Page 5 of The One Who Got Away (Murdock Brothers #4)

The fact that he still knew where everything was left me off balance as much as this ridiculous awareness. It had to be because my immunity to him had been compromised with all the time away from one another.

It had taken some time, but I’d been able to settle into the friend zone. I’d followed his lead there during our freshman year. I’d hoped he might be my first kiss, but instead he’d spun tales of my future.

A future far away from Indigo Valley.

Away from him.

“You’re going to get out of here, El. You’re gonna take over the game world.” I could still hear his voice. The way his dark eyes had been so intense as he supported me when no one else had. My mother assumed I’d go to a state college and live home.

But I couldn’t stay under her watchful eye forever.

Gus had known that.

And so, we’d been friends. The best of friends.

He’d held my hair the first time I’d puked from drinking.

He’d show up with chocolate and gummy bears when my period kicked my ass.

He’d decked Rob, the lacrosse captain, who had cheated on me in my junior year.

And he’d helped me pack for Northeastern.

Then he’d left for a job in Montana the night before I left.

Maybe he’d felt it too. The inability to actually say goodbye.

I’d driven to Boston with a lump in my throat the whole way.

“El? You gonna get that?”

The timer finally dented the nostalgia fog. “Yeah, sorry. Was thinking.” I pulled the rice off the stove and set it to rest, resetting the timer.

“Was it that bad?” He held out a glass of white wine to me.

I hid behind the bowl of the glass for a moment. The light pinot left behind a crisp zing. I raised my brows. “Wow. You a wine guy, Gus?”

He gave me that lopsided grin that ruined me.

“Sometimes. I’m partial to rum after spending a few years in Costa Rica, but I met this old guy in San Jose -- Roland, was his name.

He talked about wine like it was a woman.

He made learning about it fun. Besides, there’s only so much rum you can drink before you get in trouble. ”

I laughed.

“Now, answer the question, El.”

I sighed. “Dad just up and left.” I gave a bitter laugh as I turned off the oven and pulled the chicken out to rest while the rice finished cooking.

“Just left with no reasons. I think that’s the worst part.

If it was a younger woman or whatever -- at least I could have just hated him.

But he left and sent divorce papers with a law firm they used to use for everything. No note. Just a single text.”

“Fuck.”

I threw the oven mitts on the counter and picked up my wine again, draining the glass and handing it back to him.

He refilled it, then put the bottle down and touched my hand. “Hey, look at me.”

I pressed my lips together, all the words of hurt wanting to tumble free.

“Eloise.” He took my free hand and set it on his chest.

My gaze crashed into his.

“I’m sorry.”

My eyes burned as he took my glass and pulled me in. The familiar earthy scent of him wrapped around me first, then it was the arms I missed so damn much. I pressed my cheek into his chest and broke.

His hand smoothed over my hair. “It’s okay.”

For a second I believed him. The solid warmth of him and the cashmere of his sweater made me burrow closer. I looped my arms around his waist and clung to him as the tears blew out as fast as they arrived.

It was always like that for me.

“You’re the only one who’s ever seen me cry. Did you know that?” I said finally.

He rubbed his beardy cheek against my hair. “No. Surely, Maxie and Lopez got a good dose of them.”

I laughed and detangled myself from him. I brushed the tears off my cheeks. “Nope. They did most of the crying. Mostly of the rage variety.” I turned away from him, embarrassed at what had to be splotch city on my cheeks.

“Well, Lopez was ready to fight at any time.”

I huffed out a strangled laugh. “Did you hear she’s in DC these days?”

He leaned against the kitchen island, his wine back in hand. “No way. Mary Lopez?”

I pulled down plates. “Yep. She’s working for a senator, I think. I get a crazy drunk dial from her every once in a while and we catch up. She’s getting married.”

“Damn.”

“I know. I think it’s her third time.” I handed him a plate. “Help yourself.”

“Third? Jeeze.” He peeked around me with a groan. “That looks as awesome as it smells.”

I picked out a crispy caramelized onion from the corner of the sheet. “Wait until you taste it.” I waited for him to fill his plate, then took care of my own. I followed him to the little table in our sliver of a dining room.

The townhouse was a small one with very distinct zones. Kitchen and dining on the upper level and two steps down held the living room full of comfortable furniture, and a sectional couch made for napping. A sliding door led to our patio with the same pavers that had been laid when I was sixteen.

The Murdock brothers had done our backyard. I’d been fifteen and a little starstruck by the hotness of all the Murdock boys. But my eyes had been on Gus. It was the first time I’d noticed his skinny frame was filling out.

And that patio had starred in one of my first sex dreams as a teenager.

“Where’d you go?”

I swung my gaze back to him as I picked up my fork. “I was just remembering when you and your brothers demolished my backyard.”

He laughed. “Oh, hell. That was the sweatiest day all summer. The humidity was off the charts.”

Oh, I knew all too well. There’d been a whole lot of tanned, and sometimes pink, skin on display that day as they dug out and leveled the backyard.

“Pretty sure Maxie made sure to bring out bottles of water for the cooler. She’d shamelessly stolen one of my sundresses to go show off for your brothers.”

He snickered. “I remember. There was a whole lot of Maxine Delacroix hidden under her oversized sweatshirts. Pretty sure my brother Cam swallowed his tongue.”

I smacked his arm. “Bet you looked too.”

He cut a hunk of chicken off and scraped it through the sauce. “Nah. I valued my head where it was.”

“What’s that mean?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. So, how long are you in town?”

I gave a little shrug. “Not sure.”

He got up to get the wine we’d left behind, then sat a bit gingerly.

“You good?”

He laughed. “Just a little sore from my first training session yesterday. Then we framed out a few walls in the basement of a job today.”

“Bet you overdid it.”

A rueful smile was his only answer.

He paused with his fork to his mouth. “So, are you sticking around?”

I nodded. “I tried to get a leave of absence from Everest Games, but they were too pissed that I gave them no warning. They didn’t really care that I didn’t exactly have a warning myself.”

“And you came home.”

I nodded. “She needed me. What was I supposed to do?”