Falling for the Brother

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  “I did,” he said, watching her even more astutely now, wondering again if she and his brother were as close as Bruce wanted him to believe. If maybe she knew more than he’d expected. Speaking slowly, choosing his words with care, he said, “More than once. Each time he told me I was imagining things. Says she’s just getting older and that if I saw her more often I’d know that.”

  Harper’s brow furrowed. “I thought...” She shook her head, looking perplexed, giving him cause to wonder for a second if she actually knew Miriam was there. Then he remembered that he wouldn’t be standing in her office if she didn’t know. Lila’d had to talk to her before Mason could see her.

  “Thought what?”

  “Miriam...you... Bruce...” She shrugged and he remembered how shocked he’d been the first time he’d realized how slender her shoulders were. They could carry a lot of weight. “I thought you and Bruce were working together here...running some kind of undercover investigation to figure out what happened.”

  Now he was the one who felt confused. And tense all over again. How exactly did a guy go about turning in the brother he loved? “Bruce has been abusing her, Harper. I thought... Lila said you knew.”

  The pencil dropped as Harper leaned both hands against her desk. “She said as much. I figured you guys were using Bruce as a cover, you know, so as not to alert whoever you suspect...”

  She thought he and Bruce were a team? That they’d somehow reconciled? Which had to mean she and her ex weren’t that close, after all. With Bruce it was sometimes impossible to tell exactly where he stood—even for Mason, and he’d had more experience resisting his brother’s convincing charm than anyone else.

  “Bruce still won’t be in the same room as me if he can help it,” he said. “Which is why I always make appointments to see Gram when he’ll be away from the house.”

  “He won’t be in the same...” She shook her head again, alarm emanating from her expression, her posture, everything. “I really thought you were working together here...”

  “The agreement didn’t disappear just because your marriage did,” he said now, glad he hadn’t taken a seat in the chair across from the desk. He’d have had to stand up again. “He still has the goods on me, and I still don’t want them spilled.” That made him sound like a total ass, and while he was one, his reputation wasn’t the reason he continued to honor his little brother’s wishes. “I hurt him,” he said now. “My presence still hurts him. Staying away is the price I pay for the choice I made.”

  “A-agreement?” She completely ignored the rest of it.

  He might have been forgiven for thinking she was slightly daft. If he hadn’t known her better.

  “The agreeement.” He drew the word out, certain that neither of them wanted to get any further into it.

  “I’m sorry, Mason, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  White-hot anger at the injustice of life shot through him and was gone as instantly, leaving calm in its wake. A level, assessing calm. With a reminder that just because something changed one person’s entire life, that didn’t mean it affected another’s. Just because the agreement had hurt him irrevocably, didn’t mean it had changed Harper’s life at all.

  “Bruce wouldn’t go to Dad or Gram, or create any kind of family rift, as long as I never contacted you and stayed away from you. And as long as I gave him his space, stayed away from him as much as possible. He’d speak to me when necessary, but otherwise I wasn’t to contact him.”

  One night with Harper had cost him the brother who’d once idolized him.

  With more than a frown now, she shook her head. “What on earth are you talking about?” She wasn’t calm anymore. If anything, she sounded pissed off.

  Not that he blamed her. He’d screwed up all their lives because he’d been drunk and not thinking straight. Not that she hadn’t consented. But she’d accompanied him to the bar that night, her fiancé’s older brother and soon-to-be brother-in-law, devastated, her whole life falling apart, looking for compassion. For an explanation, a way to understand what Bruce had done. Not for alcohol-induced sex.

  Bruce had been counting on him to help her understand...

  “I mean it, Mason! Tell me what on earth you’re talking about.” Her hands, splayed on the desktop, were shaking with tension.

  He hadn’t seen her in five years. The last time he had seen her she’d been naked. And horrified to find herself in bed with him. Could he be blamed for feeling a little bothered here?

  “After you told Bruce what happened,” he said, “before you were married, he came to me. Said the two of you had talked and worked everything out.” She’d told her fiancé that she’d slept with his older brother.

  And Bruce had still wanted to marry her. Because his brother was that much in love with the woman. Even now.

  She nodded. “That’s right. We did.”

  He could understand why Bruce had forgiven her. After all, his brother had just slept with his partner.

  And Harper had slept with Mason but afterward, even before agreeing to go ahead with the marriage to Bruce, she’d never so much as called Mason. Again, not that he blamed her. She’d owed him nothing. Her loyalty had been to the man she’d decided to marry, even after he’d hurt her so badly. The man she loved so deeply she’d chosen to forgive him for what he’d done. It wasn’t as if Mason had done anything deserving of loyalty.

  “So... I’m talking about the agreement the three of us reached...” he said slowly.

  Which earned him another shake of her head. “I haven’t even spoken to you since... How could you possibly think we reached some kind of agreement about anything?”

  “You didn’t want to see me,” he reminded her. “Bruce explained. Understandable. I suppose I could have insisted on hearing the words directly from you but frankly, at that point, I was just glad to be done with it all. And still be welcome in my family.”

