Double Dare

  brother to tell him that there was a cure and Marybeth was going to be okay and they’d be able to have children one day, but somehow he managed to stay in control.

  Sighing heavily, Aidan placed his phone back in his pocket and leaned back against the wall. “Ask away,” he said with a careless gesture.

  “Is it possible for a woman with endometriosis stage four to have children,” he asked, trying to word it just right.

  The pitying look that crossed Aidan’s features told him everything that he needed to know.

  “W-what about a surrogate mother?” he asked, forcing himself to look away as he struggled not to lose it.

  “That would be the ideal situation for someone with endometriosis,” Aidan explained softly as Darrin turned around, giving him his back as he closed his eyes and took a steadying breath as relief surged through him, because they still had a chance.

  “A woman with endometriosis could have her eggs fertilized and placed in a surrogate, but the cost would be steep,” Aidan explained, regret heavily lacing his words, destroying him.

  “How steep?” he forced himself to ask.

  “For an untried surrogate?” Aidan said, sighing softly before he answered his own question. “Twenty-five grand at the very least and that doesn’t cover traveling, health insurance and all the extra costs that aren’t covered in the contract. A tried surrogate, which is what I would suggest, would start around thirty-five grand. When everything was said and done, you’d probably be looking at forty-five thousand, minimum. Even then there are no guarantees, Darrin.”

  Jaw clenched shut tightly, Darrin nodded even as his breaths came a little faster and he couldn’t quite get enough air. His brother might as well have told him that he’d need a million dollars, because forty-five grand on his salary would take him years to save.

  “You could always adopt,” Aidan said softly. “It takes a few years, but at least you’d have a child.”

  He nodded jerkily as he tried to turn around, needing to get away, to get some space and fresh air, when his legs started to give out on him.

  “Oh, God,” he gasped as his knees hit the floor.

  “I’m sorry, Darrin,” Aidan said, instantly by his side.

  Numbly, he shook his head. He didn’t want apologies, what he wanted was for his brother to lie to him and promise him that there was still a chance for them.

  “I’m sorry,” Aidan said one last time, destroying every last shred of hope that he’d ever had that he’d one day have a child of his own. “I don’t know what happened between you and Marybeth, but I do know that she never wanted this for you.”

  He shook his head, chuckling weakly as he admitted to himself, “All I’ve ever wanted was her.”

  Chapter 23

  “They’ve overbooked the hotel,” Darrin announced as he reached down and picked up her bag, speaking to her for the first time in three weeks and making her even more curious about what had happened in that bathroom.

  When he’d finally emerged from the bathroom an hour after he’d dragged Aidan off, he’d looked exhausted and sick. Aidan hadn’t looked much better. Darrin hadn’t said a single word to anyone since then. He’d simply waited until it was time for them to board the plane, sat down next to her and for the next four hours he’d stared out the window while she’d tried to figure out what was wrong.

  Several times she’d found herself reaching over to take his hand in hers, needing to comfort him, but for the first time since they were kids, she had absolutely no idea how to act around him anymore. They’d had arguments before, but never like this. They’d never gone a day before one of them caved and apologized, but this time they’d gone three weeks without a word.

  She’d hated every last minute of it.

  She hated that he’d forced her hand in this, hated that he’d done something so foolish as to trap himself with a woman who couldn’t give him what he needed, hated the fact that he would never be a father thanks to her, hated the fact that she felt like she’d taken something so precious away from him, but most of all, she hated the fact that she couldn’t wrap her arms around him and tell him how sorry she was that she’d done this to him.

  “I found a hotel with a few extra rooms,” he explained with his jaw clenched tightly, not looking particularly happy or comfortable with this conversation.

  She briefly considered asking Kenzie if she could share her room, but common sense swiftly kicked in and had her grabbing her backpack. If there was one thing that she was sure of, it was that Darrin’s baby sister hated absolutely everything about her. Always had, and there was no doubt that she always would. Marybeth had absolutely no idea why the youngest Bradford hated her and after a few years and several failed attempts to try to work it out, she hadn’t cared enough to try to find out.

  “The hotel’s only a few minutes down the road,” Darrin promised as they walked towards the front doors, filling the awkward silence, the first that she’d ever experienced with him.

  Having absolutely no idea what to say, and knowing that this wasn’t the time or place to say the things that she wanted to say, she settled on nodding and simply followed him as they made their way towards the row of taxis waiting by the curb.

  A few minutes later she was sitting in the back seat of a taxi that smelled like peppermint and body odor, waiting for Darrin to join her. When Darrin opted to sit in the front seat instead, she wanted to cry. For the past six years she’d been preparing herself for the day that she could no longer allow herself to hold him and lose herself in his arms, but she’d foolishly believed that they could always go back to the way things used to be.

