Priceless (Finding Love Book 5)

by Paris Hansen

  The thing that sucked the most was that he had nothing to distract him from his relationship woes. Usually, he could bury himself in work until everything went away or worked themselves out. Of course, with everything up in the air regarding the Quinn/Price debacle, the partners had decided to close down the office for the week, so they could hopefully sort some things out.

  Not having work to turn to had been distressing. Instead of focusing on justice, Braeden spent the last week trapped inside his head, wondering what he was supposed to do. Could he make Andi see reason? Did he even want to try? She was his world, but he wasn’t sure if he was hers.

  The last thing he wanted to do was discuss what was happening with anyone else, yet there he was, sitting in Declan’s living room, having the come to Jesus talk he’d hoped to avoid. Of course, everyone was going to assume he was at fault. Always the fuck up and all that.

  “What the fuck did you do, man? Why has my sister been nearly inconsolable all week? We haven’t been able to get her out of her apartment, not even to come to see the boys. And when Brooklyn went over there to check on her, Andi wouldn’t even open the door.”

  Braeden bristled at his friend's accusatory tone. He expected Declan to blame him. Hell, he expected all of them to blame him, but even expecting it, the recrimination still hurt. For once, he wished someone would take his side and assume he’d been the one that was wronged. Declan was fully aware of the fact that his sister had hurt Braeden in the past, yet he still thought it possible that Braeden was the one that fucked things up this time around.

  “I don’t know what the fuck happened. Maybe you should ask your precious sister. One minute everything’s great and the next she’s on the run.”

  The look Declan shot him said he wasn’t too happy about Braeden’s hostility toward his sister, but Braeden didn’t care. He had every right to be pissed. Once again he’d given Andi his heart, and she stomped all over it for no damn reason. Instead of trusting him, she’d assumed the worst. Instead of believing him, she tried to poke holes in his story.

  “What about this chick that says she’s pregnant with your kid?”

  “Before Andi and I got back together, I hadn’t slept with anyone in almost two years. If that chick is pregnant with my baby, then it's the second coming of the Immaculate Conception and I’m God.”

  “Does Andi know this?”

  “Hell yes, she knows it. I’ve been clear with her since the beginning. She knows I’ve kept it in my pants. She said she believed me, but obviously, that’s not the case. She doesn’t trust me, even though I’ve never given her any reason not to. All this time and I’m the bad guy. Doesn’t make any fucking sense since she’s the one who broke my heart in the first place. More than once if we’re keeping track.”

  “Look, I can’t say for sure what’s going through her head right now, but don’t give up on her. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but the Reese family is filled with hard-headed fools, especially when it comes to love. Everything between you two has happened really fast…”

  “Fast...seriously?” Braeden scoffed.

  “Okay, let me rephrase that. For my sister, everything between you two recently has happened really fast. She went from spinsterhood to serious relationship in sixty seconds flat. It’s probably not you that she doesn’t trust. It’s herself. She gave up having a life of her own to help me with Erin. Why she didn’t realize she could have both is beyond me, but she’s rusty when it comes to having feelings and understanding what those feelings mean. I’m sure she’s just running scared, and in the end, it will turn out not to have anything to do with this chick claiming you’re the father of her kid.”

  Braeden took a moment to mull over Declan’s words. Could it be that Andi was just scared about how she felt? Could she be using their current situation as an excuse to run away before they took things to the next level?

  “I hope you’re right, man. I’ll give her space. I’ll give her time. Hell, I waited eighteen years for her, what’s another week or month or year. As long as it all works out in the end, I don’t care what I have to do to get there. But I honestly don’t know how much more I can take. Every time she does this to me, I feel like I lose a little bit of myself. My heart will always be hers, but if she’s not careful, that’s all she’s going to get.”

  “Look, I’ll try to talk some sense into her, but I can’t promise anything. I get what you’re saying; just don’t give up on her yet.”

  “Hell, I don’t want to give up on her, Declan, but I can’t keep letting her knock me down either. She needs to be all in. She needs to trust me, and she needs to believe in us. If she can’t do any of that, we don’t have a chance at surviving.”

  Declan didn’t say anything else, and Braeden didn’t know how to feel about it. He wanted Declan to reassure him. To tell him that he and Andi had a future together. Hell, Braeden didn’t even care if his friend was lying to him when he said it. He just needed to hear the words.

  Instead, silence surrounded them while they checked back in on the hockey game on Declan’s big screen TV. Before Declan could unmute the game, the sound of a baby crying filtered out through the baby monitor sitting on the coffee table. On the monitor screen, one of the babies was waving his hands in the air while he wailed at the top of his lungs. The other looked like he was reaching out for his brother so he could comfort him. It was the sweetest damn thing Braeden had ever seen.

  Before Declan could get up to get his son, Brooklyn came into view on the monitor. She cooed at their son before picking him up. Braeden could hear her talking to the baby off-screen, her sweet words calming him down. The scene he was witnessing caused his heart to ache. He’d hoped that someday he and Andi would have what Brooklyn and Declan did. The house, the babies, the fantastic relationship filled with love and understanding.

