Page 1 of Wanted: Forever (Murdock Brothers #3)

Cash

“Shh. Do you want everyone to know what we’re doing?”

My brother’s voice floated from the back of the fountain. Kai was far less fun now that he’d hooked up with Lexi Howard. Mostly because he was happy to be home, cuddled up to the curvy firecracker who kept the Murdock Brothers running. In that, I couldn’t blame him.

But it was my birthday, dammit.I wanted some good old fashioned Murdock debauchery tonight.

I patted the four-foot stone duck’s head.

Daisy was the only kind of fun I was enjoying lately.

I wrapped my arms around her voluminous midsection and lifted.

She was the centerpiece of the park’s fountain, but she was also movable thanks to the maintenance she needed for the spray nozzles located in her feathers.

It was an impressive display of water. Whoever built the motor was a badass.

Finally, the stone shifted slightly.

Was she heavier than I remembered? It wasn’t the first time Daisy, the town’s mascot, had been kidnapped by the Murdock brothers. In fact, it wasn’t even the second.

Tonight, we were going to put it in front of Indigo Valley Trust, the stuffy bank at the heart of town.

Mostly because the bastards had turned Sully down for a business loan.

Not that we needed it anymore. We had so much capital that we actually had to hire day laborers to help out with all the jobs we had coming in.

Who knew my shirtless brother would kickstart Murdock Brothers into the stratosphere?

But right now, I had to focus on Daisy. I gently rocked her off the base with the help of my idiot brothers. I knew exactly where we were going to place her if we ever got her off this damn fountain.

I patted her butt and tried again. “Okay, Daisy Rae, one more time. Could I have some help please?”

Cam grunted and got a hold of the base. “I am! Is she heavier?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” I echoed his grunt as this time the statue rose six inches off the base of the fountain.

My boot slipped and while I wanted to pull an epic prank, I didn’t want to break Daisy.

My boot splashed into the water and I groaned as my Tims got drenched. “Dammit, I just broke these in.”

Kai snickered.

“You’re not helping much over there. Not hitting the gym anymore now that you have Lexi?”

Kai growled. “Better than ever, jackass. I need my strength and stamina.”

“And that was too much information for two in the morning, thank you.” Cam grunted but the duck lifted another few inches.

“What the hell are you three doing up there?”

We all froze as our older brother Ripley’s voice came from below.

“Uh...” I cleared my throat. “What’s it look like?”

“It looks like you should have called me for a better plan. Idiots,” he muttered.

I peered down at him. “How about you back my truck up and we’ll get this down there.”

Rip sighed. “Fine. You still should have called me. I’m the one who has a tow truck with a winch. Last time we used ropes instead of giving yourselves herniated disks.”

Cam whistled. “This is why you’re the GOAT, Rip.”

“You’re damn right and don’t you forget it.”

I rolled my eyes. Ripley was king of the town pranks when we were kids. He’d once put the Town Beautification Committee’s parade float on the roof of the police station. I still wasn’t sure how he pulled that one off.

Between the grunts and swearing we finally lifted Daisy enough to get over the lip of the fountain. The motor of my beast of a Chevy truck purred in the still night. Since I’d already soaked one boot, I stepped fully into the fountain to get a little more leverage on Daisy’s back end.

Once she was out of the water the three of us used an old moving trick with straps and a blanket to get her safely into the truck.

Ripley grabbed the tie-downs I had set up in the flatbed of my truck to stabilize Daisy.

I glanced around to make sure no one was out and about, but the park was dark and quiet save for us idiots.

Ripley hopped up on the tailgate and tied down the other side.

I fell back on my butt, resting my shoulders against the rear panel inside the truck. I probably shouldn’t have had that last shot at Rafferty’s.

Luckily Cam had been happy to be the designated driver tonight.

“You good?”

I looked up at the slightly blurry face of Cam. “I’m good.”

He held out his hand and I let him drag me off the flatbed of my truck.

