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Chapter Sixteen

DREW

“Murph!” I exclaim, scrambling to my feet on the rocky beach of Brothers’ Cove as our brother lumbers over toward us in no particular hurry. He holds up a case of beer, and I cheer. “Guys, look, he’s alive—and he’s brought a case!”

“That makes up for being AWOL,” Alph tells him cheerfully. “Doritos would work even better.”

“We’ve got enough Doritos to kill a man,” Gage swats at Alph. “We don’t need more, greedy bastard.”

“We always need more,” Kieran interjects.

“I’m only here ’cause I saw Gage threatening to kidnap me in the group chat,” Murph grunts. “I thought I’d show up before he chains me to a rock like Prometheus.”

I laugh as he drops the beer next to the group, before exchanging back-slapping hugs with me and the rest of the guys. Finally, we all settle down on the smooth stones again. We can barely all squeeze into the little semicircle of rocks anymore. Carter and Alph are perched on rocks on one side, and Ronan is sitting between Alph’s knees.

Ahhh, you can feel it. The tension of unspoken gossip in the air.

There isn’t a lot of speculation needed about what’s keeping him so busy. Some of them—like Felix and Alph—have even met the guy. “Hey, it’s okay. You’ve had a lot on your hands,” I say, perfectly innocently. “Keeping an eye on the mystery newcomer. Real Samaritan vibes.”

“Mmm,” Murph grunts, making himself busy grabbing a beer while the rest of the guys hide their snickers and smirks. He cracks open a cold one and takes a sip. “Ahhh,” he sighs, gazing off.

Some of us talk more than the others. He joins in the teasing like the rest of us from time to time, but it’s not out of character for Murph to stay quiet unless he sees the chance to say something either really funny or wise.

But our conversation isn’t going anywhere fast today—because for once, it’s all about him.

“Ahhh,” Murph sighs once he’s cracked open a cold one and taken a sip. He gazes out toward Maple Island… and then his gaze strays a little further, toward the strait that’s just out of sight. There’s something on his face—something soft and excited. Maybe even a little nervous.

Holy shit. The rumours are true.

For once, I don’t think the waves themselves are taking up all the space in his big, weird head.

Just as Zach’s elbow slams into my ribs, my jaw drops. I grunt and glare at him, and he points at Murph. Felix is giggling under his breath, and Carter clears his throat pointedly.

Even Kieran is smirking, arms folded as he watches Murph. “I know you’re not writing sonnets to the ocean, boyo,” he says at last. “Half of us have already met your boyfriend.”

The more he refuses to talk about Eden, the more I know we’re onto something. He’s never been like this before, and boy, does love look good on him.

“He’s not—” Murph lurches, a blush furiously racing up the back of his neck, right to the tips of his ears. “I mean?—”

Kieran crows triumphantly, and I join in the friendly laughter as Carter punches his shoulder.

“So? Who’s this guy? The other half of us need to know.” What I really want to know is who Murph’s type is . I used to bet on a gnarly, bearded old skipper. But I’ve seen him around plenty of them and I’ve never seen a spark like this in his eye before.

“And they won’t trust the first half,” Alph grumbles a complaint.

I just snort at him and shrug. “I know how rumours are. I’d rather hear it from the horse’s mouth. Or the barge skipper’s mouth.”

“Now, now. I think the barge skipper’s had his mouth full lately,” Kieran interjects, and Murph turns a colour I’ve never seen him before as we all burst out laughing.

“Okay, but—” Murph interjects, waving for us all to quiet down. “You’re right. Rumours spread. You can’t call him that yet.” Then he hesitates, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, I haven’t asked.”

“ Yet ,” Ronan gasps, saying out loud the part that the rest of us are thinking.

“But you want to,” I grin. “Wow. Okay, who is this guy? For those of us who aren’t listening to the rumour mill?”

“Liar,” Carter mutters. “You listen as hard as the rest of us.” I can’t quite reach across to punch him from here, but I stick out my tongue and he does the same back to me, while Felix rolls his eyes.

Murph sighs. “He’s an artist. He just moved here from Vancouver. He’s, uh… he’s not a natural on the water, let’s put it that way.”

Alph coughs, sounding a little strangled, and the rest of us barely hide our snorts. The rest of us have heard the story—about Eden arriving on a floating pool toy, hoping to buy groceries for what was apparently a dinner date.

But nobody dares interrupt, because there’s something on Murph’s face that we haven’t quite seen before. He looks… spellbound. It’s enough to make me catch my breath, briefly forgetting how much I want to make the most of our rare opportunity to tease him.

“He’s smart, and self-deprecating. Real funny. Hard worker. Kind. Very kind. That’s important.” When Murph’s emotional, the words don’t come as easily. But he’s just glowing, plain as day.

And another singleton bites the dust. There’s a little lurch in my belly. I really am glad for all my friends who are finding happiness. But he has no way of knowing how much I’ve been feeling out of place lately—and how much I worry that I’ll be the last one left.

“And he likes the ocean?” Ronan prompts, grinning. “He also makes a good impression on local baristas.”

“Of course Jamie’s in on this gossip fest,” Murph snorts. “Yeah. He likes the ocean. He doesn’t know a lot about it… but he likes it. He just needs someone to keep an eye on him.”

“Tick,” Carter pretends to have a checklist in one hand, using the neck of his beer bottle to check off a box. “The most important tick, I think.”

