If you don’t start none, there will always be some. Because there’s always that one bitch.

-Bram’s secret thoughts

BRAM

Over the last six months, my brothers had systematically gone down one after the other. First Haggard, then Shine. Followed closely by Price and then Tide. It’d taken me watching them fall in love and be happy and talking to my new sisters-in-laws, to realize that I’d been a complete and utter dumbass.

For ten full years, I’d had the epitome of perfection at home, and I’d done nothing but squander that time away.

I’d come so accustomed to having her there, having exactly what I wanted and needed at all times, that I didn’t realize that I wasn’t giving back what I got.

I didn’t know my wife at all, even though I knew that I loved her.

It was that quiet type of love.

I couldn’t tell you when, exactly, I’d fallen for her. Maybe it was when she’d given herself to me the first time. Or possibly when she never forgot a single holiday or birthday. Or hell, it could be when she made sure that every one of my brothers, and parents, got the most perfect Christmas gift for them.

Whenever it was, I knew that I was head over heels for her.

And I needed to do a better job showing it.

I’d come to the conclusion slowly, like the dumbass that I was.

I knew that some of my brothers had problems with her. I also knew that I didn’t stand up for her enough.

But what I didn’t know was how I was going to make it up to her.

Even if it took me the rest of our lives, I would.

That was the only thing on my mind as I drove home from a ride with my brother, Price, that clear, crisp fall day.

The weather was oddly cold for this time of year, and my mind was on that, and how cold I was, when I pulled into the driveway to find it empty.

I frowned and looked at my watch.

She was never not there at this time of day.

I knew that she went to school. I also knew that she had a job at the college in admissions. But that would’ve been over with hours ago.

It being nearly seven at night…

I got off the bike and headed into the house, knowing something was off almost from the instant I breached the doorway.

“Dory?” I called, stepping over a loose shoe that’d fallen to the ground. “Where are you?”

I knew, though.

My first stop was the spot by the garage where her car should be parked.

Her car that I’d been meaning to get her a replacement for for the last two years.

God, I was such an ass.

I really needed to…

When I opened the door between the garage and the kitchen, I saw what my heart was trying to tell me.

The car was gone.