I didn’t have a fire extinguisher, but I had to stop the fight. They were frightening William. Laney took William by the hand and led him to the back of the house. He was fighting her to stay and watch the two idiots pummel each other.

When I saw they were cleared from the room, I sat on Bryce’s back, wrapped my arm around this throat, and pulled. “Stop! No one is here to hurt anyone.”

Brody took the opportunity he had when Bryce was trying to free his neck from my hold to lace his fingers together and slam his fists into Bryce’s belly. He went limp as soon as he felt the impact. I was still pulling on him, trying to get him off Brody, and it caused me to pull him over on top of me.

Brody stood with his hands on his hips and tried to catch his breath, but the second he saw my legs under Bryce’s body, he yanked Bryce off me. He tossed him to the sofa and pulled me to my feet. “Don’t do that again.”

“What?” I tried to calm my breathing. “Save your ass? I need to start carrying a fire extinguisher like April.”

He ignored my jab that fighting seemed to happen a lot around him and turned his attention back to Bryce. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“You shouldn’t be here at all. You’re supposed to be dead! I’d love to finish the job.”

“I know. Believe me. No one was more surprised than I was when I woke up.” He rubbed his chest. “Telling you I died was the only way I could assure you’d have peace of mind that I wasn’t coming back.”

“Yeah, until today. Tell me, Prince Charming, what did we do to deserve a visit from your grave? Whatever it is, it isn’t good enough. You should’ve stayed dead.”

Laney walked out with her three children. “I’m taking them next door.”

“Good, you stay there, and call the cops while you’re over there.”

Brody noticed the cordless on the end table and picked it up. “I’ve never said you couldn’t make a call.” He tossed it to Bryce with a little more force than what was needed. “Call them yourself. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Don’t call anyone.” Laney looked at William and back to Bryce. “We need this settled, or he’ll just keep coming back.”

“I know one way he’ll never come back.”

“Stop it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

William kept his arms wrapped around her leg but looked back at Brody as they walked out. “Mommy, is that man going to hurt Daddy anymore?”

“No, baby. He’ll be gone when you get back. I promise.”

Bryce waited for the door to shut before he spoke. “He isn’t yours.”

“I’ll ask you the same thing I asked Laney. Do you have confirmation of that?”

“Yes.” Bryce sat on the edge of the sofa and ran his hands through his hair before standing up. “Every single night when he calls me Daddy and tells me he loves me. That’s all I need. That’s all he needs.”

“It seems this is no surprise to you that I could be the father. I told her not to tell you we fucked.”

“That’s all it was. You thought it meant something?” Bryce scoffed. “You don’t get it. You’ll never get it.”

“So explain it to me.” Brody sat down and lifted his ankle to his knee as if he were willing to listen. He watched Bryce pace a few times but couldn’t stand the silence. “I can see why you want to hang on to her. She’s a really great fuck. It was an amazing experience for me.”

He was trying to get a rise out of Bryce, but what he was doing was pissing me off. The man sitting a few feet from where I was standing wasn’t the man I’d been falling for. He was a crude, selfish, and insufferable man who didn’t care about anyone’s feelings. What was worse was that he didn’t seem to care about his feelings, either.

Laney walked in and stormed right to Brody. “I want to know why you lied! It all makes sense now. Why I wasn’t allowed to see you when they said you took a turn for the worse. Why I wasn’t allowed to go to your funeral. Why I couldn’t even find out where you were buried to pay my respects later. It was all a lie. All of it!

“You were probably sitting in some hospital room getting sponge baths from your next conquests, and enjoying quite the laugh at my expense. You got the ungettable girl. The one who professed her love for one man but fell into your bed with enough staging from you.”

She shook her head and looked down as she crossed her arms. She fought at first but fell back into Bryce’s embrace when he wrapped his arms around her. “I felt terrible for making you think I was falling for you. I felt sick to my stomach after we had sex, and I felt guilty as hell that I enjoyed it.

“I made choices for my survival that I’ve had to live with every day since, but I don’t regret a single one of them. I’m with the man I love more than anything, and we have three beautiful children together. No matter what you are here to do, you will not take that away from us.”

Brody sat and took every word until she had nothing left to say. “Are you done?” He stood when she remained silent. “Part of me did die that day. I’ve done nothing but wander around since I was able to leave that fucking town. You showed me,” he stopped and looked at Bryce before continuing, “both of you showed me what it meant to love someone.

“I’ve never seen that kind of love, and I sure as hell never experienced it. When your dad walked into my office, I was living my life one day at a time. I was going through the motions of constant nothingness, waiting for something to happen. Then it did. I was told about a girl who was set to marry an asshole while her father’s top monkey spanked it in the corner of my office just thinking about the chance to get his hands on you.

“I’d never in my life felt the need to protect anyone more than I needed to protect you. I have no idea why. I don’t give two shits about most people, but especially not total strangers.”

Bryce had enough. “What do you want from us? If he has your DNA, are you going to demand visitation? You come up here not knowing if he’s yours or not and just walk in as if you own the rights to our lives. You made the decision to walk out. None of us knew at that time she was pregnant, but you lost the right to dictate how this went when you left. I stayed. I’ve always stayed.”

“You can think the worst of me. I’ve given you enough reason to do that. I’m not here to change the outcome we have now, but neither of you would be able to walk away from this, either.”

