The Sting of Betrayal (The Buchanan Brothers 5)

Dillon sat in the dark nursing his celebratory scotch long after his brothers had hustled Penny off in their awaiting Towncar to speed away as if he were the devil. He’d accomplished his goal by planting a seed of destruction in their little world and he’d used Penny to deliver the poison. Hell, maybe he was the devil after all.

His plan had worked nearly to perfection. He could be fairly certain his brothers were twisting their guts in a knot knowing he’d been inside their pretty, gullible pet, and while that gave him a certain amount of pleasure, he couldn’t entirely revel in the victory knowing how deeply he’d cut Penny.

Why did he care? Penny was a tool — a means to an end.

He could tell himself that all night but he doubted it would assuage the creeping guilt beginning to tighten his chest like mistletoe choking out its host. Dillon rose and refilled his glass, staring into the amber liquid as if the answer to his dilemma were in the smooth depths.

This was for Isabel, he reminded himself with no small amount of irritation at himself for wallowing in useless self-reproach. And possibly, his unborn child. Who knew if Isabel had been carrying his child or his brothers? But just knowing the possibility existed made it imperative that his brothers pay for their sins.

Your hands are not clean, either. You’re far from innocent.

His brother’s voice cut at Dillon and he winced as a different memory bloomed in his mind.

“Fuck them. I’m not going to play their stupid games. No one is going to tell me how to live my life,” Dillon had shouted, still hot as hell at his father for trying to push him into a life he didn’t want. Isabel, her fair hair falling like silk across her shoulders, tucked the tresses behind her ear, distress marring her fair features but Dillon was too pissed to care how anyone else felt at the moment. All he knew was that his dick of a father was trying to force him to be something he wasn’t. “I don’t need their fucking money. I’ll live on the streets before I take another dime.”

“Dillon, you’re angry. Calm down before you make a decision that will affect the rest of your life. You’ve never been poor; you don’t know the first thing about being on your own. Maybe it’s not a bad thing your dad is asking — you need a career of some sort, right?”

Dillon looked at Isabel, freshly irritated that she wasn’t immediately taking his side. Where’s the fucking unconditional love? “Whose side are you on?”

“Yours,” she said quickly. “But…what will you do for money if you’re cast out of the family?”

He cast her a dark look. “I’m not totally helpless. I don’t need their money. I’d rather sleep in my car than accept another dime from my father.”

“Didn’t your father buy your car?” Isabel asked tentatively. When Dillon shot her a dark scowl, she continued in a rush. “Baby, listen to me. You’re being rash. You’ve grown up accustomed to living in the lap of luxury; you don’t know how to be on your own. Everything you own belongs to your family. Please don’t make a decision you can’t take back. You don’t know what it’s like to be alone.” She tried to reach out to Dillon but he cut her down with a cold stare. “Please Dillon…I’m on your side. I love you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it by telling me to suck up to my father for the scraps from his table. I never realized how useless you think I am,” he said caustically.

“I don’t think that at all! But you don’t know what you’re doing. The world isn’t going to fall at your feet just because you’re a Buchanan unless you have the Buchanan cash to persuade them and your dad is just giving you a chance to make your mark. Why is that so bad?”

“That just goes to show how much you don’t know about the Buchanans. My father isn’t interested in helping shape my future; he just wants to control me. If I give in to his demands, it will never end!”

Tears glistened in Isabel’s eyes and he knew she hadn’t heard a word he’d said. All she could see was the gravy train coming to a grinding halt if he got tossed on his ear. Suddenly, instead of seeing the woman he was in love with standing before him, all he saw was a gold-digger and his rage crested the wall of control. “Unbelievable,” he muttered, shaking his head. Isabel’s crestfallen expression pushed his anger sidewise and he lashed out at her, saying, “Go on, get the fuck out of here if you’re so inclined to agree with my family. Chase after the money, Isabel.”

“Dillon, wait!” She tried to stop him but he flung her hand from his arm with a snarl, too angry to care that he was being reckless and cruel to the one person he loved. He had to get away from the hypocrisy, the lies and most of all from his disillusionment that Isabel hadn’t cared about his money. She was just as petty and shallow as the rest. Fuck her. She cried, “Dillon!”

But he hadn’t stopped. No, in fact, he’d made the biggest mistake of his life — one that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Dillon squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to push the memory farther from his consciousness but Isabel’s stricken expression haunted him. Had she known she was pregnant already when he’d kicked her to the curb along with everyone else in his life? Had she felt scared and alone with no one to turn to? He’d been a bastard but his brothers had taken it to the next level; they’d swooped in on a vulnerable girl during a desperate moment and taken full advantage.

He drained the scotch. Hating himself for a myriad of reasons — for being a cold, heartless bastard, for not knowing when to quit, for destroying every single good thing in his life — but mostly, God bless it, because his brain kept replaying Penny’s shattered expression at his betrayal. Why did he care so much? Why did it feel as if hot needles had just been shoved into his heart? Forget it…he didn’t want to know the answer.

