Bryson punched the elevator button, so furious he felt as if he could churn out bullets from the bile in his belly and spit them out in rapid succession. He was angry with life in general, angrier with his best friend, and angriest with Brittney’s unknown attacker.
No…maybe his anger toward Trey and the sonofabitch who attacked Brittany was on par with one another.
Bryson trembled, infuriated. He punched the down button again. If only the chrome doors would open, he could get to the ground floor and into the night air. His head would clear and he could reason better.
Bryson kicked the door. This had to be the slowest goddamn elevator in the entire city.
“Sergeant Donovan.”
Stiffening at Lieutenant Thomas’ call, Bryson glanced down the hallway, the lights glaring and intrusive in the long space.
“C’mon, goddammit,” Bryson encouraged the elevator, praying the doors opened before Mitchell reached him.
But the man’s purposeful stride ate up the distance between them. If the lieutenant hadn’t been there, Bryson could’ve gotten some satisfaction and knocked the shit out of Trey.
Setting his jaw in a stubborn line, Bryson hit the elevator button again. The chrome doors slid open just as Mitchell stopped at Bryson’s side. He jerked his head in acknowledgment then started forward.
“I wouldn’t fucking do that if I were you,” Mitchell bit out.
Bryson held the elevator doors open with his body. Resentment overflowed in him and he glared at Mitchell. “Fuck off, Lieutenant Thomas,” he growled, knowing what Mitchell wanted to discuss had nothing to do with a case and everything to do with the scene that just took place in the break room.
Mitchell folded his arms and thrust his face into Bryson’s. “If you fucking leave, I’ll tell your little sister you fucked her best friend.”
Inhaling, Bryson swept Mitchell with a cold look. “You’ve just given me one more reason to kill Trey. He doesn’t know how to keep his fucking mouth shut or his cock in his fucking pants.”
“He answered questions I had about you months ago.”
Bryson moved away from the elevator and allowed it to slide closed, leaving him behind after he’d waited a good five minutes for it. “Jamie was nearly eighteen when I made love to her.”
“Nearly eighteen. Same principle. Your sister’s best friend who was…what? Five years younger than you were? A teenaged girl and you were a grown man.”
“She was a month away from her eighteenth birthday. Yes I was already twenty-three but—”
“But she was your little sister’s best friend who should’ve been as off-limits to you as you think Trey should be to her. What’s the saying? Don’t throw fucking boulders when you live in a glass fucking shack?”
“I do believe it is ye that go without sin cast the first stone. Unless there’s a new version of the Bible I don’t know about.”
Mitchell’s mouth tightened. “Same fucking concept.”
Bryson rubbed his jaw, annoyance adding to his anger. “Can you ever say one sentence without using foul language?”
Mitchell squinted his eyes. “I don’t fucking think so. It’s my only goddamn vice. A stress reliever.”
“What do you want, Mitch?”
“Let’s take a walk.”
“No. I have to go on duty.”
“Five minutes.” Mitchell turned on his heel, heading toward one of the interrogation rooms, not stopping to see if Bryson followed.
Not having a choice, since Mitchell was Bryson’s commanding officer, he stalked behind the lieutenant. He slammed the door shut and opted not to sit. Mitchell sat at the table and gazed at Bryson, his gaze calm and steady.
“Did you break Jamie’s heart?”
Bryson’s blood went cold, sucking the heat of his anger right out of him, leaving behind a terrible stiffness in his body. Yes he’d broken her heart but his own hadn’t fared much better. “I don’t discuss Jamie.”
“She lost your baby.”
His shoulders heaved. He snatched the cap off his head and threw it on the table. Fury infused him again. But fury was good…much better than the overwhelming sadness he felt whenever he thought about Jamie and their baby. “Trey had no right to tell you my private business.”
“You two are pieces of work. He surrounds himself with women and fucks all of them to numb his pain and loneliness. He can barely call the acquaintances since he knows nothing about them. You, on the other hand, keep friends with benefits and nothing more. All because two young women have you both fucked up in the head. You should find Jamie and marry her and Trey should give in and marry Brittany.”
