Page 70 of Throw Down
“You’re never leaving my side again, period,” Derek said fiercely.Then he leaned down and kissed him.He didn’t care that his brothers were watching.He’d already wasted too much time.He was just a man; he couldn't be a superman anymore.
James whistled, and West let out a quiet laugh.Briar pulled away first, flushed and beaming.
“Come on,” Derek said, gently lifting Briar to his feet, hand firm on hiselbow.Briar swayed, and Derek immediately scooped him into hisarms.
“Whoa!” Briar yelped, scrabbling to hang onto hisneck.“Let mego!”
“Never,” Derek said simply. “We’ll hike down the trail a ways and get an ATV up here foryou.I'll come back with a tow linelater.”
Briar looked flummoxed. He opened his mouth, then closed it, before saying peevishly, "Okay, but I canwalk."
“Of course, you can,” Derek saidsimply. “But you don't have to. Now, let's get youhome.”
Briar’s smile was full ofjoy.
“Home…” he said softly. “Home has never sounded sogood.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BRIAR
Late afternoon sun dappled through the oak trees, casting patterns across the porch of the old farmhouse.Briar sat in a rickety lawn chair, watching children squeal with laughter as Sabbath climbed up and down a toddler slide.
The weather was so hot that his shirt stuck to his back whenever he sat still for too long,but the shade of the porch was infinitely better than standing between the Owens siblings and any competitive game.
“James, you rat bastard!” West yelled as a horseshoe clanged against a stake.
“You snooze, you lose!” Bethie let out a triumphant whoop, which devolved into a shriek when Derek hooked her around the waist and playfully swung her up over his shoulder.She beat at his back with her tiny fists and yelled, “Derek!Put me down!”
“Not until you two stop cheating,” he said calmly.
“It’s called taking advantage of an opportunity—” She yelped when he pretended to drop her.“Okay! Okay! I surrender!”
“You were always the weak link,” James said, shaking his head at their baby sister once Derek set her on her feet.She scrabbled after him, but he dodged, kicking up a cloud of dust around the homemade horseshoe pit.
Ostensibly, it was just another Sunday dinner with the Owens family, but this one had the air of something extra special.Not only was it the first time Briar had been invited, but Bethie was home from college with her newest boyfriend.
“Dinner and entertainment, eh?” Bethie’s boyfriend, Tom, sidled up beside Briar and handed him a cold bottle of beer.Briar pressed the chilled glass against the back of his neck.The condensation was a small relief from the heat.
“It’s like watching a wildlife documentary," he said.
“Safe as long as you don’t get too close?” Tom dragged a chair beside him and sat, looking amused and slightly trepidatious as he watched the grown siblings roughhousing like children. Briar swore he lost two shades of color from his face every time Derek looked his way.
It wasn’t that the family didn’t like Tom, but Bethie’s brothers seemed to have unanimously decided they would only accept him after an extensive round of hazing.Briar was sympathetic but also secretly relieved; the new guy’s presence took all the heat off Briar.He felt like an old pro by comparison, and not only because Susan had burst into tears and hugged him the moment Derek carried him from the forest a week ago.
A few days later, Mrs. Owens had called personally to invite Briar to their next family dinner.Briar was pleased…but bewildered.
“I got a glimpse of what my life would be like without you,” Derek had told him solemnly when he asked, “and they saw what it would do to me.Of course, they want to make sure you feel like you belong.”
Tom sat in silence for a while, absorbing the scene around him.Briar didn’t blame him; there was something intimidating about the intensity of this family.The laughter was there, and the casual displays of affection, but also a shared history of trauma and resentment.The bonds between them were deep and frightening, like fellow soldiers on the other side of a long war.
“They really throw you in the deep end, huh?” Tom remarked, his eyes following Bethie as she dodged a teasing swipe from West.
“Yeah, but they won’t let you drown,” Briar responded, content in his newfound confidence.He took a sip of his beer, savoring the bitter flavor, and waved to catch Derek’s eye.He nodded meaningfully at Tom.Derek frowned. That big brain of his understood perfectly what Briar was asking, but he stubbornly pretended he didn’t.Briar made his eyes big and commanding, jerking his chin in Tom’s direction.This time, Derek’s eyes narrowed.He shook his head. Briar nodded emphatically.Derek sighed.
“Get over here, Tom,” he said with all the enthusiasm of a man facing jury duty.
The screen creaked behind Briar, and Mrs. Owens stepped out onto the porch, wiping her hands on a faded dish towel.