“Yeah,” he replied sounding impressed. My dad was a big classic muscle car type of guy and I’d been helping him in the shop from the time he and his new wife took me in. I was skittish around her so when dad went to work, he would take me with him. I learned a lot about cars and people from the garage in a mechanics shop. “How did you know that?”
“My dad and I used to watch car shows together when I was young.” I shrugged. The wayward thoughts were already starting to come in at the edges of my subconscious. Any time I thought about the past the demons reared their ugly heads.
“Hey, you okay?” Pete squeezed my hand that I hadn’t even realized he was holding.
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“That can be dangerous, you know.”
“You have no idea.” I sighed forcing a smile. “So, we’re at your parents’ house?”
“Yup, it’s my nephew’s birthday.” He grinned. My eyes widened as I thought about the implications. His whole family was there. We hadn’t even really been together that long and he was already bringing me home? What the hell?
“You brought me to your nephews’ birthday?” My voice sounded strangled even to my own ears.
“Why not? My parents already know about you.” He shrugged. He wasn’t getting it and I really wasn’t up for starting a fight. We’d had a great morning. I didn’t want to ruin it by being inside my own head. I needed to stop overthinking everything and just let go.
“Who do we have here?” The man, Pete’s dad wiped his hands on a shop towel as he made his way to us. He was tall and built like Pete and I could definitely see a resemblance between them.
“Dad this is Brandy,” Pete introduced us.
“You are even prettier in person.” He winked. “The names John.”
“It’s nice to meet you, John. That’s a really nice car. Where’d you find it? They are extremely rare.” I shook John’s hand.
“Wow,” John whistled. “You better marry this girl, son. She knows a thing or two.” I blushed bright red as Pete coughed into his hand choking on air at his fathers’ words.
“Dad,” he warned. “We just started talking again. Ease up would ya?”
John chuckled as he walked back to the garage. I couldn’t help but smile at the old man. He reminded me so much of Pete. “Everyone is in the back yard.”
“Thanks, Pops.” Pete put a hand on my lower back and I shivered as he led me around to the side gate. It stood open and I heard kids laughing as we made our way back there.
A man came up to us and grabbed Pete in a headlock. I gasped but Pete just laughed easily removing the arm. “Greg, I don’t know why you even try. You can’t get me to submit,” Pete laughed hugging the man.
“One day little brother.” Greg grinned his eyes alight with mischief. The two looked identical.
“Seven minutes.” Pete scowled. “You’re only older by seven minutes.” Holy God how did I not know that Pete had a twin brother? That really should be illegal. There is no way it is fair that there should be two men on the planet that look that good.
“Where’s Gray?” Pete asked Greg.
“Treehouse.” He eyed me like he just noticed me. “And, who is this?”
Oh, God don’t turn that smile on me. It was so strange seeing that smile on someone else’s face. “Brandy.” Pete pulled me a little closer. “Where’s your wife?” Pete raised a brow at his brother.
“She’s in the kitchen going crazy with Ma,” Greg shrugged never taking his eyes off me. It was a little off-putting the way he kept watching me. “It’s nice to meet you, Brandy.”
“Nice to meet you too,” I mumbled. “I didn’t know you had a twin.” I looked over at Pete.
“There’s a lot of things we don’t know about each other.” The double meaning wasn’t lost on me. He hadn’t given up on finding out my secrets. He just delayed the questioning for a bit.
“Uncle Pete!” A tiny little tornado came barreling toward us. He looked like a carbon copy of the two brothers. He couldn’t be more than six years old.
“What’s up, Gray?” Pete swung the boy up into his arms as if he weighed nothing.
“Uncle Pete, it’s my birthday,” he cheered.
“Your birthday? Oh, man, I forgot.” Pete lied. “Let’s go see if there’s anything in the car that I forgot?”
Pete had insisted we bring his car even though he’d had me drive. I made a mental note to ask him why he never drove. There was something there he wasn’t telling me, but who was I to push when there were things about my past that I had no intention of ever revealing?