“Trey is seven years older than Brittany, Mitchell,” Bryson stormed, stalking forward and leaning with menace toward the lieutenant. “And he fucks because he’s a womanizer. He couldn’t keep his pants zipped long enough to get the bend in his knee to propose to Brittany.”
“Trey is hurting and he’s lonely—”
“She’s too fragile to handle a sonofabitch like Trey.”
“Brittany is very vulnerable right now but Trey is the last person who’ll hurt her on purpose.”
Bryson dropped into a chair. “He’ll hurt her just the same. He can’t help it.”
“Name one woman whose heart he’s ever broken,” Mitchell challenged, cocking his head to the side.
Searching his mind, Bryson couldn’t think of a single instance where Trey had allowed any woman to get close enough to him that she’d grieve the loss of a broken relationship. His eyes widened at the thought.
“Must be a helluva way to live. Trey may have his favorites but he calls them to take them to bed. He might take a woman to dinner or to breakfast or whatever, but he’s shut himself off any kind of a relationship with a female—even friendship.” Mitchell reared back in the chair. “I’m sure even one of the women you sleep with would be sorely aggrieved should you stop calling her once or twice a day to check on her.”
Bryson threw an evil eye at Mitchell. “You’re a snoop and a sonofabitch.”
Mitchell laughed, unapologetic. “What is the real reason you’re so furious with the idea they’re lovers?”
“Trey has known Brittany her entire life. I trusted him with her—”
“She trusted you with Jamie—”
Shooting to his feet, Bryson grabbed his hat and shoved it down on his head. “I’m not listening to this. This isn’t about me and Jamie. It’s about my twenty-year-old sister and my best friend. It’s about the fact Brittany was raped and I didn’t know it. She trusted Trey more than she trusted me.”
Mitchell squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Have you ever considered, er, perhaps it’s her who‘s, er, leading him?”
Bryson stared at Mitchell and the walls in the room closed in on him. He popped the top button of his shirt open. “You mean you think my little sister is seducing Trey?”
Swiping his hand across the scarred surface of the wooden table as if he were dusting away crumbs Mitchell nodded and then met Bryson’s gaze. “Did Jamie seduce you or did you seduce Jamie?”
Bryson rocked on his heel, thinking back to the insanity that led him to make love to Jamie in the first place. She was beautiful but then most of the girls who hung around Brittany had been downright gorgeous. At times, their household was a mixture of high school kids and college students, ages blurring with the fun to be had. Brittany’s girlfriends were cheerleaders and drill team members, many of them looking older than they were. But it was her best friend who’d caught Bryson’s attention. Jamie’s height was eye-catching in itself but the only thing eclipsing her intelligence was the body that drove him wild.
“Hell, we seduced each other. Brittany sent me to her house to take something to Jamie’s older sister, who happened to be Brittany’s coach and health teacher. Jamie was there, taking the weave out of her hair.”
“Weave?”
“Hair extensions,” Bryson clarified. “The hair was just about out, but there was one piece in the back of her head that she couldn’t reach. She asked me to help her with it. The thing was barely attached. The little minx just wanted me to touch her and I fell—” He snapped his mouth shut, facing Mitchell again, the import of his admission hitting him full force.
“You fell for it,” Mitchell finished quietly. “You couldn’t resist what she was offering you.”
“Trey isn’t the man for Brittany.”
“I hate to break the news to you but Brittany is twenty-years-old and a blind man can see Trey isn’t treating her the way he treats other women.”
“They’ve always protected each other. The way he’s treating her is no different than the way he’s always treated her.”
“No, Bryson. Brittany is as special to Trey as Jamie is to you.”
“Jamie and I have been over for five years. She lost the baby and she refused to move away with me.”
“That’s between you and Jamie,” Mitchell said with maddening finality. For the past twenty minutes, the man had brought up Jamie. “If you shut the fuck up, maybe Trey and Brittany can have a future.”
