I fell asleep to his purring and images of things I needed to forget in the name of friendship.
A couple of days later at lunch, Mom asked me to take some paperwork to Crew’s office while I was heading that way.
I took the stack, kissed her cheek, and drove the ATV over.
Crew had had a picnic lunch somewhere on the property with Mal, and I wasn’t sure if he’d be back yet.
I approached his office carefully in case the lovebirds were inside making out—it wouldn’t be the first time—but I found my brother typing away at his computer.
“Hey, Mom sent these,” I said in lieu of a greeting.
Crew smiled. “Thanks.” He took the papers and added them to a pile on his desk.
“You look too relaxed,” I accused, knowing full well it would make him blush a little.
He did, then rolled his eyes. “It was a good picnic.”
“I’ll say.” I grinned.
He chuckled and then seemed to remember something. “Did you know Carter was here yesterday?”
I frowned. “What?Herehere?”
“Yeah. He’d been visiting Ramona and you weren’t there, so he decided to come see the foals. He got to talking with Russ, and next thing I know, Carter is cleaning the stalls with Russ.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“That’s what I said.” My brother shrugged and added, “He said he might be back today. Apparently, he liked the manual labor.”
“What a weirdo,” I deadpanned, and both of us laughed.
“He’s not how I expected him to be,” Crew mused.
Sighing, I nodded. “No, he’s not. I….” I looked away from him and wondered how much to tell him. “We’ve agreed to be just friends,” I blurted out.
Crew’s brow scrunched. “There was a potential for more than that?”
“Yes. Well, thereis.But it’s a working relationship and….”
Crew’s big brotherly spidey sense started to tingle. “And what?”
“I had an experience with someone much like him, on a surface level I mean, when I was younger—”
“When you were younger? How young are we talking?” Crew’s posture changed.
As if summoned, my other sometimes overprotective big brother walked in.
“What are we talking about?” Bodhi asked, registering the tension in the small office.
“How someone took advantage of Hawk when he wasyounger.” I could hear the quotation marks in Crew’s tone.
“Someone didwhat?” Bodhi whirled to look at me.
I groaned and rubbed my face with both palms. “It was fucking consensual. Or,consensual fuckingif you will.” They brought out the bratty baby brother in me for sure.
“How. Young?” Bodhi ground out.
“Nineteen. I was legal. Jesus Christ, guys.”