  It hit him then that if he couldn’t work things out with Andi, he’d never have the family he’d always wanted. He couldn’t picture marrying anyone other than Andi. He couldn’t see anyone other than the woman he’d loved almost his entire life being the mother of his children.

  Rubbing at the ache in his chest, Braeden hoped like hell that Declan was right about his sister or the life he’d dreamt about for decades would never come to be. The realization would have sent him to his knees if he hadn’t already been sitting down. Knowing he needed to change the subject, he turned to his friend and asked him about a topic he knew would make him feel better.

  “So how’s Erin doing?”

  ✽✽✽

  Andi

  She’d thought she was in hell back when she’d been sick, but that was nothing compared to how she felt now. Her body ached like it’d been involved in an accident with a bus. Her heart felt like it’d been run over by a Mac truck and then raked over the coals. And she deserved every bit of misery she’d endured in the week and a half since she’d let Braeden walk out of her life.

  Wallowing in self-pity, she hadn’t left her apartment, not even to go to work. She could work from home if she needed to and Declan had been more than willing to cover for her if someone needed to go into the office. Not that she’d seen her brother or even talked to him over the phone. Text messages were an excellent way for someone to communicate when they didn’t want to see other people. If only she’d had the option when she and Braeden had broken up the first time. Facing her pain in the privacy of her own home was a hell of a lot easier than faking that everything was okay.

  A loud knock on her door wrestled her out of her thoughts. She wasn’t expecting anyone, but she knew who it was. Aside from Braeden, Declan was the last person she wanted to see.

  “Andi, I know you’re in there. Just open the door,” her brother called out before knocking again even louder.

  “Go away,” she tried to yell, but her voice cracked in the most pitiful way. That was what crying and not speaking to anyone got her.

  “If you don’t open the door, I’m going to let myself in.”

  “Ugh,” she mutter
ed.

  She’d thought it’d been a good idea to give her brother a key to her apartment, but it was supposed to be for emergencies only. Not for him to barge in and give her a hard time. Knowing she wasn’t going to win the battle, she waited for her brother to make good on his threat. If he was bound and determined to give her some sort of lecture, she wasn’t going to make it easier for him. If he wanted in, he could let himself in while she stayed wrapped up on the couch like the sad sack she was.

  “Wow, you look like shit,” her brother announced as soon as he saw her on the couch.

  “Gee, you say the sweetest things. I love you too, Dec.”

  Her brother rolled his eyes, obviously not appreciating her sarcasm as much as she did. She watched him look her over, then take a seat in one of her overstuffed chairs. For a long time, he didn’t say anything, and it made her angry. Why was he bothering her if he wasn’t going to give her a lecture disguised as a pep talk? She just wanted to be left alone, so she told him as much.

  “You’ve been alone for over a week, Andi. It’s about time you stopped feeling sorry for yourself and deal with the fact that you fucked up.”

  Andi inwardly cringed at Declan’s harshness but kept her face as passive as she could. She didn’t know why the hell she was fighting it. She needed to fess up and admit the fact that she had indeed fucked up. She was an idiot of epic proportions but had no idea how to fix things. Not to mention that she was still scared shitless. Her heart still held all of the reservations it had when it forced her to make the second biggest mistake of her life. If only her head could be the prevailing piece of her anatomy, she’d be in good shape, but that wasn’t currently the case.

  “I’m scared.”

  “What the hell could you possibly have to be afraid of? Braeden loves you more than anything. He’s waited years for you to be ready for a relationship. He was brave enough to come to me and tell me how much he loved you and to tell me about your big secret. I nearly punched him for defiling you when he told me about your past, but he held his ground. The man is absolutely devoted to you, and you keep throwing him away. Why?”

  “I don’t know,” she screamed, her frustration getting the best of her. “What if I’m not good at being in a relationship? What if I’m not good at being loved? I don’t know how to do any of it. And what if I’m not really what he wants? I see the girls he was with when we were apart, and I’m not them. I’m nothing like them.”

  “You idiot. Did you ever stop to think that maybe none of those girls were like you because there is no one else like you? Maybe he didn’t want to taint your memory by replacing you with look-alikes, so he went with the complete opposite. It’s a smart move. I mean if something happened between Brooklyn and me, I would probably curl up in a ball and die, but if I didn’t, I would never date another woman that looked anything like her because I wouldn’t want to ruin the memories I had.”

  Andi thought about what her brother said. It hadn’t even occurred to her that there might be a reason why Braeden’s type, while they were apart, was tall, heavily made-up blondes. Standing next to them, she’d never be able to compete, except maybe that was the point. Or rather, they could never compete with her. She hated to admit it, but Declan was right. There was no one like her, because Braeden loved her and only her.

  That was the only thing she could trust in wholeheartedly. Braeden’s love for her was something she’d only ever read about in romance novels. It was epic and unyielding. It spanned over decades of heartache and unnecessary distance. Why wasn’t that enough for her to ignore all the rest? To ignore the fear she carried around in her heart?

