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“I won’t lose her. ” No matter what, he would hold onto Jaci. No matter what it took. She didn’t have to know the truth.
Chase pushed away from him, dragging the fingers of one hand through his hair as he all but snarled. “Damn you, Cam. What the hell are you doing to yourself?”
Cam could feel the threads of that twin psychic bond tugging between them. He could feel his brother’s frustration, his worry, just as he knew Chase couldn’t feel those darker emotions that Cam made certain stayed carefully buried.
He had learned over the years, when the darkness was like a bitter acid eating into his soul, he could share a lover with Chase, his or his brother’s, and he could release that darkness and still stay grounded. It was the reason he had left Jaci so quickly. He could feel that darkness rising inside him, that need eating at his guts, and he knew he had to get away from her. From the need to give her everything. To explain. To belong.
“Stop worrying, Chase. ” He shrugged his shoulders, knowing that wasn’t enough, knowing it did nothing to ease his brother’s concern.
“Yeah, that’s what you said when you joined the fucking military,” Chase snapped. “Eighteen years old. You couldn’t even wait two years, could you Cam? You had to go. What the hell did you get for it? A medical discharge and a thanks, but sorry, we can’t pay you for your sacrifice?”
“The military didn’t do this to me, Chase,” Cam bit out.
“No, it just made it worse,” Chase retorted. “Cam, listen to me man, you’re fucking up with Jaci. Just like you did in Oklahoma. If you can’t tell me what happened, then you damned well better tell her. Because I’m telling you, she’s going to walk away again. ”
“She’s not walking away. ” He would stop her. He didn’t have to tell her the truth. He could hold her without it. He would make certain of it.
“If she walks away, that’s it,” Chase informed him, his voice tight and hard. “Do you understand that, Cam? If you push her away like you’ve pushed me away, and anyone else that could have cared for you, then I’ve had enough. If you can’t trust me enough with the truth, then fuck it. What the hell are we even brothers for?”
“Blackmail, Chase?” Cam crossed his arms over his chest and glowered back at Chase.
“Fuck you, Cam. ” Chase’s expression was tight, frustrated. Cam could see the conflict raging inside him—hell, he could feel it, and there was no way to help it.
“Chase, bro, you’re blowing this all out of proportion,” he told him lightly. “Jaci’s going to be fine. ”
“You left her within minutes of taking her last night. Hell, I had barely left,” he snapped. “Trust me, she’s not fine. And, by God, neither am I. I’m sick of this. You can’t even trust her enough to sleep with her. You don’t trust me enough to tell me what the fucking problem is, but you expect both of us to just accept it. ”
“To accept me. ” The words tore from him.
Cam didn’t know who was surprised the most. Chase by the demand, or himself because of the vehemence of it.
“Son of a bitch, do you have to have explanations for every damned thing?” Cam cursed. “What the hell is bothering you so bad? That I didn’t stay with her last night? Or that you don’t know every fucking area of my life? Do I question you when you don’t share a woman with me? Do I harass and interrogate you when you don’t stay all night with one?”
“I’m not the bastard sleeping on the couch after bringing a woman home, either,” Chase argued furiously, “but I am the one that can feel whatever it is inside you eating you alive. And whatever it is, Cam, it’s going to drive her away. Trust me when I tell you that. If you don’t tell her why you need to share her, why that hunger is tearing you apart, then she’s going to tell you to get fucked. ”
“No, actually, she’ll tell him he can do without being fucked. At least, by me. ”
They both swung around. Shock tore through Cam at the sight of Jaci, hip cocked, her arm braced in the open doorway, her expression unwavering.
Cam inhaled slowly, locked his teeth together, and fought the burning hunger inside him. He could see her, dazed, screaming in pleasure, trapped between him and Chase, burning with them as he loosed the gnawing intensity tearing through him.
“Shit, Cam,” Chase muttered.
There was enough of that twin bond so that Chase could feel the echo of that need. Cam was amazed the ground wasn’t shaking with the vibrations of the hunger. And, son of a bitch, the possessiveness.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” Cam shook his head.
Didn’t it just figure? Any other time he would have brushed Chase’s demands aside, rather than arguing over them. The one time he let his brother draw him into this argument, Jaci just had to show up.
Dressed in those snug jeans, in that T-shirt that revealed glimpses of her lower stomach between the hem of the s
hirt and the band of her jeans. The clothes were comfortable, wild, wicked. They weren’t the business clothes she had been wearing, that was for damned sure. He was going to kill Courtney for demanding Jaci wear jeans. It should be illegal for her to wear jeans, dammit.
“I forgot my case in the car. ” She ambled from the doorway, smooth feminine grace and outrage emphasized with each step, as she moved past him. “I’m glad I did. So, tell us Cam, exactly why was it so important that you walk out on me last night?”
“I left you a note. ”
He hit the unlock on his auto key chain as she gripped the door latch, allowing her to open the door.
