Monroe, Melody Snow - Brittany's Destiny [Pleasure, Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Melody Snow Monroe

  He’d always known that his frustration over the loss of his true love had fueled his desire to succeed. Somehow he’d wanted to be rich and respected so that when Brittany came back to town, he’d show her what she’d given up.

  Now, none of that mattered. Sure, he was proud of his accomplishments, but if it cost him the one woman he was destined to be with, was it worth it? Right now, he wasn’t in the frame of mind to think straight.

  He must have taken his gaze off the road for a split second, for his tires slipped over an icy patch. He tried a corrective maneuver by turning into the skid then braking, but he wasn’t slowing down. Nothing held, and the front of his car slammed into a tree. His head shot forward and his world turned black.

  * * * *

  Getting out of bed seemed harder than usual this morning. Brittany hadn’t slept at all since Brody had deserted her. She might as well have handed him her heart and told him to step on it. Her and her big mouth. She just should have kept quiet and not stirred up the past.

  That would have been living a lie. You had to tell him.

  Knowing what she’d done was right didn’t make it any easier. Hoping a shower would help, she stepped under the hot flow. Despite taking a longer shower than usual, the heat failed to erase the emptiness in her heart. She’d lost Brody, and very possibly Evan and Sparks. How could she ever be with them, when she’d done something terrible to Evan’s brother?

  “You should have told him that first day in the store. You’re an idiot.”

  Admitting her mistake only hurt more.

  She fixed a bowl of cereal, thinking about the wonderful breakfast Evan had fixed for her a few days before. Her life was a mess. Why couldn’t she be like most Americans and love only one man? Why did she have to want all three?

  She gathered her purse and headed down the mountain to go to work. Her mind wouldn’t stop thinking about how much she’d hurt Brody. So when she saw his car off to the side of the road, at first she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. As she neared, she realized that the car in the ditch was his car. The front of the SUV had crashed into a tree.

  Her normally calm nurse persona disappeared as she threw open her car door.

  “Brody!” She ran as fast as she could. Her boots slipped on the ice, but she willed her body not to fall.

  When she got there, his head was resting on the steering wheel and blood had coated his cheek. She couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. Panic rippled through her. Her hands shook as she tried to open the driver-side door. “Brody, can you hear me?” She pounded on the window.

  Finally, the door gave and creaked open. The inside temperature was freezing. She tried to calculate how long it had been since he’d left her house. It was probably three hours. She tapped his shoulder. “Brody? Wake up.”

  No response. Since he was unconscious, she didn’t want to move him for fear of further injury.

  She pulled out her phone and called Evan. If she’d called 911, the dispatcher would have called him. He had the equipment to get him out of the vehicle safely.

  “Hey, hon. You miss me already?”

  “Oh, Evan. Brody’s been in a car accident.” As calmly as she could, she described what happened.

  “Don’t touch him. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Okay.” She disconnected, not wanting to take up any more of his time.

  She hoped he’d bring Sparks. It might take two men to get him out. She reached in to check for any other blood. As she ran her hands down both legs, Brody groaned.

  “Thank God.”

  He cracked open an eye and leaned back. “What the fuck happened?”

  “Don’t move.” She clasped her hands on his neck to hold it steady.

  “I’m okay.”

  He tried to swipe her hands away. All injured patients seemed to be in denial at first. “When you left my house, you ran off the road. You’ve been unconscious. You could have a spinal cord injury.” Maybe she shouldn’t have told him. Having him panic was the last thing she needed. With a brother who was trained, Brody probably understood the risks.

  “I won’t move. I promise.”

  Being a football player, he would know the consequences of collisions. “Do you know what day it is?”

  “Since you keep asking me that question, you ought to buy a calendar.”

  His teasing tone helped calm her. “What hurts?” She knew what and when he’d eaten last.

  “My forehead and my knee.”

  “Don’t try to move anything. Evan will be here shortly.”

  She wanted to talk about what happened, but aggravating him wouldn’t help his cause. Instead, she talked about the dance last night, anything to keep his mind occupied. The rumble of an engine caught her attention. Two trucks arrived. One was a tow truck and the other was an ambulance. Evan and Sparks both jumped out of the ambulance, thank God.

  As soon as they got to the scene, she backed off. Sparks carried the backboard and Evan the med kit.

  Brody waved to the backboard. “I don’t need that.”

  Evan nodded to Sparks before turning back to Brody. “Don’t tell me how to do my job and I won’t tell you how to run a hardware store.”

  “You try to tell me anyway.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  In no time, Sparks and Evan had Brody secured, ready for transport. Without getting in the way, she visually examined him. His left foot looked a bit out of alignment. Poor Brody. He didn’t need any more injuries.

  “Where are you taking him?”

  “To the Bozeman hospital. They have better equipment. He’ll need an MRI and maybe a CAT scan.”

  She followed behind the ambulance, wondering where Evan had gotten it. He probably stopped by the fire station on his way up the mountain. With sirens blaring, Evan got Brody to the hospital in fifty minutes. He was on the examination table within the hour.

