Snap Decision (The Bradley Legacy #4)

CHAPTER 1 Ford Bradley

Pick Up a Regret

I stare at the text message that just came through as my chest tightens.

Tatum: Archer and I are over. For good this time.

I feel like I’ve heard that one before—we’re over. But it never had the finality of the for good.

It started out innocently enough. She and my brother were in the same class in high school. She was over all the time, so we became friends, too. We’d have video game tournaments. She’d stay for dinner. We kissed once…long story.

It almost felt like she was the glue that bonded me to my brother.

He played baseball. I played football. We were both very focused on our own sport, and that left little time for brotherly bonding beyond those video game tournaments on the rare nights we were both home.

They got together in college. He drifted further from the family. She forgot about that kiss, I guess. I didn’t.

She called me the first time they broke up—a few months after they started dating. I was there for her. I was there the next time, too, and the next. She always called when they were fighting.

And then it shifted from her telling me about my brother to her telling me about her own life. She’d tell me of her dreams of creating a destination wedding brand. I’d tell her about practice. At first, it was once every couple of weeks. Then it was once a week.

Then it became daily check-ins with longer chats when we had the chance.

I was a good friend to her.

She was starting to become everything to me.

She belongs to my brother. They’ve been together for a decade—give or take, on and off—despite that one kiss that probably was never meant to happen.

She can never be mine now, even if it felt like we had a chance for her to be mine first.

I’m not sure how to reply to her text. My first instinct is to call, but logic seems to force its way through. What would I say?

I continue staring at the words as I wait for the answer to come to me, and then my phone starts to ring, the shrill tone cutting into the quiet of the locker room after practice.

It’s her.

She’s my opposite in so many ways. Where I’m strategic and pragmatic, she’s impulsive and whimsical, bordering on chaotic. And yet I find such beauty in the chaos that my chest physically aches when I see her name appear on my screen.

I drop my phone onto the bench in my locker where I’m sitting. It lands with a clatter, and Cole Andrews in the locker next to mine whips his head over to me.

“You okay, man?” he asks.

I shake my head as I lean forward, my elbows on my knees.

He glances around the wall dividing our lockers, and he peeks at my phone. “Who’s Tatum Barker?”

“My brother’s girlfriend,” I answer automatically.

The question leaves an echo in my head, though, and the answer is quite a bit more complicated.

She’s someone I’ve known since I was in high school. She and I have gotten closer in the last few years. She’s a friend.

I’m hopelessly in love with her.

And I’m forever fucked because of it.

“Why’s she calling you?” he asks.

“We’re close.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “How close?”

“Not that close.”

He chuckles. “Well, either pick up your phone or come out with us and pick up a regret. You know what I’m saying?” He wiggles his eyebrows, and in truth, picking up a regret doesn’t sound so bad right now.

In the end, I choose both.

I pick up my phone from the bench and glance at Cole. “I’ll go out with you. After I take this call.” I slide the button to answer, calling her by her last name in my greeting. “Hey, Barker.”

“Can I come stay with you for a little while?” she says with no greeting in return.

I groan. I already know how messy this could get as I fight my feelings for her, just like it has every time I’ve gotten this same call from her. But none of that is reflected in the words that fall from my mouth. “Yes, of course.”

“I have a few things to tie up here, but I’ll text you my info once I have it,” she says.

“Are you doing okay?” I ask gently.

“Yes and no. You know?”

“Yeah,” I mutter.

“Like…I knew it was coming. There were signs.”

“So, what makes this time different?” I ask, referring to the for good part of her text message.

“He did it this time.” She says it simply. “Before it was always me.”

“What do you think happened?” I ask.

“We’ve been stuck in the same place for a long time. I love him, and he loves me, but we’ve been floating in the friend zone, the roommate region, for quite some time.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I don’t know.” I can picture her shrug as she says it, her delicate shoulder raising up a bit as she tries fruitlessly to put into words why she kept something from me when we talk about most everything else.

Relationships, though, I suppose that’s the one field we kept at bay. I don’t tell her about mine, and I don’t want to hear about hers.

I don’t have any to talk about.

The one she had…now it’s over.

That doesn’t mean this is my chance.

Frankly, I’m not quite sure what it does mean other than the fact that it’s ripping me up inside, and I think I need to follow Cole’s advice to pick up a regret tonight.

My phone beeps with another incoming call, and I see it’s my brother Liam calling. With my father being chased by the FBI and my mother knocking on death’s door, it feels like I should answer it.

