Page 26 of Another Christmas from Hell

“You are this time,” Cayley pointed out, slapping her hands on his legs and pushed, only to end up narrowing her eyes on the bastard when he wouldn’t budge.

“I give you four days, a week tops, before you come running back to me,” Sean said with a satisfied sigh and a smug look that was only making her more determined to pull this off on her own.

“I really won’t, though,” Cayley said as he watched her for a moment, his gaze slowly shifting from curious to resigned as he released a long-suffering sigh and-

“I’m going to help you,” he announced, making her stomach drop.

“Please don’t,” Cayley mumbled weakly as she remembered the last time that he said those words.

Sighing heavily, Sean threw his legs off her lap as he sat up so that he could reach over and pat her on the head as he said, “Shhh, this is for your own good.”

“It’s really not, though,” Cayley said, shaking her head frantically as she sat there, struggling to come up with something, anything, that would save her from whatever was going on in that deeply disturbed brain of his.

“You’ll thank me later,” Sean said with a firm nod as he got up and headed back to the kitchen.

“I don’t need any help,” Cayley stressed, only to forget how to breathe when he said the four words that never ended well for her.

“I have a plan.”

CHAPTER14

“Idon’t want to talk about it,” Cayley said as soon as Bryce opened his truck door, admittedly taking him by surprise.

Wondering why the small woman that he’d spent half the night thinking about was hiding on the floor of his truck, Bryce took a sip of coffee as he tossed his coat on the passenger seat and asked, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Embracing my obsession with you,” Cayley mumbled absently as she blindly reached up, grabbed his jacket off the seat and pulled it over herself. That was quickly followed by curling more tightly into herself as she did her best to hide.

“I see,” Bryce murmured thoughtfully, taking another sip of coffee as he ran his eyes over the small woman curled up in the fetal position before glancing around the small apartment complex’s driveway, absently noting his brother’s truck pulling into the parking lot before glancing back at the woman that was seriously fucking with his sanity. “Your feet are sticking out.”

That was followed by a curse, a grumble, and a sad attempt to curl more tightly into herself. “Do you want to tell me why you’re hiding from my brother?” Bryce asked as he watched Sean jump out of his truck and head to the front door.

“Because he’s insane?”

“You knew that,” Bryce pointed out as he stood there debating his options. He could let his brother know that the woman that he loved torturing was hiding in his truck or he could use this to his advantage.

Both were tempting at the moment.

“Is there any chance that you could start driving?” came the hopeful whisper that had him glancing back at his brother in time to watch him disappear inside.

“Now, that depends,” Bryce said, giving it one minute, two minutes tops before his brother realized that the little brat wasn’t home.

“On what?”

“On whether you tell me the real reason that you’re hiding from my brother,” Bryce said, taking another sip of coffee as he watched the front door suddenly get thrown open as Sean, who looked really fucking determined, came back outside.

“Did I not mention that he’s insane?” came the response laced with desperation, letting him know that it was only a matter of time before she broke.

“But you’ve known that since you were two, which means that there’s another reason that you’ve decided to hide in my truck,” Bryce drawled as he watched his brother run his eyes over the parking lot, taking in all the possibilities before his gaze met his.

“If you get in the truck and drive away before that psychotic bastard finds me, I’ll tell you everything,” Cayley said as Sean’s eyes narrowed on him.

“You’ll tell me everything?” Bryce asked, making sure to sound bored as he took another sip of coffee while he watched his brother’s expression turn determined as he headed back down the freshly shoveled walkway.

“Yes!”

“Deal,” Bryce said, holding up his thermos in mock salute to his brother as he threw him a wink and climbed into the truck. As he started the truck, Bryce watched as Sean released a curse as he debated trying to stop him before it was too late, only to release another curse and move his ass back to his truck as Bryce pulled out of his parking spot and headed to work, deciding to take the backroads this morning.

“Start talking,” Bryce said as he took a left on Oak Street instead of a right.

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