Take Me Home (The Heartbreak Brothers 1)

Gray wasn’t sure what to feel as he watched his dad lift another shaky forkful to his mouth. Sympathy fought with resentment, as his mind tried to take in this new reality. His father was old and sick, yet he was still the man who’d made Gray’s childhood a misery.

“This isn’t a free show,” his father said when he’d swallowed the second mouthful. “You can go now.” He stared at Gray with the same blue eyes he saw in the