Branded

by Stacy Gail

  “He’s still a strong back and can do whatever heavy lifting you need if you point him in the right direction.” Dottie was already dialing, shocking Celia all the more with her calm show of defiance. “What’s more, he’s already on property. But Lilah...she doesn’t have room in her life for Green Rock Ranch, Fin. It’s best if you and everyone else respect that.”

  Fin took a slow breath, and for a second Celia half-feared he was going to explode. Then he turned on his heel and stalked out of the office. She winced at the force of the front door slamming seconds later, then looked back to Dottie as she wrapped up a quick phone call.

  “I haven’t seen Lilah since she graduated from high school,” Celia offered tentatively into the silence that followed. “She, uh, kind of ran in a different crowd than I did.”

  “You mean you were the captain of the cheerleading squad, and Lilah was in 4H. Which is exactly where she belonged, and I’m proud to say she loved every minute of it,” Dottie went on with a firm nod. “Now, if we could get back to the subject at hand, is it possible for me to see the latest video you’ve made for Green Rock?”

  It was another ten minutes before Celia was able to slip out of the office, and with a sigh of relief she exited through the main house’s elegant front door, shutting it much more quietly than Fin had. With her mind on Ry and wondering if he’d be up for an early dinner somewhere in town, she turned and ran headlong into a solid body heading up the wide verandah stairs.

  “Sorry,” Celia said, frantically making a grab for the person before they could fall back down the stairs. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t even looking—”

  “No problem.” The familiar voice made her gaze bounce up to her victim’s face, and when she saw a familiar pair of blue eyes and a shock of blond hair, she stepped back in surprise.

  “Lawrence.” Of course, she thought numbly, wondering why she hadn’t given it a thought when Dottie had called for her son. Of course she’d run into Lawrence Ledbetter sooner or later. “Well. Hello.”

  “Celia.” Lawrence also took a step back, then glanced around as if expecting to be jumped by muggers. “You’re, uh...here.”

  For a moment she thought he would say more, but when the silence that followed became awkward, she inwardly rolled her eyes. If Lawrence insisted on being a judgmental prude who still held her in contempt for goosing Ry, then screw him. There was nothing she could do about that except make sure their paths never crossed again.

  “Don’t let me get in your way.” Keeping her expression meticulously neutral, she swept an inviting hand toward the door. “Have you seen Ry? I was just about to text him to see where he was.”

  “Oh, uh...the last I saw him, he was at the birthing barn. It’s that huge structure east of the stables.”

  “Great, thanks.”

  “Hey, um...” He seemed to check himself in reaching out to touch her arm before he shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “I hear you and Ry are together now. Is that true?”

  “Yes.” She said it briskly while her tone threatened an imminent ice age if he decided to bring the judgmental crap out for her to see up close and personal.

  “Yeah?” To her surprise, he relaxed with a relieved grin. “Whew, that’s great. Though it sure took you guys long enough.”

  She frowned. “I beg your pardon? Long enough? It took us long enough to do what?”

  “Get together, obviously. I mean, it’s been months, hasn’t it?”

  She stared at him, baffled. “Months?”

  “Yeah, months. Do you know how hard it is to avoid someone for that long in a town the size of Bitterthorn? I’m amazed I didn’t have a fucking nervous breakdown.”

  What. The. Hell. “You chose to avoid me because you couldn’t find it in your heart to forgive me for acting like an idiot when I was drunk. That’s on you, pal. You made that choice.”

  “Forgive you?” A look of bewilderment crossed his face. “What the hell are you talking about? You didn’t do anything that needed forgiving, Celia.”

  “Then why did you start avoiding me like I was freaking diseased?”

  “It was either that or have my ass kicked by the Brody brothers.”

  The air left her lungs as the impact of his words hit her. “What?”

  “You don’t know? Oh, my God.” Lawrence rolled his eyes before shaking his head. “Seriously, I thought you knew. Lots of the guys in town know, so I sorta figured you’d gotten clued in as well.”

