Chapter 43

CHAPTER43

You left me with no choice.

For several minutes, Cayley sat there, staring down at her phone, until finally, she realized that she couldn’t put it off any longer and slowly, ever so slowly, looked up to find the two large men that walked into her office ten minutes ago watching her and sighed.

Bradfords.

She really should have seen this one coming, Cayley thought as she took in the larger of the two incredibly handsome men as he devoured the plate of Christmas cookies she’d helped herself to from her aunt’s bakery before shifting her attention to the other one and noted the unholy gleam in his eyes that reminded her of Sean. This definitely wasn’t going to end well, Cayley realized as she moved to take a sip of her soda, only to have the man that wouldn’t stop glaring at her reach over and pluck her soda off her desk before she had a chance to grab it. Keeping his glare locked on her, he finished off her soda and-

“You know why we’re here,” Jason Bradford, the man who had been forced to rescue her after an unfortunate incident involving Sean, a glue gun, and her inability to outrun him when she was eight, said.

“To make my life a living hell because the little bastard has a big mouth?” Cayley said, blinking at the two men, who had taken it upon themselves to interrogate every woman that managed to catch the interest of one of their cousins over the years and-

This could work, Cayley thought as she sat there, taking in the two men that could make her life easier. After her failed interrogations, and she was still trying to figure out what went wrong, she’d been left with questions that she knew better than to ask Bryce or Sean at this point. She’d considered asking one of the other James brothers, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t end well.

That left Rory, but she already knew that Rory wouldn’t tell her anything if she thought that she was betraying one of her brothers. That left Connor, who would happily fuck over one of the James brothers simply because he could, but she wasn’t sure that he was the right person to ask about this.

She had questions about the stories that Sean used to regale her with about the Bradford family, their traditions, the Bradford curse, but mostly, she had questions about the man that meant the world to her. She loved Bryce.

More than anything.

Several times last night, she’d been tempted to tell him, but she was terrified to say the words. It was just happening so fast. A month ago, she’d convinced herself that Bryce was her least favorite James brother, but she’d been lying to herself and now…

Just the thought of losing him one day made her heart break.

She should just tell him that she loved him, Cayley thought as she ignored the men watching her every move. It would be so easy to say the words, especially since there was no doubt in her mind that he loved her. She knew it by the way that he looked at her, the way that he touched her and kissed her, and by the way that he made love to her.

He-

“Want to tell us what your intentions towards our cousin are?” Jason drawled as he watched her with that anticipatory gleam in his eye that she easily ignored as she decided that now would probably be a good time to take over this interrogation.

“You want to tell me why he won’t stop glaring at me?” Cayley asked as Trevor continued glaring at her.

“Tradition,” Jason said, gesturing for her to get on with it.

“I suppose we could discuss my intentions towards your cousin or you could tell me what I want to know,” Cayley said, blinking at him.

Nodding slowly, Jason said, “We could do that, but we’re not going to.”

“Are you sure about that?” Cayley asked, sending Jason a pitying look as she grabbed her phone and took her time looking for the picture that she’d been waiting for the right moment to entice Sean with, but this was more important than trying to get her best friend to change the oil in her car for her.

“Positive,” Jason drawled while Trevor continued to glare.

“I want to know about the Bradford curse,” Cayley murmured as she sat back in her chair and waited for Jason to tell her what she wanted to know.

“And what do you know about the Bradford curse?” Jason asked, watching her curiously.

“Enough to know that there’s more to it than what Sean told me,” Cayley said, deciding that it was time to turn to physical intimidation to aide her interrogation and crossed her arms over her chest as she waited.

She watched Jason’s lips twitch as he copied the move and-

Flexed his insanely large muscles.

Not one to be easily intimidated, Cayley kept her gaze locked with him as she reached into her desk and grabbed the candy bar that she’d grabbed on her way to work and-

“Thanks,” Trevor said as he reached over her desk and plucked it out of her hand.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Jason said, looking really amused for some reason.

“And I’m not going to,” Cayley said, returning to folding her arms over her chest as she waited.

