“Don’t do this.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face and dragged it through my beard, suppressing the sigh that so desperately wanted to break free, then let my stare drag to the woman sitting in the passenger seat beside me.
Despite every instinct telling me not to, I found myself taking her in, the way I had since we were teenagers. Her midnight hair that she’d always kept at wildly different lengths and was currently barely touching the tops of her shoulders in her signature straight-yet-messy look. Her dark, murderous eyes that had always softened for me and were hidden behind sunglasses. Her pouty mouth that she’d been worrying for over a week now, when it wasn’t set in a scowl that rivaled her brother’s. And—my heart wrenched painfully as I forced my stare back onto the county road we were idling on—her extremely swollen stomach that she was lovingly cradling.Protecting.
Swallowing around the knot of devastation and rage that had permanently lodged itself into my throat when I’d first realized Peyton—my Peyton—was pregnant, I forced out, “It’ll be okay.”
A very Briggs-like scoff burst from her as she twisted in her seat to look at me. “Please, Cameron, enlighten me. How have you deluded yourself into believing anything about this willbe okay?”
“Because he’s your brother,” I reminded her. “He’ll understand.”
“In what world will Ash ever understand?” she argued. “I’m the first to admit I don’t know him half as well as you do, but even I know you’re about to walk me into my execution.”
My head snapped to the side again, my eyes narrowing on her in offense that felt dangerously close to barely-leashed fury. “You’d say that after everything?” I challenged in a voice that betrayed every one of my feelings. “I’ve protected you since we were kids, Peyton. I would lay down my life for you. The last thing I’d do iswalk you into your execution.”
Just as she drew in a breath to snap back at me with, I was sure, one of the many arguments she’d repeatedly given over the past week, I added, “And don’t forget, Briggs did everything to keep you alive when y’all were kids. He raised you. In what world—as you say—would someone like that then turn around and kill you?”
Peyton’s full lips had pressed firmly together as I’d spoken, but after seconds passed with us staring each other down, she straightened in her seat with a defeated breath and whispered, “In a world where he finds out what I’ve done.”
My hand twitched with the urge to reach for her, to comfort her, but she’d always made it clear she hadn’t wanted my comfort, so I forced it to remain in place.
Before I could reassure her that it was going to be okay, she muttered, “And stop calling my brother by our last name. It’s weird.”
“Right,” I breathed, then reached for the handle of the door. “I’m gonna call him.”
Ignoring the sound of protest that rose in her throat, or the way the worry fueling it begged me to stay right there beside her, as I had for the past thirty minutes, I stepped out of the U-Haul truck and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
My own worry slowed my movements as I tapped on the screen and pulled up Briggs’ number, because I knew he was already going to be angry...just with me. Because I’d been ignoring his calls and texts for more than a week now, all while praying he’d be somewhat pacified and stay put with my daily texts of“I have Peyton. She’s safe at the moment. Trust me.”
But I’d known if I’d let myself say anything else, I would’ve shared everything. I’d known if I would’ve answered any of his calls, I would’ve done the same. Because, even before Briggs had been my boss at Shadow Industries and the leader of our SEAL team, he’d been my best friend.
Since middle school, we’d been inseparable. He’d confessed things to me about their home life that I still wasn’t sure even his wife knew—knowing he’d needed help in protecting his younger siblings, and probably in part because it’d been too much for any kid to keep bottled in. In return, I’d never held anything back from him.
Well, except for the fact that, somewhere in that time, I’d fallen in love with his sister.
But that had never been something I’d felt the need to reveal because, again, she’d made it clear that love was one-sided.
However,this?
This wasn’t something I could keep from him...not any longer than I already had. And as worried as I was for how he was going to react, I knew it needed to be done. I knew, eventually, everything would be okay.
She was his sister.
She’s his sister, I mentally chanted as I finally tapped on his name and lifted the phone to my ear.
My eyelids slowly shut when the first ring cut off to an enraged, “Where are you?”
Clearing my throat, I answered, “Huntley.”
The responding silence spoke volumes.
When Briggs finally spoke, his tone was low and edged with a warning. “How long have you been in Huntley?”
“Long enough to get about a minute away from your house.” And for Peyton to use the bathroom...again. But Briggs didn’t need to know that.
“And why aren’t you here?” Without letting me respond, he furiously demanded, “Where have you been? It’s been a week and a half, Rush. You’ve ignored every call and text. Where’s Peyton? Was there a Davis there?”
I waited until I was sure he was done, then spoke calm and sure, already having rehearsed these exact words the entire long drive from New York back to Texas. “I’ll explain everything when I see you. Peyton’s with me, but I need your word before we see you that you’ll listen to everything, then give yourself whatever time you need before you react.”
