Page 54 of Unguarded

Tuesday morning couldn’t come fast enough.

Brooks drops me off at the airport. He claps a hand on myshoulder. “I learned a lot from you. I hope you meant it when you offered for me to visit because I’m coming down either way.”

I nod. “I meant it. Come out to the ranch. We might just make a man of you yet. Bring Ember with you.”

His smile fades as he looks away. “Eh, maybe. We’ll see what happens there.”

I would tell him to man up and tell her how he feels, but I’ve never been a hypocrite. Leaving the tour is ultimately best for Monroe. I’m not meant for the spotlight. I’m a country boy deep down in my bones. She’s better off without me.

I walk toward the gate, my duffel bag slung over my shoulder.

The ranch feels different now,almost eerily quiet. Duke and I go hunting on the first night I’m back. He mercifully doesn’t say much about Monroe until we’re deep in the woods, camped out in a deer stand.

“So, be real with me, man. Nothing happened?” He smirks, leaning back against the wall of the stand in his camouflage jacket.

We built this place when we were just kids, barely big enough to hold up a hammer.

Duke is annoying in a very little-brother kind of way. Hehas a special ability to piss me off with one comment and a smirk.

“Nothing happened,” I lie.

“Mmm, sure. Then, why’d you run back home with your tail tucked between your legs?” He peers through the scope on his rifle, aimed at the deer feeder.

The gun goes off. I look over toward the stand to see a twelve-point buck on the ground. He winks at me, rising to a stand.

“I never took my big brother for a coward.”

He’s baiting me, which he loves to do, but I’m not taking it. I’m the levelheaded brother. Getting a rise out of me is much harder than that. Now that I’m finally an ocean away from Monroe Blue, I realize that I am still the calm one, difficult to rile up and piss off.

“I did a job, made a chunk of change to start building my own place, and that’s it.”

“Fuck yeah, the money was good. So, you wouldn’t mind putting in a good word for me? I’ll be her bodyguard for a couple of months for five hundred grand.”

We stalk toward the deer. Duke hands me his gun before he grabs the deer’s legs and throws the animal over his shoulder. He grunts under the weight. We walk over to where we parked the Ranger. He tosses the animal in the back while I climb into the driver’s seat. Duke has always been the best hunter in the family, keeping our freezer stocked with venison and various birds all year long.

“So, for all that dough, why’d you even come home so early? You could’ve stayed another month and had a damn good investment startup, new truck, all kinds of shit.”

I ignore his question. He knows better than to ask twice.

Twenty minutes later, we pull up to the barn, where he’ll spend the next hour cleaning the kill. I walk toward the house to put the rifles up. I look up toward the sky, studying the full spread of stars that I haven’t seen in the last few months since I left. A sense of calm settles over me at the familiar sight.

Holden and Rosie must’ve gone to bed because Dolly is still up, watching a movie alone.

“Hey,” she mumbles, smiling sweetly at me from the sofa.

My baby sister is an angel, complete with near-perfect behavior and very few bad qualities. One of her only flaws is the heart condition she’s had since birth. Dolly was born with congenital heart defects. Her heart was deformed at birth, causing her to need lifelong medication to treat the problem. She suffers from heart murmurs, fatigue, fainting, low energy, and a range of other symptoms. Sometimes, she doesn’t know her own limits and needs reminding. She receives biannual checkups.

She raises her head, dark hair spilling over her shoulder. “You know, I can’t believe you chose to just come home from Monroe Blue’s world tour, just like that. I refuse to believe you didn’t leave because you were madly in love with her.”

I pause in the kitchen, slowly lowering both the guns as my mind scrambles for a response.

She laughs, sighing as her head drops back down to the pillow. “I know it’s all just the media, but the way you look at her in those videos, Cash … it’s undeniably romantic. Did she ever say anything about it?”

The characters on the TV screen are singing a familiar tune as they dance around a streetlamp.

“Her publicist asked me if I planned on staying with the tour so they could address it with the fans. I didn’t, so they never acknowledged it.”

Dolly’s head perks up, eyes bright. “You’re kidding! Like, they mentioned making it a PR-relationship type of thing?”

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