  She’d never allowed herself to truly believe that they were risking their friendship. She’d always believed that nothing and no one would ever be able to come between them, but she’d been wrong. She’d hurt him and now it seemed that they were both paying for it.

  By the time the taxi pulled up in front of a Marriott Hotel she’d had enough. Before the car was thrown in park, she was climbing out of the car and heading for the front doors, not really caring if he grabbed her bag for her or not. All she cared about was getting a room and staying there until everything stopped hurting.

  Of course there was a line, she thought with a bitter laugh as she reached up with a shaky hand and wiped away the tears threatening to spill over before she lost it. Praying that they hurried up so that she could get out of here before she really lost it, she stared at the dark blue rug leading to the front desk and tried not to think about how much she’d missed him. Just when she thought that she had everything under control, she felt him move up behind her. Her breath caught in her chest as she waited to hear his voice, to feel his touch, but it never came.

  Oh, God, she thought struggling to bite back a sob. She’d lost him, lost her best friend, the one person that she loved more than anything and there was nothing that she could do to fix it. She couldn’t give him what he wanted, what he deserved and she couldn’t take away the pain that she’d caused him.

  She couldn’t fix this.

  “Go have a seat,” he whispered softly in her ear and as much as she wanted to tell him that she was fine, she couldn’t. She just couldn’t…

  Nodding numbly, she tightened her grip around her backpack as she walked towards the waiting area and sat down. She kept her head lowered and her eyes squeezed shut, praying that she was able to make it to her room before she really lost it.

  The funny thing was, even though she was upset that she’d probably lost Darrin, she was more upset over what Darrin had lost. He deserved children, deserved a family of his own and if he stayed with her, he would never have those things and she just couldn’t let that happen.

  “I managed to get a room on the second floor,” Darrin said quietly as he reached down and grabbed her backpack. “Why don’t we go upstairs and settle in before joining everyone for lunch?” he suggested, sounding unsure of himself, a first for him.

  Nodding, she stood up and followed him t
o the bank of elevators. For several minutes she stood there, telling herself that she was doing the right thing. It needed to be done and one day, he’d realize that.

  “I think we should talk,” he said a few minutes later when they were standing outside their room.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said, because there was nothing that he could say at this point that would change her mind.

  They’d made a mistake and it was time to fix it before it was too late. He’d probably hate her for the rest of his life once she did this, but then again, he’d probably hate her no matter what she did at this point.

  He didn’t say anything as he opened their hotel door and waited for her to walk inside before he followed her with their bags. Needing something to do, she walked into the room and picked up the room service menu. She felt him the moment that he joined her, but he didn’t say anything.

  Swallowing hard, she opened her mouth and set him free, “I want a divorce.”

  “I see,” he murmured thoughtfully as her grip tightened around the menu.

  “Good,” she whispered. “Garrett could probably have the papers drawn up and-Ooomph!” she ended on a grunt when she suddenly found herself on the bed, lying across Darrin’s lap.

  “Now, where were we?” the smug bastard asked as he settled her across his lap and used his large arms to keep her there.

  “Let me go, Darrin!” she snapped as she tried to escape, but the big jerk wouldn’t let her up.

  “Not until we get a few things cleared up,” he said, shifting on the bed with a sigh as he made himself more comfortable while she lay there, groaning when the move jostled her a bit.

  “First thing,” he said, placing his hand on her ass, “we are not getting a divorce.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off before she could correct him. “I’m done playing games, sweetheart,” he said, absently massaging her bottom.

  “We’re not staying married,” she said, reaching back to-

  “Ow!” he snapped, yanking his hand away from her bottom, “stop pinching me!”

  “Are you going to let me go?” she demanded, giving up on trying to wiggle her way to freedom since she already knew that it was pointless.

  “No,” he said, emphasizing his refusal by returning his hand to her ass and giving her cheek a rebellious squeeze that dared her to do something about it.

  Rolling her eyes as she shook her head in disgust, she reached back and-

  “You dirty rotten son of a bitch!” she snapped when he grabbed her by her wrist and restrained her arm gently behind her back.

  “Since we’re staying married,” he said, continuing to massage her bottom and making her bite her lip as she struggled not to lick her lips, “you can feel free to openly worship me in public now.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  She really couldn’t help it.

  “Just keep it rated G when we’re around my family and children. I know how you get carried away when you touch me,” he said, sounding completely serious.

  “Yeah, it’s a real struggle,” she said dryly, trying to pull her hand free as he continued to paw her ass.

  “I know,” he said with a patronizing ass rub, “I know.”

