Bleeding Hearts: The Complete Duet

by A. Zavarelli

  “Ryland…”

  “And spending time with Nicole,” he added. “Matt has to go back to work today as well, so he’ll be dropping her off here soon.”

  I gave him a suspicious glare, wondering if this was a ruse to keep me busy so I didn’t have time to wonder what he was up to. Of course, I wanted to look after Nicole, but I’d talked to her every day on the phone, and she sounded much better.

  Ryland strode to the door, and my opportunity was slipping away. It had to be said. There was no way that it couldn’t be said.

  “What are you going to do about Brayden?”

  He spun around, and his eyes had turned to ice again.

  “I don’t want you to worry about these things, Brighton.”

  A dry laugh burst from my throat as I stared at him in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? They’re my family, Ryland. Of course, I have to worry about these things.”

  “You’re not like them,” he argued.

  “Yes, I am.” I frowned. “I’m from the same stock, Ryland. I’m no better, no different. Their blood runs through my veins, and that’s not something that will ever change.”

  My words hardened his jaw, and he looked away. I wasn’t going to lie, it stung.

  “Is that the only way you can be with me?” I rasped. “To pretend I’m not one of them?”

  He closed the distance between us in three long steps, crushing me against him.

  “Of course it isn’t.” He stroked my hair and kissed my forehead. “I don’t see it that way. I don’t see you that way.”

  His words were meant to comfort me, but they didn’t. Because I knew it was true. That in his mind, he had put us all into neat little boxes. He had separated the truth of the situation from reality. He may have wanted to believe I was someone else to ease his own conscience, but it didn’t change anything.

  “You didn’t tell the police what he did,” I said, getting back to the topic at hand. “So that means you must be planning something.”

  He pulled away and gave me a hurt expression like I was defending the other team.

  “I know what he did was wrong.” I pulled him back to me. “But, Ryland, this needs to stop now. I’m here, aren’t I? I took care of you. That shows you how I feel about you. I’m here. I don’t want to lose you, but I don’t want to lose them either.”

  “That’s the whole point of the game, Brighton.” He gave me a sad smile. “Somebody has to lose.”

  ***

  Twenty minutes after Ryland left, Matt and Nicole showed up at the door.

  “You’ll take care of her?” Matt asked, lingering in the hallway with a frown.

  “Of course I will,” I assured him.

  “Go.” Nicole shooed him away. “You’re going to be late.”

  Matt left, reluctantly, and Nicole sighed as she wandered over to an empty barstool.

  “I don’t need to be babysat. It was a stupid mistake.”

  “But it wasn’t the first time it’s happened,” I pointed out. “Everybody’s worried about you.”

  “I know,” she grumbled. “But it was just too much, you know?”

  “I do.” I blew the hair out of my eyes and collapsed beside her.

  “How are things going with you anyway?” she asked.

  “Well, they’d be better if I didn’t think my boyfriend and my brother still want to kill each other,” I replied without humor.

  Nicole nodded and tapped her fingers on the marble countertop. “What are you going to do?”

  “What can I do? Neither one of them will be honest with me. And Norma… well she won’t listen to reason either.”

  Nicole nodded, obviously not knowing what to say. Like me, she had no idea how to get out of this vortex, but I didn’t want to keep pulling her down with me. So instead, I put on a smile and tugged her hand as I stood up from the breakfast bar.

  “C’mon, I want to show you something.”

  ***

  “Brighton, these are gorgeous.” Nicole ran her fingers over the tutus with the first honest happiness I’d seen on her face in a while.

  “Thank you.” I blushed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with them, but… I thought it would be nice to do something good. Something to honor Sophia’s memory.”

  Her name felt strange on my tongue, and the same familiar burn of guilt was there whenever I said it. I tried to push the image of the mangled girl in the car from my mind. I wanted to think of her as the tiny dancer with the golden halo instead.

  Nicole clapped a hand over her mouth and shuddered, and immediately I thought this was the worst idea I’d ever come up with.

  “I knew it.” I gathered up the Tulle and tried to put it away. “This was so stupid of me.”

  “No.” Nicole reached out and stopped me. “It wasn’t. It’s perfect.”

  She smiled through the tears, but I wasn’t entirely convinced.

  “Did you know that this machine was his moms?” she asked.

  Something swelled inside my chest as I swung my gaze to the vintage sewing machine. “It was?”

  “Yes. That’s why it’s so perfect. It’s like she meant for you to have it.”

  “I can’t believe Ryland let me use it…”

  “I couldn’t think of anyone who would put it to better use,” Nicole said softly. “And I want to help you with this project.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I mean, I can’t sew. But I want to help find a use for these. Like a charity or something.”

  “That would be nice,” I hedged. “But what do you think Ryland’s going to say about all this?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “And honestly, I don’t care either.”

  I stared at her, shocked by her bluntness.

  “He isn’t the only one who lost them,” she ranted. “And everybody grieves differently. While he’s running around plotting revenge to get him through, I have nothing. And I want to do this. I want to remember the good parts of their lives.”

