Bringing Delaney Home (Cates Brothers #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

thank you, Barbara. That’s so sweet of you to say,” Delaney said for the whole gym to hear. In a quieter voice, just for Barbara, she said, “Consider the hatchet buried.”
    “Delaney Lyons, you are no lady,” she huffed before stomping off to the locker room.
    “You knew that in high school,” Delaney called after her.
    Delaney looked over at Quinn and his friends. Pitiful. They were a bunch of first responders, for Pete’s sake. Working accidents and crime scenes was an everyday thing for them, and here they were mesmerized watching this train wreck. She gave Quinn the stink eye on her way by him.
    “What? So, you and Barbara are finally BFFs?” Quinn asked. “I guess you can check that off your bucket list now.”
    “Oh, bite me. I expect a discount on my gym membership,” Delaney said as she limped toward the front door. “Entertainment like that does not come cheap.” The door slammed closed behind her.
    All three men stood looking at the front door.
    Gage broke the silence with a drawn-out whistle.
    “That was impressive.” Hawk rubbed his hands together and grinned. “And fun.”
    Fun? Getting pulled back into Delaney’s orbit was not Quinn’s idea of “fun.” He remembered getting over Delaney years ago; there had been nothing fun about it. Hell, he knew not to travel that path again, yet there he stood, staring at the front door, wondering why his twenty-dollar bet suddenly felt like a sucker bet.

Chapter Four
    D elaney couldn’t decide what hurt more, her arms, her legs, or her head. She wanted to crawl into bed, but she couldn’t because she knew Greer would talk to Quinn and then she’d be in trouble. Man, who knew nice was so hard? Especially around Barbara. And maybe she snapped at Quinn.
    And his coworkers.
    Okay, a little more effort toward the “be nice” decree might be needed. She used to be nice and even-tempered. She just couldn’t find that person lately, and this new person was unfamiliar and unpredictable.
    She pulled her Jeep into the driveway of their little yellow house. Turning off the engine, she sat and looked at the house she and Greer had grown up in. It was such a cheerful-looking house; too bad it had years of sad memories inside. Yesterday, she had been so tired and hungover it had been easier to block out the house and the memories, which, today, were reaching out to suffocate her.
    Lord, she didn’t know how Greer had been able to live in it all these years, save the time she’d spent away at college. Luckily, they had been able to rent the house out. It had almost covered the mortgage each month. Between the rent, her military salary, and a few odd jobs, they’d been able to keep the house and get Greer through college.
    With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself out of the Jeep. Had it really been eight years since she’d been home? She could have gotten leave to come home for a visit. It wouldn’t have mattered though, since she’d lived paycheck to paycheck during those years. The choices had been easy back then. Books for Greer or head home? New tires for Greer’s car or head home? Bring Greer out to Italy to celebrate her college graduation or head home? That last had been the easiest of them all. They’d had a blast in Italy together.
    Delaney grabbed the railing next to the cracked front steps and worked her way up one weathered grey step at a time. Ouch. She limped past the side door to sit on the porch swing hanging outside the kitchen window. She set the swing in motion with her right foot and closed her eyes, pushing the memories back by focusing on the now. Her whole body hurt, but her prosthesis had her injured leg throbbing. That’s what she got for hiding in her apartment for a month, not sleeping and watching endless episodes of Sesame Street . Jeez, you couldn’t schedule depression for a convenient time. Look what this bout had gotten her—one month behind on her recuperation, a sallow complexion, and a sister who was so scared,