Chapter Five

Brayden

The table is up in arms as soon as Nina leaves, and I'm not sure what to process first; The way this family has formed a united front against the girl, the fact that my fiancé is in on it, or the realization—and not for the first time—that this is the family I'm marrying into.

But above all else, the woman I spent two amazing hours with the other night, a woman I haven't stopped thinking about since we parted ways, is here—and she's my fucking fiancé's cousin.

Well played, Universe.

Today is a whole different level of insanity, and it makes me question what I'm doing here in the first place.

Jordy's mom and aunt are busy in a heated debate, and their husbands seem to be trying to stay out of the line of fire. I take the opportunity to pull Jordy from the table and slip into her parents' garage. It's there that I see the empty coffee liqueur bottle beside an overturned red Solo cup with a smudge of pink lipstick on the rim, plus a large bottle of vodka. So that's what Nina was doing before dinner. I could smell the alcohol on her from across the table, and I'm surprised no one else got drunk off the fumes.

"Looks like a party," Jordy says, nudging the cup with the toe of her stiletto. "Should I make us drinks?"

She's actually laughing, as if her cousin wasn't just raked over the coals by an angry mob.

"What the hell was that?" I gesture back at the house, and she sighs, a look of annoyance on her face.

"God, I know. Nina is just so self-centered and rude, it's hard to be around her sometimes. That was not how things were supposed to go, but of course she had to go ruin everything, as usual."

"That's not what I'm saying." I run my hands through my hair, trying to make sense of how they treated her, and why it bothers me so much. It shouldn't. I barely know her. I shouldn't even be flirting with the idea of getting to know her—you know, like planning a horseback ride with her. But honestly, I'd be bothered by anyone who was backed into a corner by their very own family. The look on her face tonight, multiple times. The way she was treated like a second-class citizen by people who shared her blood. The way her own mother spoke to her, and not one person came to her defense? "It's like you all took turns hitting her with a bat. You all had each other for backup, and she only had herself. And you wonder why she fought back? I just don't get you, any of you."

"Us?" Jordy laughs, her head tilted to the slanted ceiling of the garage. "You don't know how much trouble that girl has caused. Nina moved out of her parents' house when they tried to keep her from getting in trouble. She was constantly out at night, hanging out with guys she shouldn't, and doing God knows what. When Aunt Poppy and Uncle Steve put their foot down, she moved in with Nanna Dot. But that's not even the bad part. She had everyone fooled, even me. We used to hang out at Nanna's all the time, especially when things got hard here. I thought I had an ally in Nina, and we really connected because neither one of us got along with our moms. But the whole time, she was really just grooming Nanna, getting close to her so that she could convince her to change her will. When Nanna died, we found out she left everything to Nina. The money, her house, even her old Cadillac. Millions of dollars, and Nina has all of it."

It all starts to click. The comments at the table. The stories Jordy has told me. The mysterious villain of their family that I've never met in the five years Jordy and I have been together.

It's nothing like the girl I met the other night.

"That's her? Nina is the family member who stole your mom's inheritance?"

"The one and the same," Jordy says, then huffs a laugh. "Damn, she hasn't changed a bit."

"If you all hate her so much, then what was the point of this family dinner? Surely it wasn't to rub all of this in her face."

"Not exactly," she agrees. "It was stupid really, my mom's idea. I'd thought about transferring my senior year to Sunset Bay, because I'm sick and tired of this whole long-distance thing. I just wanted to be closer to you. But the rent is way more than what I'm paying now, and I know your parents would never agree to me living with you on the ranch since we're not yet married."

This is true. My parents are old fashioned enough to believe marriage comes before living together, though they let Jordy stay in a guest cabin on the property when she visits. I know if I insisted, they'd change their mind, but I'll be honest, I'm not ready to take that step—even if my ring is on Jordy's finger.

"What does this have to do with Nina?"

"My mom thought we could talk Nina into letting me live with her while I finish school and hopefully land a paid internship."

"You all have a funny way of asking someone for a favor. "

"Okay, I guess we came on strong. And I can see from your side of things that you think we're all the assholes. But I'm telling you, Brayden, that girl is bad news. I mean, she could probably talk your father into giving her the ranch, if given the chance."

That's stretching it, I'm sure. My dad won't trust anyone with his ranch. He won't even put his full trust in me with the ranch, though he doesn't have much choice anymore.

As for Nina, something isn't sitting right with me about all of this. In the short time it took to walk her home, she had been vulnerable, honest…so completely refreshing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about her had awakened a part of me I didn't know had been asleep.

