Sophie Oak: Pure Bliss

Five years before

James looked at his brother, his heart in his throat. They didn’t share a drop of blood, but they’d shared every damn thing else since the day Noah’s father and James’s father had decided to marry the same woman. For almost seventeen years, it had been just him and Noah and the odd family their parents had created.

How could Noah be walking away when James needed him most? How could he not understand how much trouble they were all going to be in soon?

“You promised to come back here and start a practice.” James had said the words about three hundred times since his brother had announced he was leaving Bliss at his father’s funeral the day before. James was down a dad. How the hell was he supposed to get through this? Brian Bennett’s grave was in the small private cemetery on Glen land. Their mom had died the year before, and he really didn’t give his own biological dad more than a year or so. Fred Glen already looked lost without the two people he’d spent his life with. He wouldn’t eat. He barely slept. He was going to fade away. James just knew it.

And then he would be utterly alone with a huge herd. He was going to have to keep the ranch up all on his own. So many people depending on him. So much history riding on his dumb-ass shoulders. He wasn’t ready for it. He needed his brother.

Noah frowned, but he didn’t stop shoving clothes into his suitcase. “I can’t, Jamie. You know how bad I feel about this. I can’t let Ally go all the way to New York without me. You know I’ll do anything else I can to help out.”

Ally. Ally was the reason his whole world was falling apart. And he had no one to blame but himself. He’d been the one to bring Ally into their lives. She was a gorgeous raven-haired beauty with a banging bod and an open mind. She had seemed like the perfect girl to share with Noah. Seemingly fun loving, and with a healthy enough sex drive to keep up with two men, Ally was a good-time girl.

Except she’d decided she was serious about them. And Noah had bought it.

“You know she hit on Rye Harper two days ago. Callie saw it happen.” James believed Callie Shepherd. Callie had never lied to him, had no reason to. Rye had turned Ally down, but it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they couldn’t trust Ally.

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “That’s a lie. The way I heard it, Rye hit on her. I should never have let her go into that bar alone.”

“She didn’t even tell you she was going.” Ally didn’t tell Noah very much. And Noah was being disturbingly stubborn. Noah was the smartest man James knew, but he was being damn dumb when it came to Ally. How could he not see that Ally had gotten serious about him once she realized Noah had just come into a ten-million-dollar trust fund?

“It doesn’t matter. I should have protected her. She can be very naïve.”

James felt his fists clench. Noah was the naïve one.

It had been six months since James had brought that gold digger into their lives, and Noah still couldn’t see what was right in front of his face. For months, James had been forced to watch his brother fall under this woman’s spell, and he was utterly helpless to stop it. He’d stopped joining them in bed three months before when he’d caught Ally making out with a biker at Hell on Wheels. He’d overheard her telling the biker all about how she’d found two rich boys to fleece. He’d told Noah. They hadn’t spoken for a month. “Can’t you see what she’s doing? Why the hell won’t you believe me? I heard her. She’s using us for money.”

Noah’s face flushed. He was only a year younger, but he’d been so smart he’d managed to graduate in the same class as James. Noah had a brilliant mind, but a wickedly stubborn heart. “You’re just mad because for once a woman loves me more than you.”

And that was the goddamn heart of the matter. Ally was smart. She’d seen the weak spot in their relationship, and like the cancer she was, she’d zeroed in and started a festering sore between them. “Noah, I don’t care about her. I never really did. She was fun, but that was all she ever was to me.”

Noah’s face went red, his shoulders squared. “Yeah, I get that. You just wanted to fuck her.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that. How many women have we gotten between us? Hell, Noah, I can count on one damn hand how many times I’ve slept with a woman without you. Why won’t you believe me?”

His younger brother’s face was a mottled red as he scrubbed a hand through his scruffy hair. “She’s beautiful. She’s smart, and you can’t handle the fact that she only really wants me.”

“She only wants you because I turned her down. You think she didn’t try to pull this shit on me first? She came to me because she knew I’m going to inherit this ranch.” The land had been in the Glen family for three generations. Before his father had formally started a relationship, he’d made sure the Circle G wouldn’t pass to anyone but his son.

Of course, he’d loved Noah as his own. He’d set up a trust for Noah, and Ally knew all about it. Noah had come into his trust two months before. And that was just about the time Ally had decided she wanted to get married.

“Fuck you, Jamie. She loves me. She only slept with you to get to me. I never told you that because I didn’t want to hurt you, but it’s the truth. I am so sick of living in your shadow. Ally sees the real me.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? My shadow? Are you insane?” Had Noah forgotten their childhood?

“You were the football star. You were the rodeo star. You were the one every girl wanted, and I just went along for the ride.” Noah’s voice was low, as though he didn’t want anyone to know just how jealous he was.

But James had his own envies. “And every teacher we ever had wondered how you got all the brains in the family. I barely made Bs while you were a Merit Scholar. I didn’t get to go to college.”

Their stepmother had gotten sick. James could remember the day he and Noah sat down and decided that one of them had to stay behind to take care of the ranch while their dads cared for the woman they both loved. It had been a no-brainer. Noah was brilliant. He’d always wanted to be a vet, and there was no doubt the Circle G could use a vet.

Noah’s jaw tightened. He picked up the suitcase, locking it shut with a horrible finality. “That wasn’t my fault. And you never really wanted to leave this ranch anyway.”

“I never got the chance.” He’d had everything in place. He’d been ready to go to the University of Colorado with Noah. They had picked out a place to live. He’d been standing in the driveway as Noah had driven off.

“Well, you got the ranch, and I get the girl. I would say we’re even.”

“Not anywhere close, Noah.” James felt his blood pressure starting to rise. “We paid for your college, Noah. All of that money came straight out of ranch funds with the agreement that you would come back here and start a practice. Doc Harris is retiring next year. We won’t have a vet, much less one who can deal with large animals. You can’t walk out on us.”

Noah’s face went a little white. “You’ll find another vet. Stef Talbot will import one if you get Max or Rye to ask him. They’ll need a vet, too.”