Page 42 of One Quick Obsession

“Mountain men with attitudes that like to hide in the forest?” Flynn asked, but I heard the worry in his tone.

Because I remember seeing his face after I’d returned home. All of my siblings had been worried about me when I’d nearly died. The day that I’d lost all of my friends in that explosion and gunfight. The bullets had torn through my shoulder, had nearly taken me, but it had been Flynn’s face that nearly sent me into the abyss. He hadn’t been able to feel my physical pain, but I swore he could sense everything else.

I knew the jokes and the laughing were to set me at ease, just like he did with everyone else, but he was worried about me.

“I want them to be for veterans, even active duty that are on break. I have a shit ton of money that I don’t need, from the family, and from my art, so I’m going to use it for good. I’m not going to charge them, and they can come with their families, and pay it forward in other ways. But this place let me breathe for the first time in too many years.” I met Flynn’s gaze, knowing that Cale and Weston probably had questions of their own. “I need to do something.”

“You’re a good man, Hudson,” Flynn whispered before he hugged me tightly, and I shoved him off.

“So we’re really not going to talk about Scarlett?” Weston asked, and I just shook my head, a smile playing on my face.

“No. Because I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

“Michelle was really the last person that I know you talked about, so I don’t know if I’ve ever really seen you date”

Cale rappelled down the cliff face again and landed softly on the ground in front of us.

“Michelle? Do I know a Michelle?”

Weston winced. “Sorry, bro.”

“Did I step in something? There’s so many of you, and you have detailed layers of secrets, that sometimes I step in it.” Cale shook his head. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Michelle was my ex. We dated in high school, and then when I decided not to go to college right away and joined the army, I ended up deployed more often than not. It didn’t work out between me and Michelle.”

“I’m sorry about that. Truly. And thank you for your service,” Cale tacked on, looking awkward.

I felt just as awkward. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say when people mentioned that. It wasn’t as if I felt like I had done anything. I was trying to do things now though, and I guess that’s what mattered.

And I didn’t add that I wasn’t with Michelle because she had cheated.

And then she was dead. I couldn’t just say those words.

It was Weston’s turn to climb, and then my own, and by the end of the day, I had a few cuts and bruises, but I felt lighter than I had in weeks.

It was good to get out into the mountain air, to just breathe for the first time. Spring would hit hard soon, and then summer, and I’d be working as usual.

I had a few projects in town that I needed to do, since Ms. Patty had roped me into more than one mural. And I would get it done. I would do anything for Ms. Patty.

She’d been the one to give me my first cup of coffee when I had moved to town, still in a sling, and glared at anybody who tried to talk to me. She’d ignored my barking, handed me coffee, patted my good shoulder, and told me I could come down from the mountains when I was ready.

I’d loved that woman, and all her gossip. Because while I had ignored my brothers, and pushed them away if they tried to feed me or give me anything, Ms. Patty had forced herself onto my land, driving her own four-wheel drive truck, in order to give me frozen meals and home baked food.

Then others had joined in, and my siblings and even my mother had done their best.

But it had been Ms. Patty who had been a force of nature. And she still was.

We made our way back down the trail, our guys’ afternoon surprisingly peaceful. It wasn’t that I disliked people in general, it was that I liked being alone. I wasn’t lonely, I was happy and content in solitude.

Flynn and Weston were up front, talking about Weston’s upcoming expansion, and I ended up in the back with Cale. Cale wasn’t an outdoorsman by any stretch of the word, but he was trying, and he seemed like he was enjoying himself.

“You doing okay?” I asked, knowing that if I accidentally broke something on Sophia’s husband, I would hear about it forever.

“I’m doing fine. I’ve only tripped twice today.” He tripped again, and I reached out and caught him. “Sorry about that.” He ripped his arm from my hand, and I knew he had to be embarrassed. Hell, I tripped all the time, but me saying that would just embarrass him further.

“I know you said that you and Sophia wouldn’t be coming up to Cage Lake often, but we can still figure out a house for you to stay at that’s yours. My dad was an asshole, we all know it. You guys deserve a place.”

Cale gave me a look I couldn’t quite read, and he shook his head. “Sophia spends most of her time with the girls or at the dance studio. And I’m traveling often. While having a place to relax would be nice, I don’t think she would want a handout.”