38. Brandy

38

Brandy

“ B ut why would she say you have a problem with men? What even brought that up?” Lettie asked after taking a sip of her iced caramel coffee.

The temperature was in the high forties today, but the cold never stopped us from enjoying an iced latte.

“About that…” I was hesitating, putting off what I needed to tell her. That her brother and I were…together. Were we boyfriend and girlfriend? Dating? Hooking up? I really wasn’t sure. I guess I should’ve had this conversation with Reed before I decided to tell his little sister about us, but I was starting to think Reed didn’t care about a label, so long as I let my walls down and let him in.

Lettie and I had met up this afternoon as planned, and I’d been skirting around the topic for an hour now. There was only so long I could avoid it while also telling her about my conversation with my mom. The question was bound to come up.

Lettie stared at me from across the tiny table against the wall in Bell Buckle Brews, waiting for me to continue. Her brows were raised, her caramel-colored hair tied up in a messy bun to pair with her oversized sweater and baggy jeans. She was trying to find a style that fit her, given she typically only wore Kimes jeans, old t-shirts, and boots. This new look was cute on her.

And giving me a reason to ignore what I needed to tell her.

Ugh .

“Did I tell you you look cute today?” I asked, setting my elbows on the table as if I was so infatuated with her getup that I couldn’t get close enough.

She rolled her eyes. “Only ten times. Now spill. I know when my best friend is avoiding telling me something.”

Sitting up straight, I sighed. Sometimes having a best friend wasn’t all that great. She could read me like an open book, which was both a blessing and a curse.

“Fine. I’m just going to spit it out, and if you give me some kind of look or blow up or get mad—”

“Brandy!”

“Reed and I are together,” I spit out, slouching in my chair and bracing for the criticism.

I thought you guys hated each other.

Do I need to plan a funeral?

Is it the end of the world?

Please don’t claw my brother’s eyeballs out and feed them to the fish.

Okay, that last one was a threat I made ages ago. It totally wouldn’t happen.

Unless he pissed me off, then supper’s ready, fishies.

But instead of what I feared most to come out of her mouth, she shocked me to my damn core.

The biggest toothy smile lit up her face, and she burst out laughing.

When she didn’t say a word and sat there giggling like a maniac, I sat forward.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She set a hand on the table like she needed to steady herself, and all I could manage to do was stare. My best friend had to be having a heart attack. I checked behind me, maybe hoping a doctor or a nurse was in for a bite to eat. With no such luck, I faced Lettie again.

She was out of breath, nearly wheezing as she keeled over the table, then sat straight again. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry.” She fanned herself. Seriously fanned herself.

I blinked, waiting for her to get her shit together. This was not the reaction I was expecting. Honestly, seeing her mad about it would have been more comforting than this. This was straight weird.

She took a sip of her coffee, as if she was parched from all the giggling, then inhaled deeply to compose herself. “I never thought this day would come.”

My brows furrowed. “Yeah, me either,” I said hesitantly. Was that a good or bad thing?

“You two have been dodging the obvious for years . Literal years. This is such a relief.” She fanned herself again, her cheeks red from the fit of giggles.

I processed her words twice before confusion hit me harder than a freight train barreling down the tracks with no brakes. “I’m sorry. Did you say relief ?”

She nodded. “Oh, yeah.” She reached up to tuck a strand of hair that had come loose back into her bun. As if this conversation was casual. “I was beginning to wonder if you two would ever quit the act.”

“ Act ?”

She pinned me with a look. “Don’t bullshit me, Brandy. You two have liked each other for ages.”

My jaw nearly dropped to the floor. “You mean we’ve hated each other for ages.”

She shook her head. “I know what I said. All that bickering”—she waved a finger at me—“was just foreplay.”

“Foreplay,” I repeated blandly. “Is there something in your coffee?”

She tried to smother her smile but failed miserably. “I’m happy for you! Is that so wrong?”

“I’m dating your brother .” I emphasized the last word, as if it wasn’t clear the first time.

