Page 23 of A Lot Like Forever
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Nate headed out the door and crossed the field as a shortcut to the barn. He was pleased to get out of the house. After finishing dinner, talking way too much to Faith, and then helping her with the dishes, he needed to get away from her. He’d avoided her for so long, but the walls he’d invisibly erected between them were being ripped down. And fast. He was just pleased he’d already arranged to meet his brothers for a beer.
“Hey!” he called out to Ryder, seeing him turn over a few feed buckets for them to sit on. The lights were on, the interior of the barn flooded with light.
“Hey!” Ryder called back. “Chase is on his way.”
“How’s everything going?”
“Good. I got Rose to bed; she wanted three stories tonight. Honestly, Nate, I have no damn idea how I’m gonna cope when she starts to bring guys home. . . .”
“She’s two,” Nate said dryly. “You’ve got a lot of years ahead of you before you have to start worrying.”
“I know. I just can’t believe how much I love that little girl. It kills me. And if some bastard hurts her? Damn, I’ll lose it. Seriously.”
“You know I love hearing about Rose, but I was actually asking about work before, not your home life,” Nate joked, taking the beer Ryder passed him. “How’re those big bulls of yours?”
Ryder took a long pull of his beer, elbows resting on his knees as he sat on the upturned bucket. “All good. Bruce is turning into a goddamn superstar.”
Nate laughed. They’d all made fun of Bruce the bull, because of his name and the fact that he had an attitude to rival a diva, but Ryder had managed to prove them all wrong with his new business venture. Not to mention his impeccable taste in livestock. “Good. You miss it, though? Actually being out there and riding?” Ryder had given up the rodeo after one big fall too many and after meeting his wife, but as happy as Nate was that his brother wasn’t riding two-thousand-pound bulls anymore, he knew it must have been hard for him.
“I miss the thrill of getting up there, climbing the rails and gripping the rope. Listening to the crowd cheering,” Ryder said, his eyes lighting up just talking about his glory days. “But when I look at my girls? It’s a no-brainer. I had my fun, but after those falls I had, only an idiot would have kept riding. One more fall and I could have ended up a vegetable or dead. Isn’t that why you were always busting your nuts to get me to stop?”
“Damn right.”
“You reminiscing about the rodeo?” Chase called out as he entered, grabbing a beer and dropping down to his makeshift seat.
“Yeah,” Ryder said. “It hurts not being a current champ at anything, not bringing home any new title belts. But Bruce is gonna become more famous than I ever was!”
They all laughed. Nate sipped his beer, always relaxed when he was hanging out with his brothers. They fought heaps, usually over stupid stuff, but the worst they did was throw a punch. They were close and it was just the way he liked it. And even though they all had their own places now, they still always met up in the barn where they’d spent their youth sneaking beers.
“So how you getting on with Miss Universe staying over?”
Nate took another pull of beer. He was usually pretty sensitive when it came to his brothers talking about her or giving him shit, but he could hardly argue with what Chase had just said about her.
“I’m walking around with a permanent hard-on; that’s how damn well I’m doing,” he told them honestly.
His brothers howled with laughter. Nate scowled as Ryder slapped his hand on the bucket, he found it so amusing.
“I know I’m risking a black eye here, but have you thought about just scratching that itch?” Chase asked.
“Screw you,” Nate muttered.
“Would it be so bad to corrupt her? She’s not exactly a child, Nate. She’s a beautiful woman, and if she feels the same . . .” Ryder didn’t finish his sentence.
“She’s Sam’s little sister. Enough said.”
“Every woman has a brother or a father, Nate,” Chase reasoned. “And since when do you let someone else tell you what you can and can’t do?”
“Since that someone was Sam,” Nate told them, too confused to be pissed with them. “He’s the only person outside of this family I’ve ever truly trusted, and he’s always been there for me. I’m not gonna screw that up just because I’m all hot under the goddamn collar for Faith.” He sighed.“It’s Sam.”
“So tell her to find somewhere else to stay,” Chase said. “Get her out of the house and off your radar.”
Nate groaned. “I can’t.”
His brothers laughed again.
“You’re between a rock and a hard place then.” Ryder passed him another beer. “All I can say is good luck.”
