Broken (Brody Brothers Book 4) Read online

  You always think the worst of people, or is it just me?

  She didn’t want to think the worst of him. God, no. He was her hero, the man who’d shown her that crying with happiness was real. She probably just didn’t understand what she was looking at, she thought desperately. This was probably like that moment when he’d bought a huge air conditioning unit with all the accoutrements for Cleone’s property. That building hadn’t belonged to him, either, but he’d gone ahead and done what he’d felt was needed.

  So…

  What was it he needed when it came to Smiley Lake?

  “Winsome?”

  She could ignore it, she thought again, her heart thudding in her tightening throat. Just bury it deep down inside and never mention it. She was good at burying things, God knew. Everything would go on without upset or turmoil.

  But…

  It would be a lie.

  Would that be so bad?

  Yes.

  She’d had enough turmoil in her life to know she was strong enough to look it straight in the eye and not blink. She had to say something. Never again would she allow herself to live the lie that she was okay, when she really, really wasn’t.

  “Des.” Slowly she rose to her full height as he came back up the stairs carrying his boots, her bag at her feet and the photos in her trembling hands. “Why do you have research on Smiley Lake?”

  He stopped like he’d hit a wall. “What the fuck, woman. Who the hell do you think you are, going through my shit?”

  “Your shit fell off the desk when I picked up my bag.” Anger spiked bright and dangerous, because an attack wasn’t the response she needed to make this better. “If you didn’t want me to see it, maybe you shouldn’t have put my bag on top of your sketchy 007 spy pics of my family’s private property. What in the world is this?”

  “Research, though that’s none of your fucking business. I had it done before your shitbird of a father kicked off, which means long before you and I got together.”

  The offhand lie hit her like a blow to the chest. “The results of the lake’s water purity have a date on them. A date that’s almost a week after my father’s funeral. And you mentioned skinny-dipping. That also happened after my father’s death.”

  “So what? I wrote that stupid comment on there when I couldn’t fucking sleep for thinking of you.” In a handful of strides he was there to yank the photos and papers out of her hands to toss them without looking back onto the desk. “Use that accusatory tone with me again, woman, and I’m really not going to like it.”

  “But it’s okay for you to accuse me of going through your shit? I don’t tolerate hypocrisy, and I sure as hell won’t tolerate being lied to.”

  His already scowling expression darkened ominously. “When the fuck did I ever lie to you?”

  “You mean besides just now? Right after you kissed me for the first time. You told me you didn’t give a fuck about Smiley Lake, but the evidence of how much you do care is right here. Why didn’t you at least tell me about how you’ve been researching my family’s property, and how great Smiley Lake’s water was to skinny-dip in?”

  “I do not have time for this bullshit.” His tone was downright arctic as he bent to pull his boots on. “Know this—if I don’t tell you about something, it’s because it wasn’t any of your damn business. It’s Brody business.”

  She flinched, because that was one nerve she hadn’t expected him to hit with her—the almighty Brody superiority that the Smileys had grappled with for decades. “It has everything to do with me, Des. This is my family’s property.”

  “Your grandmother’s, actually. Not yours. In fact, none of this shit has anything to do with you. Now,” he went on, straightening to pin her to the spot with eyes that were so cold she almost didn’t recognize him, “In three minutes I’m in my truck and heading out for the main house, because I’ve got a ton of shit to do and no time to do it in. If you can get dressed in three minutes, great. If not, your ass is stuck here in this house until I get back from whatever hell is about to be unleashed on us. Decide what you’re going to do.”

  Without a word, she grabbed up her bag and headed for the bathroom, determined to be in that truck in three minutes’ time.

  No way was she going to be the prisoner of a man who’d just ripped her heart out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  In the fifteen-minute drive from Des’s house to the main house, Winnie didn’t say a word. Neither did Des. It wasn’t because she hoped to punish him with some childish version of the silent treatment. Lord, no. There was simply nothing left for her to say. It was as if all her words had withered up and died.

  There was no coming back from this. Not that she could see. Granny had been right. Des had been playing the long game with her. From their first meeting in the cemetery—an appropriate starting place for their relationship, she thought darkly—to this very moment, she had been busy falling in love, while Des had been busy scheming to increase the greatness of the Brody stronghold.

  In a way it was commendable, how laser-locked the Brodys were when it came to building their empire generation after generation. If she weren’t so busy dying inside, she would have complimented him on a job well done.

  The main house’s spires came into view at long last, but just as she was ready to breathe a sigh of relief that this interminable ride was almost over, Des abruptly hit the brakes and put the truck in Park.

  “I shouldn’t have accused you of going through my shit.” The words dragged out of him grudgingly, like they’d left bloody gouges on the way out. “I didn’t tell you about the survey I’d had commissioned for Smiley Lake and the surrounding area because you’ve got a history of jumping to the wrong conclusion and thinking the worst about people. Not your fault,” he added when he seemed to realize that sounded like an accusation. “I know you’re working hard to overcome that. I just didn’t want to give you the wrong idea.”

  “But because you did keep it from me, you’ve got to know it looks suspicious as hell. Were you ever going to tell me?” she wanted to know, at last looking at him, and her heart turned itself inside out at the sight of his beautiful, deceitful face.

