Blake, Abby - Sweet Captivation [A Bride for Eight Brothers 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (4 page)

He was so busy thinking of ways he could break their research contract and still keep the company financially viable that he jumped about a foot and a half in the air when his intercom buzzed.

“Matt?” Ryan’s voice was disgustingly enthusiastic, and Matt wanted nothing more than to ignore the summons and crawl back into bed.

“What?” he growled ungraciously.

“Mikayla and Lachlan are on the subspace channel and want to talk to you.” Mikayla, thank heavens. He may have spoken to her just yesterday, but he was more than happy to see her again. Lachlan, on the other hand, wasn’t such good news. In fact, Lachlan wanting to talk to him usually involved a business or contract headache that they could all live without.

Not bothering to get dressed, Matt moved quickly down the hallway and into the communications room.

“Good morning, honey,” he said, feeling in a much improved mood just knowing she could hear him. He moved to stand in front of the camera and tried to make out her image on the view screen. Damn snowstorms played havoc with reception again today.

“Matt,” she said, sounding more serious than he’d heard her in a long while, “we have a visitor that we thought you should know about.”

“A visitor? Who?” he asked, feeling dread roll through him.

“Bryce,” Lachlan said. That one single word drained all the good humor from Matt’s day.

“What does he want?” he managed to force past his clenched jaw as the familiar pain and anger churned in his belly.

“He needs help,” Mikayla said so sincerely he wanted to rage even more. Mikayla with her soft heart and willingness to forgive would be easy prey to the man he’d once called brother. Not anymore though. Bryce was as good as dead to him, and the guy should’ve had the sense to stay far, far away.

“Get him out of my house,” Matt growled. “Get him away from my wife. Get him the fuck out of our lives, and tell him never to come back. Lachlan, what the fuck were you thinking letting him in?”

Through the poor quality video feed Mikayla looked on the verge of tears, and Matt’s only regret was that he’d said the words in front of her. Bryce was dangerous. Hell, Matt had seen him at his worst. There was no way in hell he was letting that man anywhere near his wife.

“I was thinking,” Lachlan growled almost as angrily, “that the man with a shattered femur wasn’t a serious threat in his condition.”

“Femur? Speak fucking English. No scratch that. I don’t care what language you speak. Just get him out of the fucking house.” Matt practically swelled as red hot temper spiked through him, but a moment later his wife’s voice cooled his rage quicker than a bucket of ice water over his head.

“Matt, Bryce needs us. He’s hurt, and he’s frightened, and he has nowhere else to go.”

“Honey,” he said pleading with her to understand. “Bryce is not what he seems. Please believe me when I say you aren’t safe with him. Mikayla, I don’t know what I’d do without you. Please, just stay away from Bryce.”

Fuck. Tears filmed his eyes, and he hoped like hell that the video feed on Mikayla’s end was just as fuzzy as his own.

“Matt,” Lachlan said, “I’ll keep her safe, but I really think you should consider coming home for a while. I know it’s going to fuck up the contract a little, but well, I don’t know how to explain it, but something’s not right. Bryce needs help, but the moment he realized Mikayla was here he did everything he could to get me to throw his ass back out the door.” Through the grainy image Matt saw Lachlan run his hand through his hair. He knew his eldest brother well enough to know that was a sign of extreme agitation. Lachlan was the most controlled individual he’d ever known, and the fact that Bryce’s appearance could rattle him so thoroughly was a very bad sign.

“I’ll be on the next transport. I’ll see you in four days.”

Lachlan left them then so that Matt could talk for a few moments with the woman he loved but the storm knocked out the reception before he could tell her anything important. Disappointed, angry, and frightened, Matt fell into the nearest chair and rubbed his face with both hands.

Hell. Bryce—the man Matt had witnessed murder someone—was back in their lives, and a very dangerous threat to their wife. Fuck, he should’ve told his brothers what he’d known a long time ago.

He’d explain it all to Peter and John, and then he’d get his ass home and protect his wife from the man he was ashamed to call his brother.

* * * *

Bryce swallowed the agony that came with every movement. Fuck. What he wouldn’t give for his comfortable hospital bed, proper painkillers, and that softly spoken nurse who’d been attending him.

He closed his eyes, trying to will the pain away, but popped them open again as nightmare images replayed in his mind. He could still hear the nurse’s high-pitched screaming. A noise at the doorway had him reacting quickly, but the pain in his thigh and hip threatened his sanity and he fell back onto the sofa. What did it matter anyway? If they found him and killed him, at least it would be over.

“Good, you’re awake,” Lachlan said in a hard voice as he came into the room. He glared at Bryce for a moment before the cold expression slipped, and Bryce saw concern peek through. Agony sliced through Bryce again, but this time it was centered in his chest. Hell, he knew Lachlan had no reason to give a damn about him, but even the thought that he still might lanced regret through him.

Lachlan stood in front of him, using his intimidating height and muscular build to best effect. “Explain,” was all he said as he crossed his arms and waited.

Explaining was the last thing Bryce wanted to do, but his brother deserved to at least know how much trouble Bryce was likely to bring to him and his wife.

“What’s her name?” he asked, hoping to avoid the whole someone’s-trying-to-kill-me subject for just a few minutes longer.
 

Lachlan smirked like he understood what Bryce was doing, but he answered the question anyway. “Mikayla. Her name is Mikayla and she’s not just my wife. She belongs to Matt and John and Peter, Ryan, Ty, and Brock as well.”

“All of you?” Bryce asked, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. Even the pain couldn’t dull the fear that little tidbit of information provided. If the woman was married to all seven of his brothers, he could be very sure that she was special and absolutely irreplaceable.

