Southern Secrets (Southern #7) - Natasha Madison Page 0,39

hand. "Not seven."

"Well, I don’t know about you," Ethan says. "But Sunday." He sticks out his thumb. "Monday." His other finger comes out. "Tuesday."

I hold up my hand. "I get it. You know how to count and the days of the week." I glare at him.

"Come on," he says to me. "Let’s go for a ride."

"I have a ton of work to do here," I say, looking at my desk and seeing that there is actually nothing for me to do. "Who did my work?"

"Willow," Quinn says. "She was worried you would be a basket case when you came back."

"I don’t know why everyone thinks I’m grouchy." I get up and walk to them. "I’m perfectly happy." I force the smile. "And chipper."

"You look like the Joker in Batman," Quinn says, and I punch his arm. "I’m telling your mom on you."

I’m about to punch him again when Ethan pulls my arm out of the office. "Come on," he says, pulling me out of the barn. "Let’s go visit Grandpa and get your horse."

"Ugh, fine," I say, getting in the truck with him. "You're annoying, by the way."

"That’s my job as an older brother," he says, smirking. "Literally my only job."

"Really?" I look over at him. "I thought Dad said it was to protect me."

"And bother you," he adds in. "You know, to make up for all the times you woke me up in the middle of the night."

"I was a child," I say, shaking my head as we get to the barn. I get out laughing. "I had no way of knowing it was wrong."

"What about when you came into my room when you were seven and painted my nails when I was sleeping?"

I roll my eyes when I look up and see my grandfather coming to us. His face fills with a smile, and I can’t help the smile that comes on my face. "There she is." His voice is soft, and I walk to him, hugging him.

"Hi, Grandpa," I say, smiling up at him. His big white cowboy hat is on his head.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asks me. I roll my eyes, and he shakes his head, laughing. "Just like her momma."

"We are going to go for a ride," Ethan says. "I’m not saddling your horse," he says as we walk to the barn with my grandfather's arm around my shoulder.

"Don’t touch my horse," I tell Ethan, and we walk into the barn as I walk to my stall and saddle my horse.

"Be careful with her," my grandfather tells Ethan. "If she gets hurt, I’ll tan your hide."

"Grandpa, I’m almost thirty." He laughs at him, and my grandfather stands there with his hands on his hips. "Fine, I’ll make sure she is okay."

We ride side by side, the sun high in the sky as we go into the forest. "Don’t you work?" I ask Ethan, and he laughs.

"I am working," he says, looking at me.

"Am I your work?" I shriek. "You guys are all assholes."

He laughs. "We just want to make sure you’re okay."

"Yeah, well, still," I say as we ride slowly through the woods, neither of us saying anything. Both of us are lost in our own thoughts.

"So what’s the deal with you and Asher?" I look over at him.

"There is no deal with Asher and me. His place burned down, and I offered him a place to sleep."

"I did," Ethan says, not looking at me. "We all did. But he didn’t take anyone else up on their offer."

I shrug, not wanting to think about it anymore. "I guess you have to ask him why he said yes to me and not to you."

Ethan must sense my mood because the rest of the ride is quiet, and when we finally get back to the barn and leave the horses, he says, "Mom wants us to have dinner at her house."

"Oh, that sounds good," I say because for the past three days, I’ve been sitting on the couch trying not to think about why Asher was coming home later than usual. The only answer that I had was that he was seeing someone. The thought made me fucking sick to my stomach, and I hate that it makes me feel this way. I wish I felt nothing.

We pull up to my parents' house, and I see Emily out with Gabriel and Aubrey on her hip. "Daddy," Gabriel says, jumping up and down while Aubrey claps her hands together. I look over and see