Brody

Shanna and Gayle followed me to my cabin.

Abby and Jen went to the main lodge, but Finn came with us too. Once Shanna and Gayle were inside, he stopped me, asking, “You need backup?”

I shook my head before nodding toward the lodge’s patio where Matthew and Peter were sitting. They had a perfect view of my place. “I’m worried about them.”

“Them?” He turned to see. “Oh.” When his attention came back to me, his eyes were troubled, and his own frown gave him away. “My brother was creepy with the videos, but I honestly feel if he has to choose between who to protect—Morgan or our father—he’ll choose Morgan. We’ll all choose Morgan.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why choose a stepsister you never see over the man who’s giving you a livelihood?” Peter held the keys to all of their empires. He was powerful.

Finn shrugged. “Our birth mother died after having Abby and me, so when we got Karen, she became our mother. We also got a father during that time. Sure, before then he paid our bills and provided for us, but he wasn’t around until he fell in love with Karen. She anchored him in a way, and we actually had a loving family for four years. Morgan was a part of that. We grieved when Karen died, but it was more than that. We didn’t only lose her and Morgan–—we lost him. He shipped us all off to our private schools, hired nannies, and pretty much moved to New York. Now, the only one who sees him regularly is Matthew, and it’s always in business meetings. I’d love to have a father. I would, but that’ll never happen. We thought for a moment, after Matt brought us the script, maybe we could get him back. He seemed excited about the whole process, but once we got here, yeah.” His voice faded, then a decrepit laugh left him. “You can see how that worked out. There’s no trying to get him back, but Morgan. She’s different.” He turned to look at the mountains behind us. “She stays out there so she doesn’t get hurt anymore. And it’s terrifying her that she can’t pull completely away again.” He studied me a moment. “You love her.”

He named what I was unwilling to.

“Yes. I do.”

He held his hand up. “Then know that I’m always in your corner. I’m proud to have met you.”

I shook his hand, and it felt as if something more were being solidified in that moment. I knew there would be problems moving forward. I felt it first with Matthew, and it had only gotten exponentially stronger with the appearance of Peter Kellerman.

I didn’t know what it would be or how it would come about, but I knew it would affect Morgan, and I wouldn’t allow that.

“Thank you. You too.” I meant those words. I would need his help. The premonition was weighing heavily on me. After a second, I added, “If you hurt Jen, I’ll beat you up.” I smirked. “Again.”

He laughed, releasing my hand. “Same if you hurt my sister.” He clapped me on the arm.

“If I hurt your sister, I’ll let you beat me up.”

“Let?” He began walking back to the main house. “Let, huh?”

“Yes. Let.”

He waved, turning around. “We’ll see, Golden Boy. We’ll see.”

“Golden Boy?” The door had opened behind me. Gayle stood there. “I thought it was Bad Boy Brody this whole time.”

“Nah.” I raked a hand over my face. I was suddenly so tired. My whole body was beginning to ache. “I think the bad boy is gone.” Then I thought of Peter and Matthew Kellerman. “Well, maybe not.”

I followed her inside.

Shanna was making herself a drink in the kitchen.

“Hey.” There was a whole bottle of rum on the counter. “Where’d that come from?”

“My purse.” She poured some in a second glass and passed it to Gayle. The two clinked their drinks together before Shanna turned to me. “This is a time that I need to drink.”

She downed half the liquid in one gulp.

Gayle winced after her sip and set it down. “That’s a bit strong for my taste.”

Shanna asked, “You want one?”

“Thought I had a drinking problem?”

She snorted, rolling her eyes and picking her glass up again. “You aren’t an alcoholic. We all know that, and you’re better now.” She motioned outside my patio door. “Your time of rest was really a time of sex, right? Goddamn. I would’ve loved to have tricked my boss into giving me vacation if that were the case.”

I sat at the kitchen table, watching Shanna finish her drink and pour a second one. Gayle took her glass, joining me at the table.

“I didn’t plan that. You decided to give me the time off.”

“You were supposed to be resting and healing.” Shanna grabbed the bottle and took a seat too.

“I was grieving my brother’s death.”

She eyed me skeptically. “How are you handling that? You seem like you’ve found your purpose in life.”

Shit. Maybe I had.

I didn’t want to think about that, so I waved it off. “I’m distracting myself.”

“With Wild Horse Woman out there?”

“Maybe.”

Gayle snorted. “Come on. How long has this been going on?” She leaned forward, her arms going flat on the table. “You need to tell me everything.”

So I did.

When we first arrived.

The night I saw her running from the house.

When the herd first made their appearance.

Gayle asked, “How did you two start talking?”

I hesitated.

“Brody!”

I relented. “I went on a walk, and she was at the river. That was our first conversation.”

“And how did you go from having a conversation to sticking your prick inside her?” Her eyes flashed. She wasn’t messing around.

I told her about the cabin visit.

She frowned, deep in thought. “That was why Abby Kellerman was here?”

“She said she heard Morgan talking to me. She wanted to know about her sister.”

Shanna sighed heavily. “None of this is in the script. None of it!”

Gayle handed over her drink. “Take mine.”

“Gladly.” Shanna picked it up and took a long drag from it.

Gayle focused on me again. “You still haven’t told me when you started sleeping with her.”

“The first night of my week off.”

That was it. She wasn’t going to get the details from me, and when my mouth remained clamped shut, Gayle realized it.

She nodded, leaning back in her seat. “You love her?”