“Liam’s calling,” I say softly, and she knows me well enough to understand why I’m telling her.

“I’ll let you go. But you should know that Archer signed something that could incriminate him in your dad’s stuff in Vegas.”

My chest tightens. “Shit. Is he okay? Are you?”

“Will be, I guess. I’ll let you go. Love ya. Can’t wait to do breakfast with you in Tampa.” She hangs up before I can tell her that Liam can wait. She hangs up before I can even reply, but I say it in my head.

Only it sounds a lot different when I say I love you, too in my head than her friendly love ya between two old pals.

“Fuck,” I mutter, and I flip over to Liam’s call. “Hey.”

“Hey. I’m not calling with good news.”

I grip my phone a little more tightly. “Is Mom okay?”

“She took a turn. Her vertebrae were too weak and collapsed.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“She broke her back, and they have this cement to try to keep her comfortable, but they can’t do much to fix it.

She’s wearing a back brace but hates the fuck out of it and knows she’s going to have to be honest with everyone pretty soon since she can barely breathe without pain.

” His voice breaks a little at the end, and I know this is hard for him.

He’s the only one still in Chicago aside from Ivy, who’s finishing her senior year in college, so a lot of the care falls on him even though he’s in season.

“And that’s not all. Dad’s assets were frozen after the raid, and what he has access to is running short. I don’t think it’ll last long with Mom’s care.”

“Okay, so we’ll all pitch in,” I say. It’s the logical answer.

“There’s more.”

Fuck. “What?”

“Dad got word there’s a grand jury convening to bring charges against him. He could be arrested at any time, and there won’t be any money left for his bail.”

I blow out a breath. “Then he sits in jail. You saw what he’s done to this family.”

“With Mom in the hospital? You really think that’s the best course of action?”

“Fuck,” I mutter, knowing he’s right. “We could sell the house.”

“Sell the house?” he repeats.

“Dad asked me if he could put it in my name about a year ago. He must’ve seen this coming. Madden said he had everyone sign different shit, and somehow he picked me for the house. Probably because he knew I wouldn’t be tied emotionally to it like the rest of you simps.”

I throw in the jab because it feels like I need to lighten the mood on this call. This is some heavy shit we’re dealing with, and I’m used to just playing football, pretending like I’m not in love with my brother’s girlfriend, and finding a regret to pick up at a bar when I go out with my buddies.

I’m the only one in Tampa, so I’m pretty far removed from the rest of the Bradley clan. I can’t honestly say I don’t like it that way. The occasional group text is enough to keep me in touch while I can live my own life away from this drama.

“You can’t sell the house, dude.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“You always do this. You’re focused on the money.

The rest of us have a connection to that place.

Despite everything Dad has done, it’s where the seven of us grew up.

It’s part of our legacy. Don’t you want to take your kids there someday and show them the spot on the wall where we learned how to spackle because Dex plowed right through the wall when he was twelve?

Or have a drink in the backyard while we watch our kids run around together? ”

“I didn’t know you wanted kids so badly,” I mutter.

“In the extremely distant future, dickwad. Listen, I’m just saying that it’s our history. It’s not just Mom and Dad’s place. It belongs to all of us.”

“Look, Liam,” I say, doing my best to be gentle when I’m used to just giving straight facts. “There’s a shitload of money tied up in that mansion. If he’s not denied bail, it would be plenty to pay that, Mom’s bills, and still have some left over to divvy up between the rest of us.”

“Where will they go?” Liam asks, and it feels nearly rhetorical.

I’m back to fighting with myself for how gentle to be with my younger brother here. Mom took a turn for the worse. We don’t know how much more time she has. She’s in the hospital for now. Dad’s possibly about to be arrested, and he won’t need the mansion if he’s in prison.

I blow out a breath, and I take the route of joking because it feels easier than spelling out the truth. He’ll get there eventually anyway. “They can stay with you.”

He barks out a laugh. “Fuck that, man.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I say. “But this might just be our best option.”

“Yeah,” he echoes.

Cole peeks his head around the wall. “Ready?” he mouths to me.

I nod at him. To my brother, I say, “I gotta go. We’ll talk soon.” It’s better not to tell too many people what Tatum just told me. She and Archer are notoriously off and on, and I feel like I should talk to my sister Everleigh before starting the rumor mill with my entire family.

I cut the call, and then I head to the bar with my teammates where I plan to get all the way fucked up tonight to try to dull the ache of this total mess I suddenly find myself in.