Ah. Now he understood her question. She assumed the woman was someone he’d been involved with. While that was possible, it was unlikely. He hadn’t been a monk, but he hadn’t been a player either. He couldn’t think of any woman from his past that his father would have reason to talk to, let alone keep from talking to him.
“No, Bradley. There isn’t.”
“She was insistent, Naughton.”
“I think I know who this mystery woman was talking to, and it’s time I tracked him down.”
“Who?” she asked.
“My father.”
Naughton held her hand as they walked back to Los Cab. She hadn’t said a word since she told him what she’d heard, and she hated what she was thinking instead of saying.
After Trey’s betrayal, knowing he’d never really been interested in her, she was consumed by self-doubt. As she told her aunt, she didn’t really know Naughton Butler. Was he telling her the truth when he said there wasn’t someone from his past, or even his present?
He seemed troubled as they walked. His grip on her hand was tight, and he hadn’t said any more than she had.
“I need to find my brothers,” he told her when they got to the table where Alex and Peyton were sitting.
“Okay.”
“Bradley, look at me.”
She didn’t want to, but she did anyway.
“I won’t lie to you. I’m not lying now, and I never will.”
“I know,” she said, lying herself. The truth was, she didn’t believe him. When he leaned down to kiss her, she turned her head.
She saw the hurt in his eyes, but she couldn’t help the way she felt.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He walked away, leaving her feeling worse.
“Have a seat.” Alex patted the chair next to her. “What’s up with you two?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Liar,” Alex said, smiling.
“I overheard something.”
“What?”
Bradley told Alex the same story she’d told Naughton, and when she got to the end, she believed even more strongly that he wasn’t telling her the truth.
“Where’s Da?” Naughton asked his brothers.
“Last I saw, he and Ma were talking to Ainsley.”
Naughton looked over to the table where Ainsley sat, talking to their other sister, Skye.
“Maybe they’re with the grands,” Brodie said.
“There,” said Maddox, pointing to a patch of grass where his mother sat with Skye’s kids. She held the baby, Kade, on her lap, while Spencer circled them, tapping her grandmother and brother on the head every time she went around.
Naughton didn’t see his father anywhere.
“There’s Da,” said Brodie, pointing toward the path Naughton and Bradley had just walked.
“I can’t wait any longer, Mad,” said Naughton.
“Has something else happened?”
Naughton told Maddox and Brodie the story Hawks had told him and what Bradley overheard.
“Who do you think this mystery woman is?” Brodie asked.
“No idea, but I’m about to find out.”
Maddox and Brodie followed Naughton who intercepted their father before he could get to their mother.
“Da, we need to talk,” he said. Naughton didn’t expect his father to nod, or agree, but that’s what he did.
“Soon,” his father answered.
“Now, Da.”
“No, not now. Soon, Naughton, I promise, but not now,” he said before walking away.
“What now?” Brodie asked.
Naughton shrugged. “No idea. Mad?”
Maddox shrugged too. “He knows you know something, or that we all do. We can’t force him to tell us what’s going on.”
“I’m hungry,” Brodie groaned. “And since it doesn’t appear Da is going to do it, we have a lot of people to thank on our family’s behalf.”
Naughton agreed, and followed his brothers table to table, shaking hands, and expressing their appreciation. Every so often, he’d glance at their parents. His mother was completely taken with her grandbabies, but every time Naughton looked, his father was looking at him, not his grandchildren.
He glanced at Bradley every so often, too. She was watching him with the same expression on her face as his father’s.
“Somethin’s up,” said Alex. “Look at them.” She pointed in the direction Bradley was already looking.
“They’re hiding something,” said Peyton. “All of them.” She looked over at Laird and Sorcha. “I wonder if they know.” Both Alex and Peyton looked at Bradley.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s complicated.”
“I get it.” She stood to leave, but Peyton put her hand on Bradley’s arm.
“Don’t go. What we’re referring to has nothing to do with Naughton.”
“But whatever it is, you can’t talk about it in front of me.”
“Has Naughton told you much about Kade?”
“Not really.”
Peyton looked at Alex, who shrugged.
First Trey, now Naughton. Even Alex and Peyton were keeping something from her. It was time for her to leave. She’d had enough of secrets.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to them, knowing full well she wouldn’t be.
“Where did she go?” Naughton asked Alex. He’d looked away to talk to someone, and when he’d looked back, she was gone.
“She didn’t say, but she did say she’d be right back,” Alex told him.
“How long ago was that?”
Alex looked at Peyton, and they both shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe five minutes,” answered Alex.
Naughton rubbed the back of his neck.
“Settle down, Naught. She’ll be right back.” She tugged on his arm.
Maddox joined them. “What’s his problem?”
“Bradley is missing,” she smirked.
Naughton’s eyes met his brother’s, and neither smiled.
“It was a joke,” Alex punched his arm.
