TREY WAS SITTING AT THE BREAKFAST BARin his mother’s kitchen when he heard Brantley’s voice, followed by shouts from their nieces, Meghan and Ashley. He glanced at his mother, who gave him that look that said she had no idea another one of her sons was stopping by for a visit.
Considering Brantley hadn’t ventured much farther than his own house for the past six months, Trey had to wonder whether something was wrong. Two outings in just a few hours? Had Reese’s reappearance triggered that?
Brantley stepped into the kitchen, and Trey did a double-take similar to the one last night when he’d spotted Reese crammed in the corner of the bar.
Gone was Brantley’s shaggy mop of hair, the hard line of his jaw now visible without the scraggly shit growing on his chin.
“You look…” Trey tried to come up with a way to describe it and blurted out, “Less like a caveman.”
“You’re one to talk,” Brantley retorted. “Your hair’s longer than Mom’s.”
Trey chuckled. “It’s a fashion statement.”
Brantley waited until their mother turned away and flipped Trey the bird.
“Mama, did you see that?” Trey said, adding a petulant whine for good measure. “Brantley’s bein’ mean to me.”
“Probably serves you right,” their father’s voice boomed as he joined them in the kitchen. “Just payin’ you back for all the times you roughed him up when you were boys.”
Brantley smirked, clearly pleased that their father was on his side.
“You boys want somethin’ to drink?” Iris offered.
“Nah. Too early for beer,” Trey grumbled good-naturedly.
“But it’s never too early for coffee,” Brantley noted. “You have any made, Ma?”
“I’ll make some fresh,” she said sweetly, turning toward the coffeepot.
“So, what’s got you all showered and cleaned up this mornin’?” Frank asked Brantley.
Brantley’s eyes narrowed even as he said, “It was time.”
“Any chance it has somethin’ to do with—”
“Shut the hell up, Trey,” Brantley bit out, cutting him off.
He would’ve found significant pleasure in giving Brantley shit about Reese, but he noticed the gleam in his eyes and decided to back off. He’d seen how hard it’d been on Brantley after their split. The least he could do was hold off until he figured out whether or not the two of them were going to patch things up.
It was then Trey realized Brantley had come solo. He looked down to confirm, then back up to his brother. “Where’s Tesha?”
There was a rough exhale, and then Brantley looked away. “Reese took her for her session with Magnus.”
Did that mean Reese had spent the night? Were they back together?
He kept those questions to himself, let out a short whistle instead. “Well, I’ll be damned. I shoulda known there was only one reason you’d get all prettied up.”
“Shut it,” Brantley snapped.
“Boys, behave,” Iris chastised.
Brantley’s phone rang, and Trey took a reprieve from harassing him, turning back to his mother and father. He was about to strike up a conversation when Brantley’s curt tone had him pausing.
“You get lost or what? I thought you—”
When Brantley’s words abruptly cut off, Trey looked up. Brantley’s body language did not inspire confidence. His eyes were squinted like he was concentrating, his hand was inadvertently rubbing the back of his neck, and he’d already started to pace. Something was definitely wrong.
“All right. Yeah. Lemme see what I can find out. You stay there, see what information you can get from the officers on scene.”
