Destined to Be Three (26 page)

Opening the fridge door, Jaycee ducked her head inside and pretended to look for eggs. She shuffled through all the items in the fridge despite the fact that the eggs were in their tray where they always were. She didn’t speak—no explanations, no denials. Silence was her best defense, and she would adhere to it.

A barefoot Katie-Anne snuck up on her. “You do know that the eggs are in the door, right?”

Shannon snickered. “Yeah, J. Aren’t you nippy? A fridge is, like, the worst possible place to hide.”

Grabbing the egg carton, Jaycee slammed the door violently. “Oh! I forgot to tell you guys about Leila,” she blurted out, trying her damndest to change the subject. “From what I hear, she received a giant tub of peppermints with a card that might have said ‘Revenge is sweet, and so are these. Enjoy!’ I have no clue
who
they could have been from.”

“I’ll bet you don’t,” Shannon said sarcastically.

“Stop dodging the damn subject. You’re annoying me,” Katie-Anne bitched as she re-opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. She shut the door, moved back to the table, and lowered herself into a chair. “If you tell me what I want, I’ll leave you alone.”

I might as well tell the wench. She isn’t going to shut up until I do.

“Whatever.” Jaycee laid the eggs on the counter gently then opened the lid. “Gray has a plan. He’s going to file the paperwork to legally change Cade’s last name to Blakemore. Then, I am going to marry Cade.”

Cracking the eggs was a tough task on any given day for a klutz like her, but today was even worse. She wasted too much time picking shells from the egg whites and yolks.

Frustrated by Katie-Anne’s meddling and intrusive line of questioning, Jaycee defended their intentions. “Gray is convinced that if I marry him, Cade will feel like I belong to Gray more than him. He says that, in equality, there will be compromises and concessions. This is his.”

Mentally cursing the eggshells, Jaycee whirled around to face them. “In the past, I was with Gray and not Cade. It ended up tearing us apart. We’ve wasted three years of our lives that we can’t get back, and we want to learn from our mistakes. If this is what it takes, so be it. It’s not like some scrap of paper is going to define my marriage to Gray and Cade. Only we can do that.”

Shannon clapped enthusiastically. “Bravo! Bravo! That Gray is a smart cookie.”

“I think that he is a moron.” Katie-Anne insulted Gray, which pissed Jaycee off.

Ready to give her friend an earful, Jaycee was distracted by Gray strutting into the room.
Somebody
had gotten some this morning, and it wasn’t her.
Stupid breakfast.

She’d had to leave her men in bed early this morning, knowing good and well that they would get to play while she worked herself to the bone. What did they say about all work and no play? Only in this case, it was more like all work and no play makes Jaycee a horny girl.

Gray grabbed her around her waist, pulling her against his body and planting a seductive kiss on her that made her desperate for
her
playtime. His hands dropped to her derriere, kneading the fleshy curve of her ass and pressing her crotch tight against his thick, rigid cock.

“Get a fucking room,” Katie-Anne groused in typical whiny-baby-sister mode.

Shannon snorted. “I think they have a fucking room. It’s upstairs, and I am willing to lay money on the table that it smells like early-morning sex.”

“
Gross
,” Katie-Anne bitched sullenly.

Dragging his lips away from hers, Gray warned them, “Stay out of our bedroom. Cade is sleeping.”

Giggles erupted from Shannon. Sarcastically, she taunted Gray, needling him. “Oh, I can imagine.”

Gray glared at Shannon, frowning in censure. “I cannot wait until the day Jared, Drew, and Randy break and bridle you
and
your sharp tongue.”

The back door flung open unexpectedly, making Jaycee jump when it smacked into the wall resonantly. Her brothers filed in. “Who are we breaking and bridling?” Jared inquired blandly.

Shannon lurched from her chair, knocking it to the floor with a crash. “I’m going to go set the table in the dining room, J.” And then she fled.

Randy was the only one of her brothers who watched her go. His puppy-dog eyes followed her flight until she could no longer be seen. Whatever had happened between the four of them, her brothers had obviously given up even though it was killing them. Each of them was despondent and obviously fatigued. Their eyes had lost their shine, the color flat and dull. Dark circles and stress lines marred their faces.

“It’ll work out,” she told them, but even she could hear the worry in her voice.

With palpable disbelief, Drew denied, “No, I don’t think it will. I’m sick and tired of this bullshit. Waiting and hoping is exhausting, and I can’t do it anymore. I won’t do it.” Her brother spoke to himself more than them. She didn’t stop him when he barreled out the door in the opposite direction of where Shannon had disappeared. He yelled over his shoulder, “Call me when breakfast is ready.”

Randy stared at his boots, not speaking. She had a feeling this was harder on him than either of their brothers. He hadn’t given up. She could see it in his stiff posture, but he was trapped between his brothers and their woman.

The tension in the room could be cut with a butcher knife.

In blissful ignorance, Cade strolled into the room, followed by Shane and Landon, who stopped next to Katie-Anne, each placing a hand on the back of her chair. Katie-Anne went stiff, her movements halted, and yet her breathing increased so drastically that her chest was rising and falling erratically.

“Look who I found.” Heading for the fridge with single-minded determination, Cade kissed Jaycee and Gray chastely on his way. Even in his distracted state, Cade had the milk out of the fridge and poured into a glass in the time it took for most people to turn on a faucet.

Drinking a glass of milk in a couple of chugs, Cade abruptly became aware of the strain in the room. His eyes bounced from one person to the next, searching for the source of contention. In stereotypical fashion, Cade joked, “You people look like someone rained on your fucking parade.”

Some of the tension drained, and Gray asked, “Why don’t we go outside, boys? There is a foal out in the pasture I want you to see.” The men took off with a shuffle and scuffle of work boots, leaving her and Katie-Anne alone.

“Are you as concerned as I am?” Katie-Anne asked quietly.

Wiping her hands on a kitchen towel, Jaycee sat next to Katie-Anne. “I’m really worried about her. She’s hiding something big.”

Katie-Anne agreed with a nod. “I know.”

Jaycee stared off into space, searching for help and answers. She grasped for anything that could give Shannon and her brothers the chance to find the kind of fulfillment only a person’s soul mates can bring. “I don’t know what to do for any of them. She’s unintentionally destroying all of their lives. My brothers will never be happy without her, and she won’t be without them. They’re her destiny, and I have a feeling she doesn’t have much longer before fate will step in. Like Drew, I think even fate is getting tired of waiting on her.”

“That’s true, J.” Katie-Anne playfully punched Jaycee in the shoulder. “Look at you. You’re getting your own happily ever after. Lady Luck has to be on your side.”

Smiling wistfully, she refuted Katie-Anne. “No. Not Lady Luck. It was destiny. Destiny’s on my side, and she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

THE END

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