Page 75 of Theirs to Hunt

“When he was a teenager, his stepmom tried to seduce him.”

My breath catches.

Grayson doesn’t look up.

“He told his dad. Tried to do the right thing. And his father blamed him for it. They never spoke again. It was the last time he saw his father alive. They had been close before then.”

Without thinking, I reach over and lay my hand on Grayson’s. He turns it over and laces our fingers together. Needing the support. Letting me give it.

Brooks keeps going.

“After that, he moved in with my mom and her folks. Enlisted early. They got married fast because they thought she was pregnant. Turned out she wasn’t. But they stayed married.”

His voice drops.

“He deployed. I was a leave baby. And he didn’t come home until the call came in that she was gone. Brain aneurysm. Out of nowhere.”

My throat tightens.

“It’s been just the two of us ever since.”

He looks at me now. Straight on.

“I don’t want to sound like a therapy session. But over the years, we’ve seen what happens. Guys, friends of his, hell, even mine. They fall for someone, and suddenly the family is gone. They’re absorbed into her life. Her friends. Her family. And the people they came from? Left behind. Maybe a birthday text. Maybe a minor holiday visit.”

Grayson speaks now. Low. Final.

“We don’t want that.”

Brooks nods.

“We want someone who ties us together. Not someone who pulls us apart.”

“Someone loyal,” Grayson says.

“Warm. Loving,” Brooks adds.

“Someone who holds her own.”

Grayson meets my eyes.

“Someone who can stand toe to toe with both of us, if needed.”

Brooks finishes it.

“We want a partner. Not a doormat.”

I let that settle in me, filling little cracks and crevices I didn’t even know were damaged. It doesn’t scare me. If anything, it’s the first thing all day that makes sense.

I nod once.

But I’m not done.

My eyes go to Grayson.

“What happened to your dad?”

He doesn’t flinch. Just shifts slightly, eyes tracking out across the dark yard. He’s replaying a memory he doesn’t easily share. He’s willing to for me, and I feel the earlier warmth that settled in me spread further.