Breaking Brent Part 22

"You about done?" The growl attached to Brent's words echoed in Nick's ears. He wished Carter would just shut the h.e.l.l up, leave well enough alone, leave and marry Peyton so that his brother could have some closure-if there was any closure to be had.

"h.e.l.l, no. I'm just getting started."

"Good to see you, Carter." He tipped his hat, turned on a booted heel and walked toward the entrance to the barn.

"What the h.e.l.l just happened? Did I miss something?" Hayden whispered into Nick's ear, and he could do nothing more than shake his head in confusion. This indeed was new.

134.

The last time Brent and Carter had been in the same proximity they both had walked away bloodied and bruised. Judging by Carter's words and his insults, that's what he expected to happen as well. He was goading Brent. He was pus.h.i.+ng him. Nick realized why just as Carter stepped forward to follow Brent.

He was pus.h.i.+ng Brent to know what feelings he had left for Peyton. He was pus.h.i.+ng for a fight from Brent to see if Brent cared. Nick knew Brent cared, cared more than he let on, and knew that Carter was tiptoeing at the edge of an a.s.s whooping. Nick figured he could help a fellow out.

"Carter," Nick said, stepping around the man and blocking him from moving closer to Brent. "Just stop man. You've made your point. Just leave it alone. There's no need trying to get blood from a turnip."

"Or an emotion other than p.i.s.sed off from your jacka.s.s of a brother."

Nick glanced over his shoulder to see if Brent had stopped-he hadn't. He was going to walk away from it all. Nick turned back to Carter. "You're going to have to do better than that," he said under his breath so only Carter could hear.

The look on Carter Nash's face was priceless. It took him a minute, but Carter finally realized that Nick was indeed on his side. "You need to find a different path, my friend, because the one you're on is not accomplis.h.i.+ng s.h.i.+t. Make him mad. Make him have to stay. Make it to where he can't walk away from you or how he feels about Peyton."

"I can do that, but you might want to move in a minute unless you want a piece of his att.i.tude."

"Don't worry about me. I can handle Brent. I'm just wonderin' if you can?"

"I can hold my own."

"I hope you can. Good luck." Nick stepped to Carter's side, saw Hayden cast him a questioning look and shook it off. The s.h.i.+t was about to hit the fan, and Nick had a front-row seat-he wondered if he really wanted one though.

"To tell the truth, I'm kinda upset about leaving town. Now that me and Peyton have called it quits I'd love to stick around and see how many men in this town line up to have a go at her."

That was news to Nick. It was news to everyone. When the truth about Carter and Peyton fell from Carter's lips, all the Kiel's responded in turn. Hayden's mouth fell open. Brent stopped dead in his tracks and turned to stare at Carter, who only smiled back at him and nodded his head. And Jason ran flat into Brent's back when he stopped. It was a comical scene to say the least, but Nick knew the laughs were about to end.

"Peyton's something to look at all right. All curvy in just the right places, places you and I both know every man in this town would give his left nut to see. I just wonder who'll be the first to take our place?

Wonder who she'll compare them to in bed? Me? Or you?"

"You've made your point, now shut your f.u.c.kin' mouth."

135.

"My mouth? It's not my mouth you should be worrying about. It's all these other fellows in town and their mouths. I can see them licking their lips now. Waiting in the wings to get a taste of Peyton James. I have to admit, it is something worth waiting-"

Carter never got a chance to finish his thought. Everything happened so fast Nick could barely keep up. Brent's fist connected with Carter's mouth a second before he could deliver his last pride-p.r.i.c.king word. Carter recovered quickly and returned the punch. It landed just below Brent's right eye, but it didn't stop his charge.

Brent and Carter both took hold of each other's s.h.i.+rts and let their free fists fly. Somewhere between the third and fourth blow, Jocelyn entered the barn.

"What the h.e.l.l's going on? Stop them!" She tried in vain to step around Jason, but he wouldn't let her pa.s.s.

