Page 148 of Forbidden You

It’s my go-line for today, because what else am I going to say?

“He’s my brother.” He shrugs, then grabs my shoulder. He presses his fingers into my skin as if he wants to make sure I’m listening. “You’re not alone, Bodi.”

Then why does it feel like I am? Why does it feel like I’m standing in a wheat field with not a soul in sight, no one to hear me as I scream at the top of my lungs? I try to swallow away the tightness in my throat to say something. Anything. But when it doesn’t work, I just nod, hoping my uncle will let it go.

“Do you need help with anything?”

“I got it covered.” By covered, I mean I hired a company to clean out his room at the Peartree while I wait for my father’s lawyer to sort out the last things that come with this death.

“Why don’t you come stay with me for a while? We can go fishing like the old days.” I know he’s trying to comfort me, but I don’t want to reminisce about the past. It only makes it more painful. That’s all that I have left from my dad; the past. It’s filled with memories that will never compare to the real deal and they feel like a waste of emotion.

“Maybe. Are you flying back tonight?” Deflecting, it’s what I’ve become a star at and, to my surprise, everyone lets me get away with it. Probably because they all feel sorry for me. I can hear it in every single word they say.

Poor little Bodi.

Poor little orphan boy.

Which is fucking stupid because I’m a grown ass man. I own a multi-million-dollar company. I’m set for life. But inside I’m like a lost little boy, roaming the streets in loneliness.

“Yeah.” Lucas nods. “He’d be really proud of you, Bodi.”

“I know.” I don’t, but I’ve learned in the last week that it’s easier to just give the words they want to hear. To tell them what they want in order for them to leave me alone.

“I’ll call you in a few days.” He slaps my back. “Don’t be a stranger. Come to Maine.”

“I’ll think about it.”

40

“He’s going to be such a heartbreaker,” I huff, shaking my head with endearment.

I look at Charlotte sitting on the rocking chair on her porch, with Logan on her lap. He’s the spitting image of his father even at four months old and I just know he’ll be just as handsome one day.

Charlotte lets out a pained moan, rolling her eyes as she keeps rocking him back and forth until he sleeps. “God, I hope not.”

We all laugh at that, knowing every detail of Charlotte and Hunter’s difficult start.

“If he’s going to pull the shit his father did, I’ll be dragging him home by his ear and giving him a lesson in finding his balls.”

“Charlie,” Julie titters, “so old-fashioned. If he finds it earlier than seven years, he’ll be an upgrade compared to his dad.”

“Right.” Charlotte laughs.

I sip my sweet tea, glancing between my friends.

When I met Charlotte and Julie last year, they were mostly Rae’s friends. But since I’ve been back in North Carolina, we’ve been spending a lot of time together and now they feel like my friends too. They never treat me like a teenager even though they are all a few years older and most of the time, it feels like they are the three sisters I never had.

“Men. They have the biggest mouths, but they are scared shitless when it comes to commitment,” Rae mutters. There is a frown on her face as if she’s pissed at Jensen for something, but I know it’s really Bodi who she’s talking about. She made it no secret she wanted to strangle him when I took residence in her guestroom. She even bickers with Jensen about it.

“They are just like any other human being.” A kind smile tugs on Charlotte’s lips as the sun lights up her face. “They just feel the need to hide it. Us women try to hide our fears, but not our humanity.”

This woman lost her mother, the only relative she had, while her heart was broken by the man she loves, and she still looks like the epitome of compassion.

I don’t know how she does it.

“How can you be so calm about it when Hunter made you wait for him for seven years?” I tilt my head in curiosity.

Charlotte glances at Logan. “He made it all better.”

---