“Trey isn’t the man for my sister,” Bryson reiterated.
“He’s your best goddamn friend. He should be the perfect man for her.”
“He’s a confirmed bachelor.”
“He’s in love with your sister.”
“Is that so?” Bryson sneered. “He couldn’t even promise me he’d try to have a serious relationship with her.”
“This is new for him. Give him a chance. Just think before you fuck with their lives. You might end up with your best friend hating you and a sister who’ll never forgive you.”
Bryson needed to go. Not only was he late to start his beat, but Mitchell was raising all types of doubts and long forgotten feelings inside Bryson.
“I’m going to talk to Brittany before I head out,” Bryson said.
Before the man could protest, Bryson pulled opened the door and rushed down the hall.
When he spotted Brittany sitting in Mitchell’s office, her shoulders slumped in dejection, Bryson crashed to a halt, uncertain. So many things were going through his head but her sadness splintered his thoughts. She hadn’t yet noticed him standing just a few feet outside the lieutenant’s office.
Bryson heaved a huge sigh, all other thoughts deserting him but for one stark realization: Trey was right. He couldn’t demand answers from her. She’d never tell him. Worse, she might clam up and not even talk to Trey about anything. At least she was opening up. He backed away and crushed his hat in his hands, wanting to smash something. Stopping again, he drew in another breath. He hadn’t known she’d been hurt. She’d suffered in silence for years and he’d done nothing. Unlike Trey, Bryson hadn’t even realized something had happened to her.
He’d just attributed her withdrawal to the ever-increasing responsibilities their mother had heaped on her. He never would’ve guessed she’d been assaulted. How could he have been so blind? Their life-changing moments had intersected, Brittany’s coming at a time when Bryson was immersed with Jamie and fighting the feelings he had for her.
Bowing his head, Bryson began to turn away but she glanced in his direction. They stared at one another for a long moment and Bryson swallowed back another bout of anger. She looked vulnerable enough to make Bryson want to kill Trey. Bryson didn’t want to give the man a chance to hurt her.
Tentatively, she smiled at him and Bryson responded with a grin. Throwing his hat on a nearby desk, he walked into the office.
“You look exhausted,” she said by way of greeting.
“I am exhausted,” he admitted but the adrenaline pumping through him stole his fatigue. He noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes and he remembered the cockamamie story she and Trey had concocted. No doubt Trey had stopped at the apartment during the night and made love to her. He wasn’t sure why they’d thought it necessary to hide her. Unless Trey wanted to take her to bed again and they’d needed to get rid of Bryson.
He tensed, betrayal cutting through him. Trey and Brittany were lovers. There’d be no better man for her if Trey had a different perspective. Even then it would take an adjustment to the idea but at least Bryson could believe Brittany had a chance at something more. But Trey was dead set against relationships, which made his seducing Brittany all the more infuriating.
“I cooked dinner,” she said into the silence before wrinkling her nose. “No I burned dinner. I hope you found something to eat. Don’t be angry, Bry. I promise I’ll do better.”
“I’m not angry.” Bryson wished his hat was still in his hands to give him something to do with them. “I ate out. I haven’t been to the apartment since early today.”
She averted her eyes, a blush stealing into her cheeks. Bryson scowled at her lowered head. His sister was petite like their mother but her complexion was a shade or two lighter and her hair was long, thick and silky. He’d been seven when she was born and he still remembered the tiny, squalling bundle his parents, Emanuel and Cora, brought home from the hospital. From the moment she’d been born, their dad had been so proud of Brittany. That she looked like his Cora made Emmanuel love Brittany even more.
Not for a moment did Bryson ever doubt the love his parents had for him but his father’s complete desertion of them had hurt more than Bryson could describe. Marriages fell apart every day but he and his sister shouldn’t have had to suffer. One day, they’d gone from being everything to their father to meaning absolutely nothing. Bryson didn’t know if the man was alive or dead and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“Is Trey already gone?” she asked, her blush deepening.
