“Whatdoes that mean when we get back home?” Beau knew he was pushing theconversation in a dangerous direction once again, but he couldn’t help himself.He wanted to know.
“Nothingis going to change for me, Beau.”
Andthat’s what Beau had been afraid of. Ethan wasn’t willing to change for anyone.He was obviously satisfied with the way his life was, and Beau wanted more thana discreet affair. He wanted the whole nine yards. Unconditional love. Afamily. All of it.
Hewas tired of wasting time. Love had evaded him because he had been too confusedto know which way to look and now that he knew without a doubt just what truelove felt like, he wanted it.
Permanently.
“Iunderstand,” he whispered, not willing to destroy this moment.
Fornow he’d let this be enough. Tomorrow or the next day, or even the day afterthat, then Beau would worry about his next step. Should it have to be withoutEthan, then he’d put one foot in front of the other the way he always hadbefore. It would hurt, would tear his heart to shreds, but it wasn’t like hehadn’t experienced it before. He’d managed to let others push him away and he’dsurvived.
Hewas sure he could do it again.
Hejust didn’t want to.
Chapter Thirty One
??
Lorriewaited patiently for Curtis to hang up the phone and join her in the livingroom. She knew what the call was about and hearing information on Ethan’swhereabouts had become essential to her sanity. Luckily, thanks to her discreeteavesdropping, she knew things were fine. She was grateful for that.
“He’sall right,” Curtis grumbled when he appeared beside the couch a few minuteslater.
“Whereis he?” she asked calmly, offering her husband her full attention.
“Houston.With Beau.”
“Whotold you?”
“Zane.Beau left him a voicemail before they left yesterday. And I called Jared. Heconfirmed. Ethan stopped in to let him know as well.”
Lorriereleased the breath she’d been holding. She had every right to be nervous whenit came to Ethan. Although her son didn’t realize it, Lorrie and Curtis wereboth aware of what had happened to him all those years ago. They were blessedwith boys who were concerned about one another, and although Sawyer had keptEthan’s secret safe from the rest of his brothers, he’d had the common sense tocall their father the night Ethan had been hurt.
Rememberingthe event risked stealing several years off of her life because at the time,Lorrie had worried about her son’s well-being and not just in the physicalsense. Especially after the devastating loss of Gavin Reardon several weeksafter Gavin’s older brother had beaten Ethan.
It’dtaken everything in her power to hold Sawyer and Curtis back, threatening themboth with the law if they even thought about going after Jimmy. Although she fullybelieved that disturbed young man deserved punishment, she did not believe itshould come from her family. The possibility of losing one of her boys or herhusband wasn’t something she ever wanted to consider; that included thepossibility of one of them spending the rest of their life in prison.
And,that afternoon, as soon as they were unable to locate Ethan, she’d gone into afull blown panic. From the sound of it, the boys at least had the decency tomake sure she and Curtis would know they were all right.
“Whenwill they be back?” she asked Curtis, enjoying the sigh of relief knowing thatEthan and Beau were both ok. She couldn’t deny her excitement over the factthat they were together either. Those two young men were looking for something,and she had a sneaking suspicion that they had already found it, but if she hadto guess, one or both of them was being stubborn.
Somealone time would do them some good.
“Fridayor Saturday, Jared said. Ethan’s going to Kaleb and Zoey’s to watch Mason onSaturday night.”
“Good.Good.” Lorrie had seen the way Ethan’s eyes lit up when he was around Mason andshe liked the idea of him spending time with his nephew.
Curtismoved across the room to the coat rack, and Lorrie watched carefully, weighingher next question. “Where are you going?”
“Moonshiners.”
Shehad a feeling he was going to say that. “Did the boys invite you?”
“Yeah,”Curtis said solemnly. “Travis called earlier. He’s worried about Sawyer.”
Lorriestood from her seat and watched her husband as he shrugged on his well-wornCarhartt jacket before tucking his cell phone in the inside pocket.
