Brendon (Alluring Indulgence #8)(61)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“I can get—”

“No!” Brendon barked, doing his best to keep his voice low. “I don’t want you getting anyone. Do you hear me? I’m not handing over this responsibility to you or anyone else. Got that?”

Travis didn’t respond, but the anger that glittered in his eyes said he didn’t like Brendon’s tone. Too fucking bad.

“Oh, and Z said to ask you and Gage to stop digging.”

“What the fuck? Someone’s gotta find this bastard and we’ve got resources.”

“Resources that are throwin’ up red flags, according to Z. They’ve tracked your requests, probably even know your sources.” Lowering his voice once more, Brendon met Travis’s gaze head-on. “I’m not gonna ask again, Trav. Stay out of this. When I need your help, I’ll come to you.”

Travis’s gaze softened, surprising the shit out of Brendon.

“This ain’t just a thing for you, is it?” Travis questioned, his words soft.

“What? Cheyenne? Not by a fucking long shot,” he assured Travis.

Travis nodded, but remained quiet.

“I’m gonna stay with her or she’ll stay with me until we get this taken care of. I’m also gonna give Endsley a heads-up. We need all eyes open.”

“And you’ll let me know if you need anything?” Travis asked.

“Yeah.” Brendon forced his shoulders to relax. “And for the record, I know how important her friendship with you is, but I’m serious, Trav, I need to do this. I …” He couldn’t quite get the words out, but he knew what he was feeling. Based on the expression on Travis’s usually stony face, he didn’t need Brendon to clarify.

“Okay. We’ll stop diggin’. For the record, her record producer, Clayton, is a buddy of mine. He’s the reason I found out. They’re worried about her, since she went off the map.”

“Can’t blame them. But that doesn’t mean you need to waltz in here and take over. Despite what you think, I’m quite capable of takin’ care of her.”

“I know you are,” Travis told him. “And if you’re in the right place here”—Travis tapped his temple—“and it seems you are, then I don’t have anything to worry about.”

That was as close to a compliment as he was going to receive from Travis, so Brendon accepted it by nodding his understanding.

“Let me know what I can do,” Travis stated.

“Yep.”

With that, Brendon made his way inside. As difficult as that conversation was, he knew the hard part was ahead of him.

Telling Cheyenne.

EXPECTING BRENDON AND Travis to have a knock-down-drag-out on her back porch, Cheyenne was surprised when they both walked in, calm and collected. Well, as much as could be expected.

“Was that Z?” Cheyenne asked Brendon.

She’d hopped down from the counter and had been busying herself around the kitchen, making small talk with Gage when Travis had slipped outside. Despite her need to know what was going on, she’d somehow managed not to interrupt, but it hadn’t been easy.

“It was,” Brendon told her, moving to stand in front of her. He lifted her chin with his finger and stared down at her. “They’ve got a lead on someone, but he’s disappeared on them. They’re workin’ to find him. He mentioned that it wasn’t hard for him to tie this house back to you either, so he fears this guy—if he’s got any skills at all—may have done the same thing.”

Crap. That was not what she wanted to hear.

“I’m gonna talk to Sheriff Endsley, give him a heads-up. He’ll help keep an eye on things around here. People’ll be on the lookout for anyone they don’t recognize. And in the meantime, I’m your new shadow.”

Cheyenne recognized the way he easily slipped that last statement in there. Truth was, she didn’t mind that one bit. Not only was she enjoying her time with Brendon, she also felt safe with him. She knew, regardless of what this was between them, that he would keep her safe.

“Okay,” she said affably. She wasn’t going to argue. There wasn’t anything she could argue against. This was serious and the death threat was proof.

Brendon turned to look at Travis and Gage. “And I’ll let you know when I hear anything at all. The more people who’re keepin’ an eye on her, the better.”

“Agree,” Travis said warmly.

Cheyenne watched him for a moment. This was a side of Travis she rarely saw. He had always been the take-charge kind of guy. The man who didn’t let anyone else dictate how things went. It seemed as though he was taking a step back and allowing Brendon to run the show. And honestly, that made her feel good. No matter how she felt about Brendon, it was nice to know that Travis had complete faith in his brother. With all of Brendon’s ups and downs over the last year, he’d been in a bad place. She’d seen it, heard Travis’s concern when they talked about him.