  “Also, to address the other bullshit you spouted off...do you think I thought I was any good at being in a relationship? Hell, before Brooklyn, I didn’t even know what a healthy relationship was. Our parents are a freaking mess, and Kara was a piece of work. The only relationship I ever had that showed me that I was capable of being someone’s partner was the one I have with you. Just because it’s not a romantic relationship doesn’t mean you can’t take what you’ve learned from being my sister and translate it into being Braeden’s girlfriend.”

  “When did you get to be so wise?”

  “What can I say? Brooklyn has definitely rubbed off on me,” Declan admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “You know how to be loved. So many people love you; me and Erin, Gabriel and Oliver, the girls, Braeden. We all love you in various ways, but it all equates to the same damn thing. You are loved, every damn day of your life. You deserve to be happy, and so does Braeden. So stop questioning things and letting all of the questions scare you out of being with the person you want to be with. Grab hold of what’s in front of you and don’t let it go again for anything.”

  Chapter 14

  Andi

  It’d only taken Andi an hour to realize that her brother was a smart man and that she was indeed an idiot. In the week since then, she’d been at a loss. All she wanted to do was make up for what she’d done. She needed to get Braeden back and show him how much she loved him and believed in him. Of course, that proved to be easier said than done. You couldn’t get someone back if you couldn’t get them to talk to you.

  Phone calls and texts went unanswered. When she went to his house, he either wasn’t there or pretended not to be. Andi hadn’t had the gall to use her key to enter his home. That plan hadn’t seemed conducive to getting what she wanted. Instead, she left him a note asking for him to return one of her fifty calls. Of course, he didn’t.

  She was going out of her mind not knowing what he was thinking or feeling. Had he decided that she wasn’t worth the time and heartache? She wouldn’t have blamed him if he had.

  She also worried at first that the situation with the mystery woman had turned out to be true; that she was carrying Braeden’s baby. For days she felt sick to her stomach thinking that was the reason he was avoiding her, but then the woman found her way to Andi’s house. She definitely knew how to find people who didn’t want to be found.

  The confrontation that Andi had expected was the complete opposite of what she’d gotten.

  “I’m so sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused. I wanted you to know that the baby isn’t Braeden’s. Before that night at his house, I’d only ever seen a picture of him, I swear,” the woman admitted, a look of sincerity gracing her face.

  “I want to believe you.”

  “Matthew Price set you both up. He offered to pay me a lot of money to pass this baby off as Braeden’s. He gave me part of it up front and promised the rest after I ruined your lives.”

  “How the hell do you know Matthew?” Andi asked.

  What she really wanted to know was why the hell she hadn’t suspected Matthew was behind the sudden appearance of a pregnant hook-up in the first place. Given everything that had been going on, Matthew was the perfect suspect. If only she hadn’t let her fear cloud her judgment they probably would have figured it out sooner.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t guessed the truth.”

  “It’s his isn’t it?”

  The woman nodded. “I met him at one of the parties Alexander used to throw. I was one of Alexander’s favorites until I got involved with Matthew. You can go ahead and judge me for taking money for sex, but I thought Matthew loved me. I thought that when I told him about the baby, we would be a family. I’m so fucking dumb.”

  “It’s not my place to judge the way you make money. As far as Matthew’s concerned, the guy is a master manipulator. You didn’t stand a chance against him.”

  “After I told him about the baby, he told me to go to hell, and I didn’t hear from him again until three weeks ago. He told me he was going to set me and the baby up. All I had to do was play one simple little role. The naive part of me was still holding out hope that if I did what he wanted, maybe he would change his mind. I should’ve known better.”

  “Why are you here? Why are you telling me all of this?”

  “Honestly, because Matthew has taken off and is
in hiding somewhere, but before he ran, he told me the truth. There’s no money. He’s spent everything he had on gambling and drugs and other women. On top of that, he never truly planned on paying me more than what he gave me in the beginning. I hate what I did to you and Braeden. You didn’t deserve any of it, but I was doing what I needed to do for my kid.”

  “I’m not sure what you want from me.”

  “I don’t want anything from you. I just wanted you to know the truth and to warn you to watch your back. Matthew is a bit unhinged right now. I don’t know where he is or what his plans are, but he hates you and your boyfriend with a passion. He blames you guys for everything, and he’s the kind of guy that won’t let you get away with destroying his life.”

  “Thank you...uh, I think I missed your name that night. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s Nikki, and really, I don’t blame you. Even if you would have caught it, I’m sure I would have just been the chick that ruined your relationship anyway.”

  Andi laughed despite herself. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Thank you for letting me know all of this, Nikki. I’m sorry that you got mixed up with Matthew. I wish there was some way I could help you.”

  “Just be careful, and if you happen to see Matthew, give him a nice hard kick in the nuts for me. That might make me feel a bit better.”

  As they parted, Andi made a promise to Nikki that she’d do a little damage to Matthew if she ever saw him again, but she was hoping like hell she wouldn’t. The man had caused enough trouble in her life; she didn’t need anymore. She was still cleaning up the mess he made by throwing Nikki into her life.

  While she waited to talk to Braeden, life dragged on. She tried to call him every day, and he ignored her. She was getting close to the end of her rope wondering if she should give up when he finally called her.