Finding Forever: Treading Water Series, Book 5

by Force, Marie

  “Nothing to say.” He never looked at her or even glanced in her direction, devastation and heartbreak radiating from him.

  “Brayden, please. We can get through this.”

  “Are you insane? We cannot ‘get through this.’ My life is ruined, and I’ll be damned if I’ll take you down with me. Now give me my fucking horse and go home. There’s nothing more to say.”

  “I have something else to say.” Maggie forced herself to bite back the pain at his harshly spoken words. “I love you. I’m completely and totally in love with you, and there’s nothing you could want or need that I wouldn’t try to find a way to get for you. My sister and Buddy will know what to do. They handle shit like this all the time. Please don’t go. Let’s fight our way through this. When people hear your side of the story—”

  “No.” He said the single word so emphatically that it reverberated through her like a shotgun blast.

  “That’s it? Just no?”

  He finally looked at her. “What will your father say when he finds out you’re sleeping with a man who nearly killed someone?”

  “When he finds out why, he’ll understand. Everyone will.”

  Brayden shook his head and ran a trembling hand over the stubble on his jaw. “They won’t get it, and everything you and your sister and brother-in-law are building here will be ruined, Maggie.”

  She took a chance and let go of Sunday before dismounting Thunder, who was still breathing hard and sweating. She’d take care of him as soon as she got through to Brayden. Approaching him the way she would a horse who hadn’t been tamed, she put her hands on his chest and looked up at him.

  “I love you.”

  He closed his eyes, exhaled and dropped his forehead to rest against hers. “Let me go, Maggie. It’s what’s best for you.”

  Relieved to see some of the fight go out of him, she said, “I love you. We’ll figure it out. Stay with me.”

  He didn’t say yes, but he didn’t move to leave, either.

  Maggie held on to him with one hand while she pulled her phone from her pocket and called Kate.

  “Thank God you called. My publicist called me an hour ago. I’ve been trying to reach you ever since.”

  “My phone must’ve been on vibrate. I didn’t hear it. We need your help and Buddy’s and anyone else you can rally.”

  “Is it true? Did he nearly kill a man?”

  “He did, but when you hear the whole story, you’ll know why. Please trust me on this, Kate.”

  “I do trust you, and I’ve already asked my publicist and Buddy’s to come here immediately. Buddy and Taylor are coming, too. How soon can you get here?”

  “Less than an hour.”

  “We’ll be here.”

  Maggie remembered her car was at Kate’s and didn’t think Brayden was in any condition to drive them in his truck. “Do me a favor? Send Ashton to get us and tell him to hurry.”

  “I will. And, Maggie, you should know. I’ve already heard from Dad. I tried to talk him out of coming here, but you know how he is.”

  Maggie closed her eyes, having little doubt her dad was already en route. “Yeah, I do. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Your dad is coming here,” Brayden said in a dead-sounding tone. “Because he’s freaking out about your new boyfriend being a violent felon. You don’t need to put yourself through this, Maggie. Let me go. I promised you if it ever got untenable between us, I’d leave. Let me keep my promise to you.”

  “No.”

  “Just no?”

  She looked up at him, hoping he could see how much she loved him. “Just no.” Taking hold of both his hands, she looked into the tortured face of the man who’d become the most important person in her life. “Fight, Brayden. Fight for you, for me. Fight for us.”

  He gave the subtlest of reluctant nods, but that was all she needed.

  Aware that she’d won the first battle in a war that was only just beginning, she said, “Let’s go home.”

  After turning over the horses to Derek to be cared for, they embarked on a tense, silent ride with Ashton in the Mercedes Kate had bought for Jill, which, unlike Ashton’s car, had a backseat. It was hard to believe that less than twelve hours ago, Brayden and Ashton had been messing with each other the way longtime friends did. Now they were both rigidly quiet while Maggie sat in the back, trying to stay calm and focused for her sake and Brayden’s.

