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“You had your own children to raise,” Coco interrupted her. “I get that.”
“We would’ve gladly taken you and your sisters in, Coco, but our lives were in North Carolina. Your father didn’t want you to leave here. You and Drina weren’t ready and—”
“Is that offer still on the table?”
“Well…of course.” Peyton was clearly blindsided. “Besides our own daughters and their children and spouses, you and your sisters are our only close family. We’d welcome all of you. We’ll help you move, get set up in your own place, and do whatever it takes to help you start a new life.”
Kane felt a stab of pride as Peyton rebounded quickly.
Coco laughed. “Just like that, huh?”
“Just like that,” Peyton agreed, probably unaware she was being played.
“Tell me something, Peyton—since we’re bonding and all—do you really think we’d leave this life here in Erwin and travel an hour over the mountain to another itty bitty town where everyone knows everyone’s business?” She grunted. “No, thank you. I wasn’t asking for me anyway.”
“What are you asking?” Kane marched inside the kitchen, furious because Coco had blindsided his wife. “Peyton is offering to help and what do you do? Slap her with an insulting attitude.”
“Well if it isn’t my favorite cousin,” Coco drawled. “Let me ask you something, Uncle—since that’s what Mom always wanted us to call you—did you coach the Jackson boys out there today?”
“Coach them how?” Kane played dumb. Given Coco’s demeanor, he could already guess where this conversation was heading.
She shrugged. “Ah you know, about the greatest loves in life, the lovers who share a wife and pretend it’s completely normal? Did you tell them all that nonsense? Did you give them your stamp of approval and tell them you thought it was perfectly okay for all three of them to pursue my sister?” She snorted. “My mother would be disgusted.”
Kane and Peyton exchanged a knowing look. Her mother had been anything but an innocent angel, but he wasn’t about to tell her that or share with her how and where she’d come to know Coco’s father.
“What’s this really about, Coco?” Kane asked, seeing Ann in her oldest daughter. Ann had always been a vict
im. She didn’t start out that way, but she’d certainly ended up a victim of her own circumstances.
Her eyes filled with tears and she snatched her keys off the countertop and ran for the door. Before she made it outside, Kane grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to turn and look at him.
“Let me go!” she screamed.
“It’s not happening. You’re an adult so act like one. Tell me what’s going on and don’t think you’ll use school as an excuse. I don’t give a damn if you’re late for class or have to drop out for a semester. There’s something going on here and I demand to know what.”
“Well good luck with that.” She jerked her arm free. “I answer to no one.”
Chapter Eight
“I thought I might find you here.” Jax leaned on one of the log posts. “It’s supposed to get chilly tonight. I was worried about you.”
Brianna kicked her legs over the side of the porch. Balancing her hips on her palms, she swung her body away from the house with full intentions of running.
“You can’t keep avoiding me, Brianna. I’ll just keep coming and one day soon, I won’t let you run from me. Don’t test me now. If you run, I’ll catch up and pin you to the ground until you hear what I have to say.”
Detecting the longing in his voice, Brianna slowly turned. She stared back at the man who had always been her main reason for staying in Erwin, the man who had often watched her as if he’d always known, one day he’d claim her. One day, she’d belong to him and maybe even his brothers. “Then don’t let me get away.”
As if she’d summoned a different man than she’d tried to tempt in the past, Jax walked toward her with a determined gait. His muscles flexed as he ground his molars. His large arms swung at his sides as he took long strides. Reaching the end of the plank porch, he jumped off and landed in front of her.
For a moment, Brianna’s heart stood still. She started to say something, but couldn’t push the words past her dry mouth.
“Shh,” he whispered, placing his index finger against the seam of her lips. That lone finger soon became an enticing instrument, stroking over the texture of her mouth with minimal pressure. The eroticism of the act intensified as a haze of lust settled in his blue eyes.
He stared at their limited connection, acting as if he couldn’t decide how to best pursue her, how to explain what he was feeling or perhaps ask about her feelings instead. Finally, he lowered his forehead to hers and a lone tear escaped his left eye and drifted over his cheek in slow motion.
In that moment, Brianna crumbled. She locked her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. “Jax, I’m so sorry.” She cried as she clung to him, dragging him as close as humanly possible and wishing a thousand times she hadn’t been so determined to rush what should’ve been, what would’ve been, if she’d only waited for the right time, for the right man to come along and claim her.
Taking a step back, she studied him then. That was the right thought and the right word to describe precisely what this moment meant.