  “Welcome in your... Mason, why on earth wouldn’t you be welcome? It’s not like Bruce was any saint—and if I was welcome, why wouldn’t you be?”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me you didn’t know about the ultimatum?”

  “About you staying away or Bruce would cause a stink?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Of course not! I would never have agreed to such a thing. If you, or Bruce, felt it necessary to tell your father or Miriam what we’d done...that was up to you two.”

  Another question burned its way through the barriers he was trying desperately to hang on to. “Did you tell your parents?”

  He’d only met them once. At the engagement party. But he’d spent more than an hour talking to her father. Had really liked both of them. They were farmers. Down-to-earth. Practical, not prone to drama. And yet, emitting a love that couldn’t be missed.

  “Yes. Eventually. Not at the time...” She picked up the pencil again. “This isn’t getting us anywhere,” she said. “I had no idea that Bruce had gone to you, or that you’d been warned to stay away, but it’s all in the past. We have other concerns to deal with.”

  She was right to get the conversation back on course. But this was his interview. He’d requested it. And he had to know where she stood. Where they stood. His grandmother’s life could very well depend on it at this point.

  “Didn’t you ever wonder why I wasn’t around?” he asked.

  For the first time since he’d come into the room she looked down. As though ashamed. Or embarrassed. “I figured you were mad at me for marrying Bruce.”

  He had been. More than mad. But... “And you thought that would be reason enough for me to miss my only sibling’s wedding? You thought I was that much of a selfish ass? That I couldn’t get over myself for an afternoon?”

  Her gaze flew back to his. “Not because you couldn’t get over yourself, no,” she said. “I thought you weren’t there because you could
n’t witness something you felt was wrong.”

  It might have come to that—if he’d had a choice to make. More likely, he wouldn’t have gone because he’d still wanted her himself. But she’d loved Bruce. And Lord knew, Bruce adored her. No one had ever been in doubt about that. Including the other women his brother had slept with. “Bruce told me I wasn’t welcome. Warned me that if I showed my face he’d let everyone know what a jerk I was, taking advantage of his fiancée a week before the wedding.”

  Her mouth twisted, and he remembered how it had tasted—a combination of beer and sweetness.

  “He never would have done that.”

  Her defense of his brother didn’t surprise him all that much. If the situation were reversed, he might do the same. Bruce had a way about him that compelled people to like him. To trust him. And even when, like Mason, you were forced to see his other side, you still loved him. Because he wasn’t a mean or malicious man. He was, at his core, a needy one.

  “On the contrary, he most certainly would have.” And it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d stabbed Mason. It just would’ve been the worst.

  “He’d have had to out me, too. And himself.”

  Mason almost laughed, but not out of humor. “It isn’t like he would’ve taken a mic and announced the news,” he said. “Or even told the whole story. His version would’ve been more along the lines of an emotional aside to my father, where he was the total victim and where I got you drunk and then slept with you after you passed out.”

  “And you don’t think I’d have stood up for you? Told the truth? You think I would have let it stay at that?”

  He stared at her. “What I think is that you never would’ve known,” he said. “You didn’t know about the agreement...” Her stricken look bothered him. “My father certainly wouldn’t have told you. I just wouldn’t have been welcome anymore.”

  “Your father would never have turned his back on you, Mason. Even I know that.”

  She was right. To a point. “He’d see me, talk to me, sure. He’d definitely come running if I called in need.” Just as he would for Bruce. It was their way. “But any family invitations...they’d have stopped. Him calling to catch up, or to tell me one of his infamous stupid jokes...that would’ve stopped.”

  If she didn’t realize by now how insidious Bruce could be with his twisting of truths, maybe she never would. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to rely on her for help. All he knew was, he had to try.

  “And it wouldn’t have ended with my dad,” he said. “If Bruce needed support for something else, he’d drop a word in someone else’s ear at the pertinent time.” Bruce had been playing his parents against him since elementary school. Because Mason’s footsteps had been too big to fit him. Because Bruce, growing up in Mason’s shadow, had never felt he had a chance to become something great on his own. He’d developed a need to have everyone love him the most. A sense of competitiveness. Mason had understood that back then. And on the whole, Bruce’s manipulations had been pretty harmless.

  Until Harper. At least as far as he knew.

  “How do you know he didn’t do it, anyway? Tell people what we did?”

  “I don’t.” At this point, Mason hoped he had. Hoped he’d be able to dig up enough proof of Bruce’s duplicity to help Gram get healthy again. To either show her what was really happening...or to expose Bruce to the authorities. He’d prefer the former, but if he had to involve the authorities, then he would. He wasn’t going to see his little brother kill his grandmother. Wasn’t going to lose Gram that way. And most certainly didn’t want his brother to be guilty of murder.

  “I was sorry...to hear that Oscar died.”

  He nodded. He wanted to ask about her parents, but didn’t.

  He wanted to ask about Brianna, too. Wanted to know what the little girl had to say about visiting her father. The child was four—and precocious. She might have insights that would help them get the proof they needed to save Gram, and get Bruce the counselling he needed before it was too late. He needed access to Brianna, but had to get her mother on board first. He could only talk to Brianna if Harper approved.