  His eyes were the darkest she’d ever seen them. “Probably not.”

  Now that she could believe.

  “I wish I could give you that lake. Just give it to you and get this whole stupid song and dance over with.” The words came out of her without any life, which made sense. At some point the person she’d been when she awoke this morning had died, and there was nothing left but a shell. This was what she’d been afraid of; when she’d been at her happiest, she’d been so afraid something would come along and destroy it. Deep down, she’d known that such a destruction would kill her inside.

  We’re the only ones who can fuck this up.

  Boy, wasn’t that the truth.

  “Listen to me very carefully.” He clipped out each word like it was all he could do not to bellow them out. “That property means fucking nothing to me, do you understand? I’m going to go over to your grandmother’s after I drop you off at the main house and ask her to lease it out at quadruple the rate to get us through this crisis. Beyond that, I don’t give a shit about it.”

  “Just drive, Desmond.” All she wanted to do was get in her car, stomp on the gas, and never look back.

  He hit the steering wheel. “You’re not even hearing a goddamn word I’m saying, are you?”

  “My granny might not lease that property to you right off the bat, but I’ll bet if you promise to get out of my life, that’ll probably do the trick,” she went on, not answering him. Because he was right. The part that listened to him—believed in him—was still struggling to reboot after the hit it took. “It’s up to you if you want to play it what way.”

  The silence in the truck’s cab crushed even the air out of the atmosphere. “You saying that’s what you want, woman? You want me out of your life?”

  Never before had she been so torn between the words
yes and no. “I’m saying that’s the way to go if you want to get your hands on Smiley Lake. Yesterday she upset me because she believed you were like that user of a man she married—my grandfather, Earnest Smiley. Good old Earnest was a romantic sweetheart until he had her good and trapped in a hellish marriage. Come to find out, Grandpa Earnest never loved her. He’d just wanted a mother-figure for his demon of a son and, I suspect, someone to blame when inevitably that demon son went wrong. I insisted you weren’t a user like Earnest, so you might have trouble convincing her of your true motives. But if you want access to that lake, maybe you can figure out how to use this personal information to get what you want.” Heaven knew that wasn’t her.

  “I know all about hellish marriages,” he said after a moment, surprising her. Now that she’d handed him the keys to getting what he wanted, she’d assumed he’d put the truck back into gear and go. But here he was, still trying to reach her like he genuinely cared. “So do you. We were both raised in that hell, and it left its mark on us. I’ve got my scars—you’ve seen the physical ones, and I’ll be the first to admit the psychological ones go all the deeper. The older I get, and the more I see my brothers moving on with their lives and finding happiness, the more I realize my past has fucked me up so much it now holds me back.”

  She nodded, a shiver of pain slicing through her at the memory of everything he’d been through. Maybe he couldn’t be fully blamed for being unloving. Like her, he had been utterly unloved.

  “Thing is, you have your scars, too, Winsome.”

  That made her breath catch. “No, I don’t.”

  “Remember when you got pissed at yourself because you automatically believed the worst of the Brody wives? You jumped to the wrong conclusion because almost every person in your life has betrayed you one way or another. From the cradle, you were raised to expect it, and that’s what this is now. But I’m not out to betray you, and I sure as fuck hope you’re not going to betray me.”

  “Betray you?” Not sure if she could believe her ears, she turned to look at him at last, only to find that he’d turned in his seat to face her. “If anything, I just betrayed the trust of my grandmother by telling you her private history. I did it so you would have the tools to get what you want.”

  A bitter scoff escaped him. “Which you think is the lake.”

  “I know that’s what you want. And I hope you get it,” she added when he cursed and hit the steering wheel again. “I really do. I just hope to God I never see that stupid lake ever again.”

  “Unless you’re skinny-dipping in it, that makes two of us. That fucking thing is cursed.” He scowled at her a few seconds more, but behind those intense eyes she had a feeling all the wheels were turning. Then he nodded once as if coming to a decision and put the truck back in gear. “But you’re right. You did just give me the keys to get what I want, so you can’t blame me for going after it with everything I’ve got. Just remember you wanted me to do that. When it comes right down to it I’m a Brody, and a Brody always gets what he wants.”

  “I know,” she said tonelessly, keeping her eyes glued to the sight of her car in the distance, parked out front of the main house. Getting the hell out of there wouldn’t solve the ache in whatever was left of her heart, but it was better than nothing. “I’ve always known. It’s the Brody way.”

  “Damn straight.” He pulled up right behind her car, shut the engine off and was out of the truck before she’d gotten her seatbelt unlocked. By the time she’d climbed out and was shutting the passenger door behind her, he had her car door open and was leaning into it to pop open the hood.

  “What are you doing?” Baffled, she stared at him as he hauled the hood up. “Wait, Des, stop. There’s nothing wrong with my car.”

  “Uh-huh. I get that.”

