Staying quiet.

Beth stayed quiet and just kept breathing. I'm sorry...I need some time to process what I've learned. Eventually, she heard him begin the slow breathing of sleep. She lay staring at the clock, watching the minutes tick by as she tried to wrestle with the confusing emotions. {if KyleBrianStory = 1
}Despite Kyle's insistence that Brian's betrayal was water under the bridge, it was still fresh for her, having just learned. {else
}She couldn't stop thinking about...what she had overheard. {endif
}Combined with the dissatisfaction she already had brewing for Brian, it was difficult to sort out.
She could hear Kyle downstairs. The jet lag was probably still strong enough to keep him awake for a while. Poor guy. It's one thing for your girl to stray when you were deployed. It's another to catch her in the act. It's a third thing altogether for it to be...
She got up quietly, pulling on a t-shirt and a pair of silky pajama shorts. The clock read 1:45 am. She needed to think for a while. She padded softly down the hallway and then down the stairs. When she got to the living room, she stopped at the corner of the entryway.
Kyle was on the living room floor, shirtless. He was doing pushups, and Beth couldn't help but watch the muscles in his back and arms contract and extend in a very pleasing way. She bit lightly on her thumb as he worked: God... it's not fair. He's so sexy.
You should go to bed. Haven't you done enough for one day?
Kyle ended his pushups, getting to one knee, and his gaze froze on her.
"Hey."
"Hi." He was suddenly wary as he pulled his shirt on. "My clock is all fu...frigged up. Figured exercise might help me sleep."
"I couldn't sleep either." she wandered into the room, plopping down onto the recliner. "You don't mind a little company, do you?"
"No...this is your place." Yes. He was definitely wary: like a spooked deer.
{if KyleBrianEavesdrop = 1
}
"I....I heard you and Brian talking."
"Fuck." It was quiet, but Kyle's face was angry. "You weren't suppose to... you weren't supposed to know about that."
"Is it true then.... Brian was your 'Jody.'?" Beth crossed her arms beneath her breasts, giving him a direct look.
Kyle nodded reluctantly, but then immediately began explaining. "It was a long time ago, Beth. He was younger then, and a lot less mature. We... we butted heads a lot growing up, and I was a bad kid went I went in. Nancy..." she could tell by the way he said the name that he wasn't over it, despite his protestations. "..Nancy was a bad girl. That's what I liked about her. She probably came on to him real strong. It would have been like her."
"But you're his brother." Beth couldn't get past that point. "He's supposed to... I thought he was a good man."
"He is a good man, Beth. He is now." Kyle looked away. "We had it out pretty bad when I caught them. I almost broke his arm, and he gave me a black eye and a bloody nose. I'm lucky it didn't get really out of hand. I could have gotten in big trouble for that." Kyle flexed his knuckles, perhaps unconsciously.
{elseif KyleBrianStory = 1
}"I'm having trouble digesting what you told me tonight."
Kyle made a face. "I shouldn't have even said anything." He slumped back against the couch. "I don't want to cause trouble."
"We already have trouble. This just... maybe explains why." She knew there was anger in her voice.
"It's not like that, I promise. I told you that's water under the bridge for me and him. Brian's a different guy now. And so am I." He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "I'm serious. My ex...Nancy... she was a bad girl. If it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else. I'm sure of it. We weren't ever going to be a fairy tale couple."
"Still.. your brother shouldn't betray you like that." She was still angry. "And he shouldn't have hidden this from me."
"I'm sure it's the worst moment of his life, Beth. He's ashamed of it."
"He should be..." Oh? Who's the one ogling her fiancee's brother? Who's the one who tried to make out with him?
I was drunk. It's not the same thing.
"I know you two are going through a difficult time right now, between wedding shit and his work. I promise you, he's a good man."
{endif
}"You've been better to me in the course of one day then he has in a week." She mumbled it.
"I wish you wouldn't say things like that."