by Elle Keating
“And what was his reaction to your news?” Brennan asked, nodding to the television.
Morgan looked into Brennan’s deep blue eyes and smiled. Though there was no denying that Brennan, Gabe and Luke were brothers, with their brown hair, blue eyes and bodies built for sin, their personalities were drastically different. Morgan was amazed that although they had lived through the same hell before they were adopted, the repercussions had manifested differently in each of the three brothers.
Morgan didn’t want to play dumb. Everyone in the McGinnis family knew that something had existed between Jake and Morgan ever since they were children, some connection that no one could define with clarity. “I think he was a bit surprised… like your sister was,” Morgan said. She wasn’t really lying, but she wasn’t going to offer anything up either.
Brennan stroked his five o’clock shadow and looked at her with a smirk.
“Surprised, huh?” He chuckled. “I imagine he’s wondering if this city is big enough for the two of you.”
Several shouts and loud clapping captured her attention and she looked at the television. Jake had just run in for a touchdown, putting the Eagles up over the Dallas Cowboys. She smiled, enjoying his success as she always had.
“We were neighbors before, we can be neighbors again,” she said as confidently as she could.
He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Let’s be real, M. You and Jake were never just neighbors.”
***
She wasn’t being a coward. She was tired and wanted to go to bed.
Then why did she practically sprint home from Carina’s house, enter her own home like some crazed maniac, toss the pillows on her bed around in search of the remote just to watch the final minutes of the game? Because she had been called on the carpet and exposed. Brennan had not probed anymore after his neighbor comment, but the damage had been done. She was spiraling out of control.
Morgan turned on the game and immediately found Jake. It was third down and they were losing by five. Only seconds remained. Jake received the snap and he backpedaled a few yards as he looked for an open receiver. But Morgan’s eyes went to the linebacker on the opposing team. He had easily run through his defender and pummeled Jake from behind. The linebacker bounced back up and performed an obnoxious dance. Jake stood up just as quick, looking pissed beyond belief.
Use that. Get fucking mad and destroy them!
Morgan loved Jake’s competitive nature. She, too, could go overboard when it came to sports. She had often demonstrated her own ferocious need to win when she had played field hockey in high school and later in college. Brennan had always told her that she needed a cut-throat attitude on the field if she wanted to win and she had taken his advice to heart.
The clock continued to tick. This was it. If they didn’t score here, the game was over. The ball was snapped and Jake again fell into the pocket. He looked into the end zone and found his man, but there was no room for error. His teammate was being covered beautifully. Jake fired the ball in. The receiver used his height and extended his body to catch the ball that Jake had strategically placed. Morgan watched the receiver’s feet as he came down. One foot… then two. Yes! The receiver tucked the ball in and fell, with both feet landing safely in bounds. The officials held up both arms, signaling a touchdown.
Morgan rose to her knees and clapped. She was cheering to the empty room but she didn’t care. He had done it again and she couldn’t be happier for him. Morgan watched as the players swarmed and congratulated each other. The camera quickly fell on Jake and he was immediately thrust into an interview with a very attractive female reporter. For no good reason, Morgan wanted to bitch slap that woman, but she listened to her first question anyway.
“Another great finish out there. But I have to say, it was looking kind of bleak when you were sacked. What were you thinking at that moment?”
That he was fucking pissed! God, she hated questions like that.
“I was thinking about the next play,” he said briskly. “It’s pointless to dwell on the past.” He shifted his gaze from the reporter to the camera. Morgan swore he was looking right at her… through her. She was certain of it. She was also certain that he was trying to hurt her.
And he had succeeded.
***
Jake
As it was after every game, his body ached. Jake had iced his shoulder before going to bed, but it still hurt like a mother fucker. He shifted beneath his covers and changed positions in hopes of relieving the nagging pain. What the hell had happened to his offensive line? And why was he not taking his own advice right now?
Stop thinking about why you were sacked. Stop thinking about the damn past!
A clap of thunder beat against the windows and he jumped. The rain started moments later and his body immediately relaxed. He loved falling asleep to the sound of rain hitting the windowpane. But it also reminded him of all those nights he had held her, cradled her in his arms until she drifted back to sleep…
The storm was close. The thunder cracks were growing louder with each passing minute. Morgan would be coming soon. Three, two, one… He heard the creak of a door and then footsteps in the hall. As always, he pretended to be asleep at first. His door opened and closed. She padded over to his bed. He could feel her looking at him. Without opening his eyes, without a word, he lifted his blanket and she climbed into bed with him. Lying on their sides, with her back to him, he drew her close. Her shower fresh hair smelled like strawberries and he inhaled her scent.
Jake had wondered if she was even going to come to him tonight. He knew she was still mad at him for what he had said two days ago. He hadn’t intended on hurting her, but they weren’t little kids anymore and the guys at school, that idiot Colin in particular, were teasing him for liking a third-grade girl. And they were right in a way. He was a fifth grader and shouldn’t be holding her hand anymore, at least not when his buddies could see. But in his room, he could hold her as much as he wanted. He knew it wasn’t right to act one way at school and another when they were alone just to avoid jabs from his friends, but he couldn’t give her up completely. He was connected to her, drawn to her for some reason he couldn’t explain.