But I hardly know her. And the woman I've known and loved for five years is telling me that Nina is bad news.

This shouldn't be complicated. I have a fiancé, and Nina is no one to me. If she's the kind of person who would screw over her family and manipulate her grandmother, she's not to be trusted.

And yet, I can't stop thinking about how she's been run out of her family's house and is possibly too drunk to drive.

"You have to call her," I say, then ignore Jordy's look of shock. "Listen, you may hate her, but I'm sure even you don't want your cousin to do something stupid like drive drunk."

I can tell Jordy wants to argue about it, and I'm ready for the fight. She must sense that, because she finally sighs and digs her phone out of her back pocket.

"She's not answering," she says after a few moments. I don't hesitate, taking the backyard way to the side gate then slam through another gate to the front. I pull my keys out of my pocket, ready to hightail it down the highway when I see Nina in the front seat of a Cadillac across the street, her head in her hands.

"Brayden," Jordy calls after me, but I ignore her as I stalk across the street and open Nina's car door .

"Hey!" She jerks her head up, and I can tell she's been crying. At this moment, I don't care what happened in the past that makes this whole family hate her. I don't even care that Jordy is on my heels, about to witness me getting too familiar with someone who's supposed to be a stranger. There's something carnal inside of me, ready to explode at the sight of Nina's tears. I want to hurt everyone who's ever hurt her.

Jordy arrives at my side and takes my arm. I have to fight the urge to jerk away. I've never wanted to pull away from Jordy's touch, but right now, it feels like the wrong woman is holding on to me. Even more, I can see from the look on Jordy's face that she's gloating at her cousin's tears. I swallow hard, inhaling deeply so I don't do or say anything I'll regret.

"You can't drive." I release my arm from Jordy's grasp and reach across Nina to take the keys from the ignition. She still smells of alcohol, but this close I can also smell the lilac of her ocean hair and the warm honey of her golden skin, igniting a hunger inside me that's white-hot and captivating. I'm going to go out of my mind if I can't touch her.

I yank my head out of her car, then take a few steps back, her keys in my hand. The rage in her eyes tells me she sees this as a violation, but I'm just trying to keep my distance so I don't do something stupid.

"You smell like my father's liquor cabinet," Jordy huffs. "What, you have to steal his booze too?"

"Fuck you, Jordy. And fuck your whole family." She turns to me, too. "And fuck you, give me back my keys so I can get the hell out of here."

"No." I put the keys in my front pocket. Her eyes follow, and my dick twitches to attention, as if she called its name. I close my eyes briefly, willing it to behave. "You're riding with Jordy in the truck, and I'm driving your car home."

"Like hell I'm driving any vehicle with her in it." Jordy glares at me, and I realize she's right. If I put these two girls in the same cab, they're liable to tear each other apart on the two-hour drive home.

"Fine, then drive the Cadillac," I say to Jordy. "I'll follow in the truck with Nina."

"Are you kidding me? Why can't her parents take her home?"

I think of how her mom jabbed at her the whole meal. If this was how she treated her in public, what would it be like for a two-hour car drive?

My inner voice of reason interrupts this thought process though, reminding me that Nina is not my responsibility. Her dysfunctional family dynamic is not my business. The only one I should be concerned about is Jordy, and it would probably do us both good to pack up and leave, letting the rest of them figure it out.

But I can't. Ever since the night I rescued Nina from those assholes, I have not been able to get her out of my mind. Seeing her here is making me question everything. I can't just walk away, and I definitely can't leave her.

"Look, we're going the same way. And you know where she lives." I do, too, but Jordy doesn't need to know that. "We'll just caravan over there and drop Nina and her car off before heading to the ranch. And the sooner we leave, the sooner we can be home."

"Hello, I'm right here." Nina steps out of the car and leans against it. "Don't I get a say in it?"

"No," both Jordy and I say in unison. Despite myself, I quirk a smile at my fiancé. I can see she's softening. I tilt my head in question until she rolls her eyes and holds out her hand. I fish the keys out of my pocket and place them there, holding her hand for just a moment as a way to say thank you. She relaxes, her eyes showing the hint of a smile.

"Let me just grab my purse and tell them we're leaving." She trots back to the house.

"I'm not really drunk, you know," Nina says once she's gone. "I had two drinks and that's all."

"Two strong drinks, if I can still smell it. Come on, let's get in the truck."

"You don't have to save me," she says, unmoving. "You already did that, and I'm grateful, but I'm done being saved. I'd like to just go home and forget I have a family, or that any of this happened."

"You can do that once I drive you home," I say. "Now get your ass in the truck."