Theirs (3 page)

Standing on the other side of her door
were
Cash and Rusty Bradford.

Chapter Three

Cash pounded on Alex’s door when she didn’t answer after a couple minutes. “We know you’re in there
,
Alex. Open up.”

Her car was in the parking lot and they could see her lights on from outside. She must have seen them through the peephole.

Rusty glared at the obstruction standing in between them and Alex. “I say we kick the door in.”

“No need to cause property damage. She’ll answer the door.”

“She hasn’t yet. I told you we should have just gotten here earlier so we could get her before she went into the building.”

His brother could never be accused of being a patient man but in this case, Cash didn’t have much either
where Alex was concerned
.

“What’s going on out here?”

Cash turned to see an old man poking his head out the apartment across the hall. “Just waiting for our friend to answer, sir.”

“Seems
to
me that the young lady is either not ho
me or she doesn’t want company.
Maybe I should call the police so you’ll stop banging on the door.
”

Rusty opened his mouth and Cash could tell whatever his brother was about to say wouldn’t be polite. He held up his hand to shush him. “That won’t be necessary sir. I’m sure she’ll answer the
door
soon enough.”

“Well you’ve been banging on that door for a long time, and she still hasn’
t. And a body can’t sleep with all this banging. You boys go on your way or I’m going to call the police.”

The sound of the lock turning saved Cash from kindly telling the man to mind his own
da
m
ned
business.

Alex opened the door. “It’s okay, Mr. Harrison. I know these men. I
,
uh, just wanted to make myself decent before answering the door.”

Mr. Harrison eyed the three of them suspiciously before focusing on Alex. “Well, I trust whatever the three of you will be up to at this time of night, you’ll keep quiet while decent folk
s
are
sleeping.”

It didn’t escape Cash’s notice how Alex’s neighbor emphasized the word decent as if their visit was anything but.

“Of course. Have a good night.”

“Hm
mph. The old man pursed his lips in
obvious
judgment of them all, before
closing his door.

Cash’s breath caught in his throat when he finally got a good look at Alex. She’d matured quite a bit from the young girl he’d once known. She looked a little taller, her curves were more generous and there was an air of maturity about her that hadn’t been there from the last time he’d seen her.
Standing this close to her made
him
wish he’d come for her much sooner. He’d seen pictures of her over the last few years, but it couldn’t compare to being this close to her in person.
The flannel pajamas she wore in no way disguised the lush curves hidden beneath.

Despite her current state of dress
,
she was still just as beautiful as he remember
ed
from her large
eyes framed with impossibly long lashes
to her
smooth
,
silky brown skin. She wore her hair different from when they were younger. Instead of the messy
ponytail
,
she
used
to prefer back then, her hair was a cloud of tight curls framing her face.
He
looked at her lips which were just as plump and inviting as he remembered them. God, he wanted to take them more than he needed
breath
. Cash noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra from the way her nipples poked through her top. He wondered if they still puckered from the slightest touch.

Just thinking about it made
his cock stir. The faint scent of flowers wafted from her skin and the need t
o bury his face against her neck was a temptation he
barely had the will to resist.

“Are you going to let us in?”
Rusty demanded more than asked breaking Cash from his trance.

She
took a step back with a reluctant air and heavy sigh
. “I guess so. Mr. Harrison is probably still look
ing
at us through his peephole.” Alex opened the door allowing the
m
more than enough room to enter, but Cash deliberately brushed against her as he stepped
inside
.

A gasp escaped those full lips
of her
s,
giving him no little satisfaction. Good. She could still feel it
,
too.

Once he and Rusty were inside, she gestured to her sofa. “You might as well have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Nothing for me, thank you,” Cash declined.

Rusty took the offered seat. “A glass of water
,
if you don’t mind.

“Coming right up.” Alex made her escape to the kitchen as if she couldn’t get away fast enough from them.

Instead of
sitting down
, Cash chose to inspect the room, looking for clues about her life these past
eight
years. Her apartment was small but neatly decorated. There were a couple pictures of her with a handful of people in a hospital setting
,
he assumed were her coworkers. There was one framed
photo
of Alex and a redhead. This was probably the woman Alex spent a lot
of
time with outside of work according to the report he’d received
on
her.

He’d kept tabs on her since she’d left Bradfordville and there were times when he wanted to drag her back, kicking and screaming if he needed to
,
but she wasn’t ready then. Alex needed the time away to grow
into her own
and get used to the idea that one day they
’d
be together no matter how hard she fought against the inevitable.

“She’s taking a long time in the kitchen,” Rusty observed.

Cash
ran
his fingers through his hair. “She’s probably stalling but
should we have expected anything else? We both knew there was a possibility that she wouldn’t welcome us with open arms. And if she believes that we basically abandoned her, you can’t exactly blame her.

