“Even Jacobs?” He gave me his crooked grin and I rolled my eyes remembering the perverted creep.
“Okay maybe not all of you. I think I told you when you first got here, I felt like I went from one family of brothers to another, and that really is the best way to explain it. It wasn’t you, or Prokowski and Sanders, but they were still protective and funny like the rest of you, so it felt like I was back home being around them. The house and Bree made moving an easy transition.” I turned to put the rest of the crème pie in the fridge, and my heart ached when I saw his lonely expression, “It really has been good to see you Carter. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too Blaze. These last couple years have gone,” he took another swig and sighed deeply, “a lot different than I thought they were going to.”
“For me too.” I leaned onto the island and shook my head, laughing softly, “I didn’t think I would be married or have a baby, that’s for sure.”
“I did, but I definitely thought it would be with me. I had it all planned out, I was gonna sweep you off your feet, you were going to drop out of college and marry me immediately.” He puffed a small laugh and ran a hand through his short hair.
“Well, obviously that didn’t happen.” I smirked at him.
“Obviously. What did you see yourself doing?”
“Continuing school, trying to enjoy the ‘college experience’, I guess. I don’t really know Carter, I just wanted to get away, be me, or find out who I was.”
“And then you met Brandon, and your whole world changed?” He looked sad, even through his smile, “I’ve gotta admit, I thought getting you to marry me anytime soon was a long shot, but I couldn’t believe the girl I knew was already head over heels for some guy she’d just met. You were so different when I got here, confident, feminine and outgoing. I had to keep reminding myself that you were my Blaze. I’d already lost you to everyone here though. It was painfully obvious after those first few minutes on the beach. And seeing you with him, I just – I don’t know. It shocked the hell out of me and killed me.”
“To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about dating when I left home. I mean, I figured I would, but never thought I’d meet someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with after just two weeks of being here, ya know?” I laughed softly and the corners of my mouth tilted up, “Definitely thought marriage and babies would happen sometime after graduation. Like you said though, life doesn’t always go as planned, does it? It caused me to grow up, too soon probably, but I’m fine with that because it was the result of my actions. I just hate that those actions forced the people closest to me to grow up too.” Silence filled the kitchen for a few moments before I continued, “And while I can’t regret anything that brought Brandon and I to where we are now, I wish I could have spared Brandon and Chase a lot of the pain that we went through to get here.
“Chase? That tatted up guy…Bree’s brother right?”
I nodded and watched him try to figure it out.
“I knew it! I knew there was something going on there, he was way too possessive of you for you to just be friends. He was worse than Brandon and me combined. Where is he anyway?”
“He died.”
“Oh damn. When?”
“Over a year ago, he ran a red light and was hit by an eighteen wheeler. I was five and a half months pregnant with Liam. Chase was the father.”
“The fuck?” He leaned over the countertop and whispered, “Does Brandon know about this?!”
“Yes Carter, Brandon knows everything, I promise. I uh, I cheated on Brandon with Chase not long after you left for Afghanistan, but trust me when I say it is way too long and FUBAR’d to even try to explain tonight.”
“Blaze, you can’t just say something like that and not tell me what happened.”
My vision got blurry and I blinked back the tears, “Not tonight, kay Carter?”
“Yeah, alright.” He shook his head in disbelief, “But he just acts like Liam’s his son?”
“Chase was the father, but Brandon is Liam’s dad. He loves him like he’s his own.” I walked over and sat in the seat next to him, “I don’t expect you to understand what that means, it’s hard to explain it to anyone who wasn’t there for everything that happened.”
Carter continued to stare at me with wide unblinking eyes, “Jeez Blaze.”
“I know.”
“One day, we’re sitting down and you’re telling me the whole damn thing.”
“Okay Carter. Will you tell me all about you too?”