Pete slung the birthday boy over his shoulder. He squealed and flailed as we all made our way down the driveway to the car. I still had the keys in my hand so I popped the trunk and little Gray’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the sheer magnitude of packages in the trunk.
“Are those all for me?” Gray clapped his hands excitedly.
“Nah, remember I forgot your birthday,” Pete grinned. I could see the annoyance on Greg’s face as he took in the trunk.
“Pete, why do you always do this?” he grumbled.
“Do what?” Pete was practically laughing out loud. “I like spoiling my nephew.”
“I have no idea where I’m gonna put this shit.” He rolled his eyes. “Eliza is gonna kill you.”
“Why is Eliza gonna kill him?” A pretty blond woman walked out of the house with a beautiful little girl with blond ringlets on her hip.
“Unkie Pete.” The toddler laughed struggling to get down.
“Hey Tabby.” Pete looked so happy around his family. I’d truly never seen him so carefree and happy before. Eliza let the toddler down, and I was surprised at how fast she ran to Pete for someone so small. He scooped her up swinging her around in a circle before planting a wet kiss on her cheek. The girl giggled and I swear my panties melted clean off. There were few things sexier than a man holding a child the way Pete was.
“Pete Collins!” Eliza yelled.
“Uh oh, Tabby, Unkies in trouble.” He winked at her before putting her back on her feet.
“Where do you think he’s going to put all this. They have too many toys already,” Eliza huffed.
“Oh, c’mon Liza, you only turn six once.” His mischievous smirk had its desired effect because she swatted him with a kitchen towel rolling her eyes and huffed out a laugh.
“You’re impossible.”
“I think you meant irresistible.” Greg growled at Pete’s taunt which just made Pete’s grin widen. “Oh, Liza, I want you to meet someone. This is Brandy.” He motioned to me and something flashed across Eliza’s eyes that I couldn’t quite make out.
“It’s very nice to meet you. Your children are beautiful.” I said dumbly. I wasn’t sure what to say since the woman’s whole demeanor changed when she saw me. The frosty greeting had me wondering if I should just leave but then an older woman with graying hair came flitting from the house and scooped me up into a hug.
“You must be Brandy. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” She crushed me in a hug before pulling away and leading me toward the house by my arm chattering away about Pete and the birthday party and all the things she had to do before lunch could be served.
“I would be more than happy to help,” I said looking around the cozy house noticing that Eliza hadn’t followed. Good, we were better off without her and her misplaced attitude.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Pete
“What the hell?” Eliza glared at me. I had no idea why she was being like that toward Brandy. She sure as hell didn’t deserve it.
“What?”
“What are you trying to do here, Pete? You trying to bring up old memories bringing her here?” I looked over at Greg who shrugged his shoulders obviously he didn’t get where his wife was going with this either. “Neither one of you idiots sees it? The resemblance?”
It took a second but it finally dawned on me what she was saying. “Don’t be a nut, Liza. She doesn’t look anything
like her.” The evil glare Eliza shot her husband had his mouth snapping shut in an instant.
“She doesn’t but so what if she did? I like her she makes me feel for the first time in a long time. If you can’t get over what happened that’s on you. I’m done beating myself up about it.”
“I had gotten over it until you came waltzing in here with Ellie’s look alike. How am I supposed to feel having to look across the table at her? She was my sister.” Eliza shook her head. I knew she was angry but this had nothing to do with her.
“Stop it Liza,” Greg glared at her. “This isn’t about you or Ellie. This is about Pete. It’s his life.”
“No, are you really over Ellie? Because it looks to me like you’ve found a replacement for her.”
“This conversation is over and if you bring it up again, I’ll leave. Do you wanna ruin your son’s birthday? I sure as hell don’t.” I was just glad the kids weren’t paying attention to the adults having it out only a few feet away. They were so busy shaking presents and trying to guess what was inside they were oblivious to anything else.