  She waited with Evan and Sparks in another room once she told the doctor what happened. “The doc’s with him now.”

  “What was he doing on the road to your place?”

  “Brody had asked me a few days ago to go to the dance at Mountain View.”

  “We know. We suggested it.” Evan glanced at Sparks. “We want all of us to be together. The only way that could possibly happen would be if Brody and you had a chance to be alone together.”

  “Well, it worked. In fact, Brody spent the night.”

  “You said the accident happened a few hours ago.”

  “We got in a fight. I told him why I left town so suddenly.” She looked at Evan. He needed to know, too.

  Sparks stood. “Brittany, you don’t have to tell.”

  “I do. Brody knows, and I don’t ever want any secrets between us.” She held Evan’s gaze for a moment. “I was pregnant with his child.”

  A myriad of expressions from confusion to anger crossed Evan’s face. “And the baby? Did you give the child up for adoption?”

  “No. I never would have done that. The baby died in childbirth.”

  Evan leaned back against his seat, looking lost. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes. “I take it Brody was a bit pissed.”

  “That’s putting it mildly. I don’t blame him. I should have told him years ago, but I was a coward.”

  “He’ll heal.”

  “Maybe.” But if he did, he wouldn’t include her in his heart. A tear slipped out.

  An hour later, a doctor approached them and asked their relationship to the patient.

  He addressed Evan. “Your brother had a laceration to his forehead and had a hairline fracture in his foot. Other than that, he’ll be fine. I gave him some Tylenol for the headache. I did have to warm him up as he was hypothermic.”

  Evan’s chest caved. “Thanks.”

  “Oh, and make sure he stays off his foot. Your local physician can put on a cast in a few days.”

  Brody staying off the foot wasn’t going to happen.

  The doctor walked away, a
nd she breathed a sigh of relief. If anything bad had happened, she would have considered it her fault.

  “We’ll bring him back to his house, but you might want to check on him on your way home from work for the next couple of days.”

  Her laugh came out rueful. “I don’t think Brody ever wants to see me again.”

  “We’ll see.”

  A few minutes later, Brody came through a set of automatic doors in a wheelchair.

  The male nurse handed Evan the crutches and said good-bye to Brody.

  Brody turned toward Evan. “Sorry, I’ve really fucked things up. I think my car’s totaled.”

  “Probably.”

  Brody glanced at her, but quickly broke eye contact.

  “Brody, I’m so sorry—”

  “Don’t.”

  She couldn’t blame him. She’d hurt him. She touched Sparks’s arm. “I need to get to back to work.”

  He nodded. Brody would be in good hands with Sparks and Evan. He didn’t need to have his blood pressure skyrocket any higher than it already was.

  She had a hard time concentrating on the way back to the clinic. She’d already called work and told them where she was. Doc Trumble told her not to hurry.

  If only she’d had the courage to tell Brody the truth from the beginning, his accident wouldn’t have happened.

  * * * *

  “Stop pacing. Your foot will swell up bigger than a bullfrog on steroids.”

  For one second, Evan’s analogy lightened his mood. Brody spun on his crutches. “How could she not tell me about my baby?” Bile raced up his throat and stung.

  “I didn’t know either.”

  “But I was the father.”

  “She was a kid. Don’t you remember what her parents were like back then? He was a goddamn president of a bank from New England! They would be embarrassed.”

  “They might have sent her away, but she could have called or written. We’d have figured something out.”

  “How do you know they didn’t threaten to disown her if she told you? Word would have gotten out.”

  He let the words simmer. “Let’s say I see her point. What was her excuse for waiting so long? She’s been back in town close to a month.”

  The raw pain nearly toppled him and he dropped onto the sofa. He threw one crutch across the room.

  “Maybe you didn’t give her a chance.” Evan got up. “I need a drink.”

  “Bring me one, too.”

  “You’re on pain meds.”

  Shit. Evan and Sparks seemed so happy sharing Brittany. He should be part of the group, only now he couldn’t. He could never trust her again.

  Evan came back and handed him a glass of water. Wonderful. He put pressure on his foot, forgetting about his injury, and winced. A voice floated in his head.

  Brody, I need to tell you something. Brody, we need to talk.

  Maybe she had tried, and he’d cut her off. “Why did she make love to me, knowing full well we’d had a child? That she was living a lie?”

  Evan blew out a breath. “Did you ever think maybe talking about the child she lost was hard for her, too?”

  The pain on her face when she told him implied Evan might be right. “Maybe.”

  “Don’t forget the fact she did tell you. Yesterday, Sparks told me he knew all along.”

  “She told Sparks?” His gut churned.

  “No. Apparently, he overheard the conversation between Brittany and her mom when her parents sent her away.”

  The betrayals kept coming. “Why the hell didn’t he tell me? I nearly went insane wondering what had happened to her.”

  Evan drank his beer. “It wasn’t his story to tell. Sparks was being loyal. The whole world doesn’t revolve around you.”

  “Easy for you to say. She loves you.”

