Risking Fate (43 page)

“Of course it was. Did you actually think he would have gone to that girl, if it wasn’t about his daughter? You know I never wanted you t
o be with Ty, but that man loves you. I knew from the beginning that he couldn’t have wanted to cheat on you.”

I looked up at my brother and sat down the envelope. “What do you mean, you knew from the beginning?”

He smacked himself in the side of the head. “Ah, shit, Miranda. I didn’t want you knowin’ that I knew. He didn’t want to go there at all, you know that. When he asked me to hit him that night, I demanded an explanation. I had no idea that you two were plannin’ somethin’ so stupid, but I understood how important it was for you to protect Bella from that stupid
bitch.” Conner looked down and shook his head. “I told him to do whatever he had to do to save his daughter, but he said he couldn’t do that. He said she made him sick. So, when he cal
led me later that night
freakin
’
out, I helped him get calmed down. Miranda, he didn’t remember anything and from the very beginning, I knew he was drugged. Do you really think Ty would come to me if he’d just voluntarily cheated on my sister. He knew I’d kill him. Look, I’m sorry for lyin’ to you, but he was set up and I knew if you knew the truth, you would leave him and break up your family.”

I pushed my brother clear across the room and when he came back at me with open arms, I smacked him in his face. “How could you keep that from me? How could you do that, Conner?”

“Because I knew how much it would hurt you and how much it was tearing him apart. I did it for your marriage.”

I pointed to the door. “Get out of my house! Just g
et the h
ell away from me.”

I knew that my brother knew, but I didn’t know he was a part of it from the beginning. All that time, he knew Ty’s secret and never said one word to me. I couldn’t believe he would keep something like that from me.  Without even thinking, I called Ty at work. Ever since
he’d gone back, his phone stayed in his pocket.

Hey, Baby, is everything okay?

No, it’s not!

Are the kids alright? Are you okay? Do you need me to come home?

Yeah, Ty, I really do. The kids are fine and physically I’m fine too.

What’s……hold on…your broth
er is calling me now. What the h
ell is going on?

Maybe you should just let him explain. Then when you get home, you can explain to me why you protected him.

Is this about Amy
?

Amy? What about Amy?

Fuck.
Never mind
.

No what about Amy? You better start talkin’ or I swear you will not touch me again.

Don’t threaten me with that shit, because he asked me to keep a secret. What is going on with you?

Screw you both!
I hung up the phone and ran my hands into my hair. I was over the whole Ty and Heather situation as far as what happened between them, but this opened up a new can of worms for me. My brother knew and Ty never told me.

For the next hour, I kept myself busy scrubbing all of the bathrooms in the house. I found when I was frustrated, I cleaned up a storm. The boys finally woke up from their nap and I watched television while I fed them.

Since it was summer, we had enrolled Bella in an
all-day
bible camp that his mother ran. It was three days a week for a whole month and she loved seeing some of her friends from school. She came flying in the door carrying all kinds of crafts she’s made. “Mommy, guess what?”

“Shhh, Jax is sleepin’.”

She looked at her brother who was sitting in his chair sound asleep. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I won the prize in the trea
sure chest today for being the b
est behaved
this week. Look what I picked.” She handed me a plastic neckla
ce with a duck charm on it. “I
want Uncle Conner to have it.”

I tried to hold in my anger when she said his name. She loved her uncle and it was so nice she thought of him. “I’m sure he will like it.”

“Can I go out and look for him?”

“Did you see Poppy outside?” She wasn’t walking around the farm without an adult.
Sure, she was basically five, but still too young to walk around a dangerous farm. My daughter was too curious to stay out of harm’s way.

“He went inside with Mimi. They had to get in the attic.”

“Why?” It sounded funny.

“Cause Mimi said so.”

She obviously didn’t know why they were in the attic, so I just dropped it. “Just wait til
l
Daddy gets home.”

I no sooner said his name when I heard the door open and keys hit the counter. “Daddy.” Bella went running toward the door and I didn’t have to turn around to know she was already in his arms. It was a daily routine for them.

“Hey, Sweetie. Did you have a good time at church?”

“Yes, but Ben kept taking my crayons.”

“That’s because you’re so cute, he likes getting your attention.” Ty carried her to the living room and sat her down in front of me. He looked down at a sleeping Jax and a very awake, still nursing Jake, and smiled.

“Boys are stupid!”

Ty leaned down to kiss me and I moved my lips away so he had
to
kiss my cheek. He pulled away and shook his head, knowing he was on my shit list.

Ignoring my attitude toward him, he turned his attention back to our daughter. “I’m a boy. Your brothers are boys. Noah is a boy. Do you think we’re stupid?”

“No, but you’re my family. Just other boys are stupid.”

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her all over the face. “You keep thinking that way, Iz and Daddy will never have to use that shotgun on anything but a deer.
She didn’t understand him, but laughed anyway. “Why don’t you go clean up your room since everyone’s coming for your party.”

“But I don’t want to.” She stuck out her little bottom lip to try and manipulate her father.

Usually it worked, but he was onto her right away this time. “If you don’t clean your room then you don’t get any
presents.”
Bella
went running into her room like
a bolt of lightning. I rolled my eyes. He sat down next to me and pulled Jake from my lap. “I knew I’d come home to him next to your tit. He knows where the good pillows are.”

I scooted away from him, enough for him to notice. “I’m mad at you.”

