"Did you forget your key again?" I laughed, opening the door for Beth.
She had left before the sun had even come up to go open her store; a cute, slightly off-kilter café and bakery she owned in town. She promised she'd only be gone a few hours and would be back by lunch – which had come and gone. She just needed to go in and check on a few things and make sure the payroll was all set for her staff. I had told her that she could take all the time she needed and not to rush, as long as she brought me home some of the amazing butter croissants she sold.
She had called a little while ago, saying she was on her way and with a surprise.
"Hey, beautiful. Peace offering?"
Noah stood on the front porch holding up a brown paper bag filled with what I could only assume was food of some type. Despite the icy weather and biting wind, he was without a coat, his shoulders hunched against the cold and his hair windblown. The black sweater was doing nothing to shield him from the weather and I received a small amount of glee knowing that the longer I stood there not answering him, the colder he got. His smile widened as his eyes traveled over my UMaine sweatshirt, black yoga pants, and fuzzy pink and white polka dot slippers.
"Are you still so pissed at me you're going to let me freeze to death?"
I chose not to answer.
"At least take the food so it doesn't get cold."
Grabbing the bag from him, I peered inside to inspect the contents. Damn him. He had brought me Chinese food and I'd bet that he ordered it from our old favorite place in town.
"It's your favorite. House fried rice."
Grudgingly, I opened the door wider. "Fine. Come in."
He lunged inside probably afraid I'd change my mind before he got through the door. Over his shoulder, I spotted his black SUV in my driveway. Not just any SUV but a Porsche Cayenne. It looked brand new. So he was still rich.
I shut the door with a little more force than intended and stomped to the kitchen. His car was irritating and pretentious and he probably paid for it with his parents' money.
Noah muttered something as he followed behind me, smoothing his hair back down into place. I didn't bother holding open the swinging door for the kitchen and he caught it just in time before it smacked him in the face.
Reaching for a plate out of the cabinet, he came up behind me and grabbed two from the stack before I could. "What are you doing?"
He gestured toward the bag of food. "I was thinking about eating if that's okay with you." He didn't wait for my answer as he began taking out the little white boxes of food and lining them up on the counter. I watched him for a little bit, liking the way he still kept his hair long on top and cut close on the sides. It was falling across his forehead as he arranged the food. He used to love it when I ran my fingers through his hair, deciding to let it grow over the summer we were together. As he pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and swiped his hair out of the way, I noticed a black Breitling watch on his wrist.
"Why are you here?"
Raising an eyebrow, he gestured to the food. "Dinner. We covered this already."
I shook my head. "You and Riley hadn't been friends for a long time."
He seemed saddened by my comment. "We grew up together, Reggie. That means something."
"Yeah, but the way it ended," I trailed off, not needing to explain it further to him.
He gave me a sad smile, setting down one of the containers and bringing his thumb to his lips. As he sucked the sweet and sour sauce from it, he looked at me, stopping with the pad of his thumb still pressed to his mouth. When his tongue flicked over his skin, I looked away.
"I never intended to be away from you for this long."
"What's Mark and Josh's excuse?"
He paused, glancing up at me with an expression I couldn't read. We held gazes, my question being forgotten when the front door slammed open, Beth tumbling her way in with arms full of paper bags.
"Jesus H. Christ, it's colder than Satan's twat outside!"
I rushed down the hall to help her and just in time, too. One of the bags fell from her grasp as she tried to shut the door with her foot and a smaller paper bag with croissants spilled out.
"God, I love you," I praised her and picked them up, inhaling their wonderful just-baked scent. Clutching them possessively to my chest, the warmth through the paper bag increased the chances of my drooling over them.
"Keep it in your pants, hussy, and help me with the rest."
"How much did you bring?" I laughed as I tried to grab another bag of baked goods before they fell.
She juggled the remaining bags, regaining control as she turned and yelled out the door. "Enough to feed those two useless jackasses!" Joshua and Mark were at her car, unloading more bags. She grinned as she faced me. "And apparently the very fine-looking jackass standing behind you, too."
Noah had casually made his way down the hall, taking all the bags from Beth without saying anything but giving her a wink. She blew him a kiss. "How are your balls, Noah? Still blue?"
I elbowed her and held open the door for Mark and Joshua as they came up the front steps with enough liquor and beer for a small country. "Is this my surprise? You're going to get me drunk?"
"Silly girl, the boys are your surprise. I wanted the gang to hang out for a little while." She draped an arm around my shoulders and rested her head on mine. "Share stupid stories about Riley, give him a proper memorial service. Getting you drunk is just icing on the cake."