  Judging by the extra cars in the driveway, the people Kate had summoned had already arrived. Maggie also recognized Buddy’s black Escalade.

  Her stomach was in her throat as she took hold of Brayden’s hand and followed Ashton inside.

  Everyone was in the great room, where Kate sat on the sofa with Poppy while Reid stood behind her, looking every bit as tense as his son. Ashton went to Jill, who’d been pacing the big room, and put his arms around her to keep her still.

  Maggie realized her brother-in-law and future brother-in-law had gone into protector mode, looking out for her, even if she didn’t need their protection. She was one million percent sure she had nothing to fear from Brayden, that no one had anything to fear from him. Now she just had to convince everyone else of that.

  Without her morning jolt of caffeine, she was running on desperation and certainty that fighting for Brayden, his reputation and their relationship was worth any sacrifice she had to make.

  “I’ll give you the highlights.” Maggie spoke for him because she sensed he was in no condition to speak for himself after being so blindsided. “Brayden has always had a special affinity for horses and a natural way with them, dating back to his earliest childhood. He and his mother lived on his grandfather’s ranch. His grandfather taught him everything he knows about horses and instilled in him a love for them along with a healthy respect for them. He taught him to trust his instincts and follow his gut when it came to horses and life. His grandfather died when Brayden was thirteen. A short time later, his mother fell for and married a former rodeo star and brought him home to live on the ranch, thinking he could help them keep their heads above water.

  “Brayden took an immediate dislike to Clive. Every instinct he had told him his stepfather was a bad man, but his mother needed the help and fancied herself in love with the guy, so Brayden made himself scarce around the place, coming home only to care for the horses. When he was fifteen, he came home one day after school to find Clive beating the horses with a bullwhip. He was giving special attention to the horse that had belonged to Brayden’s grandfather because he knew that horse was Brayden’s favorite. He’d timed his attack for when he knew Brayden would be there to care for the horses and made sure he’d see them suffering.”

  Kate wiped away tears while Jill shook her head in dismay.

  Buddy muttered, “Son of a bitch,” under his breath.

  “Brayden didn’t think. He acted. He jumped the fence and beat the hell out of the man who’d made his life a living hell even before he attacked Brayden’s beloved horses. Thankfully, his mother came home before he actually killed Clive. Brayden served three years in juvenile detention, followed by five years of probation upon his release. His mother sold the ranch and the horses to pay for lawyers to defend Brayden and divorced Clive. She went on to become a fierce advocate for other children and recently died in a car accident, leaving Brayden with no remaining family. I am his family now, and I’ll fight for him with everything I have.” She looked to the people she didn’t know, who were sitting on sofas and chairs. “Tell me what we need to do.”

  “We need to get his side of the story out there immediately,” one of the women said.

  “We’ll do it through my social media,” Kate said.

  “And mine,” Buddy said.

  “And mine,” Taylor added.

  “You guys don’t have to do that,” Brayden said, his expression pained.

  “It’s happening.” Kate gave him a look that shut down his objections. “Lenore, you heard the story. Write it up.”

  The woman typing on a laptop
nodded. “Already on it.”

  “Add this.” Kate waited for the other woman to let her know she was ready: “Brayden Thomas has the support of me and my entire family. I’m honored to employ a man with his skills and dedication in charge of the equine therapy program at Matthews House and to have a man of his integrity dating my sister. Juvenile records are sealed for a reason, and the breach of Brayden’s privacy is outrageous. I won’t have anything more to say about this situation and ask that you respect my sister’s privacy. Neither she nor Brayden are public figures and should be treated as the private citizens that they are.”

  Maggie had never loved her sister more than she did in that moment. “Thank you, Kate,” she said softly, blinking back tears.

  “Don’t thank me. None of this would be happening if we hadn’t done that stupid interview. They wouldn’t have even known who you were, and I should’ve kept it that way. I’m sorry, Maggie, and Brayden.”

