Brody Read Online Free

an oversized mug filled to the brim with whipped cream. “Let’s go into the living room. Oh wait, are you hungry? I could fix a snack.”
    “I don’t feel like eating, but thanks.”
    When I turned on the overhead light in the living room, I noticed the dark smudges under Brody’s eyes. This definitely wouldn’t be the first night he’d lost sleep. I knew tonight’s watch could be attributed to his father, but what about the others? Was it possible he’d been thinking about me, or had he just been too busy having a good time to sleep? The latter wouldn’t surprise me.
    He sat on one end of my small gray sofa while I sat on the other, facing him.
    “So what else did your dad say, aside from the fact you have two more brothers?”
    “Two half-brothers.” He frowned into his hot chocolate before he took a sip. “He said he got remarried. He claims he’s on the wagon.”
    “You don’t believe him?”
    “How can I? He’s a lying dirtbag. When I think of all the times he told my mom he was working when he was really at some poker game…” He scowled, gripping the mug a little tighter.
    I rested my hand on his knee. “And you don’t believe it’s possible he has changed?”
    “If it’s possible, if he did change for them, what does that say about us?”
    “What do you mean?” I asked, inching a little closer.
    “They were worth changing for. We apparently weren’t.”
    “Brody, you don’t know that. Maybe you and your mom and brothers were the catalyst for his change. Maybe he was so ashamed of the way he treated you, he knew he needed help.”
    “Do you really believe people can change?” His question was barely audible.
    I knew we weren’t talking about his father anymore. He wanted to know if I believed he could change. “Sure, I believe people can change. If they want to.”
    “What if they want to but don’t know how?”
    “Then I guess they need help,” I said, trying to tread carefully. I wanted, more than anything, to believe Brody was ready to change, but I couldn’t risk getting hurt again. I couldn’t pin all of my hopes and dreams on something that would never materialize. “Maybe someone to mentor them?”
    “He said he had a sponsor,” Brody said, staring straight ahead at the flat-screen TV tucked into a creamy wood wall unit I’d had made. “That’s how he got sober. He met this guy who ran a boarding house. A vet, I guess, who suffered from PTSD.”
    “Really?” I was surprised Brody had learned so much about the life his father had been living for the past two decades. I would have expected him to kick his dad out before he’d had the chance to plead his case.
    “Yeah, my old man seems to think he’s suffering from the same. PTSD.”
    I frowned. “I don’t remember you telling me he was in the military.”
    Brody rolled his eyes. “That coward in the military? Are you kidding?”
    “Then how—”
    “His old man used to beat the hell out of him.”
    “Oh,” I said, diverting my gaze. I could tell Brody was trying to come to terms with what he’d learned, trying to decide whether he could believe his father’s claim that he’d been victimized long before he became a husband and parent.
    “Yeah.” He blew out a breath before tilting his head back to the look at the ceiling. “So what the hell am I supposed to do with that? I mean, why did he even tell me? So I would feel sorry for him, cut him some slack?”
    I took the mug from his hands and set it on the end table. “Maybe he just wanted you and your brothers to understand why he wasn’t able to be the father you needed.”
    “I can’t tell them about this.” He tipped his head toward me, his eyes capturing mine. “You think I should tell them I saw him? Would they want to know?”
    I knew Brody’s family almost as well as my own, but I couldn’t answer that question. He had to decide for himself. “I don’t know. If Ryker had been the one to see him, to learn about what he’d been up to