by Sam Mariano
“You lied to me,” he finally says.
It’s not what I expected him to lead with. He says it like it’s unfathomable, like we’re close friends or something.
“I didn’t lie,” I answer. “I told you I took care of it, and I did.”
“With your cock?” he demands, raising a dark eyebrow in skeptical confusion. “You weren’t supposed to fuck her, Brant. You were supposed to—” He stops and looks over his shoulder, checking to make sure Bri is far enough away. When he sees she is, he looks back at me, but he lowers his voice. “You were supposed to kill her.”
Shrugging, I turn back to the counter and begin peeling the foil off Alyssa’s pineapple salsa. “Turns out you were a little too generous with the details when you told me about her. Made me curious.”
“Curious enough to fuck my sloppy seconds?” he asks cuttingly. “And here I thought you hated me.”
“Oh, I do,” I assure him. “You’re never mistaken in thinking that.”
“Okay,” he says after a pause, walking closer and shaking his head at me. “I get it—Alyssa’s hot, and I told you all the shit she was willing to do. I understand fucking her if you had the chance, but what the hell happened after that? What is this shit about being engaged? What are you playing at?”
“Not playing at anything,” I tell him. “Things have changed. I like Alyssa a hell of a lot more than I like you. If I had to pick one of you to keep in the family, it’d be an easy choice.”
“You can’t marry her,” he says, like it’s common sense and there’s no other way to see it.
“Sure I can.”
“No, you fucking can’t. She was mine, not yours.”
A surge of anger rushes through me so fast, I damn near throw the bowl of salsa at him. “She was never yours, you fucking asshole. You’re married. Married. You fucked around on your wife—that doesn’t give you ownership over the girl you fucked around with.”
“I told you about this so you would make her go away,” he says, angrily pointing at the back yard and raising his eyebrows. “Does this look like away to you, Brant? She’s in my fucking yard, talking to my wife, playing with my kids. This is not what I asked you to do.”
“I told you then and I’ll tell you again, I wasn’t doing any of it for you. I was doing it for Bri. I found another way to handle the situation, and I’ve accomplished the same end. I’ve protected Bri just as effectively—”
“No, Brant.”
I’m tempted to dismiss him, but he looks so legitimately upset, I don’t tell him to fuck off and go outside. I wait to hear what he says.
He’s quiet for a moment, then he says, “You were supposed to remove the temptation, not bring it to my fucking Fourth of July party.”
All the blood in my body turns to sludge. A knot forms in my stomach and my words come out more hostile than I mean them to. “Temptation? You said she didn’t mean anything to you.”
Rolling his head back in disbelief, he says, “Of course I did. You’re the psychotically overprotective brother of my wife—of course I told you the girl I cheated with didn’t mean anything to me.”
I know logically the ground hasn’t shifted beneath my feet, but I feel unsteady regardless. Clutching the edge of the countertop, feeling every muscle in my body tense, I try to think of what to say, but nothing’s coming out. It’s not just anger that heats me up; a blade of fear slices right through me at the idea that there exists a man capable of taking Alyssa away from me, and maybe he wants to.
I try to bring myself back down with the reminder that he didn’t leave Bri and run off with Alyssa; he came to me wanting to get rid of her. Whatever he thinks he feels for Alyssa, it’s nothing compared to what I feel for her. I’d never hurt her, not for anything, and he was willing to just because she became inconvenient.
Damn girl’s been inconvenient for me since the moment I met her—hasn’t stopped me from developing feelings for her, enough of them that I’m willing to marry her and take on a kid that’s not even mine.
I replay the things Alyssa has said to me, too, about how she was attracted to Theo but she was never in love with him. I know she might not be completely in love with me yet, either, but she’s on her way, and that’s more than she ever felt for this bastard.
“Lust is all there ever was between you, Theo. You’re just gonna have to get over that. It’ll be good practice, seeing a woman you’d like to fuck but not doing it. As many years as you’ve been married, you should be pretty good at it by now, but you’re not, are you?”