  The passion and fire in her eyes as she spoke made the decision for me. I hadn’t seen Nicole look so determined the entire time I’d known her. And right now, this was exactly what she needed.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Then we’re really going to do this.”

  “Yes.” She smiled. “Ryland doesn’t even have to know.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Over the next two months, Nicole and I worked tirelessly on our project during any spare time we had. It was difficult keeping it from Ryland, but I made sure to keep him out of the sewing room and limit my activities to the time he was at work.

  Brayden and I still weren’t speaking, but Norma-Jean was. That morning she’d informed me Ryland had cut her off, much to her dismay. A spark of hope bloomed inside of me, and I couldn’t extinguish it with any amount of logic.

  Which was why the minute Ryland walked in the door that evening, I was all over him.

  He hit the door with an oomph as I pressed my naked body against him, fumbling to get his buttons undone quick enough.

  Ryland didn’t argue as he discarded his suit jacket and unzipped his pants enough to free himself. I clung to his body when he picked me up and spun me around, seeking out the tender flesh of my neck with his teeth. He fucked me hard and fast against the wall, rattling the picture frames and shattering a vase beside us in the process.

  When he’d filled me with his release and collapsed against the wall, I finished undressing him and tugged him along to the sofa behind me.

  “You’re going to kill me,” he teased, pulling me onto his lap. “You’ve been insatiable lately.”

  It was true, though I didn’t know why. My entire body was a live wire, constantly humming with sexual energy. Every part of me was tender, including my breasts, and the slightest touch turned me into a useless puddle of hormones.

  “Are you complaining?” I kissed my way down his chest.

  “Does it look like I’m complaining?” he gripped his hardening cock i
n his hand.

  I grinned and pushed him back inside of me where I planned for him to spend the rest of the night.

  ***

  I barely made it to the toilet before I heaved up the contents of my stomach. Ryland trailed behind me, trying to hold back my hair while I swatted him away.

  “Ugh, don’t,” I groaned. “I need to take a shower.”

  He frowned and retrieved his phone from his pocket. “I think I should call the doctor.”

  I reached up and stopped him as I stood on shaky legs. “I’m fine, Ryland,” I assured him. “It’s just the flu.”

  He didn’t look like he wanted to leave, but he had an important business dinner tonight. He’d been talking about it all week.

  “I’ll stay in bed all night,” I promised. “Okay?”

  He nodded and pocketed his phone reluctantly. “I’m still going to have Nicole come by to check on you.”

  He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead before he walked out the door, leaving me in peace to my sore stomach. Something strange had been going on with me lately, but I chalked it up to stress.

  I stepped into the shower and scrubbed myself clean, enjoying the hot water on my skin. But the incessant ringing of my cell phone from the next room started to threaten my enjoyment, and I turned off the tap in frustration.

  I had no idea who would be calling me repeatedly, but I guessed it was probably Ryland. He worried about me obsessively whenever something minor happened.

  I padded towards the bedroom and picked up my phone, scrolling through the messages. Six missed calls from Norma-Jean. I dialed her number back and swallowed the lump in my throat when she answered on the first ring.

  “What’s going on?”

  “They know,” she blurted, her voice completely hysterical.

  While Norma was always a little dramatic, I’d never heard her quite like this. There was real fear in her voice as she repeated the words over and over.

  “Who knows what?” I demanded.

  “They know Brayden’s his son,” she continued. “And that he didn’t finish the job. They’re coming after him, so he’s coming to get you.”

  “Norma, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” I rubbed my temples in exhaustion. “You have to calm down and explain.”

  “Frankie’s wife found out about Brayden,” she said. “And she put a hit out on him. But Brayden thinks she knows about you too that’s why he’s coming to San Francisco.”

  Her words were a sucker punch to the gut. I knew that Frankie was a dangerous man. And I knew he had a wife and other kids, but I had no idea how much trouble we’d be in if she ever discovered us. But it all made sense when I pieced it together. Why we lived in some shit hole in the middle of nowhere for as long as I could remember. Why our mother had changed her name and given us her father’s last name. All the secrets that had piled up over the years, never fitting together, suddenly made perfect sense.

  Had Norma really lived that way to protect us from Frankie’s family? It wasn’t something I could reconcile in my head. She didn’t have a maternal bone in her body, and yet Brayden’s words came back to haunt me.

  She had a rough go of it, Brighton. Things weren’t easy for her either…

  I wanted to ask her. But it wasn’t the right time.

  “When’s he getting here?” I glanced at the clock on the wall.

  “He’ll be there at 7:15,” Norma rattled off. “You have to take care of each other, Brighton. You have to hide. You don’t understand what these people are capable of…”

  The panic in her voice scared me. Norma-Jean had never panicked over anything except for money. But right then, it was clear as day how much she loved us. And I couldn’t believe I was only just hearing it now.

  “I’ll protect him,” I assured her. “I’ll figure something out.”

  “Okay,” she sniffled. “Please make sure you do.”