  “Into what?”

  “That you’re Ry’s private property.”

  She hadn’t heard that right. No way. “I...what did you just say?”

  “Ry branded you as his,” he reiterated, confirming that while her hearing was great, her reality was not. “Guys who knew you...hell, even some guys who didn’t know you, were warned to stay away from you. I’ve known the Brody brothers my whole life, to the point where I consider them family, but even I was scared of what would happen if I so much as looked at you after the word went out that you were Ry’s private property.”

  “Ry’s private...” As she stood there, a rolling boil began deep inside her chest. “Who told you that I was Ry’s private property, Lawrence?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Who told you?” God, if it was Ry...

  “The Brody brothers,” he said, backing up in alarm at her dangerous snarl. “It happened after you got drunk and made a pass at Ry, remember?”

  As if she’d ever forget. “How did I get branded as Ry’s property, Lawrence? Tell me exactly.”

  He lifted a defensive shoulder. “It wasn’t a big deal, okay? One day I was just dropping something off for my mom here at the main house, and I got cornered by Fin and Des. Killian was there, too. They got right in my face and told me I needed to help them spread the word around town that you were now off-limits.”

  She closed her eyes, feeling sick. “Off-limits.”

  “Yeah. They remembered we’d dated back in high school, so they knew we ran in the same circles. Since they made it clear they’d beat the shit out of anyone who got close to you, they asked me to help spread the word that you were now Ry’s.”

  Her fists curled while she pictured smashing him to a pulp. “And just like a good little lapdog, you did what you were ordered to do, didn’t you, Lawrence? You didn’t once suggest that making me out to be fucking property was sick and wrong, did you? Asshole.”

  All pretense of humor vanished from his face. “Hey, don’t put this on me. They were going to kick my ass—”

  “I’m gonna kick your ass.” She shoved him before she could stop herself, and took grim pleasure when he had to catch himself on one of the verandah’s support posts to stop himself from taking a tumble down the stairs. “You and the others made my life miserable, do you understand me? Did you even think about that?”

  “Look, I wasn’t the one who came up with the idea of putting you out of bounds with every swinging dick in town, all right? And besides, why are you so pissed off about it now? You and Ry are together, so I don’t really see what the big deal is—Jesus,” he half-yelped when she took a wild swing at him and nearly clipped his nose. “Are you fucking crazy?”

  “You’re a spineless piece of shit.” Fury pumped through her so hard and fast she could hear her heartbeat in her ears, and all she could do was wish she could blast him off his feet with the force of her glare alone. “Did you once even think about what something like that would do to me? I was ready to leave town because I’d thought my prospects of finding someone special to settle down with had dried up because I’d made an unforgivable mistake. I began to feel unwanted and ashamed and un-fucking-desirable—”

  “Yeah, but you weren’t, so it’s okay, right?” He kept his distance from her with his hands held out, whether to calm her down or defend himself she didn’t know. “I mean, no harm was actually done to you,
and you and Ry are together now, so it’s all good, Celia.”

  “You’re a moron if you think any of this is good,” she muttered before she turned on her heel and blasted down the stairs to her car. She didn’t know where she was going to go or what she was going to do, but whatever it was, she wasn’t going to do it here on Brody property.

  Without looking back, she slammed into her car and headed out.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Most of the fury-induced shaking had subsided when Celia pulled up to her place, but she was still too wound up to settle. While she’d being moving her life bit by bit into Ry’s house, she’d still tended her garden every day. That was where she headed now, in the hope that she could find a hint of peace as her thoughts raced around in her head. By the time the sun had sunk below the horizon and she’d soaked the garden from one end to the other, the worst of the tears had passed, so she supposed the Zen-like tranquility that so often came with gardening had worked some of its magic.

  Though it hadn’t, really. Because while the tears had come and gone, what hadn’t gone away was the agony of the knife stuck in her back.

