But the expression on Cheyenne’s face wasn’t one of admiration for the handsome man staring her down. No, the woman looked pissed.
Realizing Braydon was pulling away from her again, Jessie called out to him, trying to keep her voice low. “What are you doing?”
There was no way she could let him confront Brendon. She had a feeling Braydon was doing it on her behalf, and as much as she wanted to tell him that she didn’t care, she knew she couldn’t. Letting on to Braydon that she had feelings only for him was something she’d vowed she wouldn’t do.
For many reasons.
“Stop, Bray,” Jessie said, her heels clicking on the floor as she rushed after him. “He’s just talking to her.”
Braydon turned, his expression one of disbelief. “Are you blind?” he asked none too gently.
Well, okay.
Jessie’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared up at him. Hoping he couldn’t read her thoughts, she immediately masked her reaction to his outburst. After taking a deep breath, with her invisible shield securely in place once again, Jessie squared her shoulders, ready to address him. She didn’t get a chance to say anything though.
“Don’t do this. Today is Ethan’s day.” The rough, growling voice that drew her attention away from Braydon’s disapproving look belonged to none other than the oldest Walker brother, Travis. Jessie twisted to look at him in time to hear, “You handle your issues with him later. Right now, right here, you’re gonna behave.”
Jessie could tell it was taking a tremendous amount of restraint for Braydon not to say anything to his brother. If she had to guess, he was tempted to give Travis a salute and a “fuck off,” but to his credit, he kept his mouth shut.
And Travis was right. Even if he did have a crappy way of relaying that message to Braydon, today was Ethan’s day.
“Come on,” Jessie encouraged Braydon, sliding her arm into his, hoping he’d listen. He was still glaring at Travis, the muscles in his square jaw ticking.
But then Jessie’s shock returned full force when Braydon shrugged her off, effectively dislodging her hand as he said, “I’ve got to get out of here.”
Without another word, Braydon stormed off. The only positive was that he was moving toward the door and not toward Brendon and Cheyenne. For that she was grateful, even if she felt like the biggest fool standing there while the man she loved walked away from her. Something he had never done before.
“Braydon,” Jessie called, but he continued walking.
“Let him go,” Travis told her, his words causing Jessie to spin around to face him. “He needs to cool off.”
Although she wanted to tear into Travis—for what, she didn’t know—Jessie kept her lips sealed shut. She was hurt, and there was no reason for her to take that out on Travis.
Instead, she nodded and turned away, hoping no one noticed the agony she knew was written across her face right then.
UPON RETURNING TO his house after running out of Ethan’s reception with little more than a good-bye to the happy couple, Braydon had ditched his tux, all but ripping the damn thing off. His anger had been a tangible thing, but somehow he’d managed to refrain from doing any damage to the monkey suit. After yanking on shorts and a T-shirt, he plopped his ass on the couch and stared blankly at the television.
The same thing he was doing when Brendon and Jessie walked inside.
At first, he was surprised to see Jessie standing there, staring back at him as though he’d sprouted a third eyeball in the center of his forehead. He expected her to be pissed, but what he saw on her face was probably something closer to tolerance.
Yeah, she was pissed, but just as Jessie always did, she was trying to hide her reaction.
Avoiding looking at Brendon, Braydon kept his eyes on Jessie, watching as she moved across the room, that silky gown clinging to every soft curve. Damn it, she made him so fucking hard, and his frustration wasn’t helping.
In fact, it was amping up his response, something he knew wasn’t a good thing.
“Hey,” Jessie greeted him, her voice soft. “You doing all right?”
Leave it to Jessie to pretend nothing had happened earlier.
And no, he fucking wasn’t doing all right. But he didn’t say as much. He wanted to grip her shoulders and shake her, insist that she tell him what she was feeling. But then he’d be a hypocrite because he was keeping just as much inside.
Turning his attention back to the television, Braydon ignored her.
“He must be, since he’s watching the fucking nature channel,” Brendon stated sarcastically as he walked past the two of them toward his bedroom.