  His whole world was caving in on him. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Maybe in a few days, he’d see her side. Or maybe never.

  * * * *

  “Brittany, you gotta let it go, darlin’.”

  Evan kissed her lips as Sparks nibbled her neck from behind. “You’re trying to distract me.”

  Evan tilted up her chin. “Is it working?”

  “Kind of.” She spun out of Sparks’s grasp. “What are we going to do about Brody? I don’t want his anger to get in the way of you wanting to be with me.”

  Sparks stepped next to Evan. “That isn’t going to happen. Besides, we know Brody. He’ll realize you meant no harm.”

  “That’s not going to happen. I hurt him bad.”

  Evan led her over to the sofa. “Listen. I don’t want what happened to get in the way of our happiness. We lost you once, and we don’t want to lose you again.”

  Her bottom lip trembled. “I so appreciate that. If I lost you two, I don’t think I could go on.”

  Both men held her until her spirits improved. They let her pick the movie of her choice and she fell asleep in their arms. When she awoke, she was naked in bed, but her two men were nowhere to be seen.

  She got up, dressed and looked around. A note sat on the table.

  Got a call we had to take. See you tonight.

  Evan and Sparks

  How nice that they always let her know where they were. After a quick breakfast, she got dressed and went to work, hoping for more clarity about her life.

  * * * *

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I see you’re your usual self.” Evan wasn’t going to be put off by his brother’s attitude. “I thought you might appreciate a cooked meal.” There was a cup of coffee, and a paper napkin with crumbs on the table.

  “If you want to cook, be my guest.”

  Evan had told Brittany he and Sparks had to work. Sparks did go out while Evan planned to make Brody see reason. The open kitchen allowed him to prepare a meal and talk to his brother, who was sprawled out on the sofa, at the same time.

  “I saw Brittany last night.”

  Brody glanced away. “I care, why?”

  Evan expected the resistance. “She’s miserable. You’re miserable. It’s making my life hell, too. What’s done is done. Can’t you forgive her?”

  “No.”

  Evan would not be stopped. He wanted Brittany, and he wanted all of them to be able to be in the same room without bad vibes racing around the room. “Have you ever kept a secret because you knew if anyone found out someone might get hurt?” Brody’s retort never shot back. Evan poured the coffee and walked out to the living room. “Well, is there?”

  Brody took the cup. “Yes.”

  “I don’t need to know what it was, but why didn’t you ever tell?”

  “Like you said, it would have destroyed something that was good.”

  “Like what you and Brittany had?”

  He hid behind his cup. “This is different. More than two people were involved.”

  “More than two were involved with you and Brit. There was the baby, her parents, and her grandmother. Don’t forget, I got hurt, too.”

  Brody placed the cup on the coffee table so hard, much of the liquid spilled out. “This is different.”

  “Tell me.”

  He could see it was eating his brother alive. Brody sat up. “You want to know? Do you really?” His hand fisted.

  His brother seemed to need to get this off his chest. “Yes.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else.”

  “Then I’ll be like Sparks.”

  Brody dropped his head back on the sofa and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. When we were twelve, Dad was out of town. You were gone and I was supposed to have football practice, but the coach had to cancel for some reason. I came home on my bike earlier than Mom expected.”

  His stomach churned. “What did you see?” He could guess, but he wanted confirmation.

  “Mom was in bed with another man.”

  Evan’s knees buckled. “Did she see you?”

  “No. I’ve told no one until now.”

  His parents
seemed so happy. While they were okay with multiple marriages, cheating was not accepted. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “Do? Nothing. It would only cause more hurt.”

  Evan heard the eggs spatter and crackle. He took them off the stove, his thoughts going in many directions.

  Brody got up and hobbled over to the counter. “You think Brittany was trying to protect me?”

  The lightbulb finally went off. Hallelujah. “I know so.”

  Evan placed the food in front of him. Together they ate in silence.

  Brody finished and pushed his plate away. “Sweet Jesus, I’ve been an ass.”

  “Ya think?”

  “Do you think she’ll forgive me?” Evan didn’t remember seeing his twin look so insecure.

  He knew Brittany. She was the sweetest woman alive. Yes, she’d forgive him. “You won’t know unless you ask.”

  “I guess I’ll give her a call.”

  “Smart.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Brittany was putting the dinner dishes in the dishwasher when her phone rang. She figured it had to be either Evan or Sparks. She hadn’t heard from either one all day. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the caller’s name.

  “Is something wrong, Brody?”

  “Yes.”

  She waited for him to elaborate. “What is it? Are you hurt?”

  “In a way.” His voice sounded strangled. “Can you come over?”

  “Is this an emergency?”

  “Kind of. Yes.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Since it was past seven, she might have to stay there for a few hours. As a precaution, she threw some toiletries and a clean outfit for work in a case and headed out. She had no idea what to expect. He hadn’t sounded angry, but she couldn’t pinpoint his frame of mind. He had, however, sounded as if he were in need of her.

  Once she arrived, she tested the door handle. The less he moved the better. It was open. “Brody?”

  “In here.”