by Rye Hart
Landon was calling. And I was about to pick up the phone.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Thank fuck. Kyra. Please, just listen.”
I didn’t say anything but I didn’t hang up.
“Can we meet for lunch tomorrow so we can talk?” he asked.
“I’m not in New York,” I said.
“I know you’re home. I’ll fly to you. Or wherever you are. Please, just… please sit down and talk with me.”
He was pleading with me. In all the years we’d dated, never once had he begged me for something. Was he hurt? Had something gone wrong? I knew his father was sick. Had something happened to him?
“Or I’ll fly you to me,” he said. “Whatever you want.”
Shockingly enough, I was actually considering it. Even though I thought our last fight ended things, the thing was, I did go a little crazy. I spun off at him and yelled things I shouldn’t have and the least he deserved was an apology. We didn’t have to rekindle things, but I did need closure.
I did need to look him in his eyes and tell him I was done.
Besides, the path I was going down with the Trent Brothers would end my relationship with all of them. I would end up breaking the bond I’d developed with them ever since my childhood and I couldn’t have that on my conscience.
I’d never be able to live with myself, much less come home, knowing I could no longer experience the world with them.
“I’ll have lunch with you if you fly to me,” I said.
“Done,” he said. “I’ll meet you anywhere you want to tomorrow.”
“There’s a place in town called Village Diner. See you at noon.”
“See you then, butterfly.”
I cringed at his nickname for me as I hung up the phone. He always called me that when he knew he’d fucked up. I sighed as I laid down onto my bed, allowing my comforter to soak up the wetness still clinging to my body.
I had a feeling this was all going to go very wrong.
**
I ventured into town the next day and got us a table by the window. I sat down and ordered myself a cup of coffee, needing the energy after staying up half the night worrying about this meeting. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm my body while it vibrated with nerves.
But the moment I looked up and saw Landon looking down his nose at everything around him, I knew I’d made a serious mistake.
“Kyra! There you are.”
He came over to me and kissed my cheek, his hand warm on the small of my back. He slid into the booth and smiled while absent-mindedly wiping down the table in front of him. He was trying to be nice while being the absolute pompous windbag I knew him to be and all I wanted was for this conversation to be over.
“You look beautiful,” he said, smiling. “And rested.”
“I feel that way, thank you.”
“The mountains here are gorgeous. I can see why you enjoy this place.”
“I always tried to get you to come here,” I said.
“And I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner. Really, butterfly.”
He reached across the table and took my hand and, for a split second, I was thrown back to a different time. A time before we were engaged where he was sweet like this all the time. Complimenting me and holding my hand during dinners. Playing footsie with me underneath the table and placing light kisses on top of my skin.
His thumb began tracing patterns against my hand and I allowed myself to get lost in the ministrations.
“I’ve picked a date,” he said.
“For what?” I asked.
“Our wedding.”
I felt myself freeze as my eyes connected with his.
“What?” I asked.
“Yeah. I picked a date for us and my parents are so excited about planning the wedding.”
“But we aren’t engaged,” I said.
“Kyra, I know we’ve had our differences. But all couples do. I heard you that night when you said you didn’t think I was serious about getting married. That I was making fun of your profession and making you feel terrible about yourself. I should've never accused you of taking my money because you’ve never been that way. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you or worrying about you since that fight.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“I’ve set a date because I’m serious about us. I want to love you for the rest of your life. I want to give you everything you could possibly want. If you want to work, I’ll support your blog.”
“YouTube channel,” I said.
“Whatever. And if you don’t want to work, then you can pamper yourself every day for the rest of your life. Whatever car you want, it’s yours. Wherever you want to buy a home, I’ll get one. Wherever you want to travel to, we’ll go on the weekends. Hell, I’ll take weeks off work and we’ll live in Bora Bora for a month. Anything to get you to stay.”
“Landon, I don’t know,” I said.
“If you need time to think, that’s fine. I totally understand. But… I’d like an answer by Christmas.”
“Oh, I can think as long as it’s on your time schedule?” I asked.
“My parents are just wanting to announce it at their annual New Year’s Eve party. They want to throw the party in the colors we choose, so having an answer by Christmas gives us some time to spitball things.”
“Spitball…” I said.
“Whatever wedding you want, it’s yours. The date is set for October fifteenth of next year because I know your favorite season is fall.”
“Winter,” I said.
“Whatever. Just… think about it, all right? Please?”
There was that word again. That word I’d never heard him say in all the years we’d been together. I sat back into the booth and allowed the conversation to swirl around in my head, but the moment I realized I was considering it, I felt nauseated. Was I really considering taking this man back? Was I actually considering marrying this man? His words and actions seemed sincere, even though he was wiping his cup down before he drank from it, but as I peered out the window, Landon quickly faded into the background.
Because outside was Owen.
Staring right back at me.
My eyes connected with his and, for a split second, I thought he was sad. I saw many emotions waft over his face before he shook his head. Then he simply turned and walked away. His shoulders slumped and his gait seemed a little tighter and my fingers drifted to the locket around my neck as Landon tried to get my attention.
