Braydon(19)

“I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do,” he admitted in defeat.

Just last night, after falling into bed, Braydon had asked himself the same question. After hours of tossing and turning, he’d come up with the same answer he just gave Cooper. As much as he wanted to go back, he didn’t know if he could just yet.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go home. He did. At least to visit. According to his father, that was a must in the next couple of weeks, and he understood. He really did. Braydon missed his family. But at that moment, he was so f*cking confused over what he was doing, the thought of going home didn’t sit well with him.

Chances were, he wouldn’t leave if he went back. And nothing had changed since he left. He knew that much. Jessie would never forgive him for leaving without saying a word, and he didn’t blame her.

“You know you’re gonna have to go back, don’t you?” Cooper stated, his voice low.

“I know,” Braydon confirmed. The question was when. Not in the mood to get into a long, drawn-out conversation, Braydon came up with an excuse. “Once I’m done here, I’ve got a couple of errands to run. Need anything while I’m out?”

“Naw,” Cooper answered in that thick drawl. “Tessa and I have to run into town later.” Pushing away from the wall he’d been leaning on, Cooper nodded his head, obviously accepting Braydon’s brush-off. “Tessa asked me to come down here. She said if you’re still around, stop by the house for dinner tonight.”

That was the way Cooper ended almost every conversation these days. It was as though the man expected Braydon to head out at any moment. And hell, maybe that was a safe assumption because half the time, Braydon didn’t even know what he was going to do.

Tossing the last of the empty bottles into the wheelbarrow, Braydon grabbed his shirt from the rail and pulled it on over his head. “I’ll do that,” he assured Cooper.

When Cooper disappeared out into the bright morning sun, Braydon finished up before heading out the same way the other man had.

By the time he reached his truck, his cell phone was ringing. He glanced at the screen and sighed. He let the call go to voice mail. When would Brendon get the hint? Braydon had no desire to talk to him, hence the reason he ignored every one of his calls. Braydon wasn’t going back, and he damn sure didn’t want to talk about it. As it was, Travis had called him late last night and given him hell until he finally broke, letting his oldest brother know that he was never going back.

“Mom wants to know when you’re comin’ home,” Travis barked.

Braydon pulled the phone away from his ear briefly and stared at it. Was Travis serious?

“I talked to Mom this mornin’,” Braydon informed his brother when he settled the phone against his ear once more.

“Then you know she’s worried. When are you comin’ back?”

“Don’t know,” Braydon answered, dropping onto the worn sofa in the small house he was renting while he was in Devil’s Bend.

“You need to figure it out. You’ve got a job here and you’ve abandoned that. And the rest of us.”

“I haven’t abandoned anything,” Braydon countered. “I talked to Jared and he said things are fine.”

“Braydon,” Travis growled again, and this time Braydon heard the warning in his brother’s tone. He hated when Travis tried to control everything.

“I’m not ready to come back, Trav,” Braydon said softly.

“It’s been three goddamn months, Bray. It’s time you stop acting like a f*cking child and come home.”

“Fuck you. If that’s the way you want it, then I’m never comin’ back. How’s that?”

It had been childish and it had also been a lie, but at the time, he’d been so furious that he let the words roll right off his tongue. A heated argument had ensued, but in the end, Braydon had convinced Travis that this was his choice. Travis hadn’t been happy, but he’d let it go. Or at least Braydon thought he had. Knowing Travis, the man was cooking up something.

Right now, Braydon just needed to get in his truck and head back to the small house he was renting from Tessa and Cooper so he could shower. And by renting, Braydon was actually helping out at the equestrian center the couple had opened last year and they were providing him with a place to stay free of charge. While Dalton Calhoun, their partner in the center, was on tour, Braydon had offered to help out. The timing had been perfect. They had offered to pay him, and Braydon hadn’t refused. Arriving in Devil’s Bend had been his way of starting anew, which meant he had to have a job. And money. Initially, Braydon had asked for room and board in lieu of money, but they’d insisted on paying him something as well.

His phone rang again as he steered his truck down the dirt road that led to the small house. A quick glance at the screen said it was Brendon again.

Damn.

Once again, he let it go to voice mail.

When his phone started ringing for the third time before he even stepped foot in the front door, he punched the Talk button and put the phone to his ear.

“What?” he barked into the phone.

“Get your ass home,” Brendon said by way of a response.

Braydon sighed. “Is that why you’re blowin’ up my phone?”

“Yes, God damn it.”