Hope Against Hope: The Hope Brothers Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

him again at the funeral home, he seemed to not even remember anything. When he hugged me, I clenched up, but he didn’t even seem to notice.
    He was drunk, sure. But you’d think he’d remember assaulting me and getting his balls kicked in when I finally came to my senses and stopped crying. It had taken me a second or two, but when I felt his hand start to slide down the front of my jeans, I knew that wasn’t the way I wanted this to go down. I slammed my knee up between his legs, and he fell to the floor gasping for air. I ran to the back bedroom of the cabin, locked the door and changed out of my torn shirt and bra. When I came back out, he and his truck were gone.
    I didn’t see him again until he showed up at the funeral home. To be honest, at that point, I hadn’t given him too much thought because I was so overwhelmed with the tragedy of my parent’s deaths. But as time wore on in the last few weeks, he’d been in my thoughts a lot more.
    And I was pissed.
    I didn’t give a shit that he was drunk, that was no excuse for what he did. But after all this time, I still hadn’t told anyone, and even though I wanted to tell someone, at least Ruby, I still hadn’t found the strength to say the words.
    I hadn’t seen him again since the funeral, but that was normal. Lee took off all the time on road trips or visiting friends. He seemed to stay away from his parent’s ranch as much as possible.
    I sighed at the irony, and turned over to and stared up at the ceiling, all my dreams streaming across my mind like a shattered fairy-tale that I would never get to experience. Moving away was out of the question now. I was tied to the farm now. There were no other choices. I had given up my internship at the sanctuary so I could help out more here. It was the only right thing to do.
    A soft knock on my door jarred me from my thoughts.
    “Come in,” I said. Crit opened the door and walked in. He sat on my bed, the weight of his strong body sinking into my mattress.
    “Hey, kid,” he said. “I made breakfast. You hungry?”
    “I don’t know…” I said, my voice trailing off.
    “Breakfast is on the stove waiting for you. Seth and Jesse are helping me mend the fence in the lower pasture today. Renegade tried to get out again last night. Managed to get the door of his stall open again and made it all the way to the fence before getting stuck in it. Hank found him this morning.”
    “That freakin’ horse is going to kill himself,” I said. Renegade was Dad’s horse. Ever since the accident, he hadn’t been quite right. This was the third time he had tried to escape.
    “Yeah, I think he misses Dad,” Crit said softly.
    “He’s not the only one,” I replied. My eyes filled with tears, as they had a thousand times since I realized I would never feel my father’s arms around me again. As if reading my thoughts, Crit reached for me, pulling me into a bear hug, his huge biceps almost smothering me. I inhaled his familiar, Earthy scent, and gratitude filled my heart. At least I still had my brothers.
    “Are you okay, George? I know this has all been so difficult.
    Lee’s face flashed in my mind again, but I pushed it away.
    “I’m okay, I’m getting through it.”
    “You know you can talk to me about anything, okay? I’m always going to be here for you, no matter what.”
    “I know, Crit. Thank you. What can I do to help you today?” I looked up at him, and was filled with admiration. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he was worried about me. I decided then and there I wouldn’t add to his burden.
    “Can you clean the stalls? I’ve already fed the horses for you and put them out in the small pasture. I’d do it but I need to mend this fence pretty quickly. And then, I have to head down to the arena for practice.” The week after the accident, my brother had decided to go ahead and compete, even if Dad wasn’t there. It was what he would have wanted, and Crit and Beau Haggard were