  “What about you, mom?” I croaked.

  For the first time in forever, she didn’t reprimand me for using the word.

  “I’ll be okay,” she assured me. “I have a cousin in Springfield who’s going to let me stay with her a while.”

  A cousin in Springfield? Again, something I hadn’t been privy to.

  “Okay.” I glanced up at the clock again. “I have to go get ready. Please be careful, Norma.”

  “You too, Brighton. I love you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I had just slipped off the bracelet Ryland gave me when Nicole showed up.

  “I thought you were sick?” she glanced at my purse and keys.

  “I’m feeling okay now,” I muttered. “But, Nicole I need you to do me a favor.”

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s a really big one.”

  She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Why do I get the impression I’m not going to like it?”

  “I need you to cover for me with Ryland,” I explained. “If he calls, tell him I’m asleep, and that you’re here watching TV.”

  “Why?” she asked curiously.

  “It’s a family thing.” I wasn’t about to go into all the gory details with her already fragile state of mind. “I have to go do something for Norma, and if he knows he will freak out.”

  She hesitated for a moment before shrugging in agreement. And even with all our past history, I knew I could trust her with this.

  “Thank you so much.” I hugged her. “I’ll bring you back one of those cupcakes you like from down the street.”

  “Okay.” She smiled. “Just be careful. And don’t stay out too long.”

  “I won’t.”

  ***

  If I had expected a warm reception from Brayden at the airport, I wasn’t getting one. He grabbed my arm as soon as he saw me and dragged me towards the ground transportation.

  “Don’t say a word,” he hissed. “Not until we’re in the car.”

  “What car?” I asked.

  Again, he didn’t answer. He strode up to the rental desk and gave them a credit card with someone else’s name on it. The ID had a photo of someone who looked like him but definitely wasn’t.

  The minute we were in the safety of the silver Kia, I shot him a glare.

  “Whose card did you use back there?” I demanded. “I have money, you know.”

  “You mean you have Ryland’s money,” he scoffed. “And how long do you think it will take him to track that down?”

  “What are you talking about?” I snapped.

  Brayden looked at me as if I were an idiot before his expression softened to pity.

  “Who do you think tipped them off, Brighton?” he asked.

  His accusation stung, but I let it bounce right off of me.

  “No way.” I shook my head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  Brayden slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “When are you going to wake up? Yes, he fucking would.”

  “I don’t believe that,” I argued.

  “He said he has some kind of a business function tonight, didn’t he?”

  I tried to hide my shaking hands by crossing my arms and staring out the window. “Yeah, so what?”

  “Did he invite you?”

  I didn’t want to answer him because I knew where he was going with this. And suddenly, my rock solid foundation was beginning to crumble.

  “Did he invite you?” he repeated.

  “That doesn’t mean anything, Brayden.”

  “I don’t know how to get through to you.” He shook his head as he gunned it onto the interstate. “I don’t know how to make you see.”

  “Where are you going?” I demanded.

  “To anywhere that isn’t fucking California,” he replied, his knuckles whitening from the intensity of his grip on the wheel.

  “I’m not leaving California,” I argued. “I can get you a hotel room somewhere, Brayden. Somewhere that you’ll be safe. And then we can figure this out…”

  “Goddammit, Brighton!” he growl
ed. “That isn’t going to stop them. This is going to be the first place they look for us.”

  “How do you even know all of this is happening?” I asked, questioning his sanity for the third time in the last six months.

  “A friend of Frankie’s called me,” he spat. “The same guy that called to tell me he was dead. He knew about us, and Frankie trusted him. It’s why he tipped me off.”

  “Well, we can’t just run away,” I tried to reason with him. “You don’t even have a plan.”

  He didn’t reply, and as the lights of the city grew more distant, panic started to eat at me.

  “You’re going too fast,” I barked. “Slow down.”

  Brayden didn’t hear me. He kept looking in the rearview mirror, and his body tensed as he weaved in and out of traffic.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  I turned around, seeing nothing but the flash of other headlights behind us as we left them behind.

  Brayden continued to drive in silence, and I didn’t know what else to do. The roads were getting windier, and the moon rose higher in the sky as we drove along the coast. I still had no idea where he was going.

  “Do you have your phone on you?” he asked.

  I nodded and pulled it out of my pocket, assuming he was going to call Norma. But he grabbed it from me and tore the battery out before tossing it out the window.

  “What the hell, Brayden?” I yelled. “What is wrong with you?”

  “He could use it to track you.” He shot another paranoid glance in the mirror.

  “Ryland isn’t tracking me,” I repeated calmly. “He’s at a business dinner. And he’s expecting me to be home, so we need to stop now…”

  My words trailed off as Brayden floored it again, his eyes growing wide. He was staring at something behind us.

  When I swiveled around in my seat, I could only see one pair of headlights now, and they were moving way too fast to be a coincidence.

  “They’ve been following us since Fremont,” Brayden said. “Goddammit, they knew I was coming. I’m so sorry, Brighton.”