Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tyler and Byron looked at Blake and Jewell with differing expressions on their faces. Jewell shifted nervously on her feet, glanced up at Byron’s black eyes, and then down at the floor. She had always thought Blake was intimidating. Well, Blake seemed to have nothing on this little brother. Byron was downright terrifying.

When she next managed to lift her gaze, she found Tyler beaming at her, and before she could even think of stopping him, he rushed over, took her from Blake’s arms, and wrapped her in his. “Congratulations, Jewell. I’m delighted to welcome you to our family,” he said. He bent down and gave her a loud, smacking kiss.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Blake grumbled as he pulled her away from his overly enthusiastic brother.

“Aw, come on, Blake. She isn’t married yet,” Tyler said with a laugh, and Jewell had to cover her own smile when she saw Blake’s eyelid twitch.

She rubbed his arm, and Blake turned his look from his brother to her, and then she watched a miracle happen — his shoulders relaxed and the sparkle returned to his eyes.

“Sorry, Jewell. I know Tyler is doing it to get a reaction from me, but when I even think of another man touching you …” With a rueful smile, he brushed his lips lightly against hers.

“I’m going to tell you one of my secrets,” she said quietly, and he leaned closer. “I love that you are possessive. Just don’t be ridiculously so,” she added, and gave him a kiss. There was protective and then there was psycho. She didn’t want Blake to cross over the line into boiling bunnies on her kitchen stove.

“I knew it was going to happen anyway. Blake has been a mess since meeting you,” Tyler said.

Blake stiffened. “I’m not a mess, Tyler,” he said indignantly. “You know that.”

“Sure, brother,” Tyler told him. “It’s okay; really it is. Even the biggest asses hit the ground eventually. The harder they come …”

“I don’t see that it’s funny to mock a man who’s under the thumb of a woman,” Byron said. Then he turned his eyes on Jewell and she felt singed.

“Back off, Byron,” Blake warned his brother. “This isn’t about you.”

“It sure as hell is about me. Anything to do with our family is about all of us,” Byron said.

Jewell watched as both brothers’ shoulders stiffened, and she grew scared as sin as they tried to stare each other down.

“Oh, come on, guys. This is a special occasion,” Tyler said, and Jewell noticed how he moved just slightly to put himself between his two brothers.

Was fighting a normal thing in this family? And did Tyler often break it up? She was too horrified to say a word as the tension continued to mount despite the youngest brother’s attempt at intervention.

“And when is the happy day?” Byron was practically sneering when he threw out that question.

Jewell wished she weren’t standing there now — it seemed that the fireworks were about to really start. But Blake’s arm was wrapped around her, and she had no choice but to witness the explosion when Blake answered Byron’s question.

“Tomorrow,” Blake said.

“Tomorrow?” Byron practically thundered.

“Do you have a problem with my wedding date?” Blake asked tautly.

“Why in the hell are you rushing this?”

“I don’t see why that’s any of your business.”

“It’s my business,” Byron told him, “because I don’t understand why you’re allowing yourself to be snatched up by some woman who is obviously out to get whatever she can from you.”

Jewell’s mouth dropped when Blake released her so fast she nearly tripped, and then she was watching his fist come up and knock Byron in the side of his jaw. She had no idea what to do. There was no doubt in her mind that Byron would retaliate. Men and their effed-up machismo …

Instead, after turning his head and spitting out a bit of blood, Byron looked straight at his brother, who was staring daggers at him. “I’ll let that one pass, Blake, since you’re obviously screwed up in the head right now.”

“Who in the hell do you think you are?” Blake shouted.

“I’m your freaking brother, and I’ve been with you through ‘thick and thin.’ I’m also the one you would normally listen to. Don’t you realize this woman has you so messed up that you’re choosing to please her even if it upsets the balance of your family?”

“Look, guys, emotions are running high right now,” Tyler interjected, “but we really don’t want to say something that can’t be taken back later.”

“I don’t regret anything I’m saying,” Byron said.

“No, because you’re a complete asshole, Byron,” Blake told him. “Jewell will become my wife tomorrow, and I’d like to have you there, but if you can’t be, I understand that.” And he took a step back.

Jewell was finally able to gulp in a breath of air. It looked as if the fight might be over.

“I’ll be there, Blake, not because I support this marriage, but because you’re going to need me when you realize what a monumental mistake you’ve made,” Byron said, and then he was looking back at Jewell and piercing her with his brutal gaze.

“I’m sorry you’re so bitter,” Jewell told him before he could speak to her. “But you’re wrong, Byron. I don’t want to take anything from your brother.”

“Ha. A woman always has a plan,” Byron replied, dismissing her words as easily as he was dismissing her.

“I won’t have you there if you can’t treat Jewell with respect,” Blake warned his brother.

“I won’t say another word to her,” Byron said. “No problem.”

He might not be saying another word to her, but she could feel his animosity; the very air around them all was thick with it. Jewell suspected that she and Byron would never be friends, not because she thought he was evil — though he showed signs of being pretty dang close — but because Byron didn’t seem to allow anyone to ever get close to him. It made her feel sad for him. What a lonely, thankless life the man must lead.

“Well, we got that all out of the way, so why don’t we go celebrate with a nice dinner?” Tyler said a little too eagerly.

“That sounds good, Tyler,” Blake told him.

Jewell was more than happy when they all left the park in front of the office building, which was where Blake had decided to inform his brothers about tomorrow’s wedding. It wasn’t going to be a fancy wedding. It wasn’t about love, after all. But still, he had managed to arrange a simple ceremony at their house. Well, at his house. Jewell didn’t know whether she’d ever be able to consider it fully hers.

Yes, for the past two weeks the two of them had been getting along great. Blake had gone from demanding and arrogant to more considerate and asking her opinion. Well, everywhere except for the bedroom. There, he was insatiable and very, very demanding. And she loved it.

His business deal had to be going well, because he was happier than she’d ever seen him be. She just wished he were happy for a different reason. But no, they didn’t speak of love, and no, she wasn’t under the illusion that they were marrying because of love. And that really sucked, because somehow in the midst of all of this she was falling in love with him.

She couldn’t pinpoint the moment when it had begun happening. Maybe it was like those survivor stories where two people under extreme circumstances fall in love with each other. The Stockholm syndrome, perhaps? she thought will a grim chuckle. Maybe it was because she felt so dependent on him. Whatever the reason, she was simultaneously excited about her marriage to him and dreading it.

This was a fairy tale, Jewell knew, but a fractured one. She wasn’t a princess, and Blake most certainly was not Prince Charming. This long, strange dream seemed almost certain to end in a rude awakening.

Byron backed down a little during the dinner they shared that evening, and later that night the brothers took Blake with them for an impromptu bachelor party. Jewell was restless, tossing and turning for hours in her lonely bed.

Wasn’t the night before a woman’s wedding day supposed to be filled with dreams of happily-ever-afters? Not for her. Hadn’t she decided long ago that she wasn’t one of those people who were destined to win that perfect life? Still, she was luckier than most, she reminded herself.

She had her brother, and she had Blake — for now.