AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“See you tomorrow at four,” she said.
“Yep.”
“Oh, and Silas?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for not calling me ma’am.” She ended the call while he was still trying to figure out how to respond. He lowered the phone and smiled at it.
Then he started to laugh, feeling freer and more like himself than he had since graduating from college and entering the world of Hollywood—where no one was truly themselves. He’d lost himself too, but he was determined to find the man he’d once been, even if it took tiny baby steps and happened over a span of years.
He hadn’t lost himself overnight, and he couldn’t expect to rebuild himself in one day either. A job was a start, and he stood and paced into the kitchen while his phone rang again, this time with his brother’s name on the screen.
“Ryan,” he said. “I got the job.”
“I was just calling to find out,” Ryan said. They laughed together, and Silas finally felt like the splinters of his life were coming together. “Are you going to be working the ranch or dealing with people?”
“People,” Silas said. “Which is good.”
“Yeah,” Ryan teased. “Then you won’t have to pretend like you know the front end of a horse from the back one.” He bellowed out another laugh while Silas shook his head. “Good for you, Reid. I can’t wait to hear about it. You get settled into your new place okay?”
Reid.
Silas let his given name pass without correcting Ryan. His brother was all he had in the world, and Silas figured he’d eventually give up the name he’d been so eager to take a decade ago.
“Yeah,” he said, an image of Holly Stewart flashing through his mind. Should he tell her his real name or not? He’d have to fill out official paperwork, and he decided he’d deal with making that decision tomorrow.
ChapterFourteen
Blake Stewart knocked on Adam and Jesse’s front door, then went right inside the cabin. The two of them lived together, and the only reason they managed not to kill one another was because they fed each other’s furious fires.
Then, they got all fired up, hot, and blown out before anyone else in the family had to get singed too badly.
Except for Blake. He often got a phone call in the early morning hours from an irate Adam. Or Jesse would sit down next to him and Gina at breakfast and start hissing out of the corner of his mouth about This, That, or The Other.
Blake didn’t mind carrying their burdens, because someone had to. He’d rather it be him than Mama or Daddy—or worse, Nash. Or Holly.
She had a little patience for Jesse, but almost none for Adam, and Adam was a good man. He worked hard. He tried hard. He used his brain, and he showed up whenever and wherever someone needed him. No questions asked…at least at the time. After the fact, and well, Blake heard a lot from Adam about things in the days and weeks following the activity.
“It’s just me,” he said as he went inside. Both of his brothers sat at the dining room table, which stood in the back corner of the house. Literally. They’d pushed it into the corner, so only two sides could be used. They had exactly two chairs, as no one came here to eat with them, ever.
“Blake.” Adam got to his feet and glanced at Jesse. “What are you doin’ here?”
“I asked him to come talk to me about a new class.”
“Is this that pizza baking thing?” Adam demanded. He frowned mightily at Jesse as Blake crossed through the living room.
“Yes,” Jesse said.
“You can’t be havin’ people stickin’ their hands in five-hundred-degree ovens,” Adam barked.
Jesse glared at him, and Blake nudged Adam out of the way. “Go wash your dishes,” he told his brother. He took Adam’s spot at the table and cocked one eyebrow. “Gina said the same thing.”
“So she won’t let the guest in the kitchen,” Jesse said. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. Given how much he worked out, Blake wasn’t surprised to see the bulging muscles in his chest, shoulders, and biceps.
“I don’t think it’s wise either,” Blake said. “But, I was talking to her and Ashley about this yesterday, and Becks came in to get a snack.”
Jesse glared, but Blake wasn’t deterred. He’d dealt with Jesse’s attitude plenty of times. “She suggested outdoor pizza ovens. With wood chips.” He let the words settle there, and Adam drifted back over to the table too.
