They’d slept together many times before now; they’d simply do so again for the next couple nights. Although, Madi’s rapid heart rate stated it was going to be different this time. At least, for her anyway.
CHAPTER FIVE
“So, you told her yet?” Travis asked as they sat on the beach, sun beating down on them.
The girls were in the ocean, jumping the waves that crested in the distance.
“Told her what?” Brett asked wearily.
“You know what, Brett, don’t be coy.”
“You should tread lightly, Travis,” Brett growled beneath his breath.
“Oh c’mon, man. I’m not tryin’ to overstep here.”
“Then you’ll know that life is about timing as much as anything else, and now isn’t the time!” Brett spat, whipping his sunglasses off.
“Easy there, Zeus.”
“Stop fuckin’ calling me that.”
“Why?”
Because it makes me think of Hunter, he wanted to scream. Hunter who’d been thrown in his face far too much over the last three days. It was enough that he’d practically killed the man by being in the wrong seat at the wrong time. Now Brett was trying to pick up the pieces Hunt had left behind, including consoling the widow whom he’d failed to knock up. Brett was paying for that, too.
You selfish bastard. You had to go and die and leave me your messes to clean up, Brett wanted to shout to the sky. Brett felt a storm brewing, for he knew it was only a matter of time before the media caught wind of what happened back in Vegas last June, and when they did, he would be paying for even more. “You reap what you sow,” his mother had always told him. So then why was Brett being punished for Hunter’s fuck-ups?
“Hey bud, c’mon. I just see it on both your faces.” Travis shoved Brett’s shoulder lightly.
“See what?”
“Need. Want. Pain.”
“Her fuckin’ husband just died. She just found out she didn’t conceive his child because she started her period three days ago. What am I supposed to do? Just waltz right in and have my way with her like none of that matters? No, I can’t. No matter how much I want to.”
“You love her.”
“Yes, and I have for the last twenty damn years; that changes nothing. I’m not gonna be her rebound guy because that’s exactly what would happen if I made a move right now. Besides, how the hell did you know, anyway?” Brett grumbled.
Travis looked him over and shrugged. “It’s not that hard to see, especially now that I know what love is. What happened between you two? How did Hunter even come into the picture if you knew her first?”
Brett didn’t wanna discuss this, not with Travis who’d never understood love until now. He looked into the distance, beyond the girls laughing in the surf, back to when he was a teenager, when his love for Madison Hope Taylor had been prominent and promising. Neither of them had dated anyone else, but they hadn’t really dated each other either. They were good kids, Christian kids, growing up with big hopes and dreams. They were inseparable, always hanging out, always together. They never had to worry about the other dating because everyone just assumed they were together—and neither of them had ever bothered to confirm nor deny it.
Then it all changed come college, and Brett failed to make his move. He’d realized after their night in her dorm when they’d made out and he’d stopped her from going further, that something had changed. Madi was different with him, distant with him. And before he’d gotten the chance to even talk with her about it, Hunter was moving in and taking her away from him. It had all happened so fast.
“Why didn’t you stop them from getting married if that’s how you felt all along?”
It was as if Travis was reading his thoughts; how did he know? Brett sighed heavily and pulled his ball cap off, running a hand through his hair. “Fuck! Because I thought she loved him and was happy. Who was I to take that away from her? She’d never told me she loved me—not like that anyway. I just… I thought it better to have her for my friend than nothing at all. What if I told her how I felt, and she thought I was nuts and cut ties with me? At least at a distance I could still love her and have her in my life, even if it wasn’t exactly where I wanted her to be. I know it doesn’t make sense to you but, at the time, it was my best option.”
“You got comfortable.”
“Comfortable? Fuck no. I’ve never been comfortable. You think I’m ok with this?” Brett growled again, but it finally felt good to get it all out and in the open. He’d kept his feelings bottled inside for far too long.
“I know you aren’t; it’s written all over your face. That’s why I’m saying something about it.”
“Alright, Casanova, you’re so good with all this shit, what would you do? Did you push Skyla into something you knew she wasn’t ready for to serve yourself? Would you disregard it all, knowing she isn’t mentally ready?”
“No, but a nudge in the right direction always helps,” Trav smirked.
But Brett wasn’t Travis. He knew Madi, better than anyone else did; he’d known her his entire life. She needed time to grieve for her loss. She needed space. She didn’t need Brett confessing his undying love and forcing himself on her right now. It would be a mistake, and Brett had waited far too patiently for far too long to blow it—all because he simply couldn’t wait any longer.
“Honestly Brett, I’m not being pushy. I just know what I see and you deserve to be happy,” Trav insisted.
It had been