She plucked an egg bite off the plate between us. “So you said.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?” I asked as she took a bite.

She shrugged, chewing before speaking. “Not at all.”

I sat back in my chair, staring at the ceiling like it might be able to grant me answers to what the fuck was going on.

“Brandy.” I faced Lettie again. “It’s okay to be happy for yourself, you know. Be glad you’re not fighting with him all the time now.”

I gave her a blank stare. No, we were no longer bickering all the time. We’d just traded that for giving each other orgasms.

“So your mom made that comment after you told her you were with Reed?” she asked.

I picked up an egg bite, turning it over in my fingers. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t blame her. She’s obviously going through something because my dad is in town. I wanted to talk to her more about that, but she clearly didn’t feel the same. I guess I just need to let her figure it out on her own.” I looked down at the egg bite, my chest aching with the words I said next. “I can’t fix my dad being in town. I can’t make him leave, can’t make him stop hurting her. He has his battles, and she has hers. I just hate that hers makes her feel like she has to put up with this.”

Lettie reached across the table, covering my fidgeting hand with her own. “She’ll come around.”

I looked at her. “When? The only reason she did before was because he left.” But I didn’t expect an answer. My entire childhood, there wasn’t one. That wouldn’t change today.

“And he’ll leave. He’ll get bored and ditch town again.” She sounded so sure. I wished I shared the same confidence.

“I doubt it. He’s got her right where he wants her. I’m not living there anymore, so he can do whatever the fuck he wants.” I shook my head at myself, looking down at the egg bite again before tossing it on the napkin and wiping my fingers on the edge.

Lettie pulled her hand back to her lap, attempting a smile. “Invite her to dinner at my parents’ next week. If anyone can talk sense into her, it’s my mom.”

I let out a sigh. “I don’t know. It was hard enough getting her to come out to meet me. A whole family dinner…”

“You never know unless you try.” Lettie gave a small shrug in an attempt to lighten the heaviness of the conversation.

“Plus,” she added, “you can tell everyone about you and Reed then, too.”

I pointed a look at her. “Just what we need. An announcement like that on top of an intervention.”

“Everyone is going to be so happy!” she squeaked, squeezing her hands together in front of her like she couldn’t contain her excitement over it.

“Or pass out from shock,” I muttered.

“Either way, you’re coming, and you’re inviting your mom,” Lettie ordered.

“Okay, fine. I can’t promise she’ll come, but I’ll try.”

Because I knew if I didn’t, Lettie would do it herself, and she’d give my mom no choice but to show up. Hell, she’d probably bring Bailey as backup to try and intimidate my dad if he tried to intervene, and the last thing I needed was my best friends dealing with him.

I didn’t know what I’d do without the Bronsons in my life.

They truly made me a little more complete.

Made me feel a little less ruined.

I guess that’s what family did.

Held the pieces together when all they felt like doing was breaking apart.

***

I decided to hell with a text or call to my mom and went straight to her house. Was it the brightest idea? Probably not. But at this rate, I didn’t know who was listening on the other end, and I was tired of second-guessing everything I said. Plus, asking my mom if she’d come to the Bronsons’ family dinner next week in person would give her less of a chance to say no, and an even lower possibility of my dad stepping in with his own answer before she had the ability to decide for herself.

After pulling up to the curb, I noticed the kitchen light was on, but other than that, the house was dark. It gave me hope that maybe she was inside prepping for dinner while my dad was elsewhere.

I pulled the key from the ignition and exited the car, walking up the path to the front door. I took a deep, steadying breath before rapping my knuckles on the door. As if breathing exercises could prevent the anxiety that bloomed in my chest from showing up here.

I waited a minute at least before the door finally swung in, and the last person I wanted to see crowded the doorway.

“Hello, Brandy,” my dad greeted, those two words sounding anything but welcoming.

A chill broke out across my skin, despite the wool sweater I wore. “Is Mom here?”