He played with Jake’s hair and let out an air filled sigh. “Baby, I thought we were past all this. Can’t you just let it go?”

“No! My own brother lied to me. I feel like killin’ him with my bare hands.”

He laughed at my comment. “As much as I would love to see you take your brother outside and take him down, I seriously doubt you’d be able to. He’s double your size for starters and I know you love him
too much to actually hurt him.” He reached over and rubbed my leg. “We have the whole family coming for Bella’s party, can you at least be nice to him until after everyone leaves?”

“No, I’m pissed Ty and I’m mad at you about it too and what is going on with Amy?”

Ty stood up and handed me back Jake. “I gotta get a shower.”

I sat Jake down in his chair and ran into the room after my husband. He knew something and I was going to get
it out of him. I jumped in front
of him walking in the bathroom. “Tyler Mitchell, you better tell me what you know, right now!”

He reached his arms out and picked me up, then spun me around to be out of his way, while still having a huge smile on his face. He tried to back up into the bathroom and close the door, but I shoved my ass into the door so it couldn’t close. He shook his head and started taking off his clothes. “It is my constitutional right to plead the fifth.”

He climbed into the shower and ignored me standing there with my hands on my hips. “You’re willin’ to be on my shit list, to protect my brother?”

I looked through the glass and realized if I wanted to be mad at Ty, I had to stop looking at him naked. I turned and sat on the edge of the tub, avoiding my urge to take another peek. To make matters worse, Ty started singing a song that he knew got under my skin. He wasn’t the greatest singer, but the words took my breath away.

“
People say I'm just a rough boy. I ain't no good for you girl
It's a dead end street, tryin' to love me. Yeah, I'll wreck your world
I can see why they're all talkin'. Lookin' back at my past
I've got a bad name, but a man can change. I'm livin' proof of that
”

Damn him and his perfect song.
I put my hands on my hips and walked up to the shower. Ty rinsed off the shampoo from his head and opened his eyes to see me standing there. He winked at me an
d blew me a kiss before continuing
to distract me.

“
Til my last day, til my last breath. Of everyone that can, I can love you the best
Til my last day, I'll be lovin' you.
All the way up, til they lay me down. Six feet under the cold hard ground.
Til my last day, I'll be lovin' you
, Miranda Mitchell
.
” He always added my name
at the end. Since discovering the song, he used it as a weapon against me, knowing I took it to heart every time he sang it.

He opened the shower door and pulled me inside, soaking all of my clothes. “Ty, seriously, the boys are out there and now I have to change.”

He pulled off my shirt before I could argue with him and when his lips hit mine, I knew I was done for.

Chapter 31

Ty

My singing was probably bad enough to break wine glasses, but my wife caved every time I sang that song to her. The words were so true to my life and Miranda loved hearing them. I was only able to distract my wife for a little while. I no sooner got her naked and started touching her amazing body, when one of the boys began to scream bloody murder.

To avoid her from trying to ask me more about Conner, I hurried out of the shower and attended to Jake. I wasn’t joking when I said that he loved being around his mother’s tits. Sometimes, it was the only thing to calm him down. I thought it was funny that my son already loved breasts so much, where my wife thought I was an asshole for even saying such things about her perfect little boys.

Secretly, he made me so proud. Although, if I ever found out some guy was looking at my daughter’s tits, I may have to commit murder. There was no way in Hell I was ever going to let Izzy date. I would jack a little mother fucker up, if they laid a hand on my little girl.

The problem with that was I knew she was going to look just like her mother and I would be completely outnumbered. My little
girl’s
beauty may put me in an early grave. Hopefully her brothers would be so bad that they would scare off all the potential perverts.

Miranda smacked me on my ass and knocked me back into present time. “What are you thinkin’ about? You thinkin’ of tellin’ me
about
Amy yet? Ty she’s married. They better not be involved.”

She sat down in the kitchen chair and I handed Jake to her. He took to her tit faster than a speeding bullet. She rolled her eyes when I smiled about it. “Baby, I really don’t know much more than you. That is the truth. If it’s making you upset just ask your brother about it. Amy obviously doesn’t want anyone to know, otherwise she would have told you herself. They are both adults, so it’s really none of our business.”

“She’s my boss.”

“Was your boss.” I didn’t want her going back to work. Conner and I had been busting our asses so that I could give my notice and focus on running the farm. In fact, I had told my boss the news the day before. I was hoping to share it with the family when they all came for Izzy’s party.

“We talked about this. I want to still work. Your mother is fully capable of taking care of the boys. She wants to do it, Ty. Besides, don’t you like riding to work together?”

I started to answer her, but Conner came walking in the door and he had a serious look on his face. Miranda pointed at him. “You need to start explainin’ right now!”

“Simmer down, that’s why I’m here.” He sat down at the table across from us. “There’s somethin’ you both need to hear.”

“You’re goin’ to te
ll us about Amy?” Miranda cocked
her eyebrow and I shook my head as I looked down at the table.

I heard Conner’s voice and looked at him. “Oh great, thanks a lot Ty. I’m tryin’ to help you out and you throw me under the fuckin’ bus.”

I set my hands down flat on the table. “Dude, I didn’t mean it. She tricked me into saying something.”

Conner ran his hands through his hair. “It doesn’t matter. There ain’t nothin’ goin’ on between us. I’m not even sittin’ here to talk about that. I think you both need to hear the truth.
”

Miranda looked confused, but from the look on her brother’s face, I knew exactly what he meant. “Fuck.”