He had to get out of this place, get some fresh air. Tyce walked out of his studio and onto the catwalk and heard voices below him.
“You guys do know that this is breaking and entering, don’t you? We could be arrested for this.” Tyce immediately recognized Beckett’s voice so he rested his forearms on the catwalk and waited to see what they were doing.
A voice he’d never heard before replied in a laconic drawl. “I’ll be arrested and my PI license will be revoked since I picked the lock.”
Linc walked further into the warehouse, followed by Jaeger and Beckett and lastly, a guy he didn’t recognize. Unlike Sage’s brothers, Mr. Ex-Military’s eyes were darting around the warehouse looking for threats. His eyes shot upward and immediately clocked Tyce standing on the catwalk.
Super soldier—because the guy was a fighter, anyone could see that—gave him a quick nod.
“Whose stupid-ass idea was this anyway?” Jaeger muttered.
“Mine,” Linc said, his voice rock hard. “I’m done with the situation and we’re going to sort it out. I don’t care if he has six black belts and a lightsaber, the imbecile is going to listen to us. If that takes one of us getting the crap kicked out of us, then so be it.”
Tyce lifted his eyebrows at the desperation he heard in Linc’s voice but he still remained quiet.
“Speak for yourself,” Jaeger said.
“Reame can handle him,” Beck said.
“You never told me that he had a couple of black belts,” Reame said, looking amused. He looked up at Tyce. “Do you?”
Tyce almost smiled when three heads shot up to look at him. “A couple. In Tae Kwon Do and Krav Maga.”
Reame swore and held up his hands. “He’s all yours,” he told the Ballantyne brothers, but Tyce knew whose side he’d be on if blows were traded. It wasn’t his. As always, he was alone.
“What the hell do you want?” he demanded. “And what’s so important that you broke into my place to tell me?”
“No breaking, only entering. I’m Reame Jepson, by the way.”
He’d heard of Linc’s oldest friend, the man the Ballantyne siblings had known since they were children. Not only were they great friends but the ex-soldier’s company also handled the security for Ballantyne International and, from what he understood, many other Fortune 500 companies. Tyce gave Reame a brief nod but kept his eyes on Linc. “Say what you have to say, then get the hell out of my warehouse.”
Linc nodded. “Okay. So this is what you need to know… Sage loves you.”
She’d said that and maybe she believed it to be true but it wasn’t enough. Love, sex, attraction wasn’t enough. It was easier, better, safer to be on his own. “So?”
“We’re here because my sister is miserable and looks like a corpse.”
“Again, so? What do you want me to do?”
“I thought you said he was intelligent,” Reame said to Jaeger, still sounding amused.
“I was wrong,” Jaeger replied. “He’s as dumb as a post.”
Linc tossed him a curse and threw up his hands. “Can you all please concentrate?” He gripped the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Back in control, he looked up at Tyce again. “What I, we, want you to do is to tell her that you love her and then tell the world that you are thrilled to be the father of her child. I want to be able to tell the world that our family is expanding and we’re excited that you and Lachlyn are part of our family. But really, I—we—just want Sage to be happy.”
Tyce felt like he’d been hit by a piece of Canadian maple. He just stared at Linc, trying to assimilate his words. He knew that Linc was happy to have Lachlyn as part of the family but he never thought that Sage’s brothers might feel the same about him.
Jaeger cleared his throat and Tyce’s eyes bounced from his to Sage’s second-eldest brother. “Did you ever consider that maybe your quest for Lachlyn to be part of a family was something you, subconsciously, needed? Maybe you were projecting your need for a family onto her.”
“That’s deep,” Reame mocked, his mouth quirking.
“Shut up, half-wit,” Jaeger muttered.
Tyce ignored their insults, thinking about Jaeger’s comment. Was there any truth in his statement, any at all? Tyce gripped the banister as he considered his question and faced the obvious truth. Yes, he’d also wanted to be part of a family, wanted people he could lean on, people who would stand in his corner, who would fight for and with him.
He was used to walking alone, fighting his own battles. It was what he knew, what he felt comfortable doing and when Sage offered him something bigger, something he didn’t know how to handle, he shot her down in flames. He thought he’d, one day, be okay with it. After all, he knew how to be an army of one.