Beth sat in Trev’s lap, her head on his shoulder as he sipped a cup of coffee and looked through some paperwork. It was an intimate scene. It cut through Noah like a knife.
“Sorry.” He started to step out. One more place where he wouldn’t be welcome. There seemed to be a lot of those.
Trev’s eyes came up. “I thought you were with James and Hope.”
“They need time alone. I was just going to get a drink and go to my room. Don’t mind me,” Noah said.
Beth sighed and slid off her husband’s lap. She pressed her lips to his. “I have to go. Bo is going to drive me out to the valley. I’ll be home before supper.”
Trev smiled at her. “You tell Bo to take good care of you. And you tell Nate that I’m not going to let him work you into the ground.”
Beth’s eyes rolled. “I’ll be sure to tell him.” Beth winked at Noah as she walked by. “Don’t you worry about him. His bark is worse than his bite. His bite is actually quite nice.”
Trev watched his wife walk away with a smile on his face. Noah started to back out of the kitchen. Maybe he would go for a ride. It had been forever since he’d been on a horse. He needed to figure out what to do now.
“The sheriff found out Beth is damn good at home renovations. He and Zane are going to add to their cabin, and they want to consult with Beth. If I know my Beth, she’ll figure out how to make a mansion out of that cabin. Hey, why don’t you sit down? I’m going over some records for Red, but it’s all in vet speak, so I don’t understand much of it. There’s a whole lot of Latin in here. I would love to know if any of this explains why he’s such a difficult horse.”
Noah hesitated. “I don’t know. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’m going to be here for long. I think I might head out tomorrow.”
Why not now? A little voice pestered him. Why wait? It would be for the best if you just never saw Hope again.
“Please sit down, Noah,” Trev asked politely, but there was a hardness to his eyes that let Noah know he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Noah pulled a chair out and sat. He’d been an asshole to Trev. If Trev wanted a piece of his hide, maybe he should give it to him. “Just say what you need to say.”
Trev let the papers in his hand fall. “I’m not going to insult you, Noah. I am going to tell you that you made a mistake by walking out of that playroom. You did exactly what James thought you would do.”
Noah leaned forward. The last thing he needed was yet another busybody sticking his nose in. “What the hell do you know about this?”
If Trev was upset by Noah’s show of temper, he didn’t show it. “I know way more than you think. Bo and I didn’t just meet and decide to share Beth. We had a past, and I was the one in your shoes. I had hurt the hell out of him, and I had to make amends. You hurt your brother.”
He hadn’t meant to. “I was in love.”
“And that gave you the right to walk out on your obligations?”
“At the time, it felt more important than anything. It really did.” Noah felt old. Weariness began to settle into his bones.
Trev sighed and took a sip of his coffee. “I do know what you mean. I really do, but you have to understand James’s perspective. I think he’s going to make a horrible mistake, and you’re the only one who can stop it.”
“He’s going to force Hope to choose.” It had been there in James’s eyes. This was going to be his revenge. He was going to take Hope. “I won’t let that happen. I’m not going to put her in the middle of this. I think Jamie loves her, and I know she’s crazy about him. I’m going to make it easy. I’m going to let them be.”
Trev clapped his hands and pointed briefly Noah’s way. “Ah, so you’re going to go the martyr route.”
“I’m trying to help my brother,” Noah explained.
“No, you’re running away and trying to ease the guilt in your gut. I know this sounds awful, but you’re still being a selfish little shit. If you walk out, Hope and James will fracture. There’s a reason they weren’t together before you came home, and it’s not just about the ranch. He’s fooling himself. This was about you.”
“I don’t understand.” James wanted him gone.
Trev shook his head, leaning forward and obviously warming to his subject. “Can’t you see? Do you know that James has spent the last couple of years sharing good-time women with his friends? I know for a fact that he’s shared women with both the deputy and Wolf Meyer. He’s been trying to replace you for years because he’s scared that he won’t have the life he was promised.”
Their parents. Their family. Their childhood. Every moment of their upbringing had taught them to share, and Noah had walked out on that. He should have known. How could he have a relationship with a woman when he’d left half of himself behind in Colorado? He’d been so damn lonely, and he’d missed James. “I don’t think he wants me here.”
“Oh, I assure you he doesn’t want you here. But he damn well needs you, and it’s time to man up and do what you need to do. He’s your big brother. Did he stand by you? Did he protect you?”
So many times. James was his big brother, his hero. Noah nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
“Then you better pay him back,” Trev proclaimed.
That was so much easier said than done. Noah felt frustration well up inside him. “I don’t know how. I thought Hope could bring us together, but she’s tearing us apart, and I don’t know how to stop it. When I try to talk to Jamie, he says he doesn’t want to. I’ve tried to apologize, and he just looks through me. I thought I could give him some time, but he’s going to push this. He’s going to hurt Hope.”
Trev’s eyes went sympathetic. “He’s going to hurt everyone because he can’t see past the nose on his face. So, he doesn’t want to sit down and talk about the past, you make him fight for the future. Hope is a big girl. I don’t know her real well, but I bet she’s been through more than you think. I bet she can handle a little bit of a fight.”
“I don’t even know how to start,” Noah admitted. But Trev was getting through to him. What if James didn’t know what he wanted because he was too angry? Was Noah willing to leave him because it was easier than fighting?
Trev slapped at the table causing the paperwork he’d been reading to jump. “You have to break through that wall surrounding James. You can’t do that if you walk away. You can’t do that if you take a step back. You can only do that if you make him believe that you’re not leaving again, and that you’re here for the long haul.”
Noah was really starting to like Trev McNamara. “I want that. I want to try this thing with Hope.”
“Then you’re going to have to figure out how to break James down. Look, I really like James. He’s my business partner, but he’s also my friend. We clicked the minute we met, so I think I understand him. You’re going to have to get him to get emotional about this. It’s going to be way easier to get him mad than it will be to get him to discuss the real issue. Get him talking. Let him beat on you. You shouldn’t mind. You’re doing that martyr thing.”
Noah wasn’t sure about that. James could really hit hard. But if he could get his brother back, it would be worth it. “I am real good at making him mad.”
Trev nodded. “Then all you have to do now is wait.”
Wait for his brother to finish fucking Hope. He could wait for a good long while. He could sit here and think about all the horrible things he could say in order to get his brother good and mad. Or he could go through a bunch of paperwork.
Trev’s hand tapped against the stack of papers on the table. His brows arched as he waited.
“Fine.” Noah grabbed the paperwork.
There was a loud banging on the door.