Chapter Eight
Waiting for Bryar to come back from the kitchen, Puma grew restless.
He decided to head to the kitchen just to make sure she wasn’t adding Ex-Lax to his burger.
He stepped through the swinging doors and spotted her. “You can’t keep running from the conversation, Bry,” he said.
She tilted her chin to look at him, and what he saw in her expression turned his stomach. He walked around the stainless-steel island and stopped. She wasn’t alone. Although it had been years since he’d seen Reno, and the man had physically changed, there was no doubt who he was. He had the same snakehead cane.
The tension in the room made the hairs on Puma’s neck rise.
“Well, well…you must be Storm Steel’s son. The resemblance is uncanny,” Reno said with a devious smile. “Perry, is it?”
Puma ignored Reno and swiped his attention to Bryar. “You okay?”
“She’s fine. Aren’t you, dear?” Reno said.
“Peachy,” she said sarcastically.
“The town hero has returned. I hear you’re quite the tough military guy,” Reno remarked. “Ten years in special ops. One must wonder why a man of your caliber would return to a small town. Oh, right, your father left you his ranch.”
Puma detected the sarcasm lacing Reno’s words. “One wouldn’t need to wonder, they’d just have to ask.”
“An open book, I like that. You know, I could really use someone like you on my team.” Reno pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Puma, who didn’t bother to look at it.
“Not interested,” Puma replied flatly.
“Before hearing the details? Ranching must be profitable, but it seems not for everyone.” Reno shrugged. “The offer still stands. And you, sweetheart, I look forward to hearing from you sooner rather than later.”
“What the hell was that about?” Puma asked the moment the door closed behind Reno.
Before she could respond, a frantic-looking woman rushed inside. “What was he doing here?”
“Puma meet Marcy, the cook. Marcy, Puma,” Bryar did the introductions and quickly asked, “Where were you?”
“My kid called. I needed to speak to him.”
Puma thought the woman seemed nervous, but maybe because she left her station when she shouldn’t have.
“Grill up another burger,” Bryar said to Marcy and turned toward the back hall. “Shut the door,” Bryar told Puma as she dropped into the chair behind the cluttered desk.
He noticed an invoice that had late stamped on it.
“It’s one thing after another,” she muttered.
“You still got this?”
She smirked. “Don't be a smartass if you don’t know the story.”
“Then share the story with me.”
“Can you make things any more awkward?” She sighed as she rolled her eyes.
“Lane was right to worry about you.”
“If my brother was so concerned, he should have never gotten himself involved with Reno.”
“It’s okay to feel that way, Bry. He fucked up. He knows he fucked up. But my concern is your safety.”
She rubbed her temples. “Please stop,” she said lightly.
“Stop caring?” He exhaled deeply. “Wouldn’t that make everything so easy if I didn’t care?”
*****
His words were strong enough to jolt her back. “Don’t do this.”
“You’re in trouble. I can feel it. I know men like Reno.”
Bryar stood up from the chair, quickly rounding the desk and reaching the door. He grasped her wrist firmly, sending warmth spiraling up her arm.
“Not this time, sweetheart. You’re not getting away.”
She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Why do you still care?”
“Do you genuinely want me to answer that?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” She felt the walls closing in.
“Why didn’t you choose us? Why didn’t you choose me?” His words held such gravity.
“Because…” She swallowed and cleared her throat. “Because I was afraid,” she said softly.
Creases appeared at the corners of his eyes. “Afraid? Why?”
“After losing Blake, I felt nothing, and yet felt everything. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know how else to explain my emotions at that time.” She could’ve been knocked over with a slight push “You and I…we married because I was pregnant. We both know that’s the truth. And when…well, we no longer had that between us, I saw things much differently.
“Explain,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Let’s face it, our families would never have gotten along.”
“That’s why we decided to leave Colorado.”
“The feud would have followed us. We both loved our families tremendously. How would that have worked in the long term? We were young kids thinking that getting married and having a child together would bridge the gap, but what it did was cause the friction to triple. That would have weighed too heavily on our shoulders.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
“That right there,” she whispered. “There’s that man I would have loved to have seen when I was his wife. The man who was willing to fight for me, to lay his feelings out for me to see. Instead, I got the cold Puma. The man with layers of pride that he couldn’t lower.”
“But the letter…”
“That I never received,” she reminded him.
“Is that what you thought? That I couldn’t lower my pride?”
She saw the flash of pain in his eyes. “Yes. You hated my father and allowed that to get in the way.”
“You’re wrong. You don’t understand how it killed me to see you hurting. I had no control, and nothing I could do would ease your sadness. I wanted to be strong for you, but inside I could barely breathe. Then when I thought…”
“What?” she urged. They needed to clear the air.
“When you told me to give you some space, I thought maybe it was best. Maybe you blamed me for Blake’s death.”
Without thinking, she laid her palm against his cheek, offering comfort. “Why would you think I blamed you? Neither of us were at fault. There was no reasoning except that his body couldn’t go on. I never blamed you.”
“Bryar—”
“I wish I could say that we were meant to be together but I’ve doubted it for so long. No matter how much you want some things they just aren’t meant to be.” Tears filled her eyes. As she dropped her hand.
“Then it’s time we file for divorce. Time we moved on from each other,” he said darkly. “I don’t think it’s healthy for either of us to live like this.”
She didn’t even flinch when she said, “That can be arranged.”
He nodded. “I’ll speak to an attorney.” He swiveled and started for the closed door, but then looked back at her. “Reno is dangerous. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants. You’re a brave, strong woman, Bry, but he’ll pull out all the stops until he sees Lane pay, even if that means destroying you. You can let me help, or I’ll help behind your back.”
Then he left, closing the door with a soft click. She broke down then. Tears started pouring down her face, and she couldn’t stop them. Years of holding things together suddenly burst through the dam. The loss of her son and her marriage. The deep love she and Puma had shared. Everything had been destroyed.