The rest of us murmur our agreement. We made so much fun of Murph when we had to read The Old Man and the Sea way back in English class. But it’s true—Murph’s not quite himself on dry land. He was only ever going to fall for someone who likes being out on the water, at least some of the time.

“I’m glad you’re keeping an eye on him. He sounds great,” Ronan murmurs with a smile. Watching the way Murph perks up in response, with this proud look in his eye… it makes me grin even harder.

“ I heard he was pretty hot, too,” I pipe up with a smirk. “Worth keeping two eyes on.”

“Drew—”

“And maybe a ring.”

Murph huffs with irritation, looking like he wants to throw something at me. But despite it all, the look on his face is… oh, my god, it’s all soft and tender. He’s even got the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips.

“Ohhhh!” I crow triumphantly.

Murph snorts. “Keep that up and you’re buying the beer on Saturday.”

“Okay,” I cheerily agree. “Just bring him along.”

There’s a pause, and then a collective intake of breath. Murph hasn’t shaken his head. In fact, he’s pausing like he’s gearing up to say something.

“Oh, shit,” I exclaim, sitting up straight. “ Are you bringing him along?”

There’s not like, a rule about it or anything, but none of us have introduced a new guy to this group before we were serious about him. So far, the formula is on a winning streak: meet the Brothers and you’re in. Hell, it was only a couple of weeks ago that Kieran and Gage got engaged.

Everyone’s holding their breath for the answer. Murph glances around and clears his throat. “Well, uh… if you guys are okay with it… the bathtub race party this weekend.”

There’s a sudden clamour of voices and noise, and Murph almost falls clean over onto this back on the rocks at the sound.

“Holy shit. The boyfriend intro!” Carter slaps his knee. “Murph, man, you’ve been holding out!”

“Murph’s got a loverboy ,” Zach drawls.

“He’s not a—” Murph protests.

But Kieran raises both hands overhead. “Barge party!” he yells, loud enough that I’m pretty sure Maple Island can hear.

“What better way to break in the new guy?” I say with a grin.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Murph glares suspiciously at me, then the rest of the group. “Nobody’s breaking him in. And stop calling him that.”

The protective little glint in his eye makes me grin even more obnoxiously. “ Amour ,” I sigh, pretending to be starstruck. “Beau. Suitor. Dearest darling?—”

Even Murph relents, cracking up with the rest of us. “Fine. God. You’re all assholes. I can’t stop you. Just… go easy on him, yeah? Nobody give him a hard time.”

The worry on his face is sweet as hell, but nobody’s making a peep. I trade grins with Zach as Carter elbows me, and even Alph pokes Murph until he sighs and swats his hand away.

“Speak now, or forever hold your peace,” I can’t help piping up. “Too soon, loverboy?”

“You, Drew. You’re a bigger asshole than the rest of them put together,” Murph waves his beer bottle in my direction.

“Hey, you’re not wrong,” I shrug. “But you’re the one catching feeeeeelings?—”

Murph groans and rubs his hand over his face, staring up like he’s asking for patience. But he can’t hide it, either. He’s too fidgety about our teasing, smiling so much easier than usual. He just looks and feels light in a way we’ve never quite seen before.

“Fuck me,” Murph groans. “Brothers. Who’d have them?”

“Yeah. How’s your liver doing, Prometheus?” Ronan asks, his eyes sparkling as we all burst out laughing. Before we’ve caught our breath, I make a cawing sound, clutching my stomach.

However much I want to make fun of him, the way he looks all worried and protective… it’s too sweet to keep going. He’ll get enough ribbing from all of us soon enough.

“We just wanna meet him,” I promise at last. “It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”

Murph licks his lips nervously, glancing sideways at me, like he knows what I’m really trying to ask. The rest of the guys go quiet, watching him for an answer.

This is as serious as we’re all thinking, right?

“Yeah,” Murph finally says, his voice hoarse. “Yeah, man.”

The emotion in my chest makes it hard to breathe. Sure, it leaves me as one of the last singletons in our group. But if anyone deserves to get swept off his feet by love… it’s this guy.

And it looks good on him. Real good.

I’m half-expecting tittering and jabs from the peanut gallery, but everyone else is going all soft and fuzzy about it like me.

“Man. If I didn’t have a lap full of chips, I’d hug you,” I finally say, before the moment gets too serious.

Murph raises his eyes to the sky. “Unlucky me,” he says.

“I can help with that—” Kieran tries to swipe the best kind—the ketchup-flavoured Lay’s chips—and I bat him away as the rest of them laugh. “Damn. Okay. How about we trade for gossip nuggets?”

“You already gave me all the gossip nuggets,” I tell him.

“Damn it! Okay, I’ll find more.”

“We can talk about anything other than me today, you know,” Murph tells us all, sighing wearily.

“Fine. Alph, you were talking about harbour restrictions this weekend?” I prompt him, but before he can say anything, I grin at Murph. “There. You’re welcome. I accept thanks in monetary or sexual favours, but I guess the latter is off the table now that you’ve got your new flame…”

Murph looks like he wants to cuss me out as I grin, flopping onto my back to shove more ketchup chips in my mouth.

I’m pretty sure I know why I’ll be the last single one in the group. But I’m okay with that. If it ever is my turn, I’ll just have to take all the ribbing I’ve earned.

Despite my ribbing, I really am glad for Murph. He deserves this kind of happiness. And I’m taking my pleasures where I can get them, because my chances to tease him are few and far between.

True love takes its sweet time coming.