Rusty jumped
off
the couch. “I told you
,
we should have gone after her when she left. She probably holds us responsible for what happened just as much as she does the ones
who ran her off in the first place. Dammit, if I could go back in time, I’d wring that little witch’s neck. I told you we should have never made that deal with her. It only made things worse
.”

Cash raised a brow.
They’d made a pact with the devil in order protect Alex, but
in the end
,
it did no good. Alex ended up getting hurt and they’d lost her. Looking back
, he
wished they would
have
consulted
Alex about their plan instead of hurting her the way they had.
Maybe then she wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to leave town without saying goodbye.
“But
,
weren’t we just as responsible? We didn’t p
rotect her like we should have.”

“Are you kidding me? What do you think I did for several months by escorting that walking skeleton around town? Jesus, the only thing Tabitha Granger cared about more than being the center of attention was talking about herself. Do you have any idea how boring that shit can
get
?
I put up with that bony bitch, so she wouldn’t dig her claws into Alex.”

“I know. But maybe it wasn’t enough. We left Alex vulnerable to gossip. We should have told her what we
were
up to.”

“I get that but at the time, we thought it best so people wouldn’t be suspicious.
Nonetheless
,
we’re here to right the wrongs of the past.”

Cash understood his brother’s sentiment but he still felt at fault for what happened.
“
And we will, but that doesn’t excuse what we did.
If we hadn’t been so impatient the first time around, none of that would have happened.
Alex
deserved to be treated with
love and respect and not some dirty l
ittle secret. Because of all our
sneaking around we made her vulnerable to gossip, made it seem like she wasn’t good enough and you damn well know that wasn’t the case. She needed th
ese
eight
years away from us. As much as it killed
us to not go after her, I think we did the right thing
.”

Rusty snorted. “
That’s putting it lightly. It was fucking torture to be away from her
.
Goddammit, what’s taking so
long?
” He turned toward the kitchen. “Alex
,
are you okay in there?”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll be out in a second.”

“Calm down, Rus. We’ve waited this long, we can wait a few more seconds.”

Almost on cue, Alex stepped out of her kitchen
,
seeming more than a little flustered. “Here you go
.”
Sh
e extended her arm all the way out as she approached Rusty
,
almost
as
a barrier to keep him from coming closer.

Rusty
,
on the other hand
,
seemed to have other ideas. Grabbing the glass from her hand, he yanked her in
to
his arm
s
and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Miss you, so much,” he groaned burying his face against Alex’s neck.

She stiffened before placing her hands against his chest and giving him a shove. “Whoa.
Wait
a minute. You can’t just pretend like this is some happy reunion. What are you two doing here?”

So this was how she was going to play it.
Cash
couldn’t exactly blame her but now that they were here, there was no turning back.
“Our trip was fine. Thank you for asking.
You look good, Alex. How have you been?
”

Alex rolled her eyes skyward. “Are you kidding me? We’re supposed to stand her
e
and exchange pleasantries like you
guys
are invited
guests? I didn’t ask you to come. And would you two please sto
p hovering around my living room
? It’s
making me nervous.”

“Why? You didn’t
use
to be skittish,” Rusty pointed out.

“I’
m a lot of things I didn’t
use
to be. I don’t know about you two, but frankly, I’m exhausted, and if you don’t want to sit, I will. But
,
hurry up and tell me what it is you need to say and leave.” She grabbed the remote control from her coffee table and turned
off
the
television before flopping down on her recliner.

As much as he wanted to be as impulsive as his brother and
wrap his arms around Alex
, Cash reluctantly took a seat o
n the sofa. He glanced
at
Rusty,
who was shooting an intense stare in Alex’s direction. Cash
thought his brother would dig his heels in
,
but finally
Rusty
joined him on the
co
u
ch
with a
heavy
sigh. “Okay. We’re sitting. Better?”

Alex shook her head.
“Not really. I don’t understand why you’re here. And before you mention it, yes, I received your letter
s
. Both of them. One would think that when I didn’t respond to the first one
,
you would have taken the hint
.”
She kept her head down as she spoke but he could hear the underlying hurt in her tone.

“
Well
,
if you read the letters as you just stated, you knew we were coming. For as long as you’ve known us, we’ve never gone back on our word,
” Cash reasoned.

She raised her head
,
and shot him a narrowed eye glare.
“You’re kidding
me,
right? It’s been eight years
. If you really wanted to get in contact with me, you
had the resources to find me
,
if you wanted to.
It’s apparent you didn’t have trouble finding my address. It’s not like I moved around a lot. When I left—
no kicked out of my home, I haven’t moved a lot of places. I stayed in the town where my college was located and when I graduated, I stayed in the area. So I really wasn’t that hard to find which leads me to the conclusion that neither of you looked
for
me that hard.”