Page 67 of Break the Barrier
“Is that what you told yourself with your brothers? You’re the oldest, too.”
He shrugs his broad shoulders and crosses his arms. “Eh, I suppose. It’s different, you know, we’re guys. We don’t typically sit around and chitchat about our feelings.”
“Us girls rarely do that either,” I retort.
“Maybe you should,” he says quickly with a grin.
“Maybe you should, too.” I smile at him, enjoying that while we’re giving each other shit, we’re also having fun doing it. “Maybe then you’d know why they don’t come home so much.”
His teasing glimmer slips a little, and he sighs. “I do wish Iknew that. Mitch…well, he was small when he lived here. Smaller than any of us boys. So, he was picked on for it, even though we would take care of anyone who messed with him.”
My brows furrow. “He was bullied?”
“Yeah, and for whatever reason, he was extra sensitive about our dad never being around. So, he took those nasty comments from other kids to heart. He left the minute he was eighteen.”
“That’s so awful, I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not a big deal, he’s doing better now that he’s got a life outside of this place. He has a good reputation on the rodeo circuit and has basically left the life he hated behind.”
I reach across the table, skimming my fingers over his until he grasps my hand. “But he left you behind,” I say softly, finishing what he didn’t say.
“Yeah, I guess.” He chuckles.
The moment gets a little heavy, so I pivot the conversation for now. “And what about your brother, Jax?”
He rolls his eyes playfully. “Well, Jax is a different story. He was basically the opposite of Mitch—his ego knew no bounds.”
“Had a bit of a different reputation, huh?” I ask playfully.
Logan laughs. “Yeah, you could say that. But this town was definitely too small for him. He wanted to get out and explore the world, see what it had to offer.”
“Sounds like my sister, Tori.”
He thinks about it for a minute, then asks, “Have I ever met her?”
I shake my head. “Nope. She’s never come here before.”
“Really?”
I sigh, sadness coming to mind at the thought of my little sister. “Tori was…mad when everything went down. She hated Eric, hated that I let him into our life. So when she was old enough to get her portion of the money from our parents’ estate, she took it and ran.”
We sit in the quiet for a moment, probably both thinking about our siblings and how much we hate that they’re not all happy like we’d like them to be.
I briefly wonder if this is how parents of adult children feel.
“All right.” Logan slaps the table, jerking me out of my thoughts. “That’s enough of that talk, this night is definitely not supposed to be about our siblings.”
“What’s it supposed to be about, then?” I ask, teasing him with my grin.
His eyes sparkle, and he leans forward as if he’s going to tell me the most amazing secret in the world. I meet him halfway, his lips close to mine when he finally says, “Dessert.”
I’m still laughing at his answer when he clears the plates.
24
thea
We takedessert to the couch, both settling into the supple leather of it. It gives me a small chill, and Logan notices, setting down the plates of pie he served on the coffee table and grabbing me a throw blanket off the back of a chair.
