Brendon (4 page)

“Does Travis know?”

Cheyenne’s eyebrows darted down. “No. Why would I tell him?”

“Because he’s your . . . friend?”

“He’s my friend, yes. Not my babysitter. He’s got enough on his plate. Definitely doesn’t need to have to worry about me.”

Brendon opted not to say anything, crossing his feet at the ankles and leaning against the counter a few feet from where Cheyenne stood. Arguing with her wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He sipped his coffee, pulling his gaze from hers briefly, choosing instead to study the intricately designed tile work on the floor as he considered what she’d told him.

“Brendon?”

He didn’t want to look up, but he forced himself to. Meeting her eyes again, he waited patiently. She wasn’t going to say anything he wanted to hear, but then what he planned to do probably wasn’t going to be one of her favorite things, either.

“Seriously. I don’t want you worried about me. I’ll be okay. That’s why I’m here. I came to Coyote Ridge to get out of the limelight. No one can touch me here.”

Brendon nodded. He didn’t agree with her at all, but again, he would keep that to himself. For this piece, they’d just have to agree to disagree.

chapter
FOUR

M
onday morning Brendon found himself at a job site early. He spent the requisite amount of time bullshitting with the general contractor while making sure everything was going as planned. After taking a look around, then heading to another site and doing the same thing once again, the morning had practically disappeared. By the time he was out of there and heading back to the Walker Demo office, it was already ten, and for the first time in months, he was ready for the day to be over.

Why, he had no earthly idea.

Now you’re lyin’ to yourself, huh?

Brendon ignored the little irritating voice, but he couldn’t seem to stop the smile tugging at his mouth.

When he pulled into the shop’s gravel parking lot, he found it empty. Even his cousin Jared’s nondescript white truck was gone, which meant no one was there to give him shit. Strange how he actually wished someone was. His family had spent too many months
not
giving him hell, and truth was, Brendon kind of missed it. He was sure he wouldn’t think the same once they were at it again, but he figured until that time came, he’d just have to deal.

Rather than going into the empty building and waiting for someone to arrive, he ventured farther down the dirt road until he came to the mechanic’s shop where Ethan and Beau spent the majority of their days. He hopped out of his truck, then slammed the door extra hard, purposely intending to alert them to his arrival. He damn sure didn’t want to walk in on Ethan and Beau doing something that would likely blind Brendon for a lifetime. It was one thing to know the two men loved one another, something else entirely for him to have to see just how much.

But, he’d thought the same about all of his brothers. Ever since that one damn time a few months earlier when he’d ventured to Travis’s house only to find Gage and Kylie on the couch naked and . . . Yeah, well, he still wanted to bleach his eyeballs after that snafu. Seeing any member of his family going at it was not what Brendon considered a good time.

“What’s up, bro?” Ethan called when Brendon walked through the open bay door.

A quick glance around told him that they were busy. There were two trucks inside, one in each of the smaller bays, as well as one of Walker Demo’s excavators in the oversized bay used to work on the larger equipment. The sound of metal on metal echoed in the cavernous space, which meant Beau was hard at work somewhere, because clearly Ethan wasn’t.

“Not a damn thing. I see the same’s goin’ with you,” Brendon joked as he moved toward his brother, who was holding a cup of coffee in his hands and watching him intently.

Ethan’s eyes widened dramatically and he stared back at Brendon with a look of utter disbelief.

“Oh, shit. Beau!” Ethan hollered. “Get the hell over here. Somethin’s wrong with Brendon. He got his smart-ass mouth back.”

“Shut the hell up,” Brendon grumbled, smiling to himself.

Ethan laughed. “Want some coffee? Just made it.”

“You mean Beau just made it?” Brendon knew Beau was the one who generally had fresh coffee on as long as they were in the shop.

“Same difference,” Ethan muttered.

Brendon would never turn down coffee, so he nodded his head and turned toward the small room the two men used as an office.

“Holy shit!” Brendon yelled to Ethan, who was still standing in the shop, just outside the office. “When the hell did y’all let Mom in here to decorate?”

Brendon went on to pour a cup of coffee while he waited for a retort.

“That’s Beau’s doin’,” Ethan explained loudly, clearly ensuring his voice carried. “He’s all about makin’ shit pretty round here.”