Shrugging, Jason said, “I hear you like closets.”

“And I hear you like buffets,” Cayley said, watching as both men went still and swallowed hard as she reached over and picked up her phone.

When Jason opened his mouth, most likely to try to take over her interrogation, Cayley held up the phone and-

“What do you want to know?” Jason asked hoarsely, swallowing hard.

“Everything.”

* * *

“I really hate this family,”Rory heard her husband mumble seconds before the bed jostled and the unmistakable sounds of a pained grunt reached her ears.

Really hoping that this was a bad dream, Rory opened her eyes and-

“You’ve been busy,” Sean said conversationally as he settled more comfortably on the bed next to her as she watched Connor drag himself off the floor and-

“Was that really necessary?” Sean asked with a heartfelt sigh from where he’d landed on the floor as Connor, who looked understandably pissed, climbed back onto the bed and pulled her into his arms.

“Yes,” Connor said, closing his eyes and he pressed a kiss against the back of her neck, “now, get out.”

“I wish I could,” Sean said with a sad shake of his head as he pulled himself back up with a pained grunt, “but I’m afraid that I can’t do that.”

“You really can,” Rory murmured absently as she glanced at her alarm clock and found herself wondering why her brother was trying to piss her off this early, even as a thought occurred to her. “Do you want to tell me why Jason and Trevor drove all the way up here just to interrogate Cayley?”

“Tradition,” Sean said with a satisfied sigh as he dropped down on the bed next to Connor, making her husband go still, “Now, where were we?”

“You were getting the hell out of my bed before I kill you,” Connor said, reaching back to shove her brother off the bed, but Sean simply ignored him as he settled more comfortably on the bed next to him.

“What do you want?” Rory asked, knowing her brother well enough to know that he wasn’t leaving until he got what he came here for. She honestly didn’t know how Cayley put up with him for this long because Rory would have killed him by now.

“Answers,” Sean murmured, sounding thoughtful as Rory gave up trying to go back to sleep and rolled onto her other side so that she could glare at the little bastard, only to wonder where he got that sandwich.

“To?” Rory asked as she reached over and snatched the sandwich out of his hand, deciding that she’d more than earned it and took a bite. Sean’s eyes narrowed dangerously on her, but he didn’t say anything, which probably had something to do with the fact that it hadn’t ended well for him the last time that she was pregnant and he’d made the mistake of coming between her and food. As Rory took a bite of the delicious sandwich that was really hitting the spot, she couldn’t help but wonder if he still had that scar.

“Well,” Sean began as he reached over and snatched the pillow out from beneath Connor’s head so that he could shove it behind him, “you could start by telling me what you’re up to.”

“What makes you think that I’m up to something?” Rory managed to ask with a straight face as her husband was forced to pull her closer so that he could hide that evil smile that still managed to bring her to her knees.

Blinking, Sean countered with, “What makes you think that I won’t tell your children all of the seriously fucked up things that you did to each other growing up?”

“You could do that,” Rory murmured as she took her time finishing off her sandwich before she added, “but, then again, I could tell Cayley why her cousin really hates you.”

Rory watched as her brother’s eyes narrowed on her as he debated his next move until finally, Sean said, “You’re bluffing.”

“You won’t really know that until you do something to piss me off, now, will you?” Rory said as Sean sat there, considering her as he tried to figure out his next move.

“Fair enough,” Sean said, nodding slowly.

“Then, we’re done here?” Rory asked, eager to get back to sleep so that she could get a few more hours of sleep before she had to get up with the kids.

“Not even close,” Sean said, folding his arms over his chest as he leveled a glare on her. “Start talking.”

Blinking, Rory asked, “Didn’t we just establish that I had the upper hand?”

Sending her a pitying look, Sean asked, “Did we, though?”

“We really did.”

“Then, I guess I’m left with no choice but to tell our brothers about the plans that you have for them,” Sean said with a sad shake of his head as he moved to climb off the bed.

She should let him go. She really should, but…

“What do you want to know?”