  That, she didn’t know how to get rid of.

  Months, she silently raged, dropping her tools outside the door before heading inside. For months she’d been made to feel like she was no longer wanted because of one drunken mistake. She’d been embarrassed about her behavior, certainly, but when the eligible men in town began avoiding her like she was radioactive, she’d slowly begun to lose confidence in herself. As time marched on, it had taken every ounce of strength she’d had to make herself go out into the world every day with her head held high, while inside she’d withered a little more. The happy, self-confident person she’d been had gotten worn down to a nub.

  And for what?

  Because she’d been branded as someone’s property.

  More tears silently leaked out as she snapped lights on throughout the converted barn to chase off the falling dark. What she’d thought all along—that she’d been shunned for behaving badly one stinking time—hadn’t been true at all.

  Why?

  Again and again her brain kept asking that question.

  Why had she been made to go through this?

  Maybe Ry hadn’t been aware his brothers had threatened Bitterthorn’s male population, she thought suddenly, and the ten-ton anvil crushing her heart lifted a fraction. His brothers loved him, after all. They may have done this just to look out for Ry’s interests.

  That interest being her, of course.

  But why had Ry left her alone for so long? A pained frown tensed her face as she scrubbed the dirt off her hands at the kitchen sink. If he’d wanted her back then, why had he waited months to make his move?

  Why had she been made to suffer?

  The roar of an engine and flash of headlights dancing across the windows didn’t come as a surprise. For a moment she didn’t move, torn between wanting to be left alone and getting to the truth. Then the pounding on her front door began, and with a sigh she snagged up a kitchen towel and headed for the door.

  “Celia.” Pound, pound, pound. “Open this fucking door or I swear I’ll kick it in. Don’t think I won’t.”

  “And they say women are dramatic,” she muttered, tossing the small towel on a side table before she reached for the lock. When she swung the door open she found Ry already had a hand on the screen door’s handle. “I was hoping to get some time alone, Ry.”

  “Too bad.” He tugged on the screen door. “Let me in, Celia.”

  Typical. “What are you doing here?”

  “Are you fucking serious?” He scowled at her so hard it was a wonder the screen between them didn’t melt. “The question is, what are you doing here? And why the hell aren’t you answering your damn phone? The moment I got done talking with Lawrence I was on the phone trying to call you, but you refused to pick up. I’ll let a lot of things slide, but I sure as fuck won’t put up with you dodging me when we’ve got problems.”

  Automatically she checked her back pockets. “I must have left my phone in the car. In my defense, I had a lot on my mind. I still do, and I need space to sort through it all.”

  “I told you we’re not doing that again.”

  “Ry—”

  “We’re working this out.” He gave another tug on the screen door. “Open this now.”

  “You need to get a handle on that bossy streak of yours.” She shook her head but otherwise didn’t move. “It doesn’t help your case.”

  “Celia, I’m not fucking around about this. Open up.”

  “Did you have your brothers tell every bachelor in Bitterthorn to avoid me like the plague?”

  He went still. “No.”

  The air went out of her as a wave of relief flowed through her like healing waters.

  Thank God.

  “But I did eventually find out about it.”

  Like that, the relief turned to ice.

  “Let me in and I’ll explain.” When she didn’t move—she was incapable, frozen from the inside out—he tightened his grip on the screen door’s handle and yanked. The hook ripped from its mooring, and she hopped back with a startled yelp as the hook and a chunk of wood from the doorframe went flying. But to her surprise he didn’t bulldoze his way in, instead holding the now-drunkenly listing door open but staying exactly where he was, his feet planted on her Welcome mat. “I’m not busting in on you like some asshole to scare the hell out of you, okay? I just want a chance to hash this out, and right now I cannot take any fucking barriers that keep me away from you. I just can’t.” She heard him swallow as his gaze bored into hers. “All I’m asking for is a chance to explain this shit show. Give that to me, Celia. Please.”

