Page 297 of Steamy Ever After

When Peyton started to protest, Alex put her hands together. “Please,” she mouthed.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Alex asked.

All Peyton wanted to do was sleep. “Can you close the door?”

“Sure, of course, sorry. God, this is crazy, isn’t it? He’s okay! They found him. He’s coming home.”

“Alex…”

“What? Jesus, this is a fucking miracle!”

“Alex.”

She sat at the end of Peyton’s bed. “What? I’m sorry. Go ahead. Talk. Say whatever you need to say.”

“He left me long before he was in a plane crash.”

“Don’t you think this changes things?”

“Why would it?”

“Peyton, how could it not?”

“He left me. Are you not hearing me?”

“I hear you, but I don’t understand.”

“I’d like to be alone for a while. Let my mom know it’s okay for them to tell the boys about Brodie.”

“Peyton—”

“Leave me alone, Alex.”

BRODIE

“You aren’t well enough to travel. As soon as you are, we’ll get you on the first flight home. I promise.”

No amount of pleading made any difference. Nothing he said swayed his brothers. He couldn’t make them understand how important it was for him to return to Peyton.

He’d spoken with his parents yesterday, and as much as they wanted to get on the next plane to Argentina, his mother’s heart wasn’t healthy enough yet for travel.

He tried to contact Peyton, but she didn’t answer or return his call. He asked Maddox if he’d talked to Alex, and while he said he had, he knew nothing about her.

Finally, when they were alone, he begged Naughton to be straight with him. Had something happened to her? Were they keeping something from him? Naughton shook his head and told Brodie he didn’t know, but when his brother wouldn’t look him in the eye, Brodie knew there was something they were hiding from him.

“Give it three or four days,” the doctor told him when he came in this morning. “I’ll release you to travel then.”

Maddox sat near the end of the bed, staring out the window.

“If you were in my place, I wouldn’t do this to you.”

“No one is doing anything to you, Brodie.”

“I need to talk to her, Mad. You don’t understand how important it is that I do.”

“Why now, Brodie? From what I understand, you went weeks without talking to her.” Maddox stood and left the room. Brodie didn’t see either of his brothers until the next morning.

“We’ve made arrangements for a medevac flight,” Naughton told him. “It’s essentially an ICU in the sky. The doctor said those were the only conditions under which he’d release you.”

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