“It’s really late, Dominic,” she said. “Don’t you have a key?”
He turned to study her for a moment. “Somewhere. Haven’t needed it in a while.”
Raising his big fist, he banged again. A light came on and one of the doors burst open.
A voice thundered, “What the hell, Dom?”
“I’m not alone, Logan,” Dominic bit out.
Cissy lifted to her toes, peering over Dominic’s broad shoulder. She just caught the angry frown of a tall, disheveled man. Shifting his weight, Dominic brought Jayden fully into the man’s line of sight.
Her stomach turned over and she clutched Kayden closer to her chest. It was much too late for visitors. She wouldn’t blame the guy—Logan, was it?—if he shooed them off and slammed the door.
Dominic’s bulk moved forward and she followed in his wake. Crossing the threshold, she stopped and glanced at Logan. There was a remarkable resemblance to Dominic, although this man was leaner and the lines on his face were slightly deeper.
His eyes were tired. Cissy winced. He probably thought she was an insensitive jerk for ripping him from his bed. She opened her mouth to issue an apology but he spoke first.
“Sorry. I didn’t see the boys.” Logan’s eyes swept the length of her, pausing to scrutinize Kayden’s face. “Please come in.”
“Thank you.” She lowered her chin to rest it on Kayden’s soft hair as she proceeded inside.
She kept close to Dominic’s heels, noting the kitchen was larger than the last three apartments she’d lived in put together. Granite countertops gleamed, stainless-steel appliances lined every wall and several oak tables were stationed about.
“Here,” Dominic instructed, pulling a chair out with his foot. “Have a seat. If you’ll hold on to them for a minute, I’ll get a room ready.”
Cissy lowered into the chair, adjusting Kayden onto her left hip as Dominic maneuvered Jayden onto the right one. Their legs dangled off on either side and she wrapped her arms tighter around them.
“Got ’em?” Dominic’s big, tanned hand hovered above Jayden’s back.
She looked down and readjusted the boys. Her scuffed sneakers were a marked contrast with the polished hardwood floor. She slid them underneath her chair.
“Yeah.” Her face flamed.
Dominic stepped away. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Logan cast one last look at the boys before leaving the room. Closing her eyes, Cissy sighed. Wisps of the boys’ hair moved and tickled her chin. She dropped her cheek to the top of their heads, rubbing it back and forth.
How had they ended up here? And in the middle of the night with an almost stranger?
She cringed. There was no way she could pay for her car being towed, a new tire and room and board for the night. What would Logan and Dominic do when they found out she was broke and had no place to go? Would they throw them out? Or worse, call Family and Children Services?
Clutching the boys tighter to her chest, she whispered an apology when Jayden whimpered. “It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
And if it wasn’t, she’d make it okay.
The cell phone in her pocket buzzed against her thigh. Cissy’s hands curled tighter around the boys. The incessant vibrations persisted despite her attempts to ignore them.
Keep our boys together, Cissy.
She firmed her features. She’d make it okay. She had to.
* * *
“ARE THEY YOURS?”
“Hell, no,” Dominic spat.
He winced at the harsh words that burst from his mouth. The warmth from Jayden’s body still lingered on his right side. And it wasn’t the kids’ fault his brother had turned into a cynical ass.
It was just like Logan to come out with guns blazing. This was the exact reason he’d put off coming home for so long this time out. Dominic gritted his teeth and flicked his eyes over the room to rein in his temper.
Not much had changed in Raintree Ranch’s main office over the past year and a half. It remained organized, controlled and presentable. Just like Logan.
Shoving his fists into his pockets, Dominic stared his brother down. “Those boys have to be at least five. For God’s sake, Logan, is that what you think of me? That I’d abandon my own flesh and blood for the first years of their life?”
“I don’t know, Dom,” Logan returned, eyes piercing into his. “You just hit twenty-five. And you sure as hell left a trail in your wake. You probably don’t know what you’ve left behind.”
Dominic straightened. “Oh, I’d know. That’s one chance I don’t take.”
Logan maintained his stance behind the mahogany desk. Hands flat on the counter, head lifted. “Mistakes happen.”
“Yeah,” Dominic sneered, “and don’t you know it, big bro?”
That got a reaction.
Logan shoved off the desk, rounding it and bringing his face so close it blurred. “If you came home just to stir shit up, you can haul your ass off right now. Don’t have time for it. Some of us work for a living.”
“And I don’t?” Dominic jerked his chin up. “Whose work produced the money to build this place to begin with?”
“I wouldn’t call getting thrown on your back by bulls and buckle bunnies actual work.” Logan stepped away and narrowed his eyes. “But heaven forbid we ever forget that you still cut us a check every month.” His brows rose. “Want to see ’em? I haven’t been cashing them. Just stacking them up all nice and neat in a pile and locking them in the safe so you’ll have proof you did your part when the time comes.”
Dominic’s gut roiled. “You’re a real bastard when you want to be, Logan.”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding, “and you love it. Makes it real easy to sweep back in here and be the charming hero every couple years. Tell me, how many times did you call Pop over the past year and a half?”
Dominic spun around, then strode to the window and hunched his shoulders. “He has you.”
“He sees me every day, you know? It’s not me he wants to talk to. It’s you.” Logan’s scornful laugh crossed the room to grate over his ears. “Don’t worry. He won’t hold it against you. He never does.”
“Where is he?”
“Where do you think? It’s after eleven at night. This is a working guest ranch. We get up at the crack of dawn here. We don’t wallow around until noon recovering from parties the night before.”
Shame washed over Dominic, burning his neck. This was going nowhere.
Yanking his fists free, he stalked across the room. “You think you can put this in your back pocket until morning? I’m not feeling it right now and those kids out there are ’bout dead on their feet. All I need is a room key and I’ll be out of your hair for a few hours.”
Logan sighed then moved back behind the desk. He yanked a drawer open and rustled through it before holding out a key. “Twenty-seven’s the only one empty. Has a king-size bed and en suite bathroom. It’s on the second floor.”
“I know where it is. I haven’t been gone that long.”
“I assume you plan on staying in the bunkhouse as usual.”
The bunkhouse. Away from the main house. Away from Logan’s stifling grip. Hell, yes.
“You assume right.”