Braydon (Alluring Indulgence #6)(21)
Author: Nicole Edwards

The deep bass, accompanied by a heavy Southern drawl, had Braydon glancing over to see Cooper Krenshaw. Turning, he came face-to-face with Cooper, who was standing behind him, one booted foot on the bottom rung of the stall door, his forearms resting on the wood beam, hands hanging limply over. His expression was one that Braydon had grown used to in recent weeks: concern was etched across his face.

Cooper was Tessa’s famous husband and the man who’d given Braydon a job several months ago. It was kind of strange how close the Walker clan had become with Tessa and their other cousins during the past year, considering they hadn’t had much contact with her growing up, but as time continued to pass, they were becoming quite close to her and her family.

Of course, they had known about Tessa, but due to a family rift in generations before theirs, they had never been close with her. But lately, they’d all sworn to rectify that, everyone agreeing that family was the most important thing. Despite Tessa’s initial resistance to opening up to a long-lost part of her family, she and her brothers, Adam and Jack, had been relatively positive about embracing the new friendship. And now Braydon owed her so much for helping him through his tough time these last few months.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Braydon told Cooper. Not that his insomnia was a new development. That had started many months ago and hadn’t let up in recent days.

Cooper pushed off the rail, walking to the opposite side of the wide path that split the stable in two, and returned with one of the remaining bottles of water. Without a word, he tossed the plastic toward Braydon. Catching it with one hand, Braydon leaned the pitchfork against the wood wall and resigned himself to having to talk. Apparently Cooper intended to stay awhile.

“You’re gonna work yourself into the ground, you know that?”

Braydon laughed as he tipped the bottle to his lips. That wasn’t the first time Cooper had mentioned that.

In the three months Braydon had been hanging out with Tessa and Cooper, they’d pelted him with more questions than he cared to answer. And every time they dug just a little too deep, he brushed them off. That hadn’t swayed either of them in their quest to get him to open up.

“I’m good,” Braydon lied. He wasn’t good. Far from it. But that was the same song and dance he had endured for the past few months.

Physically, he’d never been better. Apparently working from sunup to sundown did a body good. But it didn’t do a damn thing to help Braydon sleep at night, which had been his hope when he first arrived at the ranch.

“Brendon know where you are yet?” Cooper asked, reaching for the last bottle of water once Braydon finished the other and then tossing it to him.

“Not unless my dad told him,” Braydon answered, looking directly at Cooper.

“You still not plannin’ to go home?” Cooper questioned, sipping coffee from a thermos he’d brought with him and peering at Braydon from beneath the rim of his Stetson.

“I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do,” he admitted in defeat.

Just last night, after falling into bed, Braydon had asked himself the same question. After hours of tossing and turning, he’d come up with the same answer he just gave Cooper. As much as he wanted to go back, he didn’t know if he could just yet.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go home. He did. At least to visit. According to his father, that was a must in the next couple of weeks, and he understood. He really did. Braydon missed his family. But at that moment, he was so fucking confused over what he was doing, the thought of going home didn’t sit well with him.

Chances were, he wouldn’t leave if he went back. And nothing had changed since he left. He knew that much. Jessie would never forgive him for leaving without saying a word, and he didn’t blame her.

“You know you’re gonna have to go back, don’t you?” Cooper stated, his voice low.

“I know,” Braydon confirmed. The question was when. Not in the mood to get into a long, drawn-out conversation, Braydon came up with an excuse. “Once I’m done here, I’ve got a couple of errands to run. Need anything while I’m out?”

“Naw,” Cooper answered in that thick drawl. “Tessa and I have to run into town later.” Pushing away from the wall he’d been leaning on, Cooper nodded his head, obviously accepting Braydon’s brush-off. “Tessa asked me to come down here. She said if you’re still around, stop by the house for dinner tonight.”

That was the way Cooper ended almost every conversation these days. It was as though the man expected Braydon to head out at any moment. And hell, maybe that was a safe assumption because half the time, Braydon didn’t even know what he was going to do.