That was also none of her business. “I care for her.”

She scoffed, her eyes flicking to the ceiling. She could read between the lines. “So what does this mean? We don’t know about her. What do we need to know?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were ready for trouble out there. I know you, Brody. I saw how you reacted to Kellerman Senior showing up. You expecting trouble?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what it will be.”

Shanna threw her hands in the air. “Why isn’t any of this in the script? It should be in the goddamn script. This girl should be in there. It’s a happily-ever-after ending right now. Karen Kellerman was murdered, but they wanted the end shot to be Peter and Karen riding off into the distance. Credits. Fucking credits. That’s how I’m supposed to tell the real ending, but this girl—she has a daughter! A daughter, who is like this mythical freak creature, and gorgeous, and she lives with fucking mustangs.” She was yelling. “It’s a much better fucking movie than what I have now.”

“Can you put her in?” Gayle asked, making my attention whip to her.

“No!” I jerked forward on my seat. “The contract is for the script how it was written. You can’t change it.”

“No. That isn’t true. I do have creative license, but I would have to do more research and look into how her presence would alter the plotline. If it alters it too much, you’re right. There might be areas that they would fight me on.”

Gayle leaned forward again. “The movie will still happen. Finding out about this girl won’t change that unless Shanna decides to start that fight.”

Shanna rounded on her, her chest puffing up. “I don’t—”

“They didn’t put her in for a reason, Shanna.” Gayle clipped her head from side to side. “They’re going to fight you on it, and you know it. They’ll take you to court, and they have the money to do it.”

“Aren’t they also the producers?”

Shanna groaned at my question as her hands flew into the air. “She’s a gold mine. She is drop-dead gorgeous. Her whole story is captivating. She’s sleeping with Hollywood’s bad boy, and she’s a Kellerman! A Kellerman. A movie needs to be made just about her.”

“But not this movie. This one is about her mother.”

“Oh my God, her mother.” Shanna’s head fell back at Gayle’s reminder. “Was she there when her mom was murdered?”

Both women waited, watching me.

I scowled. “None of your business.”

“Brody—”

“No!” My voice rose over Gayle’s. I stared hard at Shanna. “She is not a part of the movie, and it is not my job to divulge anything. My job is to act in this movie. I will do that, but I won’t do that.”

Problem number one just uncovered itself.

I was staring into the faces of two women I respected and wanted to keep working with, but they both had agendas. I shot Gayle a look. “You’ll have my back on this. There is no leeway on this subject matter.”

Her eye twitched once, then twice, before she glanced sideways to Shanna.

My director’s pupils were dilated. There was a sloppy, mad quality to her, but her eyes were still locked on me. Hard. Her mouth was set in a fierce line. “Brody.”

“I mean it.” I skewered both of them. “When it comes to her, there’s no negotiation on my part. None.”

“I can replace you.”

And threat number one was just thrown out.

I waited a beat, choosing my words, but not fast enough.

Gayle shoved back her chair and folded her arms over her chest. “His job is to be an actor, not an informant. Your argument is not with him for that one.”

“With who then?” Shanna’s head swung a little more than it needed to. She almost fell off the chair. “With the girl? She took off on a freaking wild horse. Let me go round up one of my own to find her! Are you kidding me?”

Gayle’s chest rose and fell a few times. When she spoke again, she was a little calmer. “I suggest you ask the appropriate people, like her stepfather or any one of her stepsiblings—not my client.”

Shanna’s gaze switched, settling directly on me before she slowly pushed back and stood. She took a breath, smoothing her hands down her shirt and pants and then patting her hair into place. “I see. If you’ll excuse me both, I have a few Kellermans to pin down.”

The room was thick with tension, and neither Gayle nor I spoke a word as Shanna walked across the room, opened the door, and went outside.

Once the door clicked shut, Gayle slumped back into her chair. “For fuck’s sake, Brody.” Her eyes sparkled in anger. “Goddamn warn me when you have a secret like this, would you?”

I swallowed. “It wasn’t supposed to come out.”

“Secrets like this always come out! That’s golden rule number one.” She leaned forward and jammed her finger against the table as she continued, “They always come out. You plan for when they do. Got it?”

I nodded. “Got it.”

“Now”—she waved in the direction Shanna just disappeared—“that problem is resolved, for now, but she’ll come back. Trust me. Shanna isn’t called a pit bull when it comes to her movies. She’s a great white fucking shark. She’ll be back.” She motioned out toward the mountainside next. “I have to know about your girlfriend. I don’t care if you’re in love with her. I have to know how to protect you as well as how to protect her.”

“No.”

“Brody!”

“No.” I didn’t yell, but I made sure she knew I meant it when I said, “I will not violate her trust.”

“Brody!” Gayle yelled again.

“Brody.”

We both swung around at the second name spoken. It was soft but clear, and like the ghost she constantly embodied, Morgan appeared just inside the patio doors. She had climbed up over the patio and came inside. Gayle and I hadn’t heard her at all.

Her hands were flat against her legs as she stepped farther inside, eyes fixed on Gayle. “I’ll tell you what you need to know if it means you’ll protect him.”

Gayle blinked a few times, and she looked taken aback. Then she nodded, her eyebrows pulling together. She cleared her throat. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

We were all off balance. The tension was still in the air, and for a moment, Gayle and I didn’t move. The only one who seemed calm was Morgan.

She took Shanna’s vacated seat and gestured to Gayle’s. “If you’d like to sit for all of this?”