The harsh criticism he almost spat died on his lips. Though pretty sure about what she’d been doing with Trey, Bryson wouldn’t increase her shame by showing how angry he was at her for sleeping with Trey. He didn’t want to embarrass her. She’d been through enough.
He cleared his throat. “Yes, more than likely he is.”
Her shoulders slumping, she turned away.
“What are you doing here, sweetheart?” he asked, wanting to know what was going on in her head. “Why did Trey bring you to the precinct?”
She stared at the wall behind Mitchell’s desk, where a photo of Mitchell and his wife with the mayor hung next to two certificates of commendation. “I couldn’t stay in the apartment alone,” she confessed, gazing at the photo, her voice thick. Her head bowed again. “You are all out of wine anyway,” she mumbled.
Bryson lifted his brow. “Wine?”
She sniffled. “I didn’t go anywhere last night.” Shaking her head, she looked up at him, tears slipping down her cheeks. “And Trey and I didn’t do anything. I’ve offered myself to him on a silver platter and he refuses to touch me,” she sobbed.
For a moment, Bryson considered the possibility she was covering for Trey. But she sounded so heartbroken he knew she told the truth. But why would Trey allow Bryson to believe otherwise?
He’d get those answers later. First, he needed to comfort his little sister. He rushed to the empty chair next to Brittany’s, pulled it closer to her and sat down. “One thing at a time, baby. What’s this about the wine?”
Leaning over, she grabbed a handful of Kleenex from the box on Mitchell’s desk and dabbed her eyes before wiping her nose. “I drank the bottle of wine in your refrigerator, then I slept in Trey’s closet. No…I passed out in Trey’s closet. He was trying to protect me this morning when he sent you away,” she whispered, reaching trembling fingers out to him and taking his hand.
Shock traveled through Bryson. She hadn’t touched him in years. At one time, she had grabbed his hand to get his attention or hugged him with enthusiasm and affection; then one day, she’d just stopped. But now, her soft, shaking hand was grasping his and Bryson felt like weeping. He’d missed so many signals that, as her brother, he should’ve recognized.
“He’s your friend. I think Trey was trying to protect both of us. When you walked in, I was angry with him. I asked for his help to take a shower and he’d just refused me.”
Sucking in a breath, Bryson tightened his grip on her hand. She stiffened for a moment, as if she were bracing herself then pulled away her hand.
“Trey is the absolute last person you should be propositioning,” he snapped, upset on so many levels despite his intention to remain calm.
“He’s your best friend.”
“He’s committed to bachelorhood and he isn’t going to change. I know you think Trey is a living god but he’s a man with a man’s frailties. His father’s death damaged his outlook on life.”
Her chin lifted. “Sylvia visited him today. When I came out of the shower, she was there.”
Sylvia? The gorgeous sexpot? “Case in point. Sylvia doesn’t want anything more than a good, hard fuck from Trey and that’s all he wants to give a woman.”
Hurt tore across her features and her lips trembled. “He sent her away. He knew how upset I was.”
“That means nothing. Trey’s a complicated man,” he insisted, grasping anything to turn her away from Trey before she got hurt, even if that meant turning her against him. “He’s been in this game far longer than you have. I hate to tell you this but by the time you came out of the shower, he and Sylvia more than likely had already had sex.”
“No that isn’t true,” she insisted. “He has no reason to lie to me. He would’ve told me if…if he’d…if he and Sylvia—” Her fine nostrils flared and her nose reddened as her words died on her lips. “I understand Trey and I trust him too.”
“You think you understand him,” Bryson countered on a sigh. He was causing her pain right now. Reaching over, he brushed away her renewed tears. “You know I hate it when you cry.”
“Before this evening, I hadn’t cried since forever. Now it seems I can’t stop.”
Jerking back, Bryson widened his eyes in surprise. He glanced sideways and saw Mitchell standing in the doorway.
“Don’t hate me,” she said in a small, wounded voice.
“You’re not making any sense,” Bryson grumbled, low, but he knew from the nod Mitchell gave him the man had heard and was encouraging him to get her to continue. “Why would I hate you? Other than abysmal grades and the resulting loss of your scholarship, you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“My grades—”
“Are not important right now,” he interrupted, sorry he’d mentioned school.