  Her lips twitched even as she rolled her eyes and gave up trying to pull her arm free. Sighing, she reached over and grabbed a pillow with her free hand and decided to get more comfortable since she knew from experience that she could be here for a while. He’d used this same method with her to get her to agree to attend prom with him.

  “I realize that we had a bit of a rough start to this marriage, but-”

  She snorted at that. “You mean when you gave me an ultimatum, leaving me with no choice but to marry you?”

  “Well-”

  “And even after I agreed to marry you, you refused to listen to a word that I said. Instead, you dragged me across state lines, made the Justice of the Peace cry before you dragged me back across state lines all while giving me the silent treatment only to drop me off at my door without a word and pretend that I didn’t exist for the past three weeks? You mean that rough start?” she asked with a mocking sweetness that any Bradford could appreciate.

  He released a long-suffering sigh, letting her know that it was going be a long afternoon and making her regret passing up on that extra bag of nuts the stewardess had offered her on the plane.

  “I was giving you some time to come to terms with the honor that I’ve bestowed upon you.”

  “By being an asshole?” she asked, pulling her arm free when she felt him release her hand and used it to snuggle her pillow as she waited for him to get to his point and let her go so that she could go for his balls.

  “I didn’t want you to get overwhelmed by your good fortune.”

  “By being forced to get married?” she pointedly asked as he continued to rub her ass and back, which she’d have to admit was nice after spending the past three weeks missing him.

  “That’s not how I remember it,” he said absently as he ran his hand over her back in a soothing caress that had her closing her eyes and savoring his touch.

  “And how exactly do you remember it?” she managed to ask on a soft moan as he ran his hand down between her shoulder blades.

  “That you were so overset with joy that you couldn’t contain yourself,” he said dryly and if he had been anyone else, she probably would have rolled over and punched the jerk for what he’d done.

  Instead, she settled for enjoying his touch, that is until he ruined everything by reminding her that she loved him too much to do this to him.

  “I’m sorry about the last three weeks, sweetheart. I know I fucked this up. I love you, Marybeth, and I don’t need children to make me happy, not as long as I have you.”

  Chapter 24

  “What the fuck just happened?” he asked, staring at their hotel door as he struggled to figure how he’d ended up here.

  One minute he’d been apologizing for fucking up and telling her how much she meant to him and the next…

  She’d somehow managed to shove him off the bed, drag him to the door by his ear and shove him out the door before he could stop her.

  “Are you okay, sir?” a man asked, drawing his attention to large man with pepper black hair and sun kissed skin, wearing a blue blazer and an earpiece.

  “Yeah, I’m..,” he said in a daze, gesturing lazily to the door as he shook his head, having absolutely no idea how to explain what just happened. “I told her that I was sorry and that I loved her and she...she kicked me out. She just kicked me out…”

  Frowning, the security guard joined him in staring at the door. “Did you mean it?”

  “What?” he asked distractedly, wondering if he should go back in there and demand that she profess her undying love for him or if he should go hunt down a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and shove it at the temperamental woman.

  “The apology. Did you make sure that you meant it?” the security guard asked, gesturing towards the door.

  “Of course,” he said, only to purse his lips up in thought as he thought it over. He was sorry that he’d been an asshole for the last three weeks, but he wasn’t sorry for marrying her. He could never regret that.

  “Then you might want to get her some flowers or chocolate,” the security officer murmured thoughtfully.

  “Probably,” he agreed with a sigh, wondering if the downstairs gift shop sold Hershey Kisses by the pound since it was probably going to take about twenty pounds of chocolate to make the stubborn woman listen to reason.

  Then again, she had seemed pretty pissed at the end there when she’d been throwing him out…

  “I think it might be for the best if I gave her a night to think things over,” he said, shooting the door one last glance before he turned around, gave the security guard a nod of thanks and headed downstairs to the lobby where he knew an extra key to his brother’s room could be found waiting at the front desk for him or any Bradford that needed it.<
br />
  Having an extra key kept at the front desk for their siblings and cousins was a habit that they’d learned from their father and uncles. Family always came first. They’d learned early on to make damn sure that they gave help when it was needed and it was damn well needed now.

  Ten minutes later he was standing outside his brother’s door, knocking on the door and wondering how he was going to explain this. He could probably just tell his brother the truth, that he’d fucked up and needed another night to figure things out, but then he’d have to explain everything else and he really wasn’t in the mood to get into it tonight.

  When he didn’t hear a response, he figured that his brother was either taking a nap or out. He opened the door, praying that Danny didn’t decide to play twenty questions, and walked inside.

  “Hey, roomie, I-Oh, shit!” he said, ending with a surprised shout when he walked into the room and quickly turned around, desperately trying to purge the image of his brother getting a blowjob out of his mind even as he cringed when Jodi released a startled scream.