It took every ounce of willpower he possessed, but Reese stepped forward, held Brantley’s gaze, and said, “It starts with me apologizing and ends with you”—he inhaled deeply—“marrying me.”
Brantley’s lack of response was priceless.
Not to mention unsettling.
*
BRANTLEY HOPED THE SCREECHING SOUND OF EVERYTHINGcoming to a dramatic halt was only in his head. Surely he hadn’t heard Reese correctly.
He frowned, processed the words again, but they tracked through his gray matter the same way:It starts with me apologizing and ends with you marrying me.Had the bullet to his chest caused memory loss?
Brantley choked on a mirthless laugh. “Marry you?”
Reese’s expression didn’t change. “Yes. But that’s not me askin’. Not yet.”
Brantley shoved his hand through his hair, desperate to find a way out of this conversation before he did something stupid like blurt out that he still loved this man, although he damn sure didn’t deserve it. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about, Reese?”
“I can’t walk away,” he said, his voice soft. “Only if you make me. I don’t want to go.”
“Too late for that. You walked away six fucking months ago,” Brantley blasted, fury raging in his chest like a caged animal hell-bent on breaking free.
He saw Reese’s jaw harden, the muscle bunching.
Brantley took a deep breath, exhaled. In, out, he willed his blood pressure to lower. He damn sure wasn’t looking to incite another migraine.
“Am I wrong?” Brantley bit out, taking a bold step closer, because damn it all to hell, his fucking resistance to this man was wearing awfully thin.
“No.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, that was a hell of a lot of remorse in Reese’s brown eyes.
“And what’s your plan for convincing me?” Brantley taunted. “Because as it stands, you’re the last man on earth I’d want to marry.”
Of course, that was a lie. Reese was theonlyman in the world Brantley had everconsideredmarrying. And despite the months of endless heartache, the hatred that had brewed in his gut whenever he thought about what Reese had done, Brantley couldn’t confidently say he wasn’t willing to give this one more chance.
He was a fucking idiot; that was all there was to it. However, he wasn’t an idiot who jumped at the first chance presented to him. He did have his fucking pride, thank you very much.
“Fuck this,” he snapped. “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Tavoularis. I’m not doin’ this with you. I’ve got shit to do.”
With that, he grabbed his truck keys and walked right out the front door.
Not until he was fishtailing out of the driveway did it dawn on him that he should’ve kicked Reese out because it was his fucking house, damn it.
He spent the majority of the day next door at Kaden and Keegan’s, helping his cousins build a tool shed. What had started as a standard ten-by-ten building had nearly doubled in size before they’d hammered in the first nail. After months of work, they’d gotten the floor built, the frame erected, and were now moving on to the roof. Brantley hadn’t minded helping out because the manual labor kept his thoughts at bay, and working with his cousins always proved to be enjoyable. They were a lively bunch, despite the fact they were sleep-deprived thanks to their nine-month-old twin daughters, Payton and Paisley.
“Hey, man,” Kaden called up to him. “We’re gonna knock off early. We’re takin’ Bristol to dinner since the folks are offerin’ to babysit.”
Brantley swiped the back of his hand over his forehead, peered down at Kaden, and nodded. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”
Kaden chuckled, waited for Brantley to come down the ladder.
“We’re gonna head over to Moonshiners after we grab a bite,” Kaden informed him. “Ethan and Beau are gettin’ a break from the kiddos, too. Thought we’d hang out for a while. Bristol said JJ and Baz are gonna meet ’em up there, too. Why don’t you join us?”
“They’re not plottin’ anything, are they?” Brantley kept his tone teasing, though he knew it rang with skepticism.
JJ and Bristol had formed a fast friendship in recent months, ever since Bristol had dropped by to deliver cookies. Evidently, Bristol was learning her way around the kitchen, pursuing her new love, which appeared to be baking. Her efforts had resulted in an overabundance of chocolate chip cookies, so she’d swung by to pass some off, not wanting them to go to waste. They hadn’t. The team had snatched those things up like they’d been starved for months.
Kaden chuckled. “Oh, I’m pretty sure somethin’s brewin’ between ’em, but Bristol ain’t sharin’. Meet us up there. You can interrogate ’em, and then we’ll both know what they’re up to.”
