Sneak Peek

 

Bryton

 

 

My six months here is almost up. I didn't think spending time with my much older brother and his family would be so much fun. I was wrong. My brother is seventeen years my senior. Big age gap, right?

My mother was married before she met my father, and, of course, she had a son with him, my brother, Chase. My mother, Myra, met my father, Paul when Chase was just six months old. They shamelessly had an affair and when Chase was two-years-old his father walked out. My mother married my father a year later. They had four children together, four sons. After Chase my mother had Ryan, he's now thirty-six. Then came Michael, who's thirty-four, then Zack, who's now thirty-two. Then there's me, the baby at twenty-five.

I've been traveling the world for the past four and a half years, working for a company who specializes in fitness, one that sends me all over the world to work in different locations of their world renowned fitness company. It can be a tiring job, but I work hard, damn hard. Whether it be training unfit men, flirting with very fit woman, or volunteering at whatever local shelter I come across in whatever country I'm in at the time, I never stop working. I'm even working while in this little town. Anything to try and forget her and what I did to her. It's kind of sod's law that it hardly ever works.

Anyway, I arrived home six months ago from nine months in Holland and decided to come to this little town of Oak Springs to spend some time with my big brother. We've never been particularly close, but he's my brother at the end of the day. And finding out he'd married Emilee, his dead best friend's baby sister, sixteen years his junior, shocked me a little.

Not as much as finding out about their two children, Aidan, who's now five, and Harper, who is now two, was a bigger shock. Serves me right for having next to no contact with my family for almost seven years. Apart from the odd postcard I sent my mother here and there, I never spoke to any of them.

Of course, when I turned up on Chase's doorstep he was shocked, but he was pleased to see me. I couldn't believe how good he looks for his age. My brother has always been a strong and buff kind of man, but he does not look forty-two.

I was so happy to see Emilee. The two of us were best friends growing up. She may have been a year older than me, but we were incredibly close. Meeting my niece and nephew was amazing. And I must say I love them both so fucking much I don't know how I'm going to leave them next month.

Finding Jesse here, my brother's best friend, and remarried with even more kids was shocking. I had no idea he'd moved here. It had been a while since I'd seen his son, Caleb. I couldn't believe how tall he'd gotten. But I suppose at the age of ten he would be. Jesse also has twins, a boy and a girl, three years of age, and two of the quietest kids I've ever met. Whatever they put in those kids cereal they should sell to every parent. They'd make a fortune.

I've made a few friends here, all of them my brothers friend's. But still, I like them all. There's not much in the way of hot women in this town, it seems everyone is either taken or a slut who goes out of town to sleep with any man they can open their legs for. There's one girl here who would be worth a couple of hot steamy nights. Aimee, local boutique owner. But no matter what I do, she's not interested. I feel like I've lost my touch, I mean I'm not that bad. I'm six-foot-two, sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, broad shoulders, six pack, slim waist.

Okay, I'm making myself out to sound like an underwear model. But I take good care of myself. I'm a fitness instructor for fuck's sake. She must be a lesbian, why else won't she say yes to me?

I decided to come for a drink with my brother and Jesse at the local pub. A couple of their other friends have joined us. Freddy and Enzo. Their wives are apparently meeting up with Jesse and Chase's wives. Aimee apparently wants to introduce them to the new girl in town. We've all heard about her from the local gossip, Mrs. Clarke. Some girl who's moved into her dead daughter's house.

Apparently, she's gorgeous, tall, blonde, green eyed, and made me think about her again. I haven't seen this new girl yet, but Jesse told us all how hot she is, even if she is young enough to be his daughter. Which is crazy when you think about it.

“Another?” I ask as I hold my beer bottle up to the guys. Each nods their heads yes. “Everybody want the same?”

“Yeah. No shots this time.”

“Come on, bro,” I laugh. “Anybody would think you were past it.”

“Not past it, little brother. But it takes a lot more effort to keep looking this good when you get to my age.”

“Ain't it the truth?” Jesse chimes in.

I wave them away and make my way to the bar. I can see the girls from here as I order another round of drinks. There she is, Aimee. God, she's so hot. How the hell am I meant to get her to agree to a date? Just one, that's all I'm asking.

The drinks are on the tray in front of me but I haven't taken my eyes off Aimee yet. She's laughing at something one of the girls is saying. I can see Emilee but I can't make out the others from where they're sitting. I love how Aimee has her dyed brown-red hair curled and tied up. Her skin is so fair it looks like porcelain.

Someone is watching me, I can feel their eyes on me. Then I feel it, the tug on the leg of my jeans. I look down at the little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy looking up at me. His eyes are huge, and he's as cute as all hell.

“Hello.” He says sweetly.