  As she stared at him, she knew without a doubt that despite the broken door he would respect her wishes if she told him to leave her the hell alone.

  The door was fixable.

  The rest, she wasn’t so sure about.

  Fighting to swallow the painful knot that rose in her throat, she gestured for him to come inside.

  He kept his gaze pinned on her as he moved into the open living area. “You’ve been crying. I can see it.”

  Shit. “I’m not crying now.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re fighting it with everything you’ve got, and I hate knowing I’m the reason behind it.” He came to a stop in the middle of the room, his hands fisted at his sides. “If you want to yell at me, go ahead. I can take it.”

  “I don’t want to yell at you.” Not anymore. Now she was just exhausted, in a way she’d never felt before, to the point where it took all her will to stand there without crumbling.

  An unvarnished look of alarm crossed his face before he took a step toward her, then stopped when she took a corresponding step back. “Okay,” he said, his voice tight. “Okay. Where do you want me to begin?”

  “I don’t care.” A weird flatness that barely sounded like her had taken over her voice, and she cleared her throat in an effort to get rid of it. “The beginning, I guess.”

  “That’d be the night of your party, when you grabbed my ass and I very nearly dragged you into the nearest dark corner to fuck you senseless. I didn’t, of course,” he added even as her eyes widened. “You weren’t in control of yourself, but in that moment I very nearly wasn’t either. I’ve never been tempted to do something so completely wrong in my life, but I swear to God that night you could have tempted a saint. You were so beautiful, so goddamn willing...fuck, I didn’t know I could want someone so much that I would have done almost anything to have you.”

  She thought about apologizing, again, before shaking her head. She was done apologizing for that night. “So...what? You decided to punish me for all these months because I made you want me?”

  “No. Jesus.” He looked like he wanted to take another step her way, then stopped himself by dr
agging a hand through his hair. “I meant what I said about that whole Brody worship crap. Just like hero worship, it’s not a real attraction, and it sure as hell isn’t a real emotion. It’s bullshit—a total illusion. But when I looked at you that night, nothing else mattered. I had to have you. But first I had to destroy that Brody worship you had going on before I could do anything else, or nothing that came after would be real.”

  “You’ve already told me this.”

  “You’re not hearing me,” he said slowly. “I had to have you. But I wanted what we’d have together to be real, Cel. I wanted it to last. Standing in my way was all that Brody worship bullshit you had going on in your head, something I’d decided a long fucking time ago that I’d never have tainting my life. So after I did my best to kill your crush that night of your party, I waited for that lesson to sink into every part of you. Take deep root. I’d decided that the next time we crossed paths, I’d make damn sure you’d have absolutely no feeling for me except maybe being pissed off.”

  God, she hated how he was right. “Yeah, well, you did it. For months you let that lesson—how did you put it?—sink in. But you also made sure that while I was marinating in the humiliating lesson you taught me, I did it alone. Guys I’d known my whole life practically ran the other way when they saw me coming. It happened so much I began to lose every ounce of self-confidence I had.”

  “I warned my brothers off you,” he said, enunciating each word as if he thought she’d suddenly lost her ability to understand basic English. “Back then I was still worried you had a thing for any Brody, even though I’d done my best to destroy the case of Brody worship you had going on. I threatened to beat the shit out of them if they so much as said hello to you. By now you’ve heard the rules I set up for them, and I did that because I wanted you all to myself.”

  “I know all this, Ry,” she said again, so tired of this, of him, that she just wanted all of it to go away and leave her in peace.

  “What I didn’t know,” he went on darkly, ignoring her, “was that my brothers decided to make sure those rules applied to every eligible man they could get their hands on. They did that not to be cruel to you, I swear. They did it because they love me. If I wanted you the way I did—and I kid you not, I went off the damn deep end for you—they wanted to make sure I had a clear path.”