Prowling the Vet (16 page)

“No
lights on. I’ll call her again.”

Tyler
let Brandon do whatever he wanted, but he knew she wouldn’t pick up the phone.
Something was wrong.

“Pick
up, pick up,
pick
up.” Brandon chanted, tapping his
foot on the floor of the car.

Tyler
shook his head and turned the car back on. “Let’s get some sleep. I think
tomorrow is going to be a very long, yet interesting day.”

They
drove home in silence, Tyler’s head buzzing with incriminations while his heart
sank lower and further into his chest.

Chapter Twelve

Laura
heard the pounding on her front door, and her mobile phone was vibrating its
little heart away on her coffee table. It was barely eight a.m.
 
She didn’t need three guesses to know who was
behind both.

She
closed her eyes and picked up the remote control to turn on the TV.

“Laura,
we know you’re in there. Please just open the door and tell us what’s wrong.
Did something happen last night?”

Tyler’s
voice was calm, but Laura could hear the strain behind it.

“Go
away!” she shouted through her front door before whispering, “Please, just
leave me alone.” She didn’t want to do this.

Bang, bang, bang
.
A bigger fist
this time.

“Laura!”

Laura
shivered at the growl behind Brandon’s words. She half expected him to ram the
door in, which she wouldn’t deny he had the strength to do. Squeezing her eyes
shut, she realized she was going to have to let them in before they did do some
damage to either themselves or the door. At least they could then have it out
once and for all.

She
stalked up to her front door, took a deep breath, and wrenched it open.

On
her doorstep stood her two powerful men,
her
night and
day, the moon and the stars of her world…and at least one was a bloody cheating
bastard.

“I
have nothing to say to either of you. We’re done, and I don’t want to see you
again.”

Brandon’s
eyes grew impossibly wide and Tyler actually put a hand over his heart as
though she’d shot him with a bullet to the heart.

Laura
tapped her foot,
then
threw her hands up in the air.
They looked pathetic standing out there.

“Fine,
come in!”

She
turned and stomped into her living area, standing in the middle of what had
previously always felt like a cozy room, and crossed her arms over her chest.

The
men walked in and Tyler came at her first, his gentle eyes pleading with her.

“Sweetheart,
I don’t know what’s going on. We were at the bar having a great time, and you
just disappeared. We’ve been calling you all night.”

She
knew that. They’d left dozens of messages which she’d snuck peeks at through
her long night alone. She’d ended up switching it off and sobbing through the
remaining hours of darkness.

“I
know, and I’m sorry I ran out on you, but I couldn’t cope.”

Brandon
leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms while Tyler walked closer.

“Was
it because we left you alone, beautiful girl? Brandon and I knew we shouldn’t
have taken you to a place like that. You’re better than that.”

Laura
laughed—what else could she do? But even to
her own
ears the sound was bitter and almost cruel.

“Yeah,
I am, it’s never a good move to take your girlfriend out,
then
abandon her—but that’s not the point. Get out, both of you.”

Laura
pointed at her front door and glared at her men, the men she loved with all her
heart, the men she thought would always protect her, care for her, and love
her. Where had they been last night when she was being attacked by all those
bitchy women?

“Laura,
I don’t know what’s happened…” Tyler, her beautiful, sweet man stepped forward
again so that he was within arms reach, and Laura backed up three feet.

“Ask
your brother.” She threw a dirty look at Brandon and watched as shock
registered on the handsome face.

“Me?
What’d I do?”

Laura
groaned and crossed her arms over her chest. “I know you were with Simone
Friday night. She told me. I heard nothing but stories about you guys all
night. The women you’ve slept with, the legions of broken hearts you’ve left
behind.”

Brandon
growled a little, the sound causing the hairs on Laura’s arms to stick up.

“What?
Simone? I was not with her.”

“Then
where were you?” she shot back. “You didn’t get home until three a.m.” She
remembered because she’d woken when he’d slid back into bed and looked at the
clock.

“I
was running. I shifted after dinner and needed to get out.”

Really?
That’s the best excuse you can come up with?
 

“Bullshit.
You’ve fought this three-way mating thing from the start. I know you don’t
really want me, or the commitment I require.”

Brandon
began to shake his head, hissing angrily as he paced her wooden floors.

She
waited for him to correct her arrogant presumption, but he didn’t.

I knew it.

“And
you.” She rounded on Tyler. “Every woman in that bar knew what you were like in
bed. Did you leave a single ass unturned, or were you trying to break some sort
of record?”

Tyler’s
mouth fell open and gaped like a fish. Didn’t they have any idea what it felt
like to know that her men had groped probably a hundred women, the same way
they’d touched her. It made her feel dirty, common, and completely unloved.

“Like I said.
Get out!”

“Laura,
it’s not like that.”

Heat
and pain exploded inside Laura’s head as angry tears gathered and slid down her
face.

“Get
out! Get out! Get out!” She screamed, marching over to the door and throwing it
open. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she was struggling to breathe.

The
men finally moved, Tyler looking hurt and lost, while Brandon was making wild
cat noises and prancing like he was in heat.

As
soon as they’d both stepped over her threshold once again, Laura slammed the
door and slid home the bolt, collapsing on the floor in massive, heartbreaking
sobs.