“This isn’t funny,” he tells me, still looking like I’ve betrayed him.
“Do I look amused?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow.
“I can’t have her around, Brant,” he tells me, shaking his head. The look on his face tells me he’s serious, but it doesn’t matter. Alyssa’s not going anywhere, so he’s just gonna have to adjust.
“Then leave.”
His expression deadens. “Fucking hilarious.”
I shrug, grabbing the container full of meat skewers. “Not kidding. Alyssa’s not going anywhere, and it shouldn’t matter because she doesn’t want anything to do with you. Me and Alyssa are together now. Nothing you say will change that.”
“She’s having my baby,” he states.
“She’s having my baby,” I correct him.
Theo nods knowingly. “And when it comes out looking like me? Because it will, you know. Look at both of my sons.” He gestures to the back yard. “They’re carbon copies of me, Brant, and they have more of your blood in their veins than this one will. My hair, my eyes. You and I don’t look alike, so don’t you think Bri might find it pretty fucking interesting when Alyssa’s baby comes out looking like me instead of you?”
I’ve tried my best not to think about that. None of us can change the baby’s biological makeup, no matter how much we want to, so I don’t see much point worrying about it yet. “Hopefully it’s a girl, then, and she takes after Alyssa,” I offer as I walk toward the sliding doors.
“And if not? What then, Brant? You can’t do this,” he tells me again. “You were supposed to protect Bri, not Alyssa.”
I stop just before I pull the door open, turning to look back at him. “No, Theo. You’re Bri’s husband—you’re supposed to protect her from this kind of hurt. I shouldn’t have to.”
Rather than take on guilt like a decent man would after fucking up this badly, he tends toward the childish, standing there fuming because I didn’t clean up his mess as neatly as he expected me to.
I can’t take being around him anymore, so I shake my head, then open the sliding door and head outside toward the grill.
20
Alyssa
I can feel Theo’s gaze on me.
Brant bought me a bikini to wear under my dress in case I wanted to go in the pool while we were at the cookout today, but I didn’t plan to. Then Thompson started playing with the other kids and Levi started to get grumpy without his usual playmate, and somehow, before I knew it, I was taking my dress off and grabbing Levi’s favorite pool float.
As I drag the inflatable green frog through the water, Levi grins and kicks his little legs. To entertain him, I keep pretending to slip and lose my balance. He squeals with delight and whacks the float in front of him, then leans forward and dips his fingers into the pool water, trying to splash me.
Playfully, I push some water toward him and give his arm a little splash back.
Levi grins and smacks his hands down, sending little droplets of water at me. I react theatrically as if he sent a big wave my way, and Levi leans back in his float and giggles at me.
We were the only two in the pool, so I’m startled to hear someone else slicing through the water behind me. When I look over my shoulder and see Theo wading toward me, my heart drops into my stomach.
He’s shirtless and presumably in swim trunks, but I can’t see them. He’s in the shallower part of the pool right now, and the water is sloshing around his cut abdomen.
The water laps around his waist as he stops beside me. We’re not in the deepest part, so the water only sloshes around my breasts. As his gaze drifts over them, I wish I’d have taken Levi deeper so they’d be completely submerged under water.
“You having fun, buddy?” he asks his son, looking over at the happy baby splashing around in his pool float.
“What are you doing?” I ask lowly, keeping my gaze on Levi.
“Playing with my son,” Theo offers back innocently.
“All right. I’ll leave you to it, then,” I murmur, turning and starting to head back to the stairs to climb out of the pool.
Theo’s hand locks around my bicep. “Wait. Don’t run away—you were playing with Levi.”
“Get your hand off me,” I say, shrugging him off, my heart pounding faster. I don’t want to make a scene, but I don’t want him touching me, either.