  “This isn’t your fault, Kate,” Brayden said. “It happened, and I own what I did. If I had it to do over again, I’d do the same exact thing.”

  Lenore eyed him over horn-rimmed glasses. “Don’t say that to anyone outside this room.”

  For the first time since the shit had hit the fan, Brayden cracked a small smile. “Got it.”

  That small smile made Maggie want to weep from the hope it gave her.

  They worked on the statement for an hour, tweaking it until everyone was happy with it, particularly Brayden. It was his story and needed to be told correctly.

  “You’re sure about this?” Brayden asked Kate, his gaze encompassing Buddy and Taylor.

  “Absolutely,” Kate said, speaking for the three of them. “Release it, Lenore.” To Brayden, Kate said, “Lenore works for all three of us.”

  “Y’all are impressive,” he said, clearly wowed by them.

  “We get shit done,” Taylor said.

  “Thank you,” he said softly. “Thank you all so much.”

  “You have a family with us, Brayden,” Jill said. “We’ve got your back.”

  Sensing he was overwhelmed, Maggie put her arm around him and brought his head to rest on her shoulder.

  “Now you just have to get past Jack,” Reid said. “You poor bastard.”

  With the statement issued and blowing up Instagram, the others got busy making food and coffee and Bloody Marys. They carried on as if everything were normal, when Brayden’s life had spun so far out of control, he had no idea what to make of everything that’d happened in the last couple of hours. He had no idea what “normal” was anymore.

  People knew what he’d done. Before this day was out, everyone would know what he’d done. Maggie’s family knew, and they’d gone to battle for him, risking their own reputations to restore his.

  No one had ever done anything like that for him.

  And Maggie, dear God, Maggie… Calling her a queen hadn’t given her enough credit. She was an empress, and he loved her madly. It occurred to him that he’d forgotten to tell her that earlier when she was pouring her heart out to him. As soon as he got a second alone with her, he would fix that.

  Hanging over everything was the imminent arrival of her father, who was apparently known for dropping everything and jumping on a plane any time his daughters encountered trouble.

  He was the trouble that Maggie had encountered, and now Jack Harrington was on his way to Nashville to make sure he was good enough for Maggie—or to have him killed.

  Of course he wasn’t good enough for her. He’d always known that, but damned if he’d been able to keep his distance from her, even knowing she could do so much better than him.

  Bringing a mug of coffee with her, she sat next to him on the sofa. “How you holding up?”

  “Okay. I guess.”

  “Lenore said people are responding well to the posts.”

  “That’s good.”

  “I know it’s a lot to process, but maybe it’s better this way. People know. Life goes on. You no longer have secrets to protect.”

  “Maybe, but they were my secrets to tell or not to tell. I bet I know exactly who it was that blabbed.”

  “It doesn’t matter who it was. The damage was done, and we did what we could to repair it.”

  “You did more than anyone has ever done for me in my life, Maggie, except for maybe my mom.”

  She sipped her coffee and turned those potent blue eyes on him over the rim of her mug. “I told you why earlier.”

  “We need to talk about that.”

  “We will. Later. But you should know that if I had it to do again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  He smiled at the way she’d turned his words around on him. “So much I want to say to you.”

  “We’ll get to that. After we see my dad.”

  “How bad is that gonna be?”

  “Hard telling. He’s mellowed a bit in his old age—”

  “Who you calling old, Mags?”

  Maggie nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized her dad was standing behind them. “Jeez, how’d you get here so fast?” She handed her mug to Brayden and got up to greet her dad with a hug and kiss.

  “Never mind that. What’s this about me mellowing in my old age?”

  “Be nice, Dad. I mean it. This is Brayden Thomas. Brayden, my dad, Jack Harrington.”

  Brayden stood to shake his hand, making eye contact the way his grandfather had taught him. The man was tall with dark hair sprinkled with gray, handsome and formidable. “Good to meet you, sir. I’m sorry it’s happening under these circumstances.” Brayden couldn’t believe how much Jill looked like her dad. Maggie resembled him, too, but Jill was him all over again.