“Hi there. What are you doing here all alone?”

“My mommy is over there with her new friends. She said I can say hi to the men.” He points at my brother and his friends, who are all looking at me curiously. “Can I say hi?”

“Sure.” I grab the drinks tray. “This way.” He giggles. There's something so familiar about his giggle.

“Who's your friend?” My brother asks as soon as I set the tray on the table in front of them. They each grab a beer as little guy pulls himself into the seat I was once sat at in the booth next to my brother. I smile and shake my head while grabbing a chair and pulling it up to our table.

“My name is Jaxson.” He says sweetly, his arms resting on the table, his little legs swinging back and forth in that childlike way kids have. “What are your names?”

“This is Chase.” I point to my brother.

“Is he your daddy?” He has a southern twang to his little voice. It's cute. And the fact he thinks Chase is my dad has the whole table laughing.

“No, he's my big brother. This is Jesse, and Freddy, and Enzo.”

“What's your name?”

“My name is Bryton.”

“My daddy's name is Bryton.”

“Really?” He nods at me wide eyed with a smile on his sweet little face. “That's awesome!”

“I am four.” God, he's cute. “I just moved here with my mommy.”

“What about your daddy?” My brother asks.

“I don't know who he is. I did never meet him. I just know his name 'cause it is the same as mine.” He shrugs his little shoulders at Chase. God, that's so sad for him.

“Does anybody else think this little man looks like Bryton?”

“Very funny, Chase. Don't say things like that in front of the kid, that's really insensitive!” Jerk!

I narrow my eyes as they all look at each other, then at Jaxson, then back to me. What the fuck are they all looking at? Okay, the kid and I have the same hair color, eye color, same shape nose and... Stop it, Bryton, they're messing with you.

“What's your last name, little buddy?” He giggles at Chase. My brother has a way with kids, a way I could never have with them. He's a natural.

“My name is Jaxson Joshua Sawyer. My mommy calls me Jay-Jay sometimes. Mommy doesn't have the same name as me. I have my daddy's name. My daddy's name is Bryton Vance Sawyer.” What the fuck?

My brother literally spits his beer across the table while choking. I can feel the heat rising in my face. No, this can't be. This is bull I've never gotten a girl pregnant.

Okay, that's a lie, I got a girl pregnant once but she had an abortion. She was only seventeen when I slept with her. She lied to me about her age, she was in a nightclub dressed like a twenty-five-year-old. She had legs up to her armpits, and she was fucking gorgeous. I thought she was twenty-one. Turns out she was just seventeen. I was fucking mortified.

Okay, I was only twenty at the time, but that wasn't the point. She'd lied to me. But I forgave her because I couldn't stop thinking about her. When I found out she was pregnant, I told her to get rid of it. She agreed. I was a shallow prick and I was glad. I gave her two-hundred dollars and walked away from her.

I never saw her again.

She's the one I can't forget. She's the one I try so hard not to remember. But of course, I do. I wonder what she's doing, where she is and if she's okay. She's the one I should never have let get away. How can anyone have that effect on a person after a few weeks together? But she did and I've never forgotten her.

“What's your mommy's name, Jaxson?” I ask with a pounding heart, but somehow I already know the answer.

“Jaxson, where are you?!” I freeze, I can't move. That voice, I have never and will never forget it. It can't be her, it just can't. My brother's eyes lock with mine. His narrow, I must be as pale as a ghost. I feel fucking sick. “There you are.”

“Mommy, I got some friends like you.”

“That's great, sweetheart,”

I can't turn round, my heart is pounding out of my chest. I'm gonna hurl. If I turn around and look at her, I'll be lost all over again, and I know there will be no coming back from it this time. But at the same time, I could kill her! She fucking kept my kid. She lied to me yet again! Why the hell would she do that?

“But it's time to leave these nice men alone. It's almost your bedtime.”

“But I want to stay with Bryton.” My eyes close on me. I can sense her body stiffen behind me.

“What... What did you say?”

“I want to stay with, Bryton.” He touches my arm. “Please, mommy?”

I swallow hard, take a deep breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. All eyes are on me and I know each of them is thinking the same thing. But this kid isn't mine, she aborted my baby and then obviously went right ahead and had another baby with someone else.

Who the fuck are you trying to kid, Bryton? If he's not yours, she's got a pretty sick imagination giving him your name!

I turn in my seat to face her. Our eyes lock and it's like the wind is knocked out of her. She stumbles back a little. God, she looks fucking beautiful, just as I remembered her. She's wearing white, I always liked her in white. White flowing skirt, tight sleeveless shirt, hair tied up. God, I used to love to pull that hair as I took her from behind... Stop it, Bryton, Jesus, this is not the time!

“Hello, Roya.”