He wiped his hand on a rag, drawing my attention to his red knuckles. Flames licked at my muscles, urging me to run away or storm inside, I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t feel right standing here. Unease crawled under my skin like a snake unable to find its hole.

“That’s no way to greet your father, now, is it?”

I nearly rolled my eyes at the predictability of this, but the slight fear of what he’d do if I showed such disrespect had me keeping them still. My head almost ached with the effort. I was so tired of the act.

“I’m not here to talk to you, so yeah. We don’t need to pretend pleasantries are in order.” I crossed my arms, needing something to do with them before I decided to shove my way past him.

“Is that what your love for me is? Pretend?” He feigned hurt, but I knew the knowledge made him fucking gleam from the inside out. He didn’t need love to be able to control. He did it anyway.

“Yep,” I clipped. “Where is she?”

“Busy.” He leaned a shoulder against the doorway, his eyes roaming over my body before landing on my face again. Judgment shone in his gaze, but I didn’t give a shit. He wasn’t in the place to have an opinion.

“If you don’t tell me where she is—”

“You’ll what?” he interrupted before I could continue.

I leaned closer, though all my instincts screamed to back away. “I’ll tell everyone in town what you did to her face.”

He fisted the rag in his hands, crossing his arms with a smug fucking smile. What an asshole. “So she didn’t lie, then. She really did go see you the other day.”

My jaw clenched, aggravation at his avoidance digging a grave in my chest. I needed to make sure my mom was okay. By the look of his hands, who knew what he’d done to her since? And especially if he thought she lied about where she was?

“If you touched her again—”

Before I could finish my threat, I was shoved against the wall in one swift movement by a grip on my throat. My head slammed into the stucco, pain ringing through my skull. But it was nothing compared to the pure rage on my father’s face as he held me against the outside of the house.

“You’ll what, little girl? Go tell on me? Your mother loves me. No one is going to believe the bullshit you spew about us.”

My heart raced in my chest, pumping blood through my veins at an alarming rate. I couldn’t get my tongue to work, my muscles, my lungs. All of it was frozen. In shock or fear, I couldn’t tell. A combination of both, probably.

I couldn’t look at him, not as he held my life in his hand, holding me against the house I grew up in. The house that was supposed to protect me from the boogeyman, not harbor him in the next room over.

He waited for me to speak, but I couldn’t. Words evaporated on my tongue like a mist, tangible, but not graspable.

“That’s what I thought,” he spit, letting me go. I stood frozen with my back ramrod straight against the rough stucco, too scared to move.

“Don’t come back here,” he warned as he headed back inside the house, leaving me there like I was nothing but trash on the wind. “Your mother doesn’t want you anymore.”

The door slammed, causing me to flinch. He was lying. Trying to get under my skin. But the threat still stood.

I needed to get out of here.

Forcing my legs to move with every ounce of will in my body, I ran to my Bronco. After nearly missing the small step into the car, I finally situated myself in the seat. As soon as the door was closed, every limb on my body vibrated with a violent tremor. I felt stiff, cold, and every bone in my being shook to the core.

Reed.

I needed Reed.

It took me six tries to finally get the key in the ignition, then I eased my foot onto the gas, trying to control the pressure I added because even that part of me was shaking.

My dad was a scary man, typically making true on his threats, but with his hand around my neck and his face in mine, true fear hit me like a bullet to the heart. I shouldn’t have come here alone. I should have known better. I should have called my mom and asked her over the phone, but instead, I walked straight into the lion’s den and expected not to get bit.

My brain felt foggy the whole way to Reed’s house, and once I pulled up, I barely had the ability to get out of the car on my own.

He’d be so mad seeing me like this. I knew he’d be. All my life, Reed was the most protective brother to Lettie, and in return, to me, too. It just came naturally to him. So showing up on his doorstep a complete and utter mess after he’d told me not to go there alone…

I’d be lucky if I got out of this without having to bury a body.

But fuck, I needed him.