"Let them go. This has been building up for years. Let them get it out. It'll do them good."

"You're all crazy. A bunch of grown men beating the s.h.i.+t out of each other in a barn seems a little severe to me."

Nick watched as she moved left and tried to duck under Jason's arm-she didn't get very far. Jason grabbed her, blocked her body with his own and moved her until her back was against one of the stalls and her front was against him.

"Would you rather them sit down and have tea and discuss this issue?" Jason's tone had a laugh attached to it, and Nick thought for a minute, only a minute, that he was having a much better time containing Jocelyn than watching the action taking place on the floor of the barn-which is where the fight had ended up.

Brent and Carter rolled around on the ground, each having his turn on top and each landing a punch here and there.

"They're hurting each other."

Nick heard Jocelyn and saw the pleading look she cast toward Jace. It tore at his heart, and if he had been Jason at that moment he would have let her go and stopped the rumble.

"They're supposed to. It's a fight. Not a tea party."

"You really think this is going to solve anything?"

"Seems to be."

"You're the stupidest bunch of men I know."

"Believe me, honey. There are worse out there than us."

"Just stop them." Her pleading voice and her wide eyes must have appealed to Jason. Nick watched him release Jocelyn, turn and motion for him and Hayden to help.

136.

They waited for Brent and Carter to roll once more so that Carter was on top, and then they pulled the man and his fists away from Brent. Nick and Hayden held Carter under the arms and moved him away from their still-fuming brother.

"You're not going to talk about her like that. You hear me. If I ever hear you utter another word about Peyton, I finish what we just started and bury your sorry a.s.s in the deepest hole I can find. You got me?"

Brent charged at Carter once again, but Jason was there to hold him back.

"What do you care what I say or what I do as far as Peyton is concerned? She's nothing to you. I'm just calling it like I see it. You'd do the same if you were in my shoes."

"The h.e.l.l I would. If I had been in your shoes I never would have left for months at a time leaving her alone. I sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't have put a ring and a promise on her finger for three f.u.c.kin' years and then not be man enough to keep it."

"No, I guess you wouldn't, but you never got that far did you? You tucked tail and ran before you got that far. At least I asked her to marry me."

"Asked and doin' are two different things."

"What are you so upset for? Peyton's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

"Because I love her, you sorry son of a b.i.t.c.h! She needs someone to love her and to be there for her and to take care of her even if she is a big girl."

Nick wondered if Brent knew what he had said. He loved Peyton. Then. Now. Always. It had only taken an a.s.s whoopin' to get him to admit it.

"You love her?" Carter asked, and all of the Kiels, including Jocelyn, looked to Brent for an answer.

He clenched his jaw, jerked his arms away from Jace's grasp and nodded.

"Good. Stop being such an a.s.s and go tell her."

Nick and Hayden released Carter's arms, watched as he stepped to retrieve his once-pristine hat from the ground and place it on his head. Once it was settled, he tipped it in Brent's direction and turned to leave.

"Good to see you boys. Make sure he takes care of her."

Nick and Hayden nodded in turn and let him pa.s.s and be on his way. He stopped only once to speak to Jocelyn who stood where Jason had left her and stared at the males in the barn in utter confusion.

"Ma'am," Nick heard Carter say as he pa.s.sed Jocelyn. She said nothing in return. After Carter left the barn all that remained was quiet. Jocelyn was the one to break the silence and asked the question on Nick's mind.

"Now what?"

"Now I fix what I broke." Brent moved to leave the barn and everyone stepped to the side and let him pa.s.s. He was halfway to the house when Jocelyn asked her next question.

"That's it? That's all it took?" She threw her hands in the air and then placed them on her hips.

137.

"That's it," Jason confirmed.

"Well, somebody should have kicked his a.s.s a long time ago."

No one agreed or disagreed out loud with her statement, but Nick knew that all three of them agreed with her. Chase would have as well if he had been there. He would have probably kicked Brent's a.s.s himself if Carter hadn't done it first.

