With a sigh, I went into the kitchen and grabbed the supplies before heading back out onto the porch. “Will you help me?” I asked Cheese.
 
 “Sure.”
 
 While he wrapped my cast I asked, “So, how did you get the nickname Cheese?”
 
 “It’s not a nickname,” he corrected. “It’s a road name.”
 
 “Right. How did you get the road name Cheese?”
 
 “On the night of my initiation, the boys dared me to eat an entire block of cheddar cheese.”
 
 “That’s a weird form of hazing.”
 
 “It was all in good fun.”
 
 “Did you do it?” I asked in amusement.
 
 “Hell yeah, I did it.” He grinned. “The fuckers made fun of me all the next day because I didn’t leave the bathroom.”
 
 “Charming,” I said with a snort.
 
 Placing a final rubber band around my cast he said, “There ya go.”
 
 “Thanks. What’s your real name?”
 
 “Chester,” he said, his tone serious.
 
 Well, at least I understood why he went by Cheese.
 
 I headed back inside and took a fast shower. I was just pulling on a pair of new jeans and a red T-shirt when Joni arrived. With a smile, I offered her a cup of coffee, which she accepted.
 
 “You didn’t have to come over and entertain me,” I said, placing the half-and-half in front of her.
 
 “I know,” she said. “Though I have to say it’s not completely altruistic.”
 
 “You want to grill me, don’t you?”
 
 “Yep.”
 
 “Sister’s prerogative, I guess,” I said with a smile.
 
 “Definitely.” She tapped the rim of her coffee mug. “I’m just going to get down to it. Okay?”
 
 I nodded.
 
 “I think Colt wants to keep you.”
 
 “What’s that now?”
 
 “Keep you. Like, for good.”
 
 “You can’t keep a person. I’m not a sheep in a petting zoo. You don’t just—what are you even saying right now?”
 
 She took a sip of her coffee. “Let me give you a little insight to Colt, okay?”
 
 I nodded, my heart pounding in my ears.
 
 “He hasn’t been the same since our dad died. And that was nineteen years ago.”