They were all still laughing when Lucas said, “Hell, thanks to Jacob’s excellent aim—and somewhat bizarre love for his chickens—Calliope and I scored a couple of sweet pairs of alligator boots.”
“He’s not lyin’,” she said. “Theyarepretty dang sweet.”
As they got closer to the workout facility, Boone thought how privileged he was to work with this incredible group of people. They’d made him feel welcome from his first day, pushed him to be his best, and had his back, no matter what. He was incredibly proud to be a part of such a stellar team, and to be able to call them his friends was the cherry on top.
Boone wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.
About two hours later, dripping sweat and needing a hot shower after a tough weight-lifting session, he swiped a towel over his face as he made his way into the locker room. He glanced toward Eddie’s locker, hoping he might see him there, but there was no sign of him. He tried not to worry, but he couldn’t shake the sound of the concern he’d heard in the man’s voice.
Boone opened his oversize locker and plopped down on the bench. He propped his forearms on his thighs and gave himself a minute to rest before reaching into the locker and sliding out his duffel bag. He dropped it on the floor, toed off his boots, and set them aside. He drew back the zipper to open the bag,peeled off his wet socks and T-shirt, and tossed them inside. He shoved up off the bench, undid his belt and pants, and let them both drop to the floor, leaving him in his black boxer briefs.
He grabbed his soap and shampoo, closed his locker, and picked up his dirty towel. On his way to the showers, he tossed it in the bin by the door and grabbed a fresh one. He walked down to the third shower stall on the left—his usual spot—hung his towel on the hook, and dragged open the curtain.
He peeled off his boxers, cranked on the hot water, and stepped beneath the powerful spray. His hands flattened on the wall in front of him, he dropped his head forward and let the hot water soothe the muscles he’d worked so hard.
The curtain in the stall across from him scraped open, then closed across the metal rod, and the water turned on. When he heard the whistling, he knew it was Lucas.
Boone was anxious to see Luna, so he scrubbed the soap over his body, washed his hair, and rinsed off. He reached out and grabbed his towel, wrapped it around his waist, and opened the curtain to his stall the same time Lucas did.
“You going to see Luna?” Lucas had a towel cinched around his waist and used another one to dry his hair.
“Yeah, she wants to see all of us to talk about our bio-patch readings during our workouts today.” Boone walked from the shower area and grabbed another towel on his way to his locker.
Lucas stopped at his locker, which was two down from his.
“Is that the only reason?” His teammate scrubbed the towel over his head one more time and tossed it on the bench. “I’ve seen how you look at her.” He heldup his hands. “No judgment, dude, just go easy, okay? That poor kid has been through a lot.”
“First of all, she’s not a kid.”She is a beautiful young woman.“Secondly, I have no intention of doing anything to hurt her.”
Boone pulled off his towel, set it on the bench, and grabbed a clean pair of boxer briefs from the stack in his locker. He stepped into them and pulled them on. Then he yanked out a pair of socks, tactical pants, and a fresh T-shirt. The pants went on first, then he jammed his arms into the sleeves and yanked his shirt over his head. He sat on the bench to put on his socks and his favorite, well-worn cowboy boots.
Lucas was wearing everything but a shirt when he sat on the bench next to him, facing the opposite direction.
“Sorry, man, I didn’t mean to imply that you would. The thing is, she’s been through a lot, and behind that crazy, analytical, genius brain of hers, she’s still finding her way.”
“I disagree. She’s a hell of a lot stronger than people give her credit for.” He stood, swung his locker shut, and grabbed his duffel bag. “And she told me what happened at The Farm.”
“She did?” Lucas seemed surprised by that disclosure. “Dude, she never talks about that with anyone. The only reason I know is because Caleb told me. He wanted someone here in Virginia, other than just Cole, to know what happened and to keep an eye on her.”
“I get that—he’s married to her sister, and he cares about Luna.” Boone continued, “But whatever happens between Luna and I is our business.”
“That’s cool. But remember, she’s part of the family, and we O’Hallerans protect our own.” Lucas clapped him on the back, started whistling, and went back to getting dressed.
Lucas may have been smiling when he said it, but that was definitely a warning.
Later that evening, Boone rolled to a stop next to his mailbox. He unlocked it and grabbed the stuff stacked inside. He dumped it onto the passenger seat, locked the box, and headed up to the house.
The evening breeze felt good on his face as he made his way down the gravel road. He rolled to a stop, cut the engine, and heard the horses whinnying.
“I’m comin’,” he called out before rolling up his window.
The mail would have to wait until after he took care of the horses.
Once he was done mucking out their stalls, he gave them fresh oats and locked up the barn. He stopped at his truck to grab his gym bag and the pile of mail and headed inside.
The smell of pot roast from the slow cooker was more than he could resist. He tossed his bag into the laundry room and set the mail on the table. He grabbed a bowl and fork and dished up a healthy amount of meat, potatoes, and carrots. He ate while he went through the stack of mail. Mostly junk, election flyers, and a bill from the guy he bought his hay from. At the bottom was a large manila envelope. He turned it over and saw that it was from his folks.
He set his fork in the bowl, tore open the flap on the envelope, and looked inside. There was a folded sheet of paper and what looked like a bunch of Polaroid photos rubber-banded together.
