Free I Run to You by Eve Asbury

shade
and saw him.
    He actually felt it.
    Coy stood but lit another cigarette. Under
his lashes, he observed her posture and movements were now
tense.
    Levi, God bless him, he turned and spotted
Coy. As Coy blew smoke out his nose, he knew with a sinking gut,
his boy was now pointing and talking about him to Brook.
    His instincts now calmed, he became aware
from all the blood rushing and receding, of the sun setting fully.
He could see fine enough to know Levi was going to make the big
mistake—come running up there—to tell him to come down and talk to
her. Because his son was a Coburn, and they were like that. All
Levi knew was that everyone was glad Brook was home and they were
all kin,
    It happened almost before his thoughts
stopped. Coy knew, as any fool did, she had probably tried
everything to assure Levi they knew each other and it was
unnecessary.
    “Hey. Dad. Come down and say hey to Brook,
before she leaves.”
    There was no point in saying anything. He put
out the cigarette and was a step behind Levi as the boy sauntered
back down the slope.
    The kid glanced between them when he stopped;
paying a lot of attention, though it was innocent enough.
    “Welcome home, Brook,” he offered. Their eyes
locked and his voice sounding rough, low, to his ears.
    “Thank you.” She gave him enough time to feel
a familiar ache looking into those violet eyes, before she glanced
at Levi.
    His son was saying something about him being
on TV, playing ball, the usual stuff a proud kid says. Coy heard
her answer that she knew that, and wasn’t it cool?
    He tried to look casual taking a step and
laying a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “Don’t talk her ear off, son.
She’s had long day.”
    “I wasn’t. Was I?” His son frowned and looked
at Brook.
    “Not at all. I enjoyed it. But I really do
have to go. I’ll be back often, and we’ll see each other.”
    “Yeah. You’re family again.” Levi grinned and
looked at Coy. “She’s pretty. Ain’t she, dad. Aunt Madeline’s
daughter. She’s Max’s sister too.”
    “Very.” Coy felt his throat flex and looked
from his son, who stepped away, to Brook.
    Her face was tense, cold almost.
    Levi said another goodbye and took off—
leaving Coy standing there. He figured there were eyes from the
porch, the yard, probably the damn windows, on them. Her glance
flickered that way before she moved, got in the car, and closed the
door. The window was still down.
    What the hell. Coy stepped up and braced a
hand on the top, leaning down and saying while she put the key in
and turned it, “I’m sorry.”
    Her profile was chilly. “He’s a great kid.
Beautiful. Perfect.”
    Gruff and soft, he supplied, “I’m not sorry
for him, Brook. I’m sorry for— the betrayal that made him.”
    Brook flickered a glance at him, the engine
running. “Great. Fine. We are all past it. Now I have to go.”
    The tight, cold words, her darker eyes,
should have warned him. Nevertheless, Coy had to add, “If you’ve
reached the age you have, without a moment you’d take back—you’re
damned lucky.”
    Her voice was quiet almost silken when she
captured his gaze and uttered, “Fuck you. Coy.”
    He stared at her, knowing she had waited
years to say that. She deserved to say it. “I’m sorry. I deserve
that.”
    She was holding the wheel with both hands,
and turned to look forward. Her tone tighter now, after taking a
deep breath and letting it out, she voiced, “It’s history. Erased.
We are all grown-ups now. There is nothing more to say about it. In
fact, I’ll accept your apology—so you’ll realize I’ve no intention
of listening to it again.”
    “All right.” Coy said it, but he would always
feel that gut burning need to undo everything, for her sake.
Because—she had been wonderful to him, more than he deserved, and
he had been a bastard of the worst kind. “I was a stupid asinine
kid, with no self-control. It had nothing to do with you. You were
too good for