Didn’t
they understand? What had she done wrong to deserve such treatment?

She
pulled herself into a ball and let the misery consume her. Hot, salty tears rolled
down her face, choking her, and making her
gasp
and
wheeze for breath.

She
could never love them enough to get over this. Never make love to them the same
way.

How
could she kiss their lips, feel their hands against her, take them inside her
body and her heart, knowing that none of it was special to them.

Laura
stayed on the floor until her ass was numb and she was utterly exhausted, then
she rolled onto her side and fell asleep.

It
was Sunday, her one day off in the week. There was no need to get up.

****

“Brandon,
I swear to God, if you’ve stuffed this up for us…”

“That
fucking bitch lied!” Brandon roared at his brother as he ran to the car and
threw open the door. That stupid, lying mole Simone!

He
could feel his lion rising like a flood. Heat prickled over his skin and his
eyes shifted so that his sight was cleared and more distinct than a human’s
should be. He pressed down with his diaphragm and exhaled. He didn’t know if he
could hold him back, but he was going to try.

“Shit!”
He roared, knowing they weren’t in a safe place. He didn’t even know the
quickest way to the mountains from here.

“Brandon.
Look at me, brother.”

Brandon
forced his eyes to Tyler’s, who was staring at him hard. It gave him something
to focus on while he pushed his animal down, just by the proverbial skin of his
teeth.

“We
can fix this. I know we can. You weren’t really with Simone Friday night, were
you?”

Brandon
growled and shook his head, panting and pacing alongside the car.

“No, of course not!
I tossed her aside months ago.
Fucking her was like being with a cadaver.”

Brandon
shuddered as his mind conjured up the memories of his times with Simone. Like
most of his lovers, they expected him to do everything. As a general rule, he
didn’t mind since he loved to have sex, but they gave nothing back, and he had
gotten sick of it months before he’d even met Laura. It was hard work keeping
his cock hard sometimes when they did nothing but lie there and use him like a
dildo with hands.

“Then
why did she say you were?”

Brandon
took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly, not sure how or why the
woman would do such a thing.

“Because she’s a bitch.”

Tyler
frowned, obviously not happy with that simple answer, but Brandon really didn’t
have a better one. She had nothing to gain from breaking them all up.

Tyler’s
eyes went wide and his face turned a sickly pale grey.

“Hang
on. Did Laura just break up with us?”

Brandon
growled.
“Yeah.
She did.”

Tyler
wheezed next to him. “Wait. I…she can’t do that.”

Brandon agreed, she couldn’t.
They were meant to be. Sure,
he’d fought it a bit, who wouldn’t when they lost their carefree lifestyle
basically overnight, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want her. Red flushes of
pain crashed over him in waves.

Brandon
stopped pacing and stared at the house where he could still hear quiet sniffling
noises coming through the door. She was crying, the silly woman.

“What
the fuck do we do? We can’t leave her like that!”

He
pointed toward the house, glaring hard. He didn’t really want to go in and deal
with her tears, they’d break his heart. But this was worse—feeling impotent and
lost.

Tyler
looked back over his shoulder,
then
opened the car
door.

“We’ll
make it worse, Brandon. We’re in way above our head here.”

His
baby brother slid into the car and Brandon followed suit, a massive pain in his
chest blossoming over the anger and consuming him.

Brandon
couldn’t breathe right.

 
“Let’s go.”

Tyler’s
voice was firm and authoritative, which was perfect for Brandon, because he
could not have fought himself out of a paper bag at the moment.

“Where
are we going?” he asked as he pulled the car onto the road and headed out of
Trenthy
.

“Mum
and Dad’s. They’ll know what we should do.”

Brandon
groaned but did what he was told. His head was clearing now, their path getting
clearer.

“You sure about that?
Mum’s always looked down on us
for partying the way we have. She may be on Laura’s side.”

Tyler
sighed and shifted in the chair next to him. “Yeah, but if there’s anyone who
can help, they can.”

They
stayed quiet for the rest of the car ride before finally pulling up in front of
their parents’ home.

Brandon
sighed and dragged himself out of the car, his chest still aching like he’d
been shot through with a heavy bullet.

****

“Laura!
Help us! Please!” The urgent shouting broke through Laura’s misery as she
stared at the bright computer screen, trying to do some research for a much-needed
holiday.

She
ran to the front door, her heart pumping wildly. She wrenched open the door and
gasped in shock at the sight in front of her. Brandon and practically his whole
family were parked outside her house, an old pickup she hadn’t seen before
behind her car.

“Tyler’s
been shot!”

No!
Adrenaline surged into Laura’s
blood and she bolted across her lawn, headless of her bare feet and no bra. She
grabbed hold of the side of the pickup and stared down into the tray.

There
was Rosalie holding white gauze to the side of a magnificent mountain lion,
with cinnamon fur and black-tipped ears that she knew belonged to one of her
men.

“He
can’t shift back, or he’ll die. Please.” Rosalie’s voice cracked with pain and
tears rolled down her puffy cheeks.

Autopilot
checked in and
a stillness
crept over Laura, calming
her muscles and heart.

“I
need to go get my keys, but follow me to the clinic. I don’t have enough
equipment here.”