Kaden hoped like hell it didn’t come to that.
He wasted no time getting out of the truck, heading for her porch. Keegan stared up at the burned-out light bulb while Kaden knocked on the door.
“I just changed that,” Keegan muttered. “I think she’s got a loose wire.”
Probably. The entire house needed work.
When he heard the deadbolt unlock, Kaden took a single step back, waited until Bristol opened the door.
He didn’t give her a chance to greet them or to send them away before he said, “Can we come in?”
She looked like she’d been crying, but he pretended not to notice, walking inside when she gave them room.
“Were you asleep?” Keegan asked, closing the door behind him.
Kaden wasn’t normally rude, but right now, he wasn’t interested in making small talk. He was still trying to pick himself up off the floor after she’d blasted him with her phone call.
“Why do you think someone’s spreadin’ the news about the baby?” Kaden asked, turning to face her.
Bristol was fidgeting with the hem of her oversized sweatshirt. “Bianca told me. She came over. She’s really mad at me.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “Not that I blame her. I didn’t tell her because I wasn’t ready to deal with it. Once she knows, it makes it more real.”
“You understand it’s real regardless of who knows.”
“Yes,” she said sharply. “Of course I know that.”
Well, the tears dried up fast.
Planting his hands on his hips, Kaden faced off with her. “What exactly do you want from us?”
Confusion wrinkled her forehead. “What do you mean?”
“Are we in a relationship? Or is this just sex for you?”
“You know what?” Keegan cleared his throat. “While y’all hash this out, I’m gonna get another light bulb.”
Kaden never took his eyes off Bristol, ignoring his brother as he made a beeline for the kitchen.
“It’s not just sex, Kaden. I don’t operate that way. That’s your MO.”
Ah. So she was insecure about them. Made sense. But he knew that was only part of the problem.
“Not since you,” he told her.
“Right.”
Now she was accusing him of what? Messing around with other women?
“I get that you’re insecure, but Bristol, there’s no reason for that.” He took a step toward her. “We’re committed, have been all along.”
“You have, maybe,” she said, her eyes cutting to the kitchen. “But you can’t claim we on that one. We were all there that night.”
Yes, they were. And he was well aware of what happened.
“That’s in the past.” And it needed to stay there.
“And what if I can’t get over it?”
Kaden stared at her, shocked by that statement. “You’ve seemed pretty damn over it up to this point.” Taking another step closer, he kept his eyes on hers. “Or was that your way of placating us?”
Her eyebrows lowered.
“What were you gonna do? Keep up the ruse until the baby was born?”
“It wasn’t a ruse,” she said softly, her head tilting back to maintain eye contact.
“A distraction, then?”
“No.”
He closed the remaining distance between them, leaned his head toward hers.
“Then let’s quit playin’ this game, Bristol. It’s time to move forward. To deal with the future. Move in with us.”
Bristol’s eyes widened, her mouth falling open. “What?”
“I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But that’s not news to you, is it?”
She didn’t answer, so he continued, “Do you love us, Bristol?”
“Kaden…”
Pulling back, he met her gaze.
It was in those light blue eyes that he saw both confusion and remorse. It was enough to have him stepping away, his gut churning.
He realized she was having second thoughts.
“You can’t answer that, can you?”
Bristol swallowed, licked her lips, still looking uncertain. “It’s just … too soon, don’t you think?”
Too soon? She really wanted to play that card? After they’d spent a fucking year chasing after her, she thought that the future was too soon?
“I thought we were havin’ fun,” Bristol stated.
Kaden nodded because his throat was closing up now. No words could escape because he realized he’d done it again. He had leaped too far ahead, found himself in the deep end of the pool. This time by his damn self.
“You two all right?”
Kaden looked over at his brother, back to Bristol. Without a word, he turned and walked toward the front door, then continued right out into the night.
*
“What’d you say to him?” Keegan asked, his gaze cautious as he approached her.
“Nothing,” she lied easily. “One minute we were…”
Okay, so she couldn’t lie to Keegan. For one, there was nothing she could say that would rationalize the conversation that had just taken place. Kaden had taken her completely off guard.
Her move in with them?
How had they gone from this intense sexual relationship that was just starting up to … moving in together? She could count on one hand the number of times they’d had sex. Okay, maybe two hands. And one foot.
Whatever.
It was so … sudden.
Sure, they were having a baby together, but … well, women had babies all the time. A lot of them were single women. Having a spouse wasn’t a requirement for the role of mom. They weren’t ready for that sort of commitment. Merging their lives into one, that was ludicrous, right?
“Bristol?”
She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted… Bristol wanted to go to sleep and wake up so she could do this day all over again. It was not going the way she would’ve expected. Not by a long shot.
It’d only been a week since they’d started talking again. And fine, they’d spent the night together a few nights, and yes, Bristol enjoyed those moments. But she hadn’t been expecting things to progress quite so quickly.
“Bristol?”
“Hmm?” She looked up, met Keegan’s concerned gaze.
“Where’s my brother goin’?”
“I don’t know.” And that much was true.
“What happened?”