“Not a funny one, sweetheart.” Maddox put his arm around Alex and pulled her close. His eyes didn’t leave Naughton’s though.
Naughton walked away from the table, sent Bradley a text, and held his breath, hoping she’d respond.
Where are you?
It took her a couple of minutes, but she answered.
Home. Not feeling well.
What’s wrong?
Need some rest. Turning my phone off.
He didn’t feel well either, but it wasn’t because he needed rest. He needed Bradley, and he couldn’t explain the feeling he had that she just took a huge step away from him.
“What’s up?” Maddox asked.
“She left.”
Maddox nodded his head.
“You’re not surprised.”
“It’s time you told Bradley everything, Naughton. And I mean everything—the stuff about Kade and Lena’s marriage, even the stuff we can’t explain.”
“Why?”
“My guess is she’s feeling the same way we do about Kade. She knows there’s more going on than meets the eye, and every time one of us changes the subject or avoids answering her questions, she knows we’re hiding something.”
“What good will it do to tell her? These aren’t her problems, Mad.”
“They will be, little brother. Trust me on this.”
“Do you think she’s in danger?”
“No, Naughton. I think she’s in love.”
It had only been five minutes since Bradley had last looked at the time, but it felt like five hours. She’d tried to sleep, but couldn’t be still long enough for her body to give in to its fatigue.
Naughton. He was all she could think about. She hated the way she’d left, especially after turning away when he’d tried to kiss her. The man had been nothing but good to her, and what had she done? Essentially punished him for Trey’s lies and deceit.
She grabbed her phone off th
e nightstand and sent him a text. I’m sorry, she wrote and watched the screen, waiting for him to answer.
I am too, he wrote.
Where are you?
About to go for a ride on the bike.
Before she could think of what to say next, another text came over from him.
Wanna go with me?
More than anything.
Bradley was waiting on the front steps when Naughton drove up on his motorcycle. She ran over to where he stopped, and waited until he killed the engine and took his helmet off before she threw her arms around him.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
Naughton set the helmet behind him and put his arms around her waist. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for.”
“I left…and…”
“I have a lot to tell you.”
“You do?” Oh, God. What? Had she been right? Was there another woman in his life?
“Yep, and none of it is what you’re thinking.”
She nodded and waited for him to explain further.
“We’re going for a ride on the bike, and then I’ll tell you about my brother Kade.”
Alex and Peyton had asked if he’d talked to her about him. When she said he hadn’t, they’d clammed up. “Okay,” she murmured.
Naughton unclipped the second helmet from the side of his motorcycle and handed it to her. She put it on, and when he’d done the same, she climbed on behind him and put her arms around his waist.
“Ready?” she heard him shout, and she nodded.
Naughton loved the feel of her behind him on his bike. He’d been craving it for days. With her arms around him, he took the back roads as far as he could before driving out to the highway. He drove all the way to the beach, trying to figure out how to tell her about Kade. He had no idea where to begin.
He parked the bike along Moonstone Beach Drive and waited while Bradley climbed off and set the helmet on the ground before he did the same.
He pointed across the road to a restaurant and then at the beach.
“Let’s walk,” she said, without him needing to ask. They’d gotten a few hundred yards before he stopped.
“Mind if we sit?” he asked.
She shook her head and sat next to him on the sand.
“My first memory of Kade,” he began. “I think I was five—which would’ve made him eleven—was right here on this beach.”
“What were you doing?”
“All I remember about that day was him doing handstands. He told me it didn’t hurt when he fell and landed in the sand. His arms, even then, were so strong.”
Naughton looked out at the ocean. “He wasn’t for this world,” he murmured.
“What do you mean?”
“He was bigger than our little valley. Christ, he was bigger than the planet. Kade was meant to do so much more than grow grapes or make wine. My big brother was meant to save the world.” Naughton’s eyes filled with tears, and he didn’t care if Bradley saw them.
“You miss him a lot,” she said, cupping his cheek with the palm of her hand.
“Kade was in the military, and every time he left on a mission, I knew there was a chance he wouldn’t come back, but I always believed he would.”
He shrugged. “When he didn’t, I was blindsided. I couldn’t believe he was dead. I still can’t. I keep expecting to see him, walking on this beach, everywhere. I expect to see Kade everywhere I look.”
Tears slid down his cheeks, and he tried to wipe them with his shoulder.
“It doesn’t feel like he’s dead, Bradley. Does that sound crazy?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Kade had a lot of secrets. Some we’ve uncovered, and some, I believe, we’re about to.”
“Is this about the conversation I overheard?”
He nodded. “You aren’t the only one. Hawks did too. That’s how I knew it was my father you’d heard, because Hawks saw them.”
“Who was your father talking to?”
“That’s the part we don’t know. It was too dark for Hawks to get a good look at her. And you didn’t see them at all.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m glad you didn’t. I mean…I don’t know what I mean.”