Lachlan nodded and then waited for Bryce to answer his question.

“I need to leave,” Bryce said, grinding his teeth as he tried to sit up again.

“No,” Lachlan said in that voice that meant he wouldn’t budge an inch. “You need to explain what kind of trouble you’re in. Did you think I’d miss the bullet wound on your arm?”

Bryce had hardly given the injury a moment’s thought. The bullet had barely scraped the side of his arm, but he should’ve known that of all his brothers Lachlan wouldn’t mistake the burn mark for anything else. Lachlan’s army training could sure cause Bryce a huge headache. He didn’t want any of his brothers involved in his shit, but keeping Lachlan at a distance was going to be harder than he thought.

“So when do I get my turn to fuck your wife?” he asked, trying to inject as much disrespect into the words that he could muster. He hadn’t even seen the woman, had no intentions of messing with his brothers’ wife, but he had to do something to protect her.

Lachlan smiled. He
actually
smiled, and Bryce felt a surge of righteous anger pulse through him. Hell, if Lachlan wasn’t going to defend his wife, he didn’t fucking deserve her.

“I know what you’re doing,” he said amiably. “But it won’t work. It doesn’t matter what you say. I’m not kicking your sorry ass out. You’re obviously in trouble. I may even be able to help.”

Fuck, fuck, and fuck. Lachlan had always had a hero complex. Why couldn’t Matt have been the one to answer the door? He would’ve kicked him to the curb the moment he laid eyes on him.

“Bryce,” a soft, feminine voice said from the doorway, “please let us help you.”

Bryce closed his eyes as tears filmed his vision. Damn pain. He felt rather than saw Lachlan head to the doorway. A swift whispered argument followed, but they both came back into the room. Shit, if the woman could win an argument with Lachlan, she was a hell of a lot stronger than Bryce had first imagined.

“Explain,” Lachlan said again as he took up the same position and pose he’d held before. But this time Mikayla added in a soft voice, “Please, Bryce. Your brothers deserve an explanation.”

Hell. They probably did. They deserved the truth, but Bryce’s need to protect the wife they all cherished seemed to override that.

“Get her out of here,” he yelled at Lachlan. “Tell your slut to get back in bed where she belongs. What sort of a Dom are you that you can’t control your whore?”

Mikayla looked ready to kick his ass—something he thoroughly deserved—but instead of arguing like he’d expected, the woman burst into tears and ran from the room. Lachlan gave him a look that should’ve flayed the flesh from his bones and headed to the door. He turned back at the last moment and said in a resigned voice, “Well done, Bryce. You managed to make a pregnant woman cry. Are your secr—”

“Pregnant?” Bryce asked, cutting off his brother’s question. “Jesus, Lachlan. Man, you’ve got to get me out of here. Just loan me some money and drop me at some out of the way motel. I’ll lay low until my leg heals, and then I promise you’ll never hear from me again.”

Lachlan glanced over his shoulder, obviously concerned for his crying, pregnant wife. Fuck. Bryce watched the play of emotions on Lachlan’s face, realizing with a jolt of hysteria that he’d never seen his older brother anything but in control. Lachlan nodded stiffly and left the room.

Chapter Four

“Mikayla?” Lachlan said in his calming voice. She’d already stopped crying by the time she’d reached the bedroom, having realized that Bryce had said what he said to deliberately turn her away from him.

“I’m okay,” she reassured her husband as she climbed off the bed and into his arms. “It’s just the hormones. Any other day I would’ve realized what Bryce was up to, but with the pregnancy my emotions seem too close to the surface. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

He hugged her harder, and she took a moment to simply enjoy the closeness.

“Do you think he’s as dangerous as Matt says?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. Matt seems convinced.” She shook her head against his chest. Pulling away from him she took a seat on the edge of the bed and tried to verbalize the gut feeling she had.

“It just doesn’t add up,” she said slowly, trying to choose her words carefully and keep her emotions under control. “Matt says he’s dangerous—and he obviously knows something we don’t—but Bryce’s actions just don’t seem to be selfish enough.” Lachlan raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for more information. “I mean if he was the self-centered criminal he pretends to be, why would he come here only to turn around and try to get us to kick him out?”

Lachlan shook his head slowly, and Mikayla tried desperately to find the words to explain. They’d been over this before. Bryce was obviously desperate enough to seek out the brothers he’d deserted so long ago, but the moment he’d learned of her presence everything had changed.

“What did he say when you told him I’m pregnant?” Lachlan looked surprised for a moment, probably having not realized that she’d still been in earshot when he said it, but he answered the question.

“He asked for money and a lift to a motel,” he answered slowly, as if he really didn’t want to tell her.

“Exactly,” Mikayla said, trying to control the little bit of optimism bubbling away inside her. “You said he has a fresh bullet wound on his arm, something that happened recently but sometime after his leg injury.” Lachlan nodded. “So he’s obviously running from someone very dangerous, and he turned to the only people he can still trust. But then he finds me here, and he does everything he can to convince us to get as far away from him as we can. That doesn’t sound like the actions of a soulless criminal. It sounds like the actions of a man trying to protect his family.”

Lachlan sat heavily on the bed beside her.

“With everything I know about the seven of you, I’m having trouble believing that Bryce could be so very different. I know I sound naïve, but I really think there is more to the story than anyone but Bryce knows.”

“Mikayla, I need you to pack some bags for us. We have a small hunting cabin in the mountains not far from here, and I think it might be a good idea to hole up there for a while. It shouldn’t be too cold this time of year, but make sure to pack at least one heavy coat. Grab some stuff from Matt’s closet for Bryce.” He turned to leave the room but came back to her and kissed her reverently.