continuing to look at their finances, pulling together the documents the bank’s website said they would need to get a mortgage, and waited patiently for Keegan to get frustrated enough to quit the game.
“Son of a bitch,” Keegan grunted, yanking the headset off his head and tossing it onto the coffee table.
“We need to talk,” Kaden said the moment he had his brother’s attention.
“If it’s not about the ranch, it’s not a topic I care to discuss.”
Which meant Keegan already knew Kaden was ready to talk about Bristol.
“We can’t avoid this forever.”
“Sure we can. It’s what we do with all the women who pass through our beds.”
Kaden stared over at Keegan, his frustration building. “And just how many women do we take to our beds?”
“Not nearly enough, man.”
“Keegan, I’m serious.”
His brother’s gaze swung over. Keegan looked pissed, but that had been what Kaden was going for. He knew Keegan was angry over what had happened the other night, about how he’d reacted. What Kaden didn’t understand was why he was so hell-bent on sabotaging a good thing.
“Bristol didn’t deserve what you said to her,” he said, broaching the subject.
“Yeah, well, I only spoke the truth. You know as well as I do that she can’t handle it.”
He held on to his temper, knowing it would get him nowhere. “She’s important, Keeg.”
“Yeah? Well, I thought so, too. Then what’d she do? Ignored us for ten months and then hopped right into bed with us only to haul ass when things got too hot.”
Kaden hated that Keegan was attempting to cheapen what they’d shared, but he knew his brother and he knew there was only one reason he would do that. Had it been a run-of-the-mill experience, Keegan would’ve looked back on it fondly, brought it up a few times before it died a natural death. Something along the lines of: Hey, remember that hot chick we had sandwiched between us? What was her name? Eh. Doesn’t matter. Damn, but I liked the way she screamed. Or: What was that girl’s name? We should look her up again, see if she wants to get nekkid.
That was what Keegan did. The encounters they had with women weren’t exactly memorable, but they weren’t forgettable, either. Except that was exactly what Keegan was doing with Bristol. Putting her in the past as though he needed her to stay there.
Kaden never knew what to expect from Keegan, but he wasn’t all that surprised that his brother had written Bristol off. In a way, he understood his reasons, even though he couldn’t bring himself to do the same.
That night with her had sealed his fate. It might take time, but he had every intention of getting in her good graces once again and convincing her that, despite evidence to the contrary, they weren’t jackasses. And he fully intended to do so with Keegan at his side. They had vowed never to let a woman come between them, and Kaden wasn’t about to start now.
But that didn’t mean he had to give up the one woman who made sense in their lives, the one he could see a real future with. Bristol was different from Kim or Meredith. Kaden had never been as into them as he’d tried to be, because deep down, he had known they weren’t fully on board with the idea of living a life with two men. He had a feeling Bristol saw them as a whole, not as individuals. Which was something else they would have to deal with when the time was right, but first he had to get the three of them back to where they were.
Sooner rather than later would be nice, but Kaden was purposely holding off. No one knew Keegan better than he did, and if he were to move too quickly, it would only set Keegan off. But he wasn’t an idiot. He knew Keegan’s attitude problem was directly related to that night. More accurately, to what he’d realized that night: that he had feelings for Bristol.
Only something intense and emotional could get Keegan to react in such a rude manner, especially with a woman. Kaden had to suspect his brother was as in love with Bristol as he was.
Question was: would Keegan accept it?
Bigger question: could they convince Bristol?
*
“What are you workin’ on?”
Travis looked up from his computer screen, watching as Kylie stepped into his home office. His wife looked tired and perhaps a bit stressed, something he’d noticed was happening quite frequently as of late.