"What happens if Peyton doesn't want to talk to him? What happens if she tells him to take a flying leap?"

"That won't happen," Jason said with the utmost certainty.

"How do you know?"

Nick was wondering that as well. How did Jason know that Peyton wouldn't reject Brent as he had rejected her?

"Because all of you women are the same. You love it when a man fights over you and shows you the manly side of him. You can say all you like that you want a sensitive guy, but in fact you want a man that will toss you over his shoulder and carry you to his bed and not let you out for days."

"You think you know so much about women."

"I do, honey-and don't you forget it." Jason ruffled the hair on the top of her head as he glided past and barely missed the kick she sent his way.

"Do you two agree with that fool there?"

"You gonna hit us if we say yes?" Hayden asked with a smile on his face.

"Maybe."

Nick watched her c.o.c.k her head to the side and arch one of those auburn eyebrows at his younger brother.

"Then nope. I sure don't."

Nick smiled at that. Hayden rarely knew when to stop while he was ahead, but it looked as if he was learning. Having a woman around on a daily basis was doing him good-it was doing them all good.

138.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

Peyton's walk took forever and landed her in her grandfather's front yard. She had walked for miles searching for an answer to all of her problems and a solution that would make everything right. At the end of it though, when clarity was suppose to come, there was none to be found. That was just her luck. She just needed a little peace and quiet. She needed to forget all of the events leading up to this point.

She needed to forget Carter and their broken engagement. She needed to forget what people in Millbrook might say. She needed to forget the disappointment that would come with the news of her broken engagement. She needed to forget everything-especially him.

Some peace and quiet might be what she needed, but she didn't find it. The screen door popped open and her grandfather appeared on the porch. He narrowed his gaze at her and wiggled his finger in her direction in an I-know-what-you've-done way, causing Peyton to inwardly groan.

The noise her boots made against the steps of the porch warned her grandfather to keep his mouth shut before she ever got to him. When she sat down in the swing beside him he simply cleared his throat and laid his arm across the back of the swing, allowing her to move her back against his side.

They sat this way for an endless amount of time, his side to her back. Glenn pushed the swing at a lazy pace, lulling Peyton's mind and her insides. Closing her eyes to the setting sun that bathed them both, she let every thought of what had happened, what would happen, and what might could have happened float free from her mind. Through her sleeping daze she could feel her grandfather twitching and tensing behind her. He was getting restless. Might as well get it over with.

"Spit it out," she finally told him after they had sat in silence for what seemed like forever.

"What?" The guilty tone attached to his voice gave him away. Stopping the swing with the toe of her boot, Peyton stood and perched on the railing of the porch.

"What's on your mind, Grandpa?"

"Nothing," he said, shrugging his shoulders and reaching to pick up the whittling stick he kept next to the swing. He couldn't whittle for s.h.i.+t. He knew it. She knew it. He only did it to keep his fingers busy.

"You're such a bad liar. No wonder you avoid Mama and Aunt Macy like the plague. They can smell a lie at fifty paces." Peyton knew that for a fact. Even over the telephone her mama and Macy McCready could detect a liar from a truth teller.

"I was just wonderin' something." While he spoke, he raked shaving after shaving of the bark to his feet. He had been working on that piece of wood for years-it still looked just like a stick.

"Wonderin' what?" Peyton rubbed her temples. She didn't have time to play cat and mouse with him.

She wanted to go home. To run, flee, retreat.

"Whose headlights I saw at your place the other night."

Jerking her head to meet her grandfather's gaze was not the best course of action. There he sat with those eyes, so like her own, looking into her soul for every secret she had. Recover, her mind shouted.

Recover. Recover.

"You didn't see anything at my place. You must have been dreaming." Waiting for him to respond was awful. Peyton watched him turn his strategy around and around.

"I didn't dream nothin'. I saw headlights." He nodded his head one good time, and went back to shaving that d.a.m.n stick of his.