way. It had worked for both of them.
“I have to be at work early,” she informed him, trying to sound noncommittal.
“As do I. So we’ll make the most of the night.”
“Sure.”
Another blinding smile was sent her way. “God, I’ve missed you, JJ. I can’t tell you how happy I am you’ve decided to give me another chance.”
JJ tried a smile of her own, hoped it held.
Because honestly, she wasn’t sure she was as on board with his plan as he seemed to think she was.
***
“Brantley?”
A firm hand landed on his shoulder, dragging Brantley from a restless sleep. He didn’t bother opening his eyes. He couldn’t. The pain was blinding, raging in his skull, his stomach threatening to revolt.
“Did you take medicine?”
He didn’t answer, instead rolled over onto his side, facing away from Reese, pulling the pillow over his head, and letting his arm rest over it to apply pressure to his temple.
Behind him, the mattress dipped. Reese had taken a seat.
“I need you to take the pill, Brantley.”
“Go. Away.”
“I can’t do that.”
Well, he was in no shape to argue, so there.
Sometime later, Brantley woke, the pain in his skull to the point of excruciating. He knew he was going to vomit; there was nothing he could do about it. It took effort, but he got to his feet, stumbled to the bathroom. His knees crashed to the floor seconds before the remains of his protein-bar dinner resurfaced. He hugged the toilet, tried to get comfortable, the pounding in his head more intense than anything he’d felt in quite some time.
He gave his stomach time to settle, giving in to dry heaves a few more times before he felt slightly more at ease.
When he got over to the sink, desperate for one of those fucking pills, he found Reese leaning against the doorjamb. The only light came from the hallway outside his bedroom. It was enough to have the nerves in his fucking eyeballs throbbing.
“You finished?”
Brantley ignored him, made it to the medicine cabinet.
“I’ve got a pill right here,” Reese said, his voice soft. “And water.”
Because he would give anything to get rid of the pain, he held out his hand, took the pill Reese passed over. He used as little water as possible to choke it down before stumbling toward the bed again.
When Reese reached for him, he jerked away.
“You can be stubborn and you can be pissed,” Reese whispered, “but I’m not leavin’.”
Brantley was in too much pain to argue. Reese could stay or go. It didn’t fucking matter.
The next time he woke, the pain had subsided.
He managed to open his eyes, glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand.
Six.
Which meant he’d slept for a solid seven hours. Funny how he only managed to sleep when he suffered another of those damn migraines. According to his doctor, they would possibly get better one day. Based on what he’d endured as of late, Brantley wasn’t holding his breath.
“Headache gone?”
Frustrated and, yes, still fucking hurt, Brantley swung his feet over the side of the bed. He needed to shower and head out to the barn. He had shit to do today, people he needed to talk to.
“Brantley, talk to me.”
Other people to talk to. Not Reese.
“Nothin’ to say.” He went to stand, but Reese’s hand curled around his arm, pulling him back.
In a rare moment of anger, Brantley spun around, took Reese down to the bed with his hand planted firmly in the center of his chest.
Leaning, so he hovered above Reese, he growled softly, “If you know what’s best, you won’t fucking touch me.”
There was defiance in the brown eyes peering back at him before Reese bit out, “I’m. Sorry.”
Brantley jerked back, sitting on his heels and staring at him, surprised by the vehemence in his tone.
“I know what I did last night, Brantley. I know exactly what I fucking did. And I know you came into Moonshiners. I know you saw me.”
Sounded to Brantley like Reese knew a hell of a lot.
Not that it made a bit of difference.
Lifting his chin, he stared down at Reese, unable to speak.
“I fucked up.” Reese sat up, holding his stare. “In my defense, I told you I would.” There was frustration and anger in Reese’s voice. “I’m so fucking confused, Brantley. I know it seems normal for you, but this is so far outside of normal for me. I don’t know what happened. I panicked. You texted me about dinner and I was working with Autumn. She saw the message, jumped to