Chapter Twelve

Jewell somehow made it back to her apartment building. After stumbling inside and finally getting into her own front hall, she took extra time to fasten all the locks on the door.

Not that the strongest of locks would keep Blake out, especially since the man had the keys to the apartment, but the symbolism of doing it made her feel immeasurably better. She headed to her bedroom and fell onto the bed, where she knew she’d lie for hours without the possibility of sleep claiming her.

Hadn’t she promised Justin that she’d get him back any way she could? Yes. So why in the world was she balking at marriage? It was selfish of her, and she knew it. Her brother was the only one who mattered. He was the reason she had gone to Relinquish Control in the first place. He was the reason she had met Blake.

No, she wasn’t blaming her brother. Not at all. She was an adult and she’d made her choices. She’d had a great life while growing up. It was time for her brother to have that same privilege.

She tossed and turned the entire night, and when she did find a few minutes of peace in slumber, nightmares of her brother being dragged away from her woke her up. At the crack of dawn, when her chances of more sleep had hit nil, Jewell gave up on sleep.

She could continue to fight Blake, but he would always win. He had power, and she had absolutely none. It was why he hadn’t been worried about what her answer would be. That the man had told her he’d give her time to think was almost amusing. It was like giving starving animals a choice whether to eat or not. No matter how distrustful they were, they’d eventually take the food that was being handed to them.

Yes, she should call Blake and tell him he’d won. She should just get the damned thing over with. But she put it off. Maybe she was holding out hope that he’d change his mind, that he’d get tired of playing this game with her and he would free her from this hell.

But if that were to happen, where would she go? Sure, she had the money that Ms. Beaumont had given her already, but it wasn’t enough to save Justin and give them a new life. She had to face facts — she had nowhere, and no one but Blake was about to help her.

Jewell climbed out of bed, wandered off to her kitchen and watched the coffee drip into the pot. The morning ritual gave her a measure of comfort, and how pathetic was that?

When the coffee was ready and poured, she added a nice splash of flavored cream, then found herself sitting in the living room gazing at one of the soulless, impersonal art pieces hanging on the stark white walls. So expensive, and yet so utterly lacking in real value …

She was filled with something almost like relief when the doorbell rang. Then she remembered that the only person who knew she lived there — besides Ms. Beaumont, of course — was Blake, and she wasn’t ready to go another round with him. But why put off the inevitable? He was ringing the bell as a courtesy. He would get in whether she answered or not.

When she opened the door, the expression on her face flipped from defeated to surprised as she looked up to see Tyler Knight, Blake’s younger brother, standing there. Before she was able to say a word, he flashed her a big smile and pulled her into his arms.

“Hi. I’ve missed ya, Jewell.” His affection for her was obvious.

She hadn’t realized they were fast friends, and his enthusiasm at seeing her really threw her off balance. Tyler was certainly as good-looking as his brother, with wide shoulders, dark, slightly messy hair, and a dimple in his cheek that gave him a boyish charm that neither of his brothers could even try to possess. He was also the first to smile and show his emotions, whereas Blake and the other Knight brother, Byron, made a point of playing everything close to the vest.

All three brothers were far more handsome than was good for them or the poor females who happened to stumble into their path. And what made it even harder to resist them was the command, the raw strength that radiated from them in waves. There was something about a man who knew exactly who he was that made a woman want to give him anything and everything he could ever possibly desire. Sad, wasn’t it?

“What are you doing here?” she managed to ask when her stunned silence lasted a moment too long. Oh, no, she told herself and blushed. How rude can you get?

Tyler didn’t poke fun at her because of her awkwardness, though. “I found out you were here,” he said. “My brother slipped up. I think he was planning on keeping you all to himself, but I’ve always been pretty damn good at getting information that people have no intention of giving out. And since I haven’t seen you in months, I decided to pop in for a little unannounced visit. That way you couldn’t possibly turn me away. Hey! Is that fresh coffee I smell?” Without waiting for either an invitation or an answer, he walked inside and made his way to her kitchen.

Jewell followed and found him rummaging through her cupboards for a mug. Then he grabbed her empty mug from her and poured fresh coffee for her and for himself. Smiling, she added cream to hers and led Tyler over to the kitchen table.

“Don’t you have work or something much more important to do than sitting around and chatting with me, Tyler?”

“We can trade small talk all day long, Jewell, but why don’t you just cut to the chase and tell me why you were gone for three months, why my brother was a bear during those months, and why you now have crater-sized dark circles under your eyes?” He softened the interrogation with a wink and a grin. Somewhat.

