CHAPTER 31 Ford Bradley
This Means War
I need to talk to Archer. I know I do.
I’m dreading it.
So when he walks out of the room, I walk out behind him a moment later, my heart thundering as I face the guy who’s not just my brother but who was once one of my best friends.
It’s been a long time since those days.
I find him in the kitchen, his palms flat on the counter and his elbows straight as he leans forward, staring down at the countertop.
“Hey,” I say quietly, breaking into whatever thoughts he’s having.
He glances up at me. “What the fuck, man?” he asks. “Ten days?”
“I’m sorry. It’s…complicated.”
“She’s marrying you in ten days,” he says flatly. “Doesn’t sound very complicated to me.”
“We invested in a property in Tampa,” I blurt. “The woman who sold it to us wanted our wedding to be the first to take place when the estate changed ownership. If it is, the money we invested in the property comes back to us.”
His brows knit together. “You can’t stand there and tell me it isn’t real for you.”
“I’m not pretending it isn’t. But she wants the money, man. She wants to invest in more properties. Build her brand. And from what she’s told me, I’m the first member of this family who’s actively working to help her make that happen.”
He presses his lips together. “All I ever wanted was to try to protect her.” His voice is strangled as he straightens and backs up, so he’s leaning on the counter behind him.
He folds his arms over his chest. “I wanted to keep her away from the toxic mess this family is. I thought that precluded you. I suppose not.”
I place my hands on the counter standing between us and lean forward a little. “I’m not going to fuck her over, Archer.”
“Neither was I.” He sounds defensive.
“Yeah, but you two broke up enough times that she didn’t see that. She was hurt that you weren’t supporting her.”
“So she ran to you to get what she wanted? You don’t see that?” He’s playing on my biggest insecurities when it comes to her.
“That’s not what this is,” I say quietly. Carefully. Evenly.
“Then what is it? Because you came in here to tell me it was all a ruse to get your money back, but it feels like there’s a big but in there somewhere.” He sighs. “And yes, I realize I just said big but, but I didn’t mean butt.”
“You know as well as anyone that I’ve always had feelings for her.
That hasn’t changed unless you count the fact that they’ve gotten stronger and more intense over the last few weeks.
I want this, and I think she does, too. She’s a fucking wedding planner.
Of course she wants her own happy ending.
And you had her for seven years and couldn’t give it to her.
Don’t you think there was a reason why?”
“Yeah, there was,” he says bluntly. “This family. I tried my best to get away, and I still get dragged back in. Dad’s bullshit.
Mom’s funeral. Everleigh’s wedding. The expectation to be present even though nobody really wants me there.
I’m on the outside looking in, and Tate was my one lifeline to feel some sort of connection.
I let her go to help keep her away from this mess, thinking it was only temporary, and she ended up even deeper in it. ”
“Everybody wants you here, Archer,” I argue. “Every single one of us. And what Tatum and I have…it’s not a mess. I love her.”
“Enough to marry her for money,” he spits back. He shakes his head. “It’s fucked up, and it shows me exactly where I fit into your life.”
“You’re putting me in an impossible position. You want me to choose you, who pulled out of this family years ago, over the chance to give both her and me everything we’ve always wanted.”
He shakes his head. “You two don’t want the same things.”
“You don’t know that.”
He lifts a shoulder. “I guess that’s for you to discover on your own.” He leaves that as his parting shot as he walks out of the room, and now it’s me leaning forward on the counter with straight elbows when Tatum walks in.
“I was dying out there. Everything okay? Where’s Archer?” she asks.
I blow out a breath. “He stormed out. It didn’t go well.”
She reaches up to touch my arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect it to.”
“Yeah,” I mutter.
When we head back into the dining room, my father and his lawyer have disappeared. I pull a chair out as I remember something from long ago, and instead of sitting on the chair, I pull it back until I’m right in front of the large glass cabinet displaying family heirlooms here in the dining room.
I stand on top of the chair, and conversation ceases as everyone looks over to see what the hell I’m doing.
I reach on top of the cabinet and over the lip on the outside. It’s tall enough that I can’t see on top even standing on a chair, but I feel around, and sure enough, it’s still there.
I pull it down, and Madden, Dex, and Liam start to laugh. Archer would, too, if he were here—or in a laughing mood.
I turn the ancient Nerf gun over in my hands, and I see it’s still loaded. “I hid this up there when Archer and I were in a war back in seventh grade.” Jesus, that was…sixteen, maybe seventeen years ago.
I aim it at Madden.
“Don’t you dare,” he warns.
There aren’t enough of these to start a fight—at least not a fair one.
When it comes to Nerf wars with brothers, though, it’s never a fair fight. It’s an old instinct that calls to me when I pull the trigger just after I switch my aim to a completely and totally unsuspecting Liam.
I nail him right in the forehead.
“What the fuck, man?” he yells, jumping up out of his chair as he rubs his forehead. He lunges toward me, and I take off running.
I need more ammo. This gun holds five darts, but it only had three in the chamber.
I’m hiding behind the curtain in the formal living room that we weren’t even allowed to step foot into when I hear a whisper.
“Psst. Ford!”
I peek around the curtain, and I spot Ivy.
“There’s a trunk in the garage with some old stuff, and I know there are more blasters and darts in there,” she says.
I narrow my eyes at her. “Why are you helping me?”
She twists her lips. “Because I just want us all to have some fun. Make some new memories together.”
My chest tightens for my baby sister. She’s always worn her emotions on her sleeve, and I think this whole thing is hardest on her. And if this will make her smile, then that’s what she deserves.
I step out from behind the curtain and move toward her to hug her, only to get pinged in the arm with a dart.
My eyes widen and my mouth drops as I trace the path the dart had to have taken to get to me, only to find Madden holding a blaster and aiming it in my direction.
“He sent you as a decoy!” I accuse, and she giggles as she takes off running.
This means war.
I aim and fire my two measly darts at my oldest brother, and it’s moments before the others join in—including Tate, Kennedy, Maverick, Ainsley, and even Penny. We’re all darting around the house, hiding behind furniture, and firing when our target least suspects it.
Even if Ivy was sent as a decoy, she joins in on the fun as we actually do have fun and make new memories together. I feel like a kid again as I skid across the tile, run up the stairs, and peek around corners looking for anyone coming to attack.
I laugh. God, do I laugh. We all do, and we meet up in the dining room over an hour later with red cheeks, sweaty hair, and panting from exertion as Madden walks in with a stack of shot glasses and a bottle of McGillicuddy’s.
We don’t toast to anything specific, but I see the longing on everybody’s face. I’ve heard the quiet remarks when the others don’t think I’m listening.
Nobody wants me to sell this mansion. Nobody is ready to let go of these memories.
It’s my decision, though. We won’t lose the memories just because I sell it, and I think that’s something they’re all forgetting. It’s just because we’re here. It’s an emotional weekend.
It’s the last time we’ll have a Nerf gun fight under this roof, perhaps.
Consistent with history over the last ten or so years, the only one missing from all this family bonding is Archer.