She pulled me in the opposite direction when Mark and Joshua entered, presumably to avoid a confrontation since I was glaring at them. Joshua tried to give me a smile and come over to us but Mark gave his head one shake and motioned to the kitchen.
"Give her space," Mark ordered. He turned his broad back to us, stomping to the kitchen.
Joshua hesitated. "I'm so sorry, Regan."
His voice was soft with emotion. His normally bright blue eyes were dim and I knew he meant that apology sincerely. My shoulders sagged, my heart breaking a little.
"Joshua!" Mark called from the kitchen.
"Layoff it you asshole!" He called back and my lips twitched with a smile. As soon as he saw it, Joshua dropped the bags he was carrying and in one stride had me enveloped in his arms. I desperately hugged him back, not caring that I was still pissed as hell at him. He was so warm and strong, it was like finding home after being lost for years.
With a kiss on my forehead, he pulled away and grabbed the bags. "I will tell you everything you want to know. No secrets, no lies. But can we just have tonight to enjoy?"
I nodded and felt Beth reach out and take my hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. As soon as Joshua was out of sight, I turned to her with tears in my eyes.
"Thank you. You're the best."
She shrugged like it was no big deal. "I know you all have a lot to talk about. Forced proximity and alcohol seemed like a way to help. I didn't invite the Rich Bitch, though." She looked down at me, frowning. "Did you ask him to come over?"
Shaking my head, we slowly made our way toward the kitchen. Mark, Joshua, and Noah were giving each other quick hugs and slaps on the back in greeting. "He just got here. I think he feels bad about yesterday."
"He has a hell of a lot more than just yesterday to feel bad for," Beth muttered, and then seeing how my face fell as I began to remember exactly how much Noah should feel bad about, she switched tactics. "When I said you had time for a quickie, I wasn't serious."
Beth was staring at me like she couldn't make up her mind whether to laugh at me or smack me. Honestly, I'd have preferred the latter.
I tried to form a reply but instead shoved half a croissant into my mouth. As she began giggling, I couldn't help myself and started laughing with her.
"What are you guys, fifteen? You were dry humping on the counter." She snorted and grabbed the other half of the croissant.
"The whole thing was a huge, huge, mistake."
"How huge was it?" Beth grinned, purposely misinterpreting what I meant.
I flipped her off and grinned. "Huge."
"You naughty girl!" She took my hand. "Come on. We should get in there before all the booze and food is gone. And you need to eat something. It's been days since you've had an actual meal."
Noah already had a beer open and was leaning against the counter, laughing at something Joshua said as he unpacked some sandwiches from one of the bags. Mark was shaking his head, a half-eaten pastry hanging out of his mouth while he stacked the beer in the fridge. I paused in the doorway to watch them, still unsettled to see the three of them together again, much less in my kitchen.
"I'm not kidding," Joshua was saying, shaking his blond hair out of his eyes. "Tell him, Mark. Tell him I'm serious."
Mark took the pastry out of his mouth long enough to nod. "He's serious," he deadpanned.
"There is no way I'm giving you my Porsche. You still drive like you did when we were kids and will have it totaled before you get down the driveway."
"I will not," Joshua protested.
"He's right, Jay. It's a long driveway, lots of trees for you to run into." Mark chimed in, still rummaging in the fridge, looking for someplace to put the cans of Coca-Cola.
Mark had a point. The driveway was ridiculously long. Our modest two-story house sat on twenty wooded acres at the edge of town. The gravel driveway was a half mile long, framed by trees on either side. Trees that Joshua had run into at least three times with his car in high school.
Mark straightened as he saw me in the doorway and promptly shut the fridge to grab a plate he had next to him. It held a good-sized helping of the fried rice for me, along with an egg roll with the ends cut off. Grabbing a fork from the counter and a beer, he walked over to me.
"Here," he offered me the plate. When I didn't immediately take it from him, he pulled it back slightly. "Did I do it wrong?"
I shook my head with a tiny grin and took it from him. "You remembered I don't eat the ends of egg rolls?"
Mark looked a little relieved and his shoulders relaxed when I smiled. "Why would I forget?"
"Maybe because it's been a decade since you've seen me eat Chinese?"
"It'll take a hell of a lot longer than that for me to forget anything about you, baby."
I stared up at him, eyes wide at his admission. He reached out, putting his hand over mine to steady the plate that had begun to slip from my loosened grip. I couldn't stop my body from reacting to him, heating as his eyes traveled across my blushing cheeks and then down to where our hands were joined.
