He could sense both his father and his brother watching him, probably wondering what his problem was. He prayed they didn’t bust out the questions because he honestly didn’t want to talk about it. The funk he was in didn’t make it easy to have a conversation, and hopefully they realized that. Ever since last night, when his buzz finally wore off, he’d fallen back into the depression he’d been battling for the last few months, and it seemed to be getting worse.
He knew it was his own fault, brought on by his own fears, but he couldn’t seem to shake it. No amount of smiles or fake laughs were helping. The only thing he wanted—which was also something he knew he shouldn’t want—was to see Cheyenne. Yes, that was a ludicrous thought, even he knew that much, but he’d grown tired of fighting it a while back.
For whatever reason, seeing Sawyer with Kennedy at the hospital had cemented something for Brendon. He knew that his brother was well on his way to developing the same sort of relationship with her that his other brothers had recently found with their significant others. Which left Brendon odd man out. And it had been that morning that he’d felt the all-consuming, bitter loneliness take hold of his heart and squeeze.
It wasn’t enough that Braydon and Jessie were moving forward, leaving Brendon to fend for himself, but now Sawyer was heading down that road, too.
“You wanna talk, boy?”
Brendon looked up at his father. He shook his head in response. He really didn’t want to talk. There was nothing to talk about. He knew that getting over himself was something he would have to do on his own and there was no reason to drag everyone else down in the process.
“I heard they’re puttin’ the renovation of Cheyenne’s house on hold,” Sawyer offered from across the kitchen.
“Why’s that?” Brendon asked without thinking.
“With the baby here, Kylie won’t have time to deal with it, and apparently Cheyenne is okay with that. The tour with Dalton and Cooper has wiped her out, and she’s lookin’ for a little downtime.”
How the hell did Sawyer know so damn much about Cheyenne? It was a question that burned on the tip of Brendon’s tongue, but he didn’t bother to ask it aloud. He didn’t want to know the answer.
“What’s Jess gonna do?” Curtis asked, obviously talking to Sawyer.
“I haven’t heard,” Sawyer replied. “Maybe she can come help out at the resort or somethin’.”
Brendon didn’t contribute to the conversation, allowing his father and brother to talk around him. His mind had drifted again to thoughts of Cheyenne. He couldn’t help but wonder where she was, what she was doing, and who she was doing it with. If she wasn’t on tour, did that mean she’d gone home? And if so, where was home?
For the first time in a really long time, Brendon found that he actually cared about the answers to those questions. More importantly, he found that he actually cared about something, period. Namely, Cheyenne Montgomery.
chapter EIGHT
By the time Tuesday afternoon rolled around, Sawyer was ready for the weekend again. With Travis and Gage out on paternity leave for the foreseeable future and Jared still in El Paso taking care of business, Sawyer found himself running back and forth between the resort and the Walker Demo office, trying to keep up with all the balls he was juggling as well as dealing with his mother and her big plans for Christmas.
Needless to say, Sawyer hadn’t had much time to go see Kennedy and he feared her thoughts had drifted to the worst about him. Granted, he was basing that on his own history, not on anything she’d said or hadn’t said to him. Because, again, he hadn’t had the chance to see her, which he fully intended to rectify in just a little while.
But first he needed to head down to the play area and see how things were going. There was a rumor that things were heating up down there, which was a little surprising for a Tuesday. He knew that their guest list was increasing with the holidays approaching, a handful of newcomers stopping in to check out the resort now that they had some vacation time set aside for the end of the year.
Leaving Buster with Kaleb, Sawyer made his way through the offices and into the main part of the resort. Sure enough, it wasn’t a rumor that their attendance had increased. The play area was fuller than he’d seen it ever on a weekday, and a significant amount of play was taking place.
“Hey, man,” a deep, familiar voice sounded from behind him, causing Sawyer to turn around.
He found himself face-to-face with Luke McCoy, cofounder of Club Destiny, a well-known fetish club in Dallas, as well as a good friend to the Walkers.
“Well, well, well. I didn’t know we’d invited trouble this early in the day,” Sawyer joked, taking Luke’s hand and giving it a firm shake.