  “So what are you—” The sound of the front door to the main house opening made her glance up to see Fin, Ry and Killian come out onto the verandah. Great. More Brodys. Just what this day needed. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about, baby girl. Just making sure your car isn’t fine. There we go.” With an efficiency of movement he shut the hood, tossed some little gizmo in the air and caught it with a look of grim satisfaction. “You are going to stay here at the main house while I take care of business. I won’t be back until late—well after midnight, anyway. We’ll hash this out then.”

  Her rage was so immense it was a wonder her head didn’t explode. “Are you serious?”

  “Of course I’m serious. I’d hash this out with you now, but I literally don’t have the time. Don’t take that personally though, yeah? You still have top priority in my world, no doubt about it.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she snapped, and flailed a hand at her car. “Did you just disable my car?”

  “Yeah, I did.” Again he tossed the doohickey he’d pulled from her car before pocketing it. “I’ll buy you a new one when all this is over.”

  “I don’t want a new one, I want the one you just put in your damn pocket. Put it back where it belongs.”

  “I was talking about a car. That’s probably what it’s going to take to get me out of this hole I keep digging for myself, but I’m willing to take that risk. Killian.” He lifted his chin to his oldest brother while Winnie fumed and considered whether it would be better to kick Des in the ass or simply just start walking. “We need to talk.”

  With an unvarnished look of surprise, Killian nodded and descended the verandah stairs to walk down the drive with Des and out of earshot. She glared pure hellfire after them for a hot second before marching to her car and getting in behind the wheel. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. After all, Des was a rodeo star and a rancher, not a mechanic. Maybe her car wasn’t that disabled.

  Digging her keys out of her purse, she cranked the engine, her hope skyrocketing when it sounded like it wanted to turn over… but wouldn’t.

  “You’re going to blow up your engine if you keep doing that.” Fin was outside her open car door, looking at her with an expression torn between impatience and compassion. “We can’t have so much as a spark out here, especially this close to the house with all our kids inside. Unless you’re so mad right now you want to kill all the Brodys?”

  “Not all. Just one.” But that was enough to pull the key out, hating how helpless she now was. “I don’t suppose I could get a ride out of here?”

  “Sorry, but we need every truck onsite hauling horse trailers out to the four corners of the property to bring the yearling herds in. My brothers and I even brought in our own personal trucks just for that. I’m afraid you’re stuck here until the herd is in and the storm is over.”

  “Perfect,” she muttered, slamming the car door with so much force she doubted she’d ever be able to get it open again.

  Not that it mattered.

  Her car was now nothing more than an oversized paperweight.

  But that didn’t necessarily mean she was stuck there, she thought suddenly. With the wind sifting through her hair drying in super-tight corkscrews, she looked to the east and tried measuring the distance between where she stood and the Smiley homestead. As the crow flew it was about a mile through rough South Texas terrain. Or, she could play it safe and take the longer route along the paved road, which was about three or four miles.

  She glanced down at her shoes and growled in frustration. Kitten-heeled, flip-flop-styled sandals were beyond adorable, especially matched with her nautical-themed walking shorts and blue and white-striped light-knit summer sweater. But when it came to hiking, they were probably worse than going barefoot.

  No wonder Des laughed at her footwear.

  “Hey.”

  Winnie jumped a half-second before a wave of embarrassment hit. She’d been so embroiled in hatching highly improbable escape plans that she’d forgotten all about Fin. “What did Des just take out of my car?”

  “Spark plug.”

  What a very Brody answer. When communication was needed the most, a clipped response wa
s all she got. “What a total dick move.”

  “Look, obviously something’s happened between you two. I don’t wanna know, because it’s none of my damn business,” he added when she opened her mouth to tell him exactly that. “Ordinarily I wouldn’t say anything to you now, because if our roles were reversed I wouldn’t appreciate someone sticking their oar into my personal waters. But right now you’ve got the look of someone on the verge of doing something stupid, like running off into the wilderness just so you can have the satisfaction of getting lots of breathing space between you and Des.”

  “What are you, a mind reader?”

  “What I am is under pressure. We all are. We’ve got approximately fifteen hours to do two days’ worth of backbreaking work, and we can’t afford to fail. The last thing we need now is you wandering off and getting yourself lost. You do that, and we’ll have to spend precious time hunting you down and making sure you’re safe. So here I am sticking my oar into your personal waters, and I’m asking you to just stay put. Once all this is over, I’ll hold Des down if you want me to so you can beat the dogshit out of him, you have my word on that. But please, don’t be a distraction now. If not for Des, then for the rest of us, and our wives who worry about our safety and don’t want us out there in a storm that could kill us half a dozen different ways.”

  The fury raging inside cooled as the thought of Des dying out there hit her like a brick between the eyes. “Fine. But understand I’m going to ask one of the Brody wives to run me into town, or barring that, ask to borrow one of their cars.”

  “And put them in that position? Don’t forget, they’re part of this family.”

  Damn it. “Then I’ll call for a taxi.”

  “You’re a native of Bitterthorn, Winnie. You damn well know there’s not a single taxi or rideshare service within thirty miles of where we’re standing. You know this, but you’re just too pissed off to give up the fight.”

  Damn it! “Is this what you Brodys do? Keep women trapped where you want them until the woman has no choice but to just… give up?”