Right Back On

Eight

"Please, Code? I need to grab some stuff and I bet you do too," Torrin pleaded.

My hot-headed big brother's request broke my heart to some extent. I had never known him to be scared of anything or anyone until I watched him cower in the presence of our drunk mother.

"Fine," I sighed.

"We can take my car. I'll pick you up at Tommy's around four."

I nodded, forgetting that we were on the phone. "Okay."

His gruff I love you surprised me and I stared at the phone for a few seconds as the line went dead immediately after.

Tommy heard my sigh and came into the living room, a spatula in one hand and a bunch of lunch meat in the other. "What was that all about?"

"Torrin. He wants me to go with him to get stuff from the house."

Tommy nodded gravely.

"You and Charlie are really damn lucky to be moved out already," I grumbled.

He shrugged. "I can't complain. Having my own place is nice and I make good money logging so paying for stuff is no big deal."

Tommy had actually grown up in a pretty good environment. He'd been raised by his dad because his mama died of cancer when he was six. The two were extremely close. According to him, the only reason he'd moved out in the middle of senior year after turning eighteen was because he'd already mooched off of his dad for too long. Now he lived in a trailer house on the piece of property his dad rented to him.

"Y'know, I wouldn't mind living with my dad. It's my mom who's the psycho."

"Well, when does the divorce get finalized?"

"Hell if I know. We'll probably find out today. Torrin probably told dad we were coming."

"You're old enough to have a say in which parent you want to live with. That should help," he shrugged. "But either way, don't stress about it. That'll only make things worse."

I took his advice and spent the rest of the day sleeping off the long night at the rodeo. Everyone was still asleep when I woke up in Kellan's basement so instead of waking them up I just went back to Tommy's. My irritation with Oakley hadn't worn off, neither had my confusion with Kellan and his mood swings. The only person I wasn't particularly annoyed with was Blake, and she was probably too hungover to bother saying goodbye too.

A loud banging at the door drew me halfway from a fitful sleep on Tommy's couch around four.

I heard Charlie get up and open it with a loud squeak. "Hey, knock it off! Coda's asleep."

"Shit, sorry," Torrin apologized.

"God knows she needs as much as she can get... Just come in and wait until she wakes up."

I felt a weight settle next to me and heard the recliner creak but I didn't bother to move.

"Well, how's everything goin' around here?" Torrin asked.

"I'm fine, Tommy's fine. Coda's been hanging out with Kellan and Oakley so we don't see her a whole lot."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, I guess they got her into roping. We actually went and watched her yesterday."

"Is she any good?" Torrin asked, sounding curious.

"Yeah, her and Oakley are a team. They did alright yesterday. I was kind of amazed," Charlie chuckled.

I opened my eyes and yawned, realizing that more sleep wasn't an option with my two brothers chattering like they were.