“Water between shots, dude. You’re out of practice.”

I laughed. “I guess I am.” Working in Vancouver for the last six months should have built up my tolerance, but I’d been skipping out on the after-work drinks. When I got the SOS to come home from Sully, I hadn’t been sad to leave.

I missed home.

Missed my own bed.

Missed my idiot brothers. I wrapped an arm around Cam. “I missed you man.”

“Okay, how many shots did you have?” Cam shoved me away, but I caught the smile in the dim lights of the gas lamp style streetlights on the path.

The four out of the six Murdock brothers had been scattered around the continent. Sully and Rip were the constants in Indigo Valley, but Gus, Cam, Kai, and I had been bitten by the wanderlust gene. All of us were back except Gus, who was still in Costa Rica finishing up a job.

I missed that idiot.

This was the first time the majority of us Murdocks had been in one spot.

Now I was just getting mushy.

Ripley bent down then hopped on the tailgate and lifted the bottle of Maker’s Mark he’d been hiding.

“I figured I’d find you fools in the park.

Not exactly the scenario I was expecting, though.

” He ripped off the wax wrap and tossed it in the bed of my truck.

“Sorry I missed you guys at the bar.” He took a swig.

I reached for the bottle. “All good. Did you have a hot damsel in distress?”

Rip huffed out a laugh. “Single mom with three insane children. Pass times a million.”

I took a swig. “Kids aren’t so bad.”

Rip arched a brow at me. “Since when?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Danny is pretty cool.”

Cam took the bottle from me. “No more shots for you.”

I laughed. I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready to settle down and do the two kids thing, but it didn’t sound as frightening as it used to. Especially since Sully and Kai found their matches.

Each of us took a drag from the bottle before Rip tucked it back into the inner pocket of his jacket.

“Okay, let’s get this bad boy over to the bank.” I patted Daisy’s head. “I can’t wait to see Jacobson’s face when he finds her blocking the doors.”

Rip shook his head. “You do know there are too many cameras around these days, right? Even Indigo Valley had to find some progress sometime.”

“What the hell? Since when?” I frowned.

“Since the seniors broke into McNally’s and drank themselves sick.”

I wrinkled my nose. “McNally’s waters down his booze.”

Rip laughed. “Doesn’t matter when you’re seventeen and eighteen.”

Cam slapped my shoulder. “Remember when we did that at Rafferty’s?”

“We were smart enough to leave money on the bar.” I grinned. Even if I did yak into his front bushes. “I’ve never drank tequila and whiskey on the same night since.”

Cam suddenly hopped off the truck. “Shit.”

“What?” I craned my neck and stumbled because that last swig of Tennessee whisky had been ill advised.

Then Rip gave me a quick salute and melted into the trees before I heard his boots pounding along the path behind the fountain.

Cam glanced at me, then the duck and grinned. “Sorry.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Cam took off like the former track star he was, in the opposite direction from Rip.

Kai didn’t even bother with a half assed apology. He sprinted for the trees after Ripley.

The wide beam of bright white light washed over Daisy’s head as I dropped down.

Shit, shit, shit.

I rolled out of the bed of my truck to the ground.

“Freeze where you are! This is the police,” came a modulated voice.

I snuck around the tire of my truck as the light bounced around the fountain. Maybe I could sneak through the— hell . A familiar cruiser was kissing the grill of my Chevy.

I sighed and held my hands up as the white light from the top of the cruiser blinded me. “It’s not what it looks like, Chief.”

“Funny, looks a lot like you’re stealing a monument from a park.”

I blinked and tried to step out of the powerful stream of light.

“I said freeze.”

I frowned at the husky and very female voice, but did as I was told. “Can you turn that away from my eyes?”

“Not in this lifetime, Cash Murdock.”

I winced and couldn’t make out the face of the cop, but it sure as hell wasn’t the bulky shape of Chief Pope.

I was screwed.