He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “Hell, I’ll tell you it all right now. I pretty much lost it after that night at the party, slept with a new girl every weekend, went to strip clubs every Friday night and was wasted all weekend, every weekend. One Friday, I’m walking out to my car with some of my boys and I see this girl sitting on the tailgate of a big truck. Swear to God I thought it was you. Walked over and saw it wasn’t, but by that point she had seen she caught my attention and started laying it on pretty thick. Honestly it was pathetic, but at that point I didn’t care. Made the guys find their own way and spent the afternoon with her, drove to Vegas late that night and married her the next day. Stupidest damn thing I’ve ever done, and God she drove me crazy. Anytime we were out, she’d try to get me to have my dog tags outside my shirt, and would always wear a ‘Marine’s wife’ shirt. Wouldn’t even call me by my name, always called me Sergeant and let everyone she talked to know she was married to a guy in the military. I mean like literally, it was the first thing she said. Even the other people would look at her weird for just bringing it up like that. She didn’t care about me just the same as I didn’t care about her. We were both using each other for something, and I think that’s the only reason we tolerated each other for the month before I left.”
“And what Lauren said about you and her?”
He scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I accidentally called her Blaze one night, and she got all excited that I gave her a nickname, I was drunk and straight up told her, ‘That name’s not for you, you’ll never be her’.”
“Jason Carter!” My mouth popped open wide, “I can’t believe you actually said that to your wife.” I know it was awful, but I burst out laughing and couldn’t stop.
Carter was shaking with silent laughter, “And yet, here you are laughing about it.”
“I’m sorry,” I wiped tears from my cheeks and laughed louder, “but I was picturing what her face would have looked like when you said that.”
“Oh God she was mad. Slapped me across the face in front of everyone, hurt like sin too!”
“You were in front of other people?!”
“We were at a bonfire with some friends. That night didn’t end well, that’s for sure.”
“Good God, Carter. That’s terrible.” My chuckling made it obvious I thought anything but that.
He shrugged, “Needless to say, that marriage didn’t work out.”
“Oh, I wonder why?” I winked and a smile stretched across my face briefly before faltering when I saw the pissed off expressions on most the people that had just walked through the back door. Brandon was first, shrugging off Konrad’s halting arm with one hand, the other had his phone pressed to his ear. Bree, Jeremy and Aubrey followed behind him, the first two brooding, Aubrey was nervously looking between Brandon and me. “Babe?”
“Let me call you right back.” He said quietly and slid his phone into his pocket, “Harper, I gotta talk to you.”
“No, you don’t!” Konrad said harshly and my eyes widened in surprise.
“I can’t believe you’re even considering this, you arrogant asshole!” Bree shoved him roughly from behind, Brandon didn’t even spare a glance at her.
“Sweetheart, that was –”
“You’re smiling?! Are you kidding me?” Jeremy’s face was bright red as his voice continued to rise, “How can you be happy right now? You’re going to destroy her!” He grabbed Brandon’s collar as he started walking toward the back door again.
“Back off Jer.” Brandon growled and roughly removed his brother’s hand before turning back to me.
“What are we missing?” Carter leaned over and half-whispered to me.
“I have no idea.” My eyes went even wider as Jeremy tried to put Brandon in a headlock.
“I said back the fuck off!” Brandon maneuvered out of the hold and shoved Jeremy into the wall, Jeremy charged Brandon again but Konrad caught him and held him back.
“Brandon Taylor!” I hissed, mortified, “What is wrong with you?”
Even with Konrad holding Jeremy back, Brandon stepped right up to Jeremy, their noses touching as they stared each other down.
“Stop!” I hopped off the tall chair and forced my way between them, both hands on Brandon’s chest, “Everyone calm down!” Once Konrad released Jeremy and Brandon was finally looking at me, I narrowed my eyes at my husband and spoke softly, “Apologize to Jeremy.”
Brandon scoffed, but after registering my expression muttered an apology.
“Now tell me what’s going on.”
“That was Scarecrow on the phone.” Brandon’s face stretched into a smile again.
“Okay, and…?” Everyone’s anger and Brandon’s hopeful expression suddenly clicked and I recoiled from him, “Oh my God, you’re not serious, are you?”
“Harper, just hear me out.” He reached his arms to me and I stepped back until I ran into either Konrad or Jeremy.
“You’re serious?!”
“What is going on?” Carter asked exasperated.
“Sweetheart, please just listen. They want a re-match, his people alone are offering double for a re-match. That plus whatever else from the bets, do you know how much I could bring in?”