Chapter Twenty-Four
Lilly yawned at her desk. This whole pregnancy-exhaustion thing was really not her favorite, but she supposed anything that assured her the twins were growing as they should be, she would deal with.
She gave her stomach a little pat, something she did only when she was completely alone and no one could see that she was trying to communicate with two tiny fetuses. Tap, tap, keep growing, little ones.
She glanced at her watch and frowned. It was at least half an hour after when she had expected Brandon to swoop in with water and snacks and check on her to make sure she wasn’t working too hard. He was like clockwork that way, and she couldn’t ignore the fact that even though it grated on her nerves when she was really focused on something and he interrupted . . . On the whole, she enjoyed it, felt comforted by it.
So it was especially concerning he hadn’t appeared. She pushed out of her chair and shoved her feet back into the heels she’d slipped off earlier. She wasn’t going to forgo fashion just because she was pregnant. Though sometimes she considered it.
She left her office and went to Brandon’s across the hall. The door was open and when she stepped inside, he was standing at the window looking out over the backyard of Mile High.
It was funny that even a surprise baby, a quick wedding, and a million fights in between didn’t dull the way her heart could pitch at just the sight of him. So big and handsome and hers.
Lilly took a few more steps toward him and looked out the window herself. She didn’t see anything of importance, but when she looked up at Bran his face was grave.
“What’s wrong?”
He sighed and rubbed a hand over his beard. “I’m not really sure.”
“Elaborate,” she demanded, poking his side.
He sighed again, his gaze not leaving the trees that surrounded this side of the cabin. “Tori came in a little bit ago. She told me she wanted to leave. She wanted me to help her find a job out of state.”
Lilly frowned. “What did your brother do now?”
“As far as I can tell he didn’t do anything. But she wasn’t exactly forthcoming.”
“Something had to set her off to want to run away.”
“I agree. The issue is that I don’t have a clue as to what. She asked me not to tell him, so, yeah, it has to do with him.”
“Of course, you’ll tell him! She can’t just disappear.”
Bran’s mouth curved a fraction and his hazel eyes met hers. “It isn’t as if he’s never done it to her.”
Lilly fisted her hands on her hips. “You think it’s revenge then?”
“No, I don’t think it’s revenge. She was too upset and jittery for that. She seemed . . . panicked. I told her I thought he loved her, and she just . . .” He shook his head, looking back out the window. “I don’t know how much of it is my business.”
“All of it,” Lilly replied resolutely.
“Lilly—”
“We’re family, Brandon.” She didn’t let him lecture her on her busy-bodying. Though she’d vowed to be more careful with it after Will’s outburst, it had all worked out, hadn’t it? Will and Tori had clearly gotten something out of her interfering.
How could you argue with results? “Will is your brother, and my brother-in-law, and quite frankly anyone who we invite into Mile High has come to be a part of our family. It means something more than just a business, this place, and that means the people in it are important to us as people.”
“Don’t get agitated,” he said lightly, already scanning the room no doubt so he could shove her somewhere and hover.
“Then don’t argue with me,” she replied primly.
“I won’t be able to keep it from him. It’s not like I’m considering not telling him. I’m just wondering . . . I don’t want to get in the middle of this. I think they need to figure out their own shit.”
“Because when we were having problems, Will didn’t give you any advice or speak to you in any way about it?” she asked sweetly.
Brandon didn’t say anything, but his mouth firmed so she knew she’d scored a point.
“Exactly. We have all been pushing each other and into each other’s businesses, and it’s not always right, and it’s not always perfect, but it is what we do. It’s what you do when you care about someone. You offer them a shoulder, and you offer them advice, and you’re there for them regardless of what outcome they choose. That’s love.”
“Yes, it is.” He wound his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close until she leaned against him, but he was still tense. Worried. “Remember when you weren’t too happy with me over looking into Hayley and where she came from?”
Lilly shifted on her feet uncomfortably, afraid she was going to have to acknowledge him scoring a point. “Well. Yes.”