#

The oppressive silence in the cab of the Towncar made Penny want to jump from the moving vehicle if only to escape the judgment in Vince and Nolan’s hurt and angry gaze.

“Why?” Vince was the first to break the silence with a terse demand. “Why did you do it?” Penny didn’t have time to answer. Vince’s anger had begun to boil over in a torrent of words that made her flinch and cause tears to spring to her eyes. How could she explain something she didn’t understand herself? She was mortified and humiliated by her own

gullibility — and yet, there was a piece of her that desperately refused to believe that everything she and Dillon had shared had been a farce. “He’s a liar and a soulless dick,” Vince shouted, pushing his hand through his hair, agitated. Penny winced and wiped at her eyes, ashamed that she still wanted to talk to Dillon, to see for herself if he’d truly done this despicable thing to simply hurt his brothers. “We warned you. Why didn’t you fucking listen? What is it about Dillon that makes women lose their minds?”

Penny wisely remained silent and simply cried in the darkness. If either could tell she was crying, neither was inclined to comfort her, not that she expected them to. She’d screwed up. “I’m…” she didn’t know what to say. Her throat closed as she struggled to find the words that would convey how she’d felt — how he’d made her feel. God, for a blinding — and glorious — moment she’d thought she was falling madly, deeply and inexorably in love with the bad boy. Now, she just felt sick to her stomach for being so naïve as to think that she would be the one to tame the wildest Buchanan. Chubby Penny. The one who never got asked to school dances or admired for anything other than her brains. Sure. That made total sense. She wiped at her dripping nose and for lack of a tissue, had to wipe her hand on her pants. What a colossal mess she was in. Oh, Papa, I never should’ve taken the deal. What am I going to do with myself now?

It seemed an eternity before the brothers dropped her unceremoniously off at the apartment without so much as a terse goodnight and as she finally climbed into bed, each sore muscle reminding her of the scorching sex she and Dillon had had mere hours ago, she shuddered under the blunt force trauma of a bleeding heart. She felt broken — shattered into a million pieces and left to die — and there was nothing left but to weep into her pillow like the sorry loser that she was. Dillon didn’t want her and she didn’t know where she stood with Vince or Nolan. Good gravy, they could barely look at her but it hadn’t mattered; she’d seen disgust in their eyes. Would they ask her to pack her things? Clearly, she was in breach of contract — she quaked at the ramifications — but why’d they bring her back to the apartment if they were planning to kick her to the curb? But did she want to remain their girl? How could she? Regardless of how Dillon felt, she knew she’d given her heart to him and she didn’t know how to function as if nothing had happened. She closed her eyes and moisture seeped from the corners to wet her pillow as she hugged it tight, breaking inside from the pain and heartache.

#

“Stop pacing you’re giving me a headache,” Nolan said to Vince as Vince wore a hole in the Audubon carpet. He lounged against the overstuffed chair, drumming his fingers lightly against the fine fabric. The situation with Dillon had gotten out of control but how did one stop a runaway train? Their sins were legion — the Buchanans excelled in debauchery not good deeds — but seeing Penny so destroyed plucked at a chord deep inside him that rang a little too closely to regret for his tastes. “Your anger is clouding your judgment. Stop plotting your revenge for a second and listen to me.” Vince stopped but rewarded Nolan with a dark scowl. “We need to decide what the hell we’re going to do about Penny.”

At the mention of their succulent, yet soiled plaything, Vince snarled. “She broke the rules. She must pay the consequences.”

“Come now brother, you and I both know Penny was no match for Dillon’s charm. More sophisticated women than Penny have fallen for his honeyed words and been left broken-hearted for their troubles. Should we truly punish her for being outmatched? We’re the ones who should accept the blame. We didn’t prepare her adequately.”

“He did this on purpose.”

“Of course he did.”

“So what are we going to do about him? Put him in the ground?” Vince growled.

Nolan made a sound of impatience. They couldn’t kill their brother over a woman. Vince flopped onto the chaise, his dark hair mussed, his eyes glittering from beneath the dark strands. “What the fuck does he want aside from messing with our lives? Why couldn’t he have stayed under whatever rock he’d crawled out from?” he muttered, closing his eyes with irritation. “He ruined our Penny. She was so perfect, so exquisite. You know that little breathy moan thing she does when your cock stretches her tight, little pussy? I can cum just hearing that little sound. It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Nolan agreed. Plowing their pretty Penny had been a delight. But knowing that Dillon had touched her so intimately…argh! He wanted to punch that fucker in the mouth for taking what didn’t belong to him! Nolan calmed himself before he became as riled as his twin. They didn’t need to rage and bluster — they needed a plan. “Bottom line…do we still want her? Or do we turn her loose?” he asked.

