Page 151 of The Troublemaker

“What?”

“Ask me to stay, Jude.”

His throat went tight, his words like gravel. “Stay.”

And she did.

CHAPTER EIGHT

WHENPENNYDROVEback to King’s Crest the next morning, she knew that there were going to be questions. She was braced for it. For an interrogation. Denver did like an interrogation.

She had sent him a text to let him know that she wouldn’t be home, but she hadn’t offered an explanation. He hadn’t asked.

But she knew that there would be questions.

She pulled up to the beautiful farmhouse. The place that had represented stability to her for so long. She had cried like a baby when she had left to go to college, even though it had been a dream.

Even though it had been good. To be away for a while. To be someone new.

It had felt like a death back then.

And now it felt...beautiful. Happy. But like something was missing.

She parked her car and got out, and her chickens ran toward her, gathering around her ankles.

“Cluckerella,” she said, bending down and picking up a little black banty hen. She held her close. And she felt a yawning ache in her chest. A familiar need. It had been like going to college. When she had felt this expansive desire for more. For something bigger. Something complete. When she looked up, Denver was standing on the front porch, his arms crossed.

“Welcome home, prodigal daughter.”

Her guardian was a big, imposing brute of a man. Women described him as handsome. He was, there was no denying it. Though it made her want to punch them in the face for saying so, because he was like her brother to her.

He was safety, as far as she was concerned. And it was an odd thing. Looking at a man’s face, a man who had a similar collection of features to her father and see someone safe.

“Hi,” she said, tossing the chicken into the air, and letting her flutter down.

“Do I need to go rustle some polecat out of the bush?”

“What does that mean?”

“Just wondering if I need to go lay down the law or something. Some guy I need to meet and scare.”

“No,” she said. “You don’t need to scare him.”

“I sent you out for groceries.”

“You did. I didn’t get groceries.”

“What did you get?”

She lifted a brow. “Laid?”

“I deserved that,” he said, wincing. “Come on in. Everybody else is here. I’m sure they want to hear about it.”

“Absolutely not, Denver King. That’s a bridge too far, even for you.”

He smiled, and it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Not Denver. He tried so hard to make up for everything that his father had done. He had brought the family close together, but sometimes she wondered if anybody was actually close to him.

It was like there was always distance there. Between him and everybody. He cared about all of them. Teased them. Treated them just... The best.

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