“What did you get up to today?” I asked before digging into the meatloaf. It had cheese in it, which clued me in that Nick had to have been in charge of the meal, because Mom had never made it that way before. It was delicious.
“Wren wanted to go for a ride,” Ville said, then launched into the story. As I ate, I leaned a little, wanting to be in his space, and listened to him relay how Wy had tried to put Wren on Niko, before she realized the country music superstar grew up around horses. Sure, it had been a while since Wren had been able to ride, and he’d probably be sore tomorrow, but he was more than competent.
I laughed at Ville’s pained expression as he described the standoff between our barn manager and Wren. When he was done, I shook my head, unable to stop smiling. “Wren could have taken out Talia with no problem. Dad’s handful of a mare wouldn’t have given him problems.”
“Mike had to step in. Apparently the last time we were here, Wy hadn’t been hired yet. Anyway, it got sorted and we spent most of the morning in the saddle.”
Ville didn’t sound too upset about that. I nodded. “Where all did you go? Just ride around?”
Something passed over Ville’s expression. “Yeah. And headed to the Yellow Ribbon. Wren wanted to see it.”
The growl in Ville’s words made me look at him instead of my food. “What happened?”
“Bodhi gave us the tour. But he barely acknowledged Wren,” Ville bit out. “Your brother is an asshole.”
I set down my fork, having mostly cleared my plate anyway. “He’s really not.”
Ville clearly didn’t agree. “You wouldn’t know it by the way he treats Wren.”
I turned in my chair to fully face him and I saw the battle going on in his eyes. Ville cared about me and adored my family. He didn’t want to cause any trouble between us. But Wren was his top priority, and I understood that he’d always be on Wren’s side. And I got it. It made sense that anyone who treated Wren badly would be on Ville’s shit list.
I couldn’t help but to defend Bodhi. Not only because he was my brother but because I knew his true heart. There was no one more loyal and stalwart than Bodhi Harrington.
“Something happened to him,” I said softly. “I don’t know what but…he left his entire life and career in the Marines and came home. He wouldn’t have done that on a whim.”
Ville opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it. He shook his head, and when he spoke, his voice was gentler, though still with the hint of an edge. “Doesn’t give him the right to treat Wren the way he has.”
“No,” I agreed in a murmur. “It doesn’t. But maybe we also give him some grace as he heals from whatever trauma he experienced.”
Ville wasn’t ready to just agree to that but when I made my eyes big, he huffed out a breath. “I’ll try. But no promises.”
I laughed because he sounded so grumpy about it and leaned in, but footsteps on the stairs had us both turning. As though our conversation had conjured him, Bodhi appeared. My brother seemed to be lost in his own head though, because he didn’t notice us until he was practically on top of us. That made me worry more than anything else. Even before he entered the Marines, he’d had outstanding situational awareness. Bodhi used to joke it was because he had nine younger siblings to look out for.
“Hey, Bode,” I said, smiling at him.
“Hey.”
“I’ll meet you upstairs,” Ville said to me as he pushed to his feet. He slid a hand into my curls, grabbing hold of the roots, and tipping my head back to meet my gaze. He kissed my forehead and then spoke with his lips against my skin. “Hurry.”
I nodded, and Ville took off without a backward glance. I watched him go until he made it to the stairs, then turned myattention to my brother. Bodhi was staring after Ville too, but his expression was dark.
After a few seconds, he muttered, “Fuck that guy.”
“I intend to.” I was smirking when Bodhi whipped his gaze to meet mine. “Though I really prefer to be the one who gets—”
“Gah!” Bodhi cut me off, then shook his head. “I walked right into that one, huh?”
“Yep.” I snickered, which helped Bodhi relax some. He took a breath and let it out slowly. I studied him for a few moments, trying to decide if I was going to broach the subject. Then I decided if anyone could get away with it, it would be me. Crew could as well, but he was focused on Mal and Pay, not to mention his broodmares. “Are you gonna fix things with Wren?”
For just a second, I was sure Bodhi was going to deny that anything was wrong. But in the end, he just nodded once. “As soon as I fix myself.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Bodhi, you know you’re not broken, right? And the longer you let—”
“You done?” Bodhi pointed to my nearly empty plate. “You should go on up. I’ll take care of this. Ville’s waiting for you.”
I wanted to push. I wanted to make him talk. But I’d gotten farther with him tonight than I had in the year since he’d come home. I decided to take the win. There’d be another day where I could get him to open up more.
“Thanks, Bode.” I stood and held out a fist for him to bump, which he did. Then he gathered up the plate and glass, and I left him to it.