It was harder than hell for Brendon to imagine Big Beau Bennett and the term
pretty
being used in the same damn sentence. It just wasn’t natural.

“Well, I’d say it looks nice, but I’d be lyin’. It’s like a craft store blew up in there and the only thing left was the ugly shit,” Brendon offered, intentionally picking on Beau as he joined Ethan once again.

Brendon sipped his coffee and met his brother’s amused gaze before glancing over at Beau to see a pleased smirk on the big man’s face.

“At the risk of pissin’ you off,” Ethan said, “I have to tell ya that I’m glad you’re back.”

“I didn’t go anywhere,” Brendon countered, knowing exactly what Ethan was referring to.

“Yeah, you kinda did.” Ethan’s gruff laugh followed.

“You ain’t got any room to talk,” Brendon declared, laughing. Before Beau got his hands on Ethan a year and a half earlier, the man hadn’t spent much time smiling either, so Brendon took Ethan’s statement for what it was worth.

“What brings you by?” Beau asked when he passed by Brendon, slapping him on the back and damn near sending his coffee mug down his throat. That gigantic bastard had some serious power in those giant-ass arms.

“I was just gonna check in with Jared, but his truck’s gone,” Brendon imparted, nodding in the direction of the Walker Demo construction office.

“He had to go pick Derrick up at the day care. He’s runnin’ a fever or somethin’,” Beau informed him.

“Jaxson gonna fill in while he’s out?” Brendon asked, referring to their cousin.

Jaxson’s mother, Mary, was their father’s sister. The entire Briggs clan lived in Coyote Ridge, along with several more of their cousins. Since the opening of Alluring Indulgence Resort, Jaxson had begun showing considerable interest in helping out at Walker Demo, so they’d hired him on when Kaleb and Sawyer transferred over to AI.

“Supposed to. Haven’t seen him around though,” Beau confirmed.

“How’s Cheyenne?” Ethan asked.

Brendon met Ethan’s curious gaze, not sure how to answer that question.

“Heard she had a little too much to drink Saturday night.” Ethan shot a look at Beau.

“Hey, don’t look at me. The little woman thought she could outdrink me. Had to prove her wrong.”

“It wasn’t pretty, but she survived,” Brendon confirmed, looking at Beau.

Brendon still couldn’t believe Cheyenne had thought she could toss back more shots of Cuervo than the big guy. Seriously, Beau was six foot six, something like 240 pounds of solid, rock-hard muscle. He damn sure wasn’t a lightweight.

“Didn’t go over well, huh?” Beau asked, concern replacing his original amused grin.

“She did fine,” Brendon informed them. “She’s a trouper.”

The look that Ethan and Beau gave him was one that said he was a sad excuse for a man, but Brendon didn’t have anything to say to that. He knew how he felt about Cheyenne. And in the same regard, he knew how he’d treated her in the past. The fact that she didn’t want to have anything to do with him was deserved on his part. But that brought to mind something else he needed to figure out.

“Either of you know if Travis is at AI?”

“No idea. Knowing him, yeah,” Ethan replied, an eyebrow cocked in question.

Brendon downed the rest of his coffee and handed the empty mug to Beau when he reached for it, ignoring Ethan’s inquisitive look. Until he talked to Travis, he didn’t want to share Cheyenne’s personal business with anyone else.

“I’ll catch y’all later. I need to talk to him about somethin’,” Brendon told them both, not planning to elaborate. It wasn’t unusual for any of them to need to speak to their oldest brother. It was what they did.

Brendon was almost to his truck when Ethan called after him. Knowing he shouldn’t turn around, Brendon did anyway.

“Hey, do me a favor, would ya?”

“What’s that?”

“Try not to let that damn smile fall off your face this time? You seem to misplace that shit for a long time when that happens.”

Flipping Ethan off and smiling as he did, Brendon turned back to his truck.

As he got in and turned the engine over, he couldn’t help but think that it was good to be back to normal.

Whatever the fuck that meant.

“CHEY! WHERE ARE
you?”

Cheyenne walked into the kitchen from the back porch, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm, the screen door slamming behind her. “In the kitchen, Kylie!”

A second later, Kylie joined her. “What’re you doin’?”

“Workin’,” Cheyenne said easily, pulling the work gloves from her hands and setting them on the counter.

“Oh, hell.”