“We were talkin’.” More like arguing, but whatever. “Then he mentioned me movin’ in and I might’ve reacted badly, but it doesn’t change anything. I mean, he’s movin’ too fast, right? Don’t you think?”
Keegan didn’t look away and she saw it in his eyes. It was the same thing she’d seen in Kaden’s. They were on the same page. They were thinking about a future but neither of them had bothered to clue her in on it?
“I don’t understand how we got here,” she said softly, holding his gaze. “I thought … I thought we were goin’ slow.”
“Any slower, Bristol, and we’re goin’ in reverse.” There was heat in his tone now, frustration, maybe anger. “Is this temporary for you, Bristol?”
She frowned. “What? No. I … I don’t know.”
His dark eyebrows shot upward, his surprise obvious.
Move in with them? Then what? Would they want to get married? How the heck did that even work? Polygamy was illegal in Texas, right? Maybe everywhere? How had they gotten here? How—
A wave of heat hit her, but not the sensual kind. It was enough to have her stepping back, leaning against the wall, trying to draw in breath although her lungs felt constricted.
“Bristol? What’s wrong?”
“There’s not enough air,” she said. “It’s too hot in here.”
The next thing she knew, Keegan was leading her down the hallway, into the kitchen. He urged her into one of the kitchen chairs, put his hand on her shoulder, and rubbed gently.
When the hot flash faded, Bristol breathed through the queasine
ss, her hand to her stomach.
Keegan squatted down, put his hand on her knee. “Is it the baby?” There was real concern in his voice.
She didn’t want him panicking, so she attempted a smile. “Yes and no. Just morning sickness. But, you know, it’s not relegated to only the morning. At least not for me. It happens all the time. Day, night…”
She realized she was rambling, so she stopped.
Keegan stood, walked away. When he returned, he passed over a bottle of water. “Here. It’s cold.”
She took it from him, took a sip, let the chill soothe down her throat then rolled the bottle along her wrists. It took a few minutes, and the nauseous feeling subsided.
“When’s the last time you ate?” he asked.
“Lunch. It was late though. I had a peanut butter sandwich.” Bristol took a deep breath.
“What Kaden said, Bristol…” Keegan stepped closer, placing his hands on her knees and crouching down in front of her again. “If you haven’t realized it already, Kaden doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean. He’s the thinker, the planner. He works through something until he knows the possible outcomes, then he proceeds with an end goal. With that said, it might not look like it from the outside, but he’s as vulnerable as the rest of us. He just does a damn fine job of hidin’ it.”
Unlike him, she knew. Keegan was the one who resorted to snide comments. Not Kaden.
“We just started seein’ each other,” she said as an excuse.
“Officially, sure.” He lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to look at him. “But we’ve been doin’ this dance for a long damn time. There’s only so much foreplay necessary before the Big Bang.”
“So eloquent.”
“I have my moments.” His eyes glittered briefly. “But I’m serious.”
“Is it because I’m pregnant?”
“It’s because it’s inevitable. The pregnancy, Bristol, that’s just a bonus. Was it unexpected? Damn straight it was. Would we do it differently if we could? Sure. Would we go back and change it if we could? No. Things happen for a reason.”
She swallowed hard, stared into his beautiful face. Who would’ve thought Keegan could be the rational one?
“If you don’t feel the same, we need to know.”
“I haven’t thought about it.” It was mostly true. A couple times, she’d let her fantasies run wild, imagined a life with the two of them. But no sooner would they appear than she would shove them back into the little box in her mind. Bristol didn’t look to the future. Anytime she did, it never worked out well for her.
“Well, you need to.”
She nodded because she knew that was what he expected.
Keegan stood tall. “I need to go find Kaden. I need my truck.”
Bristol retrieved the keys from her purse, passed them to him. “I’ll go with you.”
His eyes were hard when they met hers. “No. It’s somethin’ we need to work out on our own.”
The ache in her chest stole her breath. This was emotional though, not morning sickness. The thought of not having these two men in her life now that she did … Bristol wasn’t sure she could even fathom it.
Forty-five minutes later, Bristol was still pacing her house. Into the kitchen, back to the living room. Around and around she went. In her hand? Well, that would be her cell phone.
At least two dozen times she’d started to dial Kaden’s number, but she didn’t. She couldn’t.
The only thing she could do was hear Rex’s words ringing in her ear. The last time she’d talked to him, he’d basically put her in her place. And in doing so, the butthole had managed to build up her spirits.
Remember that girl who went searchin’ for the biggest stick she could find? She was bound and determined she was gonna give my old man the beatin’ he deserved the next time she saw him. I remember that girl. God, you had an attitude back then. Didn’t take shit from anybody. I admired that about you. Hell, I’d go so far as to say I thought it was hot.
Bristol did remember that girl. She’d been fierce. And Rex was right, she’d taken shit from nobody.
But then life happened. She married Baxter, divorced Baxter. And her dad died. She’d been alone for so long, it was easier to keep her head down, not rock the boat, so to speak. And after a solid year of seeing all those sympathetic gazes locked on her after Baxter claimed she was frigid and that was the reason he’d said adios, Bristol hadn’t wanted to risk it again. It wasn’t true. He was just a butthole.
