Page 24 of The Run Home
“I teased you. Sure. But I did not bully you, Shae. In fact, I looked out for you!”
Shae looked at me incredulously. “Yeah? Prove it.”
I gaped at her. She was being fucking serious right now? I held up a single finger. “Grady Summerlin.”
Shae narrowed her eyes.
“Hebullied you. Him and his idiot friends. I took him aside one day and told him to cut that shi—boozy out.”
“Shiboozy!” Georgia cheered, not able to read the room yet.
“I told him to lay off of you so you’d let your guard down and then I could hit you with an epic prank.”
Shae shook her head slowly. When she spoke, her voice was soft. Cautious. “What prank?”
I brightened. “Exactly. There was no prank. I never intended there to be a prank, but the dork believed me. And you got to experience high school without Grady and his idiots harassing you.”
Shae’s mouth dropped open.
“Well, crap. That’s kind of genius,” Colson said in the silence.
I’d never loved my brother more.
I felt like a goddamn hero.
CHAPTER TEN
Shae
My mind was spinning,running through all the details of those years long, long ago, wondering if maybe I got some of it wrong. But that couldn’t be. I could list off at least twenty things Boon had done to me or said to me that were just straight up mean, starting with ruining my tea party when I had just barely started elementary school.
“Want to take a slice home with you, sweetie?” Gigi’s kind offer broke me out of a stunned trance. I blinked, noticing everyone starting to get up from the table, empty dessert plates in hand. I looked down at my delicious pie, only half eaten.
“Oh, no, that’s okay.”
“Well, at least take that slice with you so you can eat without my clan bothering you.” Gigi’s gaze drifted over my shoulder.
Boon stood behind me. I could just tell from the way the air shifted when he was near. He’d been an air bender as long as I could remember. He’d make me so mad as a young kid I couldn’t talk. Then I’d lusted after him so much as a teenager thatwhen he spoke to me, I couldn’t breathe. Even just his presence seemed to change something in the breeze.
“I’ll walk you home,” his deep voice offered.
I shoved my chair back, suddenly eager to escape. The chair hit his legs, but other than the quick puff of air out of his mouth, he didn’t complain. Gigi shoved the plate of leftover pie in my hands, and I took it.
“I’ll bring the plate back tomorrow,” I said absently, just wanting out of there so I could think about what Boon had said.
“Boon can bring it back.”
Speaking of that badger bait, his hand came down on my lower back, the heat of his skin scalding me through a layer of clothing. I jerked forward and had to scream at myself inside my head to slow down. I couldn’t run out of the house like an idiot. I tossed a smile at Gigi that probably looked more like a grimace.
“I’ll text you details for Sunday!” Emmerleigh called after me, busy trying to keep their fussy baby from crying while Warrick hoisted Georgia up into the air, making her shriek with laughter.
I lifted a hand in acknowledgement, but didn’t have the capacity to answer her. Boon still had his hand on my back and was steering me out the door. As soon as it clicked shut behind us, the quiet of the evening sounded deafening. The crunch of dirt and gravel under our feet as we crossed the Wolfe driveway could have been bombs going off with how loud it sounded.
Boon didn’t say a word until we climbed the stairs of my porch. He also didn’t take his hand off my back until I turned at my door. He looked serious. That twinkle in his eyes that said he was about to drop a joke was gone.
“Want to sit with me for a bit?” He gestured to the old rocking chairs Mom and Dad kept on the porch ever since I was little. I’d sanded them once and repainted them, but there was still about a fifty-fifty chance you’d leave the chair with a sliver in your backside.
I nodded, thinking I might ask him more questions about Grady, or any of the other things in our childhood that made me feel like Boon hated me our whole lives.