Jewell’s own smile vanished while he spoke. She knew that this man had a way about him that would make the floodgates come flying open, and that scared the hell out of her. And because he was Blake’s brother, she’d be an idiot to think for a minute that she could rely on him, no matter how nice he was to her.

“I think your brother can answer all of those questions,” she told him with a brittle laugh.

Tyler reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m not asking Blake. I’m asking you.”

She was so close to tears that she had to turn her head away. If only she had a single friend she could talk to. She couldn’t even talk to McKenzie about this, because even though they had a strange friendship, she didn’t fully trust the woman. Jewell so wished that she had a friend somewhere in this world. Maybe she wouldn’t be feeling this insane urge to spill her guts to her tormentor’s brother. But it was so difficult to hold everything in when he was looking at her with those openly friendly eyes.

“It’s complicated,” she finally said, and he let out a sigh.

“I’m not going to pretend that I can possibly understand everything, Jewell, but I have been able to tell from the first moment I met you that you’re a good person. And though I love my brother very much, I know he can sometimes give people the wrong impression of who he is. There’s a long story here, but it isn’t my place to tell it.”

“If he’s so bitter, why aren’t you?” she asked, wondering how two brothers could be so very different.

“Some people — maybe most of us — have lousy childhoods, but let me tell you that ours was a doozy. But I was too young to be affected as badly as Blake and Byron were by the disasters of our past. And as I got older and saw the hell they were going through, I decided that I had a choice of being happy or angry. I much prefer happiness. Sometimes it really helps to get things off your chest, to talk to someone. The shrinks might call it cathartic.”

The man was practically begging her to open up to him, and she was tempted, so tempted, to do just that. But what if it backfired on her and made her situation worse? Oh, wait. How much worse could it get?

Before she was able to stop herself, Jewell found herself opening her mouth and letting the entire story spill from her lips. To his credit, Tyler didn’t interrupt, not even once. His eyes grew and he gripped his coffee cup tightly a few times, but he didn’t release her hand, and he didn’t ask any questions.

“… so last night, he demanded marriage, and I really don’t have any prospects of ever getting married to anyone else, so what difference should it make? But at the same time, I still believe in the institution, of two becoming one in the eyes of God and all that, and … I don’t know. I’m just confused right now.” Having finished her long, sad story, she was now trying desperately not to give in to tears. How she hated those tears.

Jewell had been around Tyler only a couple of times, but she couldn’t have imagined seeing such fury on his normally cheerful face. With his eyes now slits and his mouth pressed firmly into a frown, the man was just as frightening as his two brothers. She wondered whether he realized it.

A shudder passed through her. Maybe she should have just kept quiet. Heck, there was no maybe about it. She definitely shouldn’t have spilled her guts to Blake’s brother.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh, Jewell, I’m the one who’s sorry. You’ve been shouldering far too much for far too long. I know that Blake must have honorable intentions toward you now, but he is certainly not going about it in the right way. You have done nothing wrong by talking to me. Let me handle my brother.”

The way he said the last sentence sent a serious chill down her spine. “I don’t want to come between your brother and you,” she gasped, gripping his hand tightly, panic in her eyes.

“My brothers and I may not always see eye to eye on things, but nothing will rip us apart, I assure you.” His lips finally showed a hint of a smile, but his eyes remained steely.

“Tyler, I’m so sorry. Really I am. Can’t you just forget that I told you any of this?”

“It can’t be undone, Jewell, and it shouldn’t be. You need someone in your corner. I will speak with my brother — I guarantee you that.” He stood up purposefully.

“Right now?” she squealed. She’d screwed up terribly, and she had to stop him before things got worse.

“The sooner, the better,” he told her, and he started off toward her front door.

“Tyler, I really don’t think this is a good idea.” This would only infuriate Blake, make him even more exasperated with her than he already was.

“I guarantee there won’t be any backlash, Jewell,” Tyler said, and then he was gone, her front door closing behind him with an expressive click.

Jewell walked into her sitting room and slumped down on the sofa, praying she hadn’t just screwed up her only way to get Justin back. She had no idea what was going to happen next. What if Blake just gave up completely on her and she lost Justin forever?

She’d have only herself to blame.

But there was nothing she could do now. Once one of the Knight men had his mind set on something, there was no turning back the clock. All she could do was wait and see what Blake’s next move would be. The waiting might well kill her …