“That’s a pretty necklace,” he said. “Where’d you get it?”
I mentally kicked myself as I watched him drive off in his truck. No matter what I did from here, I was genuinely fucked. I could marry Landon or not, but what I knew was that I’d just lost Owen.
Which meant he would tell the guys what was going on and I’d eventually lose all of them. All because I chose to take this lunch meeting. All because I was sitting with the man who had broken my heart.
All because I wasn’t strong enough to simply step away forever.
What the hell was I going to do now?
CHAPTER TEN - OWEN
I couldn’t believe what the fuck I just saw. Kyra had just fucking told us her engagement was over, she’d spent all damn night riding our cocks, and now she was having lunch with her fucking ex! I didn’t even know who the hell she was sitting with until I saw him take her hand. It was the way he fucking touched her. Like it was intentional instead of loving. I could see the way he was being manipulative, twisting her fucking emotions against her, and trying to rein her back in.
And there was Kyra, being fucking weak to it.
It was like she didn’t have a care in the fucking world. Like she hadn’t just ridden six fucking cocks the night before. I slammed the door to my truck and sped away, stalking up the driveway when I got home. The guys needed to know what the hell was going on. They needed to fucking know what I’d just seen.
I slammed my way into the house.
Rowan and Blake were sitting on the couch. They immediately hopped up as I pushed into the kitchen, following on my heels as I ripped open the fridge. Chance was in there, talking on the phone.
I needed a fucking drink.
“The hell’s gotten into you?” Blake asked.
“Talk to us, Owen,” Rowan said.
I popped the beer top off and threw it against the wall, chugging it before I could even formulate the words to answer their sorry asses.
“Kyra was downtown,” I said.
“Was she on fire?” Blake asked. “Because you’re pissed.”
“No, but she was in the Village Diner with her fucking ex,” I said.
“Wait, what?” Blake asked.
“What the hell’d you just say?” Rowan asked.
“Kyra. Was at lunch. With her bullshit ex. After she fucked all of us.”
“What the fuck is that?” Rowan asked. “Are you sure it was her? Are you just fucking with us so you can keep her to yourself?”
“The fuck would I do that for?” I asked.
“Okay, guys, just calm down,” Blake said.
“Shut the fuck up, you idiot,” Rowan said. “Kyra’s downtown with her asshole ex, schmoozing over lunch. He’s probably manipulating her back into some bullshit! We should all go down there.”
“The hell’s all the language for?” Chance asked as he hung up the phone.
“Kyra’s fucking downtown, eating lunch with her damn ex,” Rowan exclaimed. “How the fuck did we not know he was in town? Did she know he was in town?”
“Kyra was with who?” Chance asked.
“Her fucking ex. Keep up, asshat,” Rowan said.
“Don’t you take that tone with me,” Chance said. “I ended an important phone call with a client because you lost your head. This is important.”
Blake left the kitchen and I heard him make his way upstairs while Rowan and Chance continued to cuss up a storm. I heard Harper yell something before he came bumbling down the stairs, Blake hot on his heels.
If we were calling up the brigade we all needed to be here. I walked out the back door and headed to the garage.
Enough with this shit.
We were all talking about this now.
“Ethan, get your ass inside,” I said.
He was tinkering with a motorcycle he was restoring and he chuckled.
“Someone step on your dick?” he asked.
“I saw Kyra having lunch with her fucking ex. Get the hell inside.”
The look on Ethan’s face let me in on the fact that my statement boiled his blood and, soon, he was running toward the house and busting into the kitchen.
“What the fuck did Owen just tell me?” Ethan asked.
“I don’t know,” Chance said. “Were you listening?”
“Enough, asshole,” Ethan said. “What’s this shit about Kyra having lunch with her ex and why the fuck aren’t we all headed downtown to beat his ass?”
“First of all, you’re the one acting like an asshat,” Chance said.
“Well, you obviously don’t care about Kyra if you aren’t wanting to kick this guy in the nuts,” Ethan said. “How many men have you gunned down because they pointed a gun at you? Some man swoops into town and macks on your girl and, suddenly, you’re Mr. Passive?”
“You better watch your fucking words, you little piece of shit,” Chance said as he strode toward him. “Or I’m gonna break that sorry little nose on your face.”
“Unless I’m meeting with my ex, right?” Ethan asked.
“Enough, you two,” Blake said as he got between them. “Holy hell, the two of you are hotheads. The old man and the baby. Harper could write a book on this shit.”
“I really could,” Harper said.
“Stop acting like children,” Blake said. “This isn’t about us. It’s about Kyra and what she’s going through.”
“We can’t just let her go back to that fucking asshole, Blake,” Rowan said. “He treated her like shit. She wouldn’t have left otherwise. We don’t need her to talk about it for us to see the look on her beautiful fucking face when we ask her to talk.”
“She’s a grown woman, Rowan,” Harper said. “She’ll do whatever she wishes.”
