Page 63 of Hot Shot
I could have predicted my parents’ response to his words. Could easily have told Bran he’d have my mom in tears before she could leave the room and my dad close.
Since then we left the subject alone, all of us aware we’d be revisiting it once Corbin and Landon arrived. Instead we’ve talked about the Rogues and how Bran wants to sign the contract we offered without an agent’s input but I won’t let him.
Dad in his typical fashion decided he and Bran would call Drake tomorrow afternoon and iron out the deal between Bran and his new agent before setting said agent loose on the deal with the Rogues.
I love that my dad is taking an active role in Bran reclaiming his life. I know he had a lot of input into Bran’s previous deal, the same as he’s done with my brothers over the years. And I know I don’t have to worry about Bran on that end. Not when he has my dad at his back.
No, what I have to worry about are the two men standing in the living room doorway with angry scowls on their faces.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Landon demands, his voice loud and harsh as he steps into the quiet room.
“There will be none of that in my house. From either of you.” Mom gives both my brothers a look that used to have us shaking in our shoes when we were little. It has the same effect now.
“Sorry, Mom,” Landon says at a more acceptable volume, his angry eyes dropping from Bran for a moment.
“So you should be. Now come over here and give me a hug.” She stands from the couch but doesn’t move toward them. She’s showing them where her support lies. And right now, after Bran revealed he gave Laura her name as a homage to her and his mom as well as the last name Watts, she’s firmly in his corner.
Corbin sends me a look. He’s always been the more circumspect of the two of them, Landon the hot head who lets his mouth—and actions—run away from him more often than not. But Corbin’s look. It has me thinking and before anyone can say anything else I’m on my feet.
“You know!”
Corbin glances at Landon before meeting my gaze head on. “I know a lot of things.”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare give me the runaround on this.”
Bran’s hand presses into my lower back when he stands beside me. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Corbin knows. He knows what you’re going to tell him.”
“What? How?”
My brother looks at everyone in the room and I know he’s trying to gauge our emotions, the possibility of his words causing the already volatile situation to explode. With a deep sigh, he locks eyes with Landon.
“Celeste came to me after she married Bran. Told me the baby wasn’t Bran’s.”
Bran goes rigid beside me. “Why didn’t you tell me she did that?”
“Because she was full of shit. She told Landon I fucked her—sorry for the language Mom—when I didn’t.”
“Then…”
“No. Your daughter wasn’t mine. I never touched the woman. I wouldn’t touch her if she were the last woman on the planet,” Corbin growls.
Everyone turns to Landon. It’s only a second late that he grips his head.
“Fuck!”
The curse is loud, ragged, filled with agony and no one moves, pretty sure there isn’t even a drawn-in breath.
“That fucking bitch!”
In the blink of an eye, Landon is gone. Corbin turns to follow but Dad jumps up and grips his shoulder, holds him in place.
“No. Let him go. Explain what happened and why your brother seems oblivious to it.”
“He’s oblivious because I didn’t want her getting her claws in him again. She did a good job of snowing him and screwing with his head the first time and it wasn’t until she lied about me sleeping with her that he saw her true colors.”
“He would never believe you’d do that,” I say. “Because you wouldneverdo that.”