“You’ve already done that by bringing her here.” Eliza sneered.
“Wow, I should have known you’d be like this. You just don’t want me to be happy. You were totally fine with the lifestyle I led as long as you didn’t have to see any of the women I spent time with, weren’t you? I can’t believe you hate me so much that you would want me to be like that for the rest of my life. You got your happily ever after but since Ellie was taken from us you are perfectly happy with me being miserable for the rest of mine. Well you know what Liza? I’m not okay being miserable. Brandy makes me happy and if you can’t handle that then maybe you just don’t deserve to be a part of mine anymore.”
“Pete, wait.” Greg grabbed for me but I shrugged him off making my way to the garage. Pops had the right idea staying in there tinkering with that old car. The women in this family were crazy and I planned to stay away as much as possible.
I kicked an old paint can across the garage snapping dad’s attention to me. “What has you all riled up?”
“Eliza,” I growled back at him. The old man nodded his head as if that didn’t surprise him at all.
“She’s a great girl but stubborn to a fault,” He commented.
“She is trying to find reasons not to like my girl. Says she looks just like…” I couldn’t even say her name without wincing. The screeching metal and the smell of gasoline causing my stomach to roil.
“Liza is still hurting. I don’t know the pain that she must have felt losing her twin like that. I think she’s feeling betrayed by someone who was supposed to be her friend because you’re already moving on, and she’s not ready to see it yet.”
“That’s not her decision to make, Pops. It’s not like I asked for this, but I wouldn’t change it for the world either.”
“I know, son. She just got blindsided by it. Give her some time, she’ll warm up to the idea.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder squeezing it for emphasis. A second later Greg walked in hanging his head with slumped shoulders.
“I’m sorry, man. I don’t know what got into her,” Greg sighed frustrated.
“Not your fault. Where is she?” I asked because if she took off inside and told Brandy anything, I was going to fucking throttle her. Sister-in-law or not.
“She took the kids back into the back yard.” I breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed my shoulders. As long as she didn’t go spouting off at the mouth to Brandy, we would be fine, for now.
“I didn’t tell Brandy about the accident. I honestly didn’t think it would come up,” I shrugged. Eliza hadn’t ever acted this way toward me before. Not even at the hospital after the accident.
“I think it was just a shock to her. She’ll come around,” Greg tried to reassure me but I wasn’t so sure. Eliza had been my best friend growing up. We’d never been more than friends though I guess it was weird that she and my brother ended up together and I had been with her sister. It never seemed weird. Being with Ellie had felt right until it hadn’t. I’d thought I loved her, but as time went on without her, I realized it had never been more than puppy love. We were just never meant to be.
“C’mon, we better go get your girl before Ma scares her off for good,” Greg laughed but he wasn’t wrong. We made our way into the house where we were nearly ran over by two crazy children.
“He didn’t tell you?” I heard Eliza’s shrill voice from the kitchen and Greg cursed as we moved quickly into the kitchen.
“What the hell are you doing, Liza?” Greg boomed. I don’t think I’d ever heard him use that tone with her. By the look on Eliza’s face, she was shocked at the normally calm man’s tone as well. It only lasted a second though. A malicious smile lit up her face and a saccharine-sweet tone came over her voice.
“I was just telling Brandy here some things she didn’t know about Pete.” I was about to be sick and from the way Brandy’s skin had paled she wasn’t feeling much better.
“Eliza Collins that is enough,” Ma yelled and all our heads snapped in her direction. “Leave them alone. Just because you want to continue to wallow in your own grief doesn’t mean the rest of us have to. If you insist on acting like this in my home you will not be invited to return.
“Ma,” Greg pleaded. “That’s not necessary, is it?”
“I won’t have her making your brother feel bad for living his life just because she’s stuck in the past. It’s over and done with. If you can’t see that then you’ll never be able to move forward.” Ma raised an eyebrow at Eliza who huffed and stomped from the room.