“Go to sleep,” he whispered, holding her against his chest.
“Hmmm,” she muttered, already drifting back off.
There wasn’t much in this world that Morgan was scared of. She wasn’t afraid of the dark. She didn’t freak out over big, hairy bugs. She was really brave when watching horror movies. But thunderstorms did her in every time. The first time she had shown up at his bedside, she had begged him to let her sleep with him. Confused and shaken that she had not only looked frightened but sad, he had invited her into his bed. As he held her, she had told him why thunder scared her, who it reminded her of.
He hated her dad even more after she had told him her thunder story. A clap of thunder had awakened her that night. But it was the sound of screaming from her living room that had driven her out of bed. She had made it to the hallway just in time to see her dad slap her mom across the face. Morgan had raced over and put herself between her parents. But her mom had quickly tucked her daughter behind her and told her husband to leave. That was the last time she had seen her dad.
But his memory still lingered. Every time she heard thunder, she was reminded of that night, about the man who had been in her life one moment and out of it the next. A man who had hit her mom and left and never looked back.
Jake felt sleep take hold, which made him mad. She would be gone when he woke up. She was never there in the morning. Somehow, she would wake up before dawn and sneak back into Carina’s room and climb into the bottom bunk. Jake never asked her why she didn’t just wake Carina when it started to thunderstorm because he didn’t want to give her any ideas. He wanted to be her protector, the one she came running to when she was scared. Jake wondered what she did when a storm hit and she wasn’t sleeping over at his house. Did she climb into bed with her mom? Or did she just st
ay in her bedroom, praying for the thunder to move along? He didn’t want to think of her lying in her bed, crying maybe, as she thought about her dad.
He held her closer. Her strawberry scent filled the air between them and he drifted off to sleep.
Go to sleep. Stop thinking about her. Those two kids who no longer exist.
Jake flipped to his back and stared at the ceiling. What was she doing right now? Did she watch the game tonight? Did she watch him? He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the sound of pounding rain. Finally, he felt the first wave of sleep roll in.
Chapter Four
Morgan
With her cell phone wedged between her shoulder and chin, Morgan slipped on her sneakers and then ran to the kitchen in search of her keys.
“Mom, I’m on my way. I can’t believe I overslept!”
“Morgan, what did you expect? You worked a full day yesterday and then you were called to come in to perform emergency surgery. What time did you get in last night?”
“Three, maybe? I’m not sure,” Morgan said as she finally located her key ring. “Doesn’t matter, I should have set my alarm. This is an important day and it’s off to a shitty start, thanks to me.”
“Okay, enough of that. Take your time coming down. The moving truck is already parked in the driveway, waiting to be filled. Ken picked it up early this morning, so you can cross that off your to-do list.”
“And the movers? Have they arrived yet?” Morgan asked as she locked her house up for the weekend.
“Um… no, not yet,” her mom said.
Morgan reached her car and unlocked the doors. She threw her duffel bag into the backseat. “They are coming, right?”
“Yes, of course. Stop worrying and get your fanny home.”
Morgan buckled her seat belt and started her car. “Alright. And tell Ken thanks for being so wonderful. Picking up the U-Haul truck was supposed to be my job.”
“I’ll tell him,” her mom said.
There was a playful, almost bashful quality to her mom’s tone when she spoke of Ken. And Morgan couldn’t be happier. She was thrilled that her mom had found love after all these years of being alone. Morgan couldn’t recall her mom going on a single date after she and her dad had divorced. It was like her mom had flipped some switch, just shut off that valve, and with that her need for male companionship was no more. And then Ken came along a year ago and it was like she had been given a second chance at happiness. He was perfect for her mom. Not only was he kind and generous, but he had been through a similar experience. His ex-wife had left him years ago with a son to raise and bills to pay. And he, like her determined mom, had worked hard playing both mother and father to his child, a child who was now a high-ranking officer in the United States Army.
Morgan was sad at first when her mom had called and told her that she was putting her childhood home up for sale and moving in with Ken. There were so many memories tied to that place, some bad, some good, and some beautiful. But she couldn’t be selfish. This was her mom’s time now, and she had every right to sell her home and move to the beach with a man who treated her like the queen she was.
“Okay, see you in an hour.”
“Be careful, baby,” her mom said.
She would always be her baby. Because they had always relied on each other, sticking together when money got tight, which was often when Morgan was a kid. They were incredibly close, simultaneously pulling off a healthy mother-daughter relationship and friendship.
***
Morgan was making good time. Staring at the open road ahead, her mind drifted. She was thankful that she had been busy with work this week, but now alone with no four-legged friends to tend to, she couldn’t help but think back to two nights ago. Jake had looked directly in the camera and said that it was pointless to dwell on the past. The reporter and the viewing world believed he was talking about football, but Morgan would bet everything she had that he had been talking about her. His words had stung. But it had been the look in his eyes, that vacant, icy stare that crippled her. She had seen that menacing stare before, but it had not been directed at her on that particular day…
Morgan looked to the sideline. Her teammates were cheering her on. It was up to her to end this. She fixed her gaze on her opponent. Robbie Gordon was tossing the red rubber ball from one hand to the other.