“You aren’t here to change the outcome? Then why come at all?” Bryce scoffed. “As if I believe anything you say.”

Laney turned in Bryce’s arms and whispered. He placed his forehead to hers and nodded. Brody placed his hands into his pockets as he looked away from them comforting each other. I wanted to touch Brody. To comfort him and remind him that he wasn’t alone, but he seemed to have forgotten I was in the room with him.

They didn’t take their eyes off each other when Bryce spoke. “Our doctor. No one else is to know about this, and we don’t tell William what we’re doing. Not a word.” He looked at Brody. “I won’t have you shattering his world no matter what the results say. He’s innocent in all of this. And you go through me. You don’t contact Laney again. Is that clear?”

“I’ll agree to all of your conditions, but there’s one condition you have to agree to first. We get the results at the same time. You don’t get a three-day head start to leave me behind if he’s mine. We find out together.”

* * *

When we got back to the hotel, I told Brody I wanted to be alone. He seemed relieved as if he wanted to be alone, as well. I walked the city and tried to get rid of some of the nervous energy I had, but until it was over and we knew which way the results fell, I’d be a constant ball of nerves. It had to be so much worse for the three of them.

Being in that room as if I were a fly on the wall told me what a triangle it had become. It was obvious Bryce held some jealousy toward the intimate relationship between Brody and Laney. I understood exactly how he felt. After seeing them together, I had the same jealousy.

I wasn’t sure I could measure up to the amount of perfection they both seemed to think Laney was. I could admit the one time I met her wasn’t under the best of circumstances, but she seemed like an ordinary woman to me. I didn’t see the superpowers they had seen in her.

My phone rang, and I expected it to be Brody. I’d been gone for quite some time. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or not that it wasn’t him, but I was happy to hear from my mom.

“Hey.”

“That doesn’t sound like a very good hey, kiddo. What’s going on?”

“I have no idea.” I sighed. “I think I’m falling in love with a man who is in love with someone he’ll never get.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“Go ahead and tell me you told me so.”

“No, baby. I would never do that. Are you sure he’s in love with this other woman?”

“I’m not sure of anything anymore.”

“Not even how you feel anymore?”

I blew out a breath. “No, I know that all too well.”

“Okay, then what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know what to do, Mom.” I sat down on a bench and leaned forward. My stomach hurt to think of the options.

“What happens next?”

“It was too late today for them to make an appointment, but they’re supposed to call their doctor and set it up first thing in the morning. They’ll call Brody with the time to be there.”

“Are you going?”

“I’m not sure. I will if he wants me there.”

“You’re talking pretty freely. Did you two get separate rooms?”

“No, I went for a walk.”

“Maggie, I wish I could be there for you, but you know where I am when you want to come home. Now, call me tomorrow when you know more.”

“Thanks, Mom. I will.” I hung up but stayed seated and looked at the sidewalk underneath my feet as if it held all the answers. I didn’t have time to stare at concrete, though. I needed to figure out where I was so I could get back. My feet hurt. I’d been walking for hours.

“I’d give anything to talk to my mom again.” Laney sat next to me on the bench. “She died when I was young.”

I sat up and glanced at her. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” She tucked her hands under her legs. “I’m sorry. I don’t know if I ever learned your name. If I did, I forgot.”

“Oh, I don’t know if we said it. It’s Maggie, by the way.”

“It’s none of my business, but—”

“I know plenty of things that aren’t my business.” I motioned for her to ask. “It’s only fair.”

“How did you and Brody meet?”

“It’s a long story, but the point is we helped each other when we needed it the most.”

“Yeah, it’s funny how life seems to do that to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had a lonely life before Bryce. It was stressful after him with the crazy things my father put us through, but I spent an uncomfortable three months with a total stranger, and he completely transformed my life. It’s perfect now.” She shrugged one shoulder. “Well, it was this morning when I woke up.”

“What do you mean by uncomfortable?”

“I couldn’t think of another word to describe it. It wasn’t the most awful experience of my life, but it wasn’t the best time, either.”

“Did he—”

“I know what you’re going to ask, and the answer is no. He never hurt me. He never forced himself on me. Brody is far from a perfect gentleman, but he did his best.” She smiled. “When he wasn’t being such a dickhead.”

“Was it really just one time?”

“Bryce has the same problem. Two adults with nothing else to do and we only had sex one time?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t seem possible. I’d probably think the same thing if the tables were turned.

“Do you know what we did? We put puzzles together, worked out, fought, laughed, and fought some more. That was the majority of our time together. He was too busy trying to put a wedge between Bryce and me that he didn’t focus on being with me. There isn’t anything to worry about with Brody and me.”

“He has three scars from trying to save your life. I don’t think he’d do that for just anyone.”

She nodded. “And I will be grateful for the second chance he’s given me, but that’s as far as it goes.”

“How old are your children?”

“William is four, Jill is two, and I just had Dillon three weeks ago.”

“If I ever have children, I’d want them close in age, too.”

“May I give you one piece of advice?”

“Of course.” I was a little apprehensive about what her advice would be, but I wanted to hear it.

“Make sure you stock up on all diaper sizes. When you have that many kids going through them all at once, a growth spurt can cause a ripple effect and will really fuck with your day.”

I smiled and looked down, relieved it wasn’t about Brody. “I’ll keep that in mind.”