Page 34 of Clear Blue Sky

“That would be fine if your sister wasn’t sleeping with him.”

She stumbled backward, hitting her ass on Tiki’s desk. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep, cleansing breath. Hearing her father discuss her love life was always unsettling, but this sounded unusually distasteful.

“I’ve got an idea,” Lake said. “Reese is an ex-Marine. We could hire him as our new consultant. I know Nelson and him are friendly. Maybe Nelson would be willing to disclose his personal life enough that Reese could tell if it’s libel or not.”

“That might work,” her father said. “Brandi, do you think you could talk Nelson and this Reese fellow into it?”

“I can try.” She held her brother’s gaze.

“I’ve got to run,” her dad said. “Your mom needs me. Keep me informed of everything. And I mean every little damned detail.”

“We will.” Lake tapped the screen. “If Reese agrees, you know he will let Nelson read that manuscript.”

“I’m counting on it.”

* * *

The one thing Brandi hadn’t anticipated was that Nelson would pull his brothers into the conversation.

Though she should have.

They were his support system and they knew him better than anyone.

She sat in an Adirondack chair before a warm fire and stared at the flames as they snaked toward the dark sky. Pulling the fleece blanket up to her chest, she did her best to be patient while Nelson, his brothers, and Reese passed back and forth the contract her father sent over.

“Do you have any questions?” She couldn’t stand the silence a second longer.

“I don’t have a problem with the contract.” Reese lifted his wineglass and swirled. “It’s straightforward.”

She’d only met Reese a handful of times. She knew he was a quiet, contemplative man with a dry sense of humor who put his family and friends before anything.

“What concerns me is that we could be playing right into his hand,” Reese said.

“I was thinking the same thing.” Nelson stood next to the big tree by the gazebo. He held his wineglass and sipped. “Marcus is incredibly intelligent. When we were at West Point, I got better grades than he did because he was a smart-ass. He often got pleasure from debating with the professors. That was never a good look.”

“Unless it was debate class,” Phoenix added.

Nelson chuckled. “Even then, he had a reputation for being a dick. He got off on pushing people’s buttons. He’d argue for the sake of arguing. He loved to take the opposing viewpoint. When I first met him, I thought that was ingenious. I’ve always believed that to understand your value system, you need to be able to defend the other side. But he did it to tear people down. To strip them of their core beliefs. He could be cruel.”

“I knew men like him in the Marines. They believed if they broke you, they could rebuild you into a better version of yourself. Only, their idea of what a man or woman should be was never good.” Reese took the pen and signed on the dotted line, handing her the contract. “Regardless of whether we handle the situation this way or a different way, I’m happy to be a consultant for your company anytime. I can help with military and state police. But you might want to get Jared on board with that. He keeps rumbling he wants to retire in a couple of years. That would be a good side gig for him.”

“Thanks. I’ll extend the offer,” she said.

“That goes for all of us,” Nelson said. “If your family will have us.”

“That’s my decision, and I’ll print out more copies. Our editors will be thrilled. It’s hard to find experts willing to do the legwork, but you make it sound like there’s another option when dealing with this awkward situation with Marcus.”

“We could let this play out.” Reese polished off his beverage, setting the glass on the tray.

“That’s putting Marcus in the driver’s seat,” Phoenix said. “I don’t like giving him that much control. He’s been a thorn in my brother’s side for years. He’s threatened to take him down. To ruin him.”

“I didn’t know that.” Brandi shifted her gaze.

Nelson looked out toward the water. “Until now, I thought they were empty threats.”

“Not true,” Maverick said. “It’s always been in the back of your mind.”

“The further away I got from what happened—from seeing him—the more I believed we could all move past it.” Nelson downed the rest of his wine.

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