“You’re done, little girl. After today you’ll realize that this is a boys’ game.”
Morgan glared at him. She was tired of him teasing her, telling her that she threw like a girl. Which was stupid, because she was. And she was fed up with him telling her that she wasn’t old enough to play dodgeball, though other fifth graders were allowed on the seventh graders’ sacred court. It was because she was a girl… which meant Robbie Gordon was a moron.
Morgan looked over at Jake, who was silently standing on the sideline. He gave her a quick smile and that was all she needed. Robbie threw the ball, but it fell embarrassingly short and she one hopped it. He hadn’t expected her to scoop the ball up so quickly. He stumbled as he retreated, and she took no mercy and winged the ball at him. She took out his legs and he fell to the ground.
Her teammates cheered and she savored the victory. But Robbie wasn’t going to let this go. He stood, walked over to her and accused her of cheating.
“I beat you fair and square. You just can’t admit that you got schooled by a girl. But you know what? It doesn’t matter, because they all saw what happened. You lost, Robbie.”
Robbie’s eyes narrowed and through gritted teeth he yelled, “Shut up!” He took her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground.
Her backside screamed but there was no time for the pain to fully register. The next few seconds were a blur as students clustered around, prohibiting her from seeing what was happening. Frustrated, she stood and wormed her way through the kids and found Robbie on the ground bleeding.
With hatred in his eyes, Jake stood over him, breathing heavy, his fists covered in blood. He didn’t take his eyes off Robbie. Even when the teacher on duty came over to see what happened. Even as he confessed to the shocked teacher that he had broken Robbie’s nose.
Morgan’s heart swelled. She fell even more in love with him.
Morgan shook her head, trying to break free of the memory. She turned off onto her street and spotted the moving truck in the driveway. Morgan parked and quickly exited her car. She hadn’t even crossed the street when she heard Brennan’s voice. “Nice of you to join us, sleepy head!”
Where were the movers she had hired for her mom? What the hell was Brennan doing here? And if Brennan was here, who else… no. Her mom would not do this to her.
“Shut it, Brennan,” she said, smiling at her favorite smartass.
He came over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “But at least she brought coffee, guys!” he shouted, looking at the Box of Joe in her hand and then toward her house. Luke, Ken and her mom had exited the front door and were now standing on the small porch.
“Mom, where are the movers?”
And that was when she felt a shift, a change in the atmosphere and she suddenly struggled for air.
She hadn’t noticed that the garage door was open. But out walked Jake with a cardboard box labeled storage in his hands. “You’re looking at them,” he said. He climbed the truck ramp and deposited the box inside.
“I’m sorry, honey. I cancelled the movers. When Luke found out last night that we had hired professional movers, well, he wouldn’t have it and called everyone,” her mom said.
“You and Aunt Day are family. Let us help you. And then after we’re done here, we’ll head over to my parents’ house for dinner. My mom and dad have been cooking since dawn,” Luke said, giving her mom a squeeze. Her mom loved all the McGinnis boys, but Luke was special to her. And it was obvious how much he loved her in return.
It wasn’t possible to turn down their help at this point. Which meant this day was going to be even longer than she had planned. Jake had made his way
back into the house through the garage and had already returned with two more boxes. He was all business as he loaded the boxes and then went back for more. He didn’t look at her, just kept his eyes down and his focus on the task at hand.
“Thanks so much, guys. Is the entire McGinnis clan here?” She hadn’t seen Gabe or Carina yet.
“Gabe is out at sea and Carina and Josh should be here soon,” Brennan said as he swiped the box of coffee from her hand. Morgan was disappointed that she would miss Gabe. He loved his job as a deep-sea fisherman, but it often took him away from his family.
“Well, let’s get started, shall we?” Morgan said, careful not to look in the direction of the garage. She ascended the porch steps and hugged her mom and Ken. “I guess I’ll start with my room.”
“I was able to make a lot of headway this week, so much of the house is boxed up and labeled. But there were a few things from your bedroom that I thought you might want to go through first,” her mom said.
Morgan smiled and entered her home. Her mom hadn’t been exaggerating. Only boxes and furniture remained. She had been busy this week. Though the rooms no longer resembled the house she loved, it still smelled the same and she was immediately transported back to another time, when things were not so complicated, when a girl simply loved a boy.
A boy who was now a man and appearing very pissed off.
Chapter Five
Jake
Fuck him. He could have easily lied and made something up. No one would have been the wiser. But without thinking things through, Jake had agreed to help with the move when Luke had called him last night.
Jake worked like a machine and kept loading boxes, only stopping once to down a bottle of water. He had caught glimpses of Morgan from time to time, but she mainly kept to her bedroom, which was for the best. Because the moment he had seen her speaking with Brennan on the front walkway he knew he was in deep shit. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt that hugged every incredible curve, she looked amazing. His frustration… and the bulge in his pants grew just thinking about her.