He immediately drops his hand, and when I glance back at him, he’s frowning like I’m the one out of line for not wanting to be in the water with him. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Are you kidding me?” I snap, turning back to him so I can talk quietly. “I know what you tried to do, Theo. I know you sent someone to—” I stop, looking over at Levi. I shake my head, not even bothering to finish my sentence. I know Levi is little enough that he can’t repeat or understand any of this anyway, but I still don’t feel right accusing his father of attempted murder in front of him.
Theo hears the words I’m refraining from saying, though, and he sighs, looking down at the water. “I’m sorry, Alyssa.”
I frown, not having expected him to apologize, but I don’t lower my guard an inch, regardless.
Theo goes on without prompting. “When you told me you were pregnant, I panicked. I didn’t know what to do.”
“Oh, well, in that case you’re totally forgiven for wanting me dead,” I say sarcastically.
“I know it was a shitty thing to do.” When he lifts his gaze to mine, genuine remorse seems to sparkle in his blue eyes.
“Yes, it was,” I state, holding on to every bit of my anger.
Cocking an eyebrow, he says, “But to be fair, it doesn’t seem like you held it against Brant, and he’s the one who showed up to do the deed.”
“He didn’t know me,” I state, meeting his gaze. “You did, at least a little. I was never anything but nice to you—too nice, clearly.”
Theo sighs, tilting his head back and looking miserable. “Fuck. You’re right. I’m sorry, Alyssa.”
I didn’t expect such immediate acquiescence, and for some reason, it makes me uncomfortable. Can remorse be real if it comes that quickly, that spontaneously? Probably not.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at,” I tell him, my tone more subdued, “but I don’t believe you and I don’t forgive you. If you’re so impulsive and easily changeable that you can just…” I trail off, not entirely sure how to finish it.
“Just what?” he asks, an almost coaxing playfulness dancing in his eyes. “Admit when I’m wrong and apologize?”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he’s trying to lure me back in. I don’t know how he thinks that’s possible now, not only because of what he has done to me or the even worse thing he tried to do, but because he knows I’m with Brant now. We’re in his back yard at a party he is hosting with his wife, and how can he possibly imagine I would find him charming at this point?
Theo’s slippery, and I never noticed that before. I guess I should have, all things considered, but looking at him in this post-Brant world is like looking at an entirely different person. He hasn’t changed, but maybe I have, because I certainly see him differently.
Meeting his gaze, I tell him plainly, “I don’t trust you, not one bit. I know we’ll have to be around each other for years to come, and I will be polite and keep up appearances for Bri’s sake, but make no mistake, Theo, we are not friends.”
“I’m sad you feel that way,” he tells me, seeming to mean it.
“You must be insane if you thought I’d feel any other way.”
Frowning and shaking his head, he says, “How the hell did you and Brant happen if you’re so unforgiving all of a sudden?”
“You do not compare to Brant,” I inform him. “He may be a jerk sometimes, but he is always genuine. He cares about me, and he takes care of me. He only planned to hurt me because he didn’t know me at the time. He thought I was a threat and he was trying to protect his sister. When you sent him after me, you knew me, Theo. You knew I wasn’t some heartless bitch who would ever try to hurt your family, but you were willing to hurt me, anyway. You weren’t looking out for Bri or even trying to protect your kids. You only cared about protecting yourself.”
Sighing, Theo looks over his shoulder and glances at the people seated around the pool. Looking back at me, his voice a tad lower, he says, “I’d like to talk about this somewhere more private. You’re way off base, but I can’t really say all I’d like to say when I’m worried about being overheard.”
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say,” I tell him. “I’m certainly not going anywhere alone with you, not after last time.”
“I won’t hurt you,” he promises. “Whether you believe me or not, I am legitimately sorry. I’ve stayed up nights thinking about what I did to you—or, what I thought I did. I panicked, Alyssa. I didn’t know what to do. I know you think I was just being a selfish asshole, but I didn’t believe you when you said all that accommodating shit. I figured it was easy enough to say, and yeah, maybe you meant it at the time, but when the baby actually came and you were stuck doing everything on your own, you would start to feel ripped off and bitter. I just didn’t want to risk losing my family, and maybe that was the wrong call. Maybe… maybe I should have stopped thinking about myself long enough to think about you and what you were going through.”