“And you said that I was using my power to do something against her will.”
“I had a little bit of my own baggage in that particular fight.”
“I know, but I’m just wondering how much of this is my . . . She seemed scared, and I know she’s not scared of Will. I couldn’t get out of her what this was all about, and it makes it impossible to know the right course of action.”
“Well, if she isn’t scared of Will, then it’s obvious.”
“It is?”
Lilly rolled her eyes. “Love. She’s scared of love.”
Brandon took a minute to consider that, and she liked that he gave it the weight it deserved—didn’t just jump to agree or disagree with her.
“Love is a scary thing,” she added. “Some of us feel inclined to . . .” She delicately cleared her throat. “Occasionally run away from it.”
Brandon chuckled at that and squeezed her tighter to him. “That they do.”
“I just hope Will is smart enough to stand up to that fear.” She looked up at the man she’d married, who’d been just that smart, and smiled as she touched her palm to his scruffy jaw. “That would be the right course of action.”
“You guys talking about me?”
They both whirled to face Will, who was now standing in the doorway, looking puzzled.
“You’re back,” Brandon offered lamely.
“Yeah, I’m back. What’s going on?”
Lilly looked expectantly at Brandon and he sighed. “Let’s go sit down. We’ll talk it out.”
“How very concerning,” Will muttered.
Lilly hooked arms with Will as they walked out to the main room. Sam was coming in the front door as they did, and Hayley was fiddling in the kitchenette.
She knew that some people would find it a gross violation of privacy to air this all out in front of everyone, but when she’d told Brandon they were a family, she meant it.
She wanted to know that when she brought her children into the world, they would have this amazing support. That they would never have to worry like she had. That they would never feel like they were the only person they could count on. She would build that for them, and for herself. For Brandon, for Will. For all these people who hadn’t been in her life a few months ago, but she had grown to love and need.
“Why don’t we all sit,” Lilly said with a wave to the others.
“Okay, now you’re just freaking me out. What’s wrong?” Will asked, taking a seat on the couch.
“It’s not so much that something’s wrong,” Brandon said evenly as Sam, Hayley, and Skeet gathered.
“Oh, just tell the boy already,” Skeet grunted. “Poor girl’s running scared. I wouldn’t beat around the bush.”
“What the hell are you all talking about?” Will demanded.
“Tori came by to see me after her excursion today.”
Will’s frown deepened and Lilly couldn’t fight the urge to take a seat next to him and put her hand on his arm. He looked at her fingers as though they were some offensive thing, but she wanted to offer what support she could.
“She asked me to help her find a job out of state. She said she has to leave. And she asked me not to tell you.”
The expression on Will’s face didn’t change, but Lilly felt his muscles go to steel underneath her fingers.
She had a feeling this was going to be quite the situation.
* * *
Will figured they all expected him to react in some way. But he couldn’t. Much like the freezing he’d done earlier when he’d had that horrible feeling something wasn’t right, he couldn’t move. Or act.
Brandon’s words seemed to sink into his brain, not quite making sense, but slowly clicking into place.
Tori had slept with him, and now she wanted to leave.
He looked around the room at too many concerned faces and tried to smile. “Figures, I guess.”
“I don’t think it figures at all,” Hayley said, so self-righteously he wanted to laugh.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Sam added, looking concerned and confused.
But it made perfect sense to Will. Sure, he’d been certain he could fix things with Tori. He’d known he would do whatever it took to have a relationship with Tori.
But what he’d missed in all his certainty was that she’d have to let him.
Why would she let him? He didn’t have anything particularly special to offer. Why should she give him the time to prove himself? She didn’t have to. She didn’t owe him.
So this really made all the sense in the world.
“What are you going to do about it?” Lilly asked, sitting next to him, her fingers resting on his forearm. His force of nature sister-in-law, who thought you could just do things about people, was sitting there asking him what he was going to do.