  “Yes, the circumstances are somewhat unfortunate,” Jack said.

  “Dad, you need to know the full story.”

  “I already know it. I saw Kate’s post.”

  Maggie’s mouth dropped open. “You know what Instagram is?”

  Jack gave her a withering look. “I live with a teenager and two preteens. I know what Instagram is, and when two of my daughters text me links to something I should see before I ‘come in hot,’ I’m also capable of doing what I’m told.”

  “We both said the same thing,” Jill said to Kate as they joined them.

  The sisters exchanged a high five, obviously pleased with themselves. Brayden would be forever grateful to them as well as Buddy and Taylor for what they’d done for him today. But Maggie… She was the one who’d made it happen, and his gratitude for her couldn’t be measured or summed up in mere words.

  “I told you he’d mellowed in his old age,” Maggie said. “He never used to do what he was told.”

  Jack gave Maggie a stern look that managed to also convey amusement and boundless love. “Brayden,” he said, “let’s take a walk.”

  “Dad—”

  “I’d like to talk to Brayden alone.”

  Brayden knew it was time to man up and fight for her the way she’d fought for him. “It’s fine, Maggie. Lead the way, sir.”

  “My name is Jack. Call me that.”

  “Yes, sir. I mean Jack, sir.”

  “It’s okay,” Reid said. “You get used to him, and once you do, he’s not so scary.”

  “You,” Jack said, pointing at Reid, “shut your mouth. Not only did you marry my daughter after I told you to ‘keep an eye on her,’ you also made me a grandfather. Where is my sweet Poppy anyway?”

  “She’s napping, Dad,” Kate said. “You can see her in a bit.”

  “Excellent. Brayden, let’s walk.”

  Brayden grimaced at Maggie.

  “Be strong, grasshopper.” Maggie affected a comically serious expression. “As far as we know, he hasn’t bitten anyone in a while, and he’s up-to-date on all his shots.”

  Jack rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t listen to my daughters, Brayden. They don’t know me at all.”

  Chapter 29

  Brayden followed Jack out the French doors that led to Kate’s thousand-acre backyard.
It occurred to him that there were a lot of places to hide a body out there, but then he recalled how Maggie had come for him earlier and had faith she’d do it again, if it came to that…

  For a long time, they only walked. Brayden wondered if Jack was taking him far enough from the house that the gunshot wouldn’t be audible. And then he snorted under his breath at the direction his thoughts were taking.

  “Care to share the joke?” Jack asked.

  “I was wondering if you’re taking me far enough from the house that they won’t hear the gunshot.”

  Jack chuckled. “You figured out my plan.” They walked past an A-frame log cabin, a smaller version of the main house, as they headed toward a thicket of trees. “That’s the bunkhouse Reid built before we all came last Christmas for their wedding.”

  “Wow. It’s huge.”

  “There’re a lot of us.”

  “I’m starting to realize that.”

  “Do you have a big family?”

  “Nope. It was just me, my mom and my grandfather. He died when I was thirteen, and I lost her recently.”

  “I heard that. I’m really sorry.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I understand you have a way with horses.”

  “So I’m told. That comes right from my gramps. He taught me everything I know.”

  “Maggie has loved horses since she was a little girl. Begged and pleaded with us for lessons for years before we finally relented. She was such a tiny little thing. I had nightmares about her being crushed by a falling horse. But Maggie, being Maggie, was completely fearless. She jumped up on that first horse like it was no big deal and took off like she’d been riding all her life. The instructor had to run after her because she was supposed to walk before she ran, but by the time he caught up to her, it was already too late.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Not only is she fearless, she has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. Her mother and I were very concerned about her taking the job at Matthews House, because we knew it would be tough on her when things don’t go as planned.”

  “It has been. She cares so much about the women and kids she works with.”