Vince’s eyes opened and his mouth tightened in a grim line. “I still want her.”

Yeah, that was the crux of it. He wanted her, too. “She might not want us any longer. What do we do about that?”

“We could force her. She signed a legally binding contract.”

Nolan shot his brother a look of contempt. “Seriously? Like that’s going to hold up in court, not to mention it’s illegal to buy another human being. I don’t even want to think about how many laws we’re breaking for our adventure. Besides, you and I both know the contract is more for the mental part of the game rather than anything truly binding.”

“Yes, but Penny doesn’t know that.”

“I’m sure Dillon has told her by now. Likely he delighted in sharing how flimsy our hold is on her, the bastard,” Vince muttered darkly. “Why couldn’t he have contracted some grave illness while traipsing around the uncivilized world?”

“Because he has the luck of the Irish,” Nolan answered, sighing as he flicked a tiny piece of lint from the arm of the chair. “You know,” he mused quietly, not quite sure if he ought to voice his opinion on this particular score given how volatile Vince became whenever the past was brought up. “We’ve never tried sitting down and talking with Dillon about everything that happened with Isabel.”

“Are you mad?” Vince barked and Nolan knew his twin was wrestling with the same hefty guilt as he but he showed it in a different way. “What good would that serve?”

“I don’t know. It just seems we’ve let this terrible thing fester in our family…maybe it’s time to let it go.”

“Fuck, Nolan you sound like a woman. First of all, Dillon isn’t going to just ‘let it go’ so we can hold hands and sing Kumbayah around the campfire. He believes we murdered his ex-girlfriend. How do you get past that? He never will.” Vince shifted and his gaze bounced away as he added with a shrug, “Maybe it’s a blessing, you know? Isabel’s death…I don’t know. Fuck it, I don’t know what I’m saying.”

Nolan remained quiet. God, all their hands were filthy when it came to Isabel. How they’d fucked up. They’d been young, dumb and full of cum as the saying goes and no one had been more modeled after that saying than the Buchanan twins. And Isabel had been the prettiest girl they’d ever seen — almost ethereal with her fine-boned features, white-silk hair and delicate disposition…hell, they would’ve done just about anything to get their cocks inside that soft flesh. Only they’d realized too late that Isabel hadn’t been playing a game, she’d been trying to secure a future for the baby inside her that none of them had known about. “Fuck,” he murmured, rubbing at the sudden ache in his chest. The coroner’s report had stated the fetus had been twelve weeks — which meant the baby had been Dillon’s but she’d never said a word to any of them about being pregnant. Nolan wished he could say they would’ve cared. They’d been such selfish pricks — all of them.

And Dillon seemed hell-bent on rewriting history, a history where he came out the victim instead of one of the people who’d had a hand in Isabel’s death.

“Stop thinking about her,” Vince warned in weary tone as if he only knew Nolan was stuck in the past because he was replaying a nightmare reel as well. “Nothing we do or say will bring her back.”

“Yeah. I know. Are we maki

ng the same mistake? Penny isn’t like Isabel but she’s fragile, too.”

“We’re not making the same mistake,” Vince assured him. “Penny knew the stakes when she signed on the dotted line. We never played with her heart, ever. We can’t say the same for Isabel.”

Nolan nodded but still felt like shit. “We need to woo Penny. She’s been through a lot and it’s our faults. We can’t punish her for what happened.”

“She’s in love with Dillon,” Vince said. “What do we do about that?”

Nolan winced. “Do you think it’s love?”

“Did you see how cozy they were playing house? It might not have been real for Dillon but it sure as well was for her. She’s totally in love with him.”

“Damn, you’re right.” Nolan hadn’t wanted to admit it but he’d seen the glow in Penny’s expression right before Dillon had revealed his true nature and she’d been near blissful. It’d been the first time he’d seen her like that and he was certain she’d never looked that way with either of them. The realization twinged a bit but Nolan wasn’t ready to concede defeat just yet. He sat up and a slow smile spread across his face. “The answer to our problem is simple.”

“Yeah?” Vince retorted dryly. “Lay it on me.”

“We need to remind Penny what she loved about us. At one time, she was our girl. It’s time we remind her why.”

Vince returned his brother’s smile as he warmed to the idea. “Are we talking wine and dine, pamper her like a princess and then fuck her raw?” Nolan’s grin was answer enough and Vince’s bad mood began to dissipate. “Hell yeah. I’m on board with that plan. When do we start?”

Nolan fished his phone from his trousers and dialed a florist. “We start now.” He waited a minute and then said to the awaiting florist. “I’d like two dozen fire and ice roses delivered, please. Put on the card, ‘To our darling Penny…all is forgiven…’

Nolan disconnected the call and he and Vince shared a laugh as they jumped from their chairs to prepare for the most epic of all rebounds.