She slid a sidelong glance to him, biting her lip. “Trey said none of what happened was my fault,” she whispered. “But I know it was. He said it was.”
Unease surged through Bryson, a threatening avalanche to crush him. He wasn’t sure he could bear to hear this but still he asked, “He who?”
Heartache and pain filled her mournful gaze. “The man who assaulted me.”
The same urge to kick something or kill someone momentary stole his reasoning skills. But his sister was staring at him, waiting for him to condemn her, to judge her. He balled his hands into fists, the muscles in his arms and neck pinching together. “Where did it happen?”
She hesitated and Bryson narrowed his eyes at her.
“At home. In my bedroom.”
Trey had told him the bare necessities, he realized, and Bryson wondered what else he’d omitted. “So you knew him?”
She nodded. “We all knew him.”
That meant Trey too. Their friends seemed interchangeable. They all ended up associating with a person one of them befriended.
“Who is he?” Bryson snarled.
“I c-can’t tell you.” She hesitated. “He said he’d kill me.”
There was a thing or two Trey had withheld from him but Bryson would stake his life Brittany hadn’t told Trey her attacker had threatened her. Nor did he believe Brittany had told him the motherfucker was known to all of them. In either case, Trey would’ve had to be locked up to calm him down. As it was, Bryson was amazingly calm, listening to the tale of a man he knew raping his little sister and threatening her life. Determined not to blow his top, he focused on something else she said. “Why would I blame you?”
“I’d started to flirt with Trey. Trying to get him to notice me. I was asking for what I got.”
Listening to her and looking at her, Bryson knew she believed her words. “It isn’t your fault.”
Leaning her head on her arm, she curled up in the chair. “He hurt me.”
“What did he do?”
“Ask Trey.”
“I’m asking you. I’m your brother and I want to help you.”
She studied him, seeming to weigh his honesty, then she nodded and slowly her tale unfolded. Bile rising to Bryson’s throat, he listened in horror. Was that the story she’d told Trey? No wonder he dared anyone to go near her.
“So I just couldn’t stay there,” she finished on more sniffles. “I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Bryson doubted that. He’d just listened to what she’d gone through and he doubted he’d be fine tomorrow after hearing it.
“It’s fine. You’re fine.”
“Trey is angry. On the drive to the station, he said wants me to contact the hospital where I was treated and request my medical records.”
He caught Mitchell’s eye, surprised he’d lingered and glad Brittany hadn’t noticed. But she was lost and unaware, withdrawn from the world as she’d been for years. “Then again, I doubted a rape kit was used since you denied being raped.” His stomach curdled at the words.
“It’s been four years and I’ve moved on with my life. I don’t want any investigation. I just want to forget this ever happened to me.”
“Brittany—”
“No, Bryson. You have to talk to him. Tell him to let it rest. He said either I get the records or he’s going to start picking off every boy who hung around me.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Bryson laughed. “Trey might be angry but he isn’t Dexter. He’s not going to become a homicidal maniac and hide behind his badge.”
“Talk to him—”
“Excuse me.” Mitchell strolled into his office as if he hadn’t been out there for long minutes. He looked with meaning at Bryson. “I think it’s time you went on duty.”
Bryson glowered at Mitchell. The man better not have it in mind to grill Brittany. He was fanatic about apprehending criminals. “Lieutenant—”
“Leave now, Donovan,” he commanded.
She eyed Mitchell with apprehension but smiled at Bryson. “Go. I’ll be fine. Trey said there’s no one he’d trust more to look after me.”
Brittany’s words put Bryson somewhat at ease. Trey had talked to Mitchell about her and, knowing Trey, already warned Mitchell not to say anything to her long before Bryson had joined them in the break room.
Leaning over, he kissed her cheek then rose to his feet. “Call me on my cell if you need anything.” With one final glance at Mitchell, he left his sister in the lieutenant’s care.