“It’s okay.”
“My brothers and I asked Da about it when you were sitting with Alex and Peyton.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he’d tell us, but not yet.”
“Was that it?”
“Pretty much.”
Bradley looked out at the ocean.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I don’t know. This really isn’t any of my business.”
“I want it to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want you in my life, Bradley, and that means I don’t want there to be secrets between us.”
“I don’t like secrets,” she murmured. “That’s why I left.”
“I knew that. Not right away, though. Maddox pointed it out to me.”
Bradley laughed. “He did?”
“Yep. Do you want to know why?”
“Sure.”
He’d offered, now he had to tell her.
“If you don’t want to tell me—”
“See, that’s the thing. No secrets, right?” he said.
“Right.”
“He said I should tell you all of it. Everything we knew about Kade, even the stuff we didn’t, the unexplained stuff. When he said it, I didn’t agree. I told him these weren’t your problems.”
“What changed your mind?”
“It was something else he told me.”
“Naughton,” she smiled. “Just say it.”
“He told me you’re in love with me.”
20
The lump in her throat she had expected wasn’t there. Not even a little discomfort in her tummy. Naughton said the word “love,” and her body floated into the warmth of the feeling. He said Maddox had told him she was in love with him, and as crazy as it sounded in her head, hearing the words spoken didn’t sound crazy at all.
“Bradley?”
She turned to him and smiled. “I won’t deny it, Naughton.”
He leaned forward and covered her mouth with his. His kiss was gentle, loving. Instead of waging battle with urgency and heat, their tongues stroked and caressed.
“I won’t deny it either,” he murmured and smiled.
But who would be the first to say it? She felt it, but for whatever reason, she wasn’t ready to say the three little words she’d never spoken to anyone other than her family.
“I’ve always worried that I’m too much like Kade.”
“In what way?”
“He held so much inside, afraid to confide in anyone. I know he loved Peyton, but I’m not sure he ever told her. I don’t want to be like that, especially with you, Bradley.”
“You aren’t.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you talk to me, Naughton. More than you realize. The other day, Alex said something to me, about you not being a talker. I disagreed with her. It’s when you don’t talk to me that I know something’s wrong. But it’s more than your lack of words. I can see it in your face. I can feel it in your body. It’s hard for you not to talk to me.”
“You don’t think it’s crazy?”
“Of course, I do. And yet, it feels so right, doesn’t it?”
“Nothing has ever felt as right as being with you does.”
“I feel the same way, Naughton.”
“I need to tell you more about Kade.”
She nodded, waiting for him to find the words.
“There are times it feels as if Kade is still alive, or like his spirit is hovering all around us. Even dead he’s controlling the course of our lives.”
“What do you mean?”
“Brodie and Peyton were the first. It was like he brought them together. Even when they fought it, it was as though he put his h
and on them and guided them back together. He left this box that he wanted Brodie to give to Peyton, but she didn’t want it.”
“Why not?”
“I guess she didn’t want to feel the pain of losing him all over again. She and Brodie eventually opened it together, and inside, there was a letter from Kade.”
“What did it say?”
“Kade told her that he’d never been the right man for her, but Brodie was. There was a ring that had belonged to our grandmother, inside the box. She’d given it to Kade, telling him that, when he met the woman who was supposed to wear it, he’d know. In his letter, he told Peyton that he’d known since the day he met her that she was that woman, but it had taken him a long time to realize he wasn’t the man who was supposed to give it to her.”
“Wow. So it was like he knew Peyton and Brodie would be together before he died.”
“Exactly. They’d never even met.”
“Brodie and Peyton?”
“That’s right.” Naughton scrubbed his hand over his face. “He brought Alex and Maddox together too.”
“What do you mean? I thought they’d been together for years.”
“They were, but it was only after Kade died that they finally admitted the extent of their feelings to each other.”
Naughton looked out at the ocean. “I knew about the land Kade gave Mad and me, but I didn’t tell Maddox about it. Just like he said in his letter to Peyton, he told me I’d know when the time was right.”
“How?”
“He wanted me to wait until Mad and Alex realized they loved each other. A lot of shit went down with them, and for a while, I didn’t think they’d ever realize it, but Kade never doubted they’d end up together.”
“So, then you told him?”
“Indirectly.”
Naughton said Kade told him where to find the property deeds and an envelope to be given to Maddox, through their parents, when Naughton believed the time was right.
Naughton took a deep breath and turned to her. “The other day, Maddox asked me what Kade had wanted for me. I told him I didn’t know.”
When his eyes filled with tears, Bradley put her arms around him and squeezed. It was a long time before Naughton spoke again, but she waited, knowing that, when he was ready, he would.
He leaned into her and rested his face on her shoulder. His tears seeped into her shirt. “I miss him so much. And I don’t understand why he didn’t…”
The Secret (Butler Ranch Book 3) Page 17