“Well, you didn’t,” I answer, watching Levi hit the water and rear back in surprise when it splashes him. “You only thought about yourself.”
“No,” he disagrees, but it’s without heat. “I thought about Bri and the boys, too. You may not believe me, but when I enlisted Brant’s help, I was trying to protect my family. You can’t be under the impression Brant’s a saint, right? What do you think he would have done in the same situation, Alyssa? Protect his family at all costs, or leave a ticking time bomb out in the world, knowing it could blow up his whole life at any given time? Be honest with yourself.”
Barely hiding my disgust as I look over at him, I tell Theo, “Brant would never be in that situation.”
Scoffing, he shakes his head. “Right. ‘Brant the Infallible’—what was I thinking?”
I’m done talking to Theo, so I move forward and lean in to give Levi a little kiss on the cheek. “Since your daddy’s here, I’m gonna go see what Uncle Brant’s up to, all right?”
He squeals and splashes me. I give him a little splash back, then turn and start to make my way out of the pool.
“Alyssa, wait,” Theo says, grabbing my arm again.
Fire in my eyes, I meet his gaze. “What?”
I can’t decide how he looks. Conflicted, maybe. “There’s stuff you don’t know about Brant… stuff you need to know, if you’re gonna be involved with him.”
Pulling my arm out of his grasp, I tell him, “I know everything I need to know.”
“No, you don’t,” he warns. “He’s dangerous, Alyssa. There’s a reason I wasn’t afraid to go to him to ask him to…” He gestures at me.
“I know. I’m not under any illusion that Brant’s hands are clean, but I still prefer them to yours.”
That insult lands and he stiffens, looking a little offended at the idea that anyone could prefer Brant to him. “I’m just trying to look out for you, all right?”
I barely stifle a laugh, scof
fing as I walk away. “Yeah, right.”
“Alyssa.”
I start to turn back to see what he wants, but I’m caught off guard when I turn and Theo’s right on top of me. My gaze jumps to Levi since he shouldn’t be left unattended in the pool and Theo just walked away from him, but then I’m further shocked as Theo leans in, in full visibility of everyone near the pool. He grabs my shoulder with one hand and curves his face in to whisper intimately in my ear.
“Better hope he doesn’t get jealous. Brant has it in him to be real violent. Killed the last girl he loved in a fit of jealous rage.”
Ice water trickles through my veins. I’m frozen with fear and can’t even move.
Theo leans back, meeting my gaze, something cold and knowing on his face. “Good luck.”
I can’t get out of the water fast enough. It’s over 80 degrees outside, but chills run all over my body as the warm breeze hits my flesh.
Even though that only lasted a couple seconds, I feel like everyone saw me and Theo in the pool and they all know everything.
It would be really great if I emerged from the water and grabbed a towel to wrap around my body, looked around, and noticed with immense relief that nobody had been paying attention.
Instead, I emerge from the pool and feel the heat of Brant’s gaze before I can find it. At first, I figure it’s only a guilty conscience making me feel that way, but then I see him standing beside the grill, glowering at me.
My stomach plummets and I forget about the towel. Theo’s words are so fresh, fear propels me barefoot across the lawn, forgetting my shoes and my dress, too.
I knew there was something dark in Brant’s past, knew it surrounded a past relationship—presumably with Nicole—but he has never shared the ugly details. Theo gave me a blunt summary, but even that raises so many questions.
It’s easy to see that’s exactly what he intended, but knowing that makes it no less relevant. Was it really a jealous rage, like Theo said? Brant said it was an accident that first night he mentioned it. I knew he had a jealous, possessive streak in him, but when it’s come up, he has assured me he’d never hurt me because of it, he just couldn’t guarantee the safety of anyone I made him jealous with.