Cheyenne smiled. She’d already told Kylie about her plan to refurbish some of the older pieces of furniture she’d found, and today had seemed like the perfect day to get started. For the first time in a week, it wasn’t raining and the humidity wasn’t thick enough to choke a horse. Perfect day to apply a little stain.

“Come on, I’ll show you.” Cheyenne waved Kylie over as she turned back to the screen door.

The two of them stepped onto the oversized covered back porch that overlooked the four acres of grass that she proudly owned. Two of the three ceiling fans were whirring above them, but even with the warm breeze blowing through, the scent of varnish was potent.

“Wow. They look great. Well, that one does anyway.”

“You think so?” Cheyenne had started sanding the eight mismatched chairs she’d picked up at an antique store, along with a massive solid oak table. Aside from needing a good scraping and a new coat of stain and sealant, they weren’t in bad shape. As soon as she’d had her first cup of coffee that morning, before the sun even came up, Cheyenne had gotten to work. Probably couldn’t tell she’d done all that much, considering she’d only knocked out the first chair.

Only seven more to go.

“Yeah. That was a great idea you had,” Kylie said. “You went with a dark stain. I like it.”

“I think it’ll go good with the colors we’ve picked for the dining room when it’s all done.”

“Be prepared for that and the living room to be done by the end of the week. Then we’ll move upstairs to the master bedroom and bath. You’ll have to relocate to another room once we get that project under way.”

“I figured I’d take the downstairs bedroom. That’s the only bath that’s been updated at this point.”

“Only three more to go,” Kylie confirmed with a grin.

The house, which Cheyenne learned had actually belonged to Kennedy’s father, Sheriff Jeff Endsley, consisted of four bedrooms and four and a half baths. Only one of the bedrooms was downstairs, along with a full bath and a half bath off the laundry room. Aside from new carpet upstairs, there wasn’t much to do in the other two bedrooms besides paint. As for the master, Cheyenne had asked Kylie for a complete overhaul, including stealing some of the space from one of the extra bedrooms to make a walk-in closet. Due to the age of the house, that was the only major issue she saw . . . not nearly enough storage space.

Luckily, Kylie had tons of ideas and Cheyenne was grateful for her recommendations because renovations weren’t her specialty. Not to mention Cheyenne was incredibly pleased with the outcome thus far.

“Can I get you somethin’ to drink?” Cheyenne asked Kylie.

“That’d be great. I just stopped by to let you know that Bill and his crew would be by today to finish painting. They’ll be workin’ on the floors on Wednesday, so you may want to be out of the house that day.”

“Or I could just work out there,” Cheyenne nodded her head in the direction of the yard.

“True.” Kylie made her way inside as Cheyenne held the screen door open for her.

Now that the outside of the house had been painted a brilliant white that completely covered the obscene blue the exterior had once been, Cheyenne was more than ready to get started with the landscaping. In order to keep herself busy, she’d opted not to hire anyone to do the majority of the work. She knew how to ride a lawn mower and to use a Weed eater. As for how green her thumb was, that was something she’d have to figure out when she got started. Since she had plenty of time to kill, she figured it would be good for her.

After retrieving the pitcher of fresh lemonade she’d made earlier, Cheyenne grabbed two glasses from the cabinet as she urged Kylie to have a seat at the kitchen table. Once she filled the glasses, she added ice and then joined her friend.

“You still like this room?” Kylie asked as her gaze roamed the recently updated kitchen.

“It’s by far my favorite,” Cheyenne teased. It was actually the only room in the house that was completely finished.

“That’s good to hear,” Kylie replied with a chuckle. “I think it turned out great.”

Cheyenne turned her head and peered at the kitchen. “I do, too. It’s perfect.”

Kylie took a sip of her lemonade. “I’m so happy to hear that. How’s your grandmother?

Cheyenne smiled, remembering the call she’d had with Grams just a little while earlier. “She’s doin’ good. I talk to her every day and the more I do, the more I miss her. I’ve told her about this place, too. Shared with her all the work that’s bein’ done.”

“I can’t wait to meet her. I can’t wait to see her expression when she gets a good look at her new home.”

Cheyenne couldn’t wait, either. It was so hard being away from Grams, not being able to go see her every day, but she was trying to be patient. For now, that was her only option.

“Have you seen Brendon?” Cheyenne asked, launching right into the question that was burning on the tip of her tongue and hoping she sounded casual.