently. Will he make the place smell? Where will he sleep? How much does he eat? How often will I have to walk him? Suddenly, I’m not sure I can handle this. I was lying to Drew—I don’t actually have a plant.
“I bet Lydia would be a big help,” Theo says, reading my face. His voice drops further. “And Reece, this dog is a protector. If you take him, he’ll keep you safe.”
I soften, looking at my brother. At my transparent, loyal, badass sibling, who clearly jumped through at least a hundred hoops to deliver this “gift” from my ex in the name of loyalty. And because he knows what I’ve been through this year.
I could kill him.
“Yeah, okay. Lydia will help,” I say quietly, in part to convince myself. I glance at Drew, standing with his arms crossed and a haughty glare. I might have zero interest in the dog, but I really don’t want to give him what he wants. I raise my voice. “Come on. Let’s get him home, Theo.”
My brother goes to find the airline guy who’d made himself scarce during our exchange.
But as soon as he steps away, a firm hand wraps around my wrist. Suddenly, Kyle's older, sharper-edged, almost-clone is pulling me close to him.
Too close. Our eyes meet, mere inches from each other, and I swear my skin burns where we touch.
By the way his jaw drops and he abruptly lets go, I wonder if he felt it too.
“What is your problem?” I hiss, clutching my wrist to my chest.
He gestures to the dog watching with interest from the kennel. “That is a military dog. If you take him home and treat him like a pet, you’ll be in over your head in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Okay. That would be my problem, not yours.” I turn away.
He growls. “God, what did Kyle even . . .”
I stop in my tracks, close enough to guess the words that disappeared under his breath. I steel myself and face him again.
“You know what I always thought was odd? No one in your family ever had an issue with Kyle and Theo spending all their time together. They were thick as thieves, got into all kinds of trouble . . .” I swallow.
“Maybe Kyle should’ve fallen for Theo instead.
Because as soon as he started kissing me, you’d think I’d fed him a poisoned apple. ”
I don’t see so much as feel the ripple of agitation from the surviving Forbes brother. “I only care about the dog.”
I give him a smile that’s all teeth. “Well, I didn’t ask for him, and I wouldn’t have. But if Kyle wanted me to have him, I’m taking him home with me.”
Something cold flashes in Drew’s eyes. “You don’t deserve him.”
I look at him dead-eyed, ready to walk away and never breathe the same air as him again. But morbid curiosity makes me ask, “And why is that?”
A shadow falls over his face, his words hitting like shrapnel. “Because you’re the reason my brother killed himself.”