Beth cleared her throat loudly while Noah and Joshua watched us very closely.
He stepped back from me – when had we gotten so close? – and ran his hand through his hair. "You should eat something," he mumbled and glared at Beth and the others. "What?"
They all found something else to look at.
"Fuck it," He snapped. The plate was suddenly on the table next to me and I was surrounded by his large body. He pressed us together so closely and my short five-foot-five frame was completely swallowed up in his embrace. I sighed. His familiar scent and warmth spread through me, easing some tension. The conversation continued around us but neither of us was listening. It was so easy to get lost in his arms. Even with Mark being so serious and gruff all the time, I always felt the safest in his arms.
I tilted my head back and smiled up at him. "You give the best hugs."
"It's about time I reminded you of what else I do really well."
Oh, I remembered.
"Mark," I began, hesitant and not wanting to give him any ideas.
"Take your time, Regan. Whenever you're ready."
A croissant hit Mark in the back of the head followed by Beth's laughter.
"Let the girl eat already!"
I took that as my moment to get away and rushed over to the table. No surprise that Mark followed, cursing something at Beth, and sat right next to me. He gave me some space, though, unlike Noah who came to sit on the other side of me, moving his chair as close as possible.
Joshua, not to be outdone, flipped around a chair right across from me and straddled it. He swiped his long blond hair out of his face and gave me one of his most endearing lopsided smiles. "Hi, baby girl."
It was impossible not to smile back at him.
"Should I go grab a ruler so we can get the measuring out of the way and declare the winner?" Beth hopped up on the island, munching away at some kind of dessert pastry covered in chocolate. "Give the girl some space, guys. Desperation is never attractive. Regan knows all about that."
I let out a snort before I could stop myself.
"Ah, yeah, Brandon," Mark rolled his eyes and gave me a sad frown. "What a joke. Not your best decision."
"Brandon?" I squeaked, nearly choking on my rice at the mention of one of my high school boyfriends.
"Yeah, he was so annoying. Following you around, trying to suck up to Riley," Noah chugged the rest of his beer. "You were so out of his league."
"True, but Stephen is way worse," Beth spoke up from her place on the other side of the kitchen. We all looked over at her. Apparently, she had been drinking more than I had noticed because there was no other way she would have dared bring him up.
"Who's Stephen?" Mark and Joshua asked at the same time. Noah remained silent, not looking at me.
"Her ex-fiance," he practically growled.
Everyone started speaking at the same time.
"Your fiancé?" Mark shouted.
"What the hell?" Joshua slammed his beer on the table.
"How did you know that?" I whirled on Noah.
"Just because I haven't seen you in ten years doesn't mean I don't know anything about you," he answered as if it was something I should have known.
"It's none of your business," I snapped.
The phone rang and I practically jumped out of my chair at the sound of it. Beth had the same reaction, jumping from the island and dashing to answer it before it could ring a second time. The guys all looked startled by our reactions and when Noah gave me a questioning glance, I ignored him.
"Masterson residence," Beth answered the phone. I held my breath and she locked eyes with me as the person on the other end of the phone responded. It was Stephen. Her expression said it all. "Sorry, wrong number."
Jesus, was he watching us? Could he somehow hear us talking about him? Those were both terrifying thoughts. Beer was no longer strong enough to deal with any of this. As Beth hung up, I strode over the liquor and grabbed my favorite rum. No glass needed. Out of the bottle would be just fine.
She and I exchanged irritated sighs. Just as she was about to unplug the phone, it rang again.
"Don't answer it."
"He'll just keep calling," she muttered and went to answer it again. "What?" she bit out into the phone.
Noah was studying me. "Anything we need to know about?"
I shook my head as Beth swore at Stephen. "Listen asshole, if you don't stop calling here, you're going to have a lot more problems than just not knowing what a clitoris is." She yanked the phone cord from the wall after she slammed the phone down.
Mark, Joshua, and Noah were exchanging looks, trying to read my reaction, and also figure out what the hell was going on.
"Nothing to worry about, boys." Beth flicked her long blond hair over her shoulder and smiled. "Just an old lover that doesn't understand how breaking up works."
I lifted the bottle of rum to my lips and chugged a few mouthfuls, the burn grounding me and my sudden terror as my cell phone started buzzing from the pocket of my hoodie. With shaking hands, I pulled it out and handed it to Beth.
When her caramel eyes went wide and face drained of color, I braced myself. She slowly turned the screen to me.
Tell your boyfriends one thing about me and I'll kill you.