  “So...you’re telling me this is for real? That you really think Bruce broke Miriam’s arm?”

  Among other things.

  He nodded. “And I don’t think it’s the first time.”

  “Lila said as much. But if you thought this was happening, why didn’t you do something about it sooner? It’s not like you’re not without power yourself, Mason. My God, you work with the FBI! With police departments and crime labs all over the country. You’ve got a hell of a lot more clout than an undercover cop in Albina, California.”

  He’d actually been FBI for a time. Until his skills had been needed in so many other places. He’d been offered the high government clearance he’d needed to work where he was needed as a private crime scene investigator—even when it meant rebuilding a crime scene from old evidence.

  “In the first place, I didn’t know about the previous injuries until last night. And in the second, Bruce has clout with Gram,” he told her, “and she insists he’s not hurting her.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  HARPER NEEDED TO sit down. To have a few minutes without Mason’s energy bouncing around the walls of her office.

  But she had a job to do. That came first. And, at the moment, he was it.

  “I’m just getting up to speed on this,” she said now, needing to be done with personal conversation. She’d left the Thomas family. Other than accommodating Bruce’s visitations requests, she couldn’t allow herself to go back.

  Brianna. She stared at Mason.

  “You don’t think he... I mean, if you really think Bruce did this...” She shook her head. “There’s no way he could have.”

  Now she sounded like any number of their residents. Her career was in the domestic violence field. She was fully versed on abusers’ needs to control their victims, and also understood abusers having the ability to mentally and emotionally control their victims even after their ability to do so physically had been contained.

  “Up until a month ago, Brianna was in that house every other weekend.”

  Thinking of the little blond burst of energy who took up every single nonworking moment of her life, Harper panicked. What if...

  No! She would’ve known. Bruce had never, ever shown any sign of physical aggression with their daughter. He...

  She glanced at Mason. “He doesn’t even spank her,” she said.

  “Has she ever shown any indication of distress when you get her back? Any falls or bruises or other injuries?”

  “No, of course not!” She was a cop, for heaven’s sake! Employed at a women’s shelter. She knew what to look for. And even if she hadn’t... She’d protect Brianna with her life.

  Her baby girl was her life.

  “How about emotionally? Is she more clingy? Does she have nightmares? Does she ever resist going back there? Or say she doesn’t want to see her dad?”

  She shook her head, but stopped to think, hard, in case she was missing something. Looking back over almost four years of visits... “She was only three months old when we got divorced.”

  Now was not the time to go into all of that.

  “But...” She turned to Mason, still traveling back in her memory. “I mean, it’s not like I can remember every single time I’ve picked her up, but she’s always happy to see me, then hugs him goodbye, gives him her special daddy kiss on the cheek and tells him she’ll see him later.”

  “What about when she misbehaves? Does she talk about him punishing her?”

  “She doesn’t really get into trouble.”

  He rolled his eyes and she shrugged. “I know, I know, the proud parent, right? But she doesn’t, Mason. She’s like this adult walking around in a little body. She tells you she wants to do something and you tell her no, and she lo
oks at you and asks why. If you give her a valid reason, she says okay. I’m not exaggerating.”

  “Every kid has tantrums now and then.”

  “Yeah, she used to hold her breath until she passed out when she wanted to get her way. Back during the terrible twos.” She grinned.

  He looked horrified. “I’d say that’s misbehaving! What did you do?”

  “Panicked the first time. Then I called her pediatrician. He told me to let her pass out. He said she’d start breathing again and if I didn’t make a big deal out of it, she’d soon learn that it accomplished nothing.”

  “Was he right?”

  “She did it once more after that and never again.”

  His grin tripped up her insides.

  “I’m not saying she doesn’t get in bad moods, or get mouthy now and then. I’m just saying that if you reason with her, she almost always responds positively. Once she was pretty rough when she was playing with a dollhouse my mom and dad made for her. She wrecked it, and I was furious with her, of course. I told her that what she’d done was wrong. She looked at me and said, ‘I know.’”

  “Wow. She did it without conscience?”

  “No, she’s just that practical. I asked her why she’d done it, and she said she’d had a pretend fire, but didn’t mean to hurt anything. She figured I could just fix it. I told her she had to have a time-out.”

  “What did she do?”

  “She sat quietly in the corner, until I went to get her. Then she told me she was really sorry and started to cry.”

  “So, if Bruce has ever shown any signs of aggression...with anyone...while she’s around, she’d probably be able to tell us about it.”

  Harper’s breath stuck in her throat. “Not us,” she managed. “But I’m going to get her in to see one of our counselors here at the Stand this morning.” She picked up the phone, pushed the extension for Sara’s office, made the appointment for an hour later, then hung up and glanced back at Mason.

  “Like I was saying,” she said, all business now. “I’m just getting up to speed here. I haven’t even had a chance to finish reading all the reports. But you can rest assured that there’s at least one guard aware of Miriam’s whereabouts at all times. Today Lila called in an off-duty officer, but by noon I’ll have a schedule made out for the remainder of the two weeks. Don’t worry, Mason, I can promise you that if it’s humanly possible, we won’t let Bruce get in and we won’t let her leave.”