“Obviously,” I said.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Rowan said as he stuck his finger in my face. “What we all did with her was wonderful. None of us can deny that. But just like we don’t wanna fucking address it, she doesn’t want to, either. She’s probably petrified she’s fucked up something. You know how Kyra is.”
“She made us all believe she was free,” I said. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m not about fucking some other dude’s woman.”
“I believe her,” Harper said. “And we don’t know what they were talking about in that diner. For all we know, he was begging for her back and she was telling him no. We just don’t know. Do you know, Owen?”
Everyone turned toward me and all I could do was shake my head. I hadn’t heard anything, only seen. I saw the way she let him take her hand. I saw the way he was manipulating the fuck out of her. I saw the way she looked at him, both wary and with this pondering look in her eye.
Like she was considering taking him the hell back.
“Nah, I didn’t hear anything,” I said.
“Then we all need to settle down,” Blake said. “And just talk to her when she comes to us.”
“But what if she doesn’t ever fucking come to us?” Rowan asked. “We’re in this now. We deserve answers.”
“In her time, yes,” Blake said.
“The fuck does that mean, ‘in her time’?” Rowan asked.
“It means we don’t fucking pressure her, Rowan,” Blake said. “That’s what the fuck it means.”
“Oh, so now you wanna get on the aggressive train, Mr. Peacekeeper?” Rowan asked. “Mr. I Gotta Be The Good Guy? Mr. I Gotta Solve Everyone’s Problems?”
“Why don’t you shut the fuck up and talk about why you’re really pissed?” Blake asked. “And that’s the fact that she won’t talk to any of us.”
“No, I think we all need to talk about the other night and figure out where we all stand with it,” Harper said.
“I say we kill that asshole while he’s in town,” Ethan said.
“Don’t you fucking joke about taking someone’s life,” Chance said.
“You’d fucking know, wouldn’t you?” Ethan asked.
Chance raised his fist at Ethan and Blake stepped into the middle as the doorbell rang. I took a deep breath and stalked out of the kitchen, leaving those assholes to tear each other to shreds. What was happening was insane. We all deserved answers and I was determined to keep an eye out for Kyra and catch her before she got home.
But when I opened the front door and saw her standing there, I was rooted to my place with shock.
My chest flared up with hurt. My heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice and beaten with a hammer all at the same time. I didn’t see a ring on her hand but I did see guilt in her eyes and that could’ve only meant one thing.
That she was about to disappoint us.
“Could I… um… maybe… come in?” she asked.
Never in my life had I seen Kyra this nervous around me, or any of us, for that matter. Even though I was aching at the idea that she was gonna take that shithead back, I still wanted to wrap her up in my warmth and keep her safe. I wanted her to know that everything was going to be okay. I wanted her to know that she was strong and graceful and too fucking good for that manipulative, conniving asshole.
But seeing her with another man after what we’d just done two nights ago prevented me from scooping her up the way my soul screamed for me to do.
“Sure,” I said as I stepped aside. “Come on in.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN - ETHAN
Kyra stood in front of us with her face turned to the floor. I had no idea what the fuck she was about to say but there was only one thing I knew: a pretty face like hers should never look as guil
ty as it did now. One arm was stretched across that beautiful body of hers while her free hand held her elbow and she looked downright ashamed. She was fucking standing there in all her glory after having lunch with her ex, like she thought she could play our emotions or something. She’d just ridden all our fucking laps, making us the happiest men on this planet, and then she met with that douchebag like nothing had ever happened.
What the fuck did she expect us to tell her?
“Where’s your fiancé?” I asked.
I could feel all my brothers turn their gazes toward me as Kyra lifted her head. I didn’t give a shit how it sounded. I was pissed. Pissed that she could do this to us… ask for it all and then turn around and hold hands with that asshole twenty-four hours later. She fucked up and I wanted her to know that she had.
“Headed back to the city, I guess,” she said, frowning.
“You guys back together?” I asked.
“Ethan,” Chance scolded.
“Shut the fuck up, dude. You know you’re pissed. I’m just the only one brave enough to show it, even though she’s acting all innocent.”
“Ethan,” she said breathlessly.
“What?” I asked. “You ride all our cocks and then bow down when that asshole comes into town? What’d he do? Crook his finger? Promise you a bigger ring? Apologize for being the shithead he is?”
“That’s enough,” Chance said.
“Are you two back together?” I asked again.
My eyes were holding her gaze while her guilt washed over her face. I was seeing nothing but red. My fists were clenched at my sides, even as my heart screamed out to envelop her in my arms. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through, but my anger was getting the best of me. I knew it was and the problem was I didn’t give a shit about it.
“I think the least we deserve is an answer,” I said.
“He’s right,” Owen said. “Are you two back together?”
She sniffled, her head bowing back to the floor as she shook her head.
“What did you guys talk about?” I asked.
I shot a glance at Chance to shut him up before he opened his fucking mouth.
“He… um…”
I could see her body trembling and Harper stepped up to comfort her. He draped his arm around her shaking form, pulling her in close as tears began to drip down her face. I felt my fists unclench as I took a deep breath but her show of emotion wasn’t going to sway me.