“C’mon, Greg we’re leaving,” she called over her shoulder.
“No, if you want to leave go ahead, but I’m not letting you ruin Gray and Tabby’s day, we’re staying.” Eliza stopped in her tracks turning around slowly.
“You’re choosing them over me?” Her gasp was clearly for dramatic effect and I started to wonder if the reason she’d been acting this way was because of a greater problem between her and my brother.
“No, I’m choosing the kids over you and your crazy,” Greg snapped back. I moved over to wrap my arm around Brandy’s waist. She was staring at the scene unfolding in front of her with a blank expression.
“You okay?” I whispered pulling her closer.
“Yeah, I’m just confused.” She leaned into me looking up at my face. “What the hell just happened?”
“Is that one of your questions?” I asked trying to bring some levity back to the situation.
“No, I think you owe me this one.” She squeezed my hand and I understood her meaning. I put her in this situation, so she was owed an explanation. Shit, this is gonna suck.
“I promise I’ll tell you later,” I whispered. Eliza was glaring daggers at the two of us before she turned on her heel and stomped out of the room slamming the front door behind her. Everyone blew out a collective breath, and we were finally able to relax.
“I’m sorry about that. Things have been… uh… strained lately. I think she’s been seeing someone else,” Greg scrubbed a hand over his eyes. I thought he might cry. Fuck. My brother didn’t have it all together like I thought. His wife was a little crazy. I wondered if the reason things were bad was because we were identical. She clearly hadn’t gotten over it and looking at my face every day probably hadn’t helped.
“Shit, I’m sorry, brother.” I didn’t know what else to say. It was my fault that his wife was falling apart.
“It’s all right. Not your fault. She had a choice to let it suck her down a dark hole or to grow from it. She picked the former. That’s on her not anyone else.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal, but I could see it. I could practically feel it. My brother and I had a special bond and I had no idea why I’d let this slip past me.
“We need to go have a beer sometime. I’m sure Ma wouldn’t mind watching the kids.” I clapped him on the back. Greg smiled. I think he’d been missing having someone to talk to over the last few months. I w
as so caught up in training and my own grief that I never even thought my brother’s life could be imploding around him. Those two had been made for each other. How could this be happening?”
“I don’t mind, you can bring those angels over any time,” Ma said from her spot by the stove. Brandy was extremely quiet and I looked over at her. She was watching the whole interaction with a thoughtful expression. She didn’t fill silence unnecessarily like most people did.
Right after she said that two little tornados came tearing into the room. I swooped Tabby up and held her upside down tickling her as she squealed excitedly. “Unkie Pete. Unkie Pete, stop it tickles.”
“You mean these little devils?” I asked Ma. She threw a hand towel at me.
“You stop. They’ll always be grandma’s angels.” She grinned. Greg had Gray up on his shoulders spinning around until he couldn’t do it anymore. I watched as he stumbled and then put him on the floor. Gray swayed on his feet before falling on his butt on the floor.
“Ugh, I’m dizzy.” Gray put his head in his hands. Brandy went over to him and rubbed his little back.
“Focus on me. You’ll be okay,” she soothed him. It was only a minute before he was jumping back to his feet and chasing Tabby from the room.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Brandy
I’d been glad that Eliza hadn’t come inside with us but that had quickly turned to dread the minute I heard the sliding glass door to the back yard open and a whirlwind of excited children and a blond nightmare came in chattering away. “Brandy. I’m so glad Pete found someone other than the normal women he dates. You’re not his type at all, it’s so, refreshing.” I could hear the barb in her voice and I wanted to growl at the woman. What is her problem? I hadn’t realized that I’d said that out loud until her eyebrow raised.
“My problem?” Shit. I didn’t mean to say that. “My problem is that we have a little imposter trying to come in and take the place of my sister. Did you look online for pictures of her and then make yourself look similar to get to him?”
Addicted (Sin City Gym Book 2) Page 10