“Well, aren’t you going to tell me?” he asked blandly.
She frowned at him, but she didn’t take her fingers away, and none of that horrible concern choking him left the room.
What was he going to do? He was going to accept that he’d wanted to change, and he’d wanted to love her, and it just wasn’t going to happen. People were people, after all. All you could count on was yourself.
His father had branded him useless. His mother had cut him off for telling her the truth. If blood couldn’t love him, why would he expect someone he’d hurt to?
“Will.”
Will looked up at his brother’s voice, and it was there he saw his exception.
Brandon had always been there. His brother. His leader. A million other things, but Brandon had always been there.
Mom and Dad had proven that blood didn’t mean anything to some people, so it wasn’t even because he’d had to be. Brandon wasn’t there because they shared blood, because it was some obligation.
He’d been there because that was Brandon.
The frozen thing inside of him started to thaw, and in its wake was not the warm glow of love—brotherly or otherwise.
No, he was hot with anger.
He’d never deserved a second chance with Tori, but they both deserved a chance. To learn from their mistakes. To be better and try harder. They deserved a chance at something.
And she was going to run away.
No. No, not this time. It wasn’t going down like this again. He stood abruptly, jostling Lilly, offering a half-hearted apology as he strode for the door.
A chorus of his name filled the air. He heard Sam tell him to stop, and Hayley ask where he was going. Brandon said his name again in that no-nonsense drill-sergeant way.
“I’ll tell you where I’m going, I’m going to tell Tori, if she wants to disappear, she’s damn well going to have to get through me first.”
“Don’t lead with anger when love is on the line,” Skeet’s scratchy old voice said, with enough force to make Will stop at the door. “Life doesn’t give us very many second chances,” he added.
Will could only turn and stare at the old man. Skeet shrugged, not looking any of them in the eye. “You don’t get to be old and alone for no reason, or without learning a thing or two. ’Less you want to be like me.”
“You’re not so bad, old man,” Will muttered.
“I’m not so good, either.”
Something about that, and the way Skeet finally met his gaze, a lifetime of something Will hadn’t a clue about in their bleary blue depths.
But this wasn’t the same. Whatever Skeet had gone through, it couldn’t be the same as—
“He’s right. He’s right, you know,” Lilly added, always pressing the advantage. “I thought Brandon was going to come after me with ultimatums and demands, and he didn’t, and it made all the difference.”
“And I took an alternate route because of you,” Brandon added.
“Fear will always drive people away. It’s not sense. It’s not reasonable. It’s panic. Give her panic time to breathe,” Hayley added. “Like you guys did with me.”
“Going off half-cocked doesn’t get you anywhere. It only puts her back up. You know that,” Sam added.
“Why the fuck are you all telling me what to do?” Will demanded, or maybe yelled. He felt like he was being torn into a million shreds of hurt and confusion and damn it, all he wanted was that obnoxious woman who was trying to run away from him.
She could be gone right now, and they were all shouting advice at him?
“Because we’re your family, and we care,” Lilly said, resolutely and if Will wasn’t mistaken with a faint sheen of tears to her eyes.
Oh, hell.
“We want what’s best for you,” Hayley added.
“We want to help you,” came from Sam.
“It isn’t as though you haven’t stood up and done the very same for us,” Brandon continued.
Will took a deep breath. Hell if he didn’t want to push it all away, argue it all away. He wanted it to be lies, and he wanted this to be easy, but it . . . It was never going to be that.
It was never going to be easy or simple, not with Tori, not with life. But he somehow, in spite of himself, had this family. Built of blood and friendship and mistakes and a million other things.
But mostly love.
He realized somewhere in the middle of all his anger and fear and hurt, that not only were they right, but Tori had never had this. Her family had estranged her rather than protected her. She’d loved him, and he’d run away. There’d been the prick who’d lied to her.
She didn’t have people who would stand up and tell her she deserved more, better, that she was loved.
Which meant he had to.