“No,” she said aloud. “He’s an asshole.”
The word was so foreign on her tongue that it made her smile.
“Asshole. Asshole. Asshole.”
Bristol stopped pacing and tapped her phone screen, pulled up her contacts. She found the one she wanted and dialed.
“Hey. I know you’re probably busy, but do you think we could meet for coffee tomorrow?”
*
Chapter Twenty-Two
After leaving Bristol’s, Keegan headed for Moonshiners. It was the one place he knew his brother would go for an escape and it was exactly where he found him.
The place was packed, half a dozen cowboys playing pool in the back, the stools lining the bar all filled. Rafe was behind the bar tonight, working to fill orders, giving Mack a rare night off.
To his surprise, rather than sidled up to the bar, Kaden was sitting in a booth in the back, alone, nursing a beer. From where he stood, it appeared his twin was intensely focused on the woodgrain in the tabletop. Keegan knew that wasn’t the case. More than likely, Kaden was lost somewhere in his head, probably coming to understand Keegan’s reasons for avoiding relationships for so long.
They never worked out.
Keegan sympathized with his brother. To a degree, anyway. However, he could also see the rationality behind Bristol’s response. Kaden had clearly surprised her with his proposition, and she hadn’t been able to process in time to mask her initial reaction. It happened.
Wow. Look at him being all rational and shit. Someone should probably write down the date because it didn’t happen often.
As he approached Kaden’s table, Keegan waved off the waitress. He wasn’t going to stay long, and he wasn’t in the mood to drink tonight. He was exhausted, both body and mind. So much had transpired in the past week and the upcoming ones didn’t show signs of slowing down. For now, he wanted to keep a clear head.
And wasn’t that an interesting turn of events? Rational and level-headed. He had to smile because seriously. They must’ve been in some sort of alternate universe.
Kaden looked up, glanced around, then looked at him again. “Where’s Bristol?”
“I left her at home,” he said as he eased into the booth across from Kaden. “I don’t think she’s feelin’ well.”
Kaden frowned, concern making his brow furrow. “What’s wrong with her?”
Keegan shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Probably just a bit overwhelmed.”
“I didn’t mean to say it.”
He didn’t have to ask what it was.
“No?” Keegan wasn’t sure he bought that. In fact, he was pretty sure his brother had been holding that in for a while. Anyone who knew Kaden knew he was ready to settle down, had been for a long time.
Kaden glared back at him. “What? Did you think I was out to sabotage this?”
He chuckled. “Of course not. That’s my job. But you sprung it on her pretty fast, don’t you think?”
“No,” Kaden grumbled. “I don’t.”
He wouldn’t. Because in Kaden’s mind, they’d been with Bristol since the night at Alluring Indulgence nearly a year ago. That had been when the dance officially started. The past year had merely been them two-stepping in the right direction. And yes, that included the frequent steps back they continued to take.
“You’re tellin’ me that’s not where we were headed?”
Keegan leaned back in the booth, considered it.
“It doesn’t fucking matter,” Kaden said, ev
idently not needing Keegan’s response. “We’ll have to figure out where to go from here.”
Because Bristol was pregnant. He knew that was what Kaden was referring to. And that would mean Bristol would be part of their lives indefinitely, if for no other reason than because they weren’t going to not be part of their child’s life. No, they hadn’t planned this, and no, it wasn’t how Keegan had seen it going, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t happy about the idea of becoming a father. Hell, he’d honestly never thought they’d get to this point.
“Are you sayin’ it’s over completely?” Keegan prompted, wanting to ensure they were on the same page because he got the feeling this was just Kaden being ornery, something Keegan had mastered.
Kaden cast him a shuttered look. “It was bound to happen,” he said softly, once again peering down at the table. “Too much is goin’ right in our world.”
And there was another twist. Unlike Keegan, Kaden was the glass-half-full sort. Always looking on the bright side while Keegan was the one waiting for the other shoe to drop. And while Keegan had gotten good at pretending he didn’t have a care in the world, they both wore their emotions on their sleeves. Kaden was merely good at not blurting it out at the slightest provocation.
Until tonight.
“I won’t apologize,” Kaden grumbled.
“I’m not expectin’ you to,” Keegan told his brother. “We were gonna have to address it sooner or later.”
“I told her I loved her.”
Yeah, Keegan had heard him mention that. “When?”
“Before.” Kaden kept his eyes on the beer bottle in front of him. “I went to her house a couple of days after the auction. Tried to apologize.”
Ouch. Keegan could only assume it hadn’t gone well otherwise they wouldn’t have lost an entire month with her.
“She wouldn’t open the door. It was an idiot move on my part.”
But it didn’t make it any less true. Keegan knew Kaden had fallen in love with Bristol a long time ago. Probably one of the reasons Keegan had fallen in love with her. In his mind, a woman who was good enough for his brother was good enough for him because Kaden was the good twin, the one who deserved all the happiness in the world.
Kaden & Keegan (The Walkers of Coyote Ridge Book 9) Page 31
