That got a ‘this coming from you’ smirk.
“Fine. Point taken.” Bran didn’t have a leg to stand on.
“I didn’t tell you guys because I needed... or wanted to still be able to hang out with my best friends without them feeling like they needed to talk about it. Icouldn’ttalk about it. I don’t want to be talking about it now, but... if what I’ve been considering has even a sand’s grain of truth... well, I ruined my own life, and waiting this long, I may have destroyed yours as well, Bran.”
Dad, Patrick, and Bran all sat up and leaned toward James. Not liking the turn in conversation.
“Explain.” Dad’s low voice suggested without delay.
“You’ll maybe remember that I took Jane on a trip to New York City right before Christmas this past year?” Seeing the nods of confirmation, he continued. “We’d only been seeing each other for a few months, but it was on that trip that I decided I wanted to marry her.”
Jane was amazing, and she’d clearly been in love with James. He just couldn’t picture her doing anything to jeopardize that. But then, he hadn’t thought...
“By January, I’d found the ring and booked a week in the Maldives for mid-February. I thought it would please Jane if I asked her to marry me on Valentine’s Day. Jo knew. She loves Jane like a sister. She even helped me plan a fancy dinner a week before we were to leave to surprise her with the trip.”
James stopped to drink some tea, giving himself a moment. He picked his phone back up and started flipping through screens. What he was looking at, which none of us could see, made his jaw tighten. He closed his eyes, grimacing. Looking at them once again, he finished.
“The night before that fucking dinner, I received pictures from some anonymous asshole. Pictures of Jane on some hotel balcony with another man. Jane kissing the same man on the park trail where she runs.”
As James explained, he was flipping through the pictures for them to see, but he pulled his phone back abruptly before he slid his finger over the screen to the next photo.
“I... I can’t show the other two. God, this is hard. She was naked from the waist up, only wearing panties. Her fingers were on the waistband, about to pull them down. I can’t allow anyone to see her like that. She was smiling at a man in front of her.”
Bran was shaken. He understood the betrayal.
Dad stayed silent. Patrick was unusually reserved. “I’m sorry that happened. I wouldn’t have thought her capable. I don’t blame you for ending things.”
James’ eyes flashed with anger, and he slammed his fist on the table, making everyone’s tea slosh over the rims of the plastic cups.
“I’ve told myself that very thing for months. I have tried everything to purge that woman, those photos, from my mind. Nothing worked. I’ve thought a million times of begging her to take me back. Forgiving the infidelity. I love her that much— still.”
James focused on Bran then. A strange combination of anger, fear, hope, and guilt.
“And then you got pictures of Raven. After a trip. Where I believe you became serious. Truly serious.”
His father was the first to catch on. Bran was still reeling.
“Do you think they were faked?” Hugh O’Faolain unfolded his body from the table and stood, leaning into James’ space. “Because if you’ve had this information and didn’t come forward, I will fucking beat the ever-loving shit out of you. Start. Fucking. Explaining. Now.”
James must have realized his health was in jeopardy. “I didn’t know or even suspect until a few days ago. I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. Jo’s been short with me. We only speak about jobs.
“I was thinking of Jane and her betrayal and then thinking of Raven’s. I don’t know... I don’t fucking know why it didn’t click when Bran first told us. I guess I was so shocked and sickened for my friend. Knowing how he felt, my older pain spiraled and became unbearable again. I just tried to shut it all out, and with Bran staying away, it was easier tonotthink.
“But that night. I can’t explain it. Perhaps my brain had secretly been mulling our situations over. Their similarities. Too many similarities. We’ve been friends for years, you, me, and Pat. We’ve always dated. Sometimes the same women. None of us has been in a serious relationship. Until me.”
“And then Bran,” Patrick finished.
“Are you suggesting someone is watching you boys, our families? What do you think this is, James? And what of the pictures?”
“I don’tknowa goddamn thing, Hugh. I dreaded coming here today because I know how farfetched it sounds. I also didn’t want to give Bran and me any hope where there is none in case I’m completely wrong.”
“The pictures, though? I still can’t see...” Patrick gently asked.
“I know this is a huge ask, Bran, but I spoke to a detective friend of mine at Tulsa’s CID, and he gave me the name of a freelance forensic audio and video image analyst retired from the FBI. My buddy said if I got him the pictures, he’d pass them along to see if he could see any tampering.
“I’m sending him these today. All of them,” James swallowed hard and blinked rapidly a few times. “I must know. This may be a reach, but... I have to make sure.”
Bran was shocked. Every emotion was raging through his body. His chest was tight, and his ears were ringing. The elation that it was all some horrible setup from someone out there meaning to hurt them... devastation that he’d thrown Raven away without considering her character.
