“Go.” He shoved out of the bed, ignored his aching leg and dressed as fast as he could. “I can’t be around you right now.”
“Are you upset, Kyle?” She still sounded confused, as though it wasn’t abundantly clear that none of this was okay. And then her face crumpled as understanding slowly leached into her posture.
He couldn’t respond. There was nothing to say anyway.
It wasn’t the same. He’d started to trust her again—no, he’d forced himself to forget the past despite the amount of pain he still carried around—only to find that her capacity for lies was far broader than he’d ever have imagined.
He slammed out of the room and went to make the babies’ bottles because he couldn’t leave as he wanted to. As he should. Grace would twist that around, too, and somehow find a way to rip his heart out again by taking his daughters away.
But he wouldn’t give Grace Haines any more power in his life.
* * *
Since he couldn’t leave, Kyle stewed. When Liam and Hadley returned from Vail the next afternoon, Kyle wasn’t fit company.
Which made it the perfect time for a confrontation.
“Liam,” Kyle fairly growled as he cornered his brother in the kitchen after Hadley went to the nursery to see the babies.
“What’s up?” Liam chugged some water from the bottle in his hand.
“Grace fessed up.” Crossing his arms so he wouldn’t get started on the beating portion of the reckoning too soon, he shifted the weight off his bad leg and glared at the betrayer who dared stand there scowling as though he didn’t know what Kyle was talking about. “Back before I went into the navy. You and Grace. It was a lie.”
“Oh, that.” Liam shook his head. “Yeah, you’re a little slow on the uptake. That’s ancient history.”
“It’s recent to me because I just found out about it.”
With a smirk, Liam punched him on the arm. “Maybe if you’d stuck around instead of flying off to the navy, you’d have known then. That was the whole purpose of it, according to Grace, to get you to confront her. I was just window dressing.”
“I went into the navy because of window dressing,” Kyle said through clenched teeth, though how his brain was still functioning enough to spit out thoughts was beyond him. “Glad to know this is all a big game to everyone. I’ve been missing out. Where’s Hadley? I’m looking forward to getting in on some of this fun. Would you like to watch while I feel up your wife or would you rather walk in on us?”
“Shut your filthy mouth.”
Kyle was ready for his brother this time and blocked Liam’s crappy right hook easily, pushing back on his twin’s torso before the man charged him. “Not so fun when you’re on the other side of it, huh?”
Chest heaving and eyes wild with fury, Liam strained against Kyle’s immovable blockade. “What do you care? You ignored Grace to the point where she cried so much over your sorry hide, I thought she was going to dry up like an old withered flower.”
“Aren’t you the poet?” He sneered to cover the catch in his heart to hear that Grace had cried over him. And how did Liam know that anyway? It probably wasn’t even true. This was all an elaborate bunch of hooey designed to throw Kyle off the scent of who was really to blame here. “I cared, you idiot. You’re the one who didn’t care about the big fat line you crossed when you put your hands on my woman.”
“Your woman? I got a feeling Grace would disagree.” Liam snorted and stepped back, mercifully, allowing Kyle to drop his hand from his brother’s chest. Another few minutes of holding him back would have strained his leg something fierce. “What line did I cross? You broke up. You weren’t even together when that happened, remember?”
“She broke up. I didn’t,” Kyle countered viciously. “I was trying to figure out how to get her back. Not so easy when a woman tells you she’s through and then makes out with another guy. Who happens to be my brother. Which never would have happened if you’d told her no. That’s the line, Liam. I would never have done that to you.”
Something dawned in Liam’s gaze. “Holy cow. You were in love with her.”
“What the hell do you think I’ve been talking about?” Disgusted with the circles and lies and betrayals, Kyle slumped against the counter, seriously thinking about starting on a bottle of Irish whiskey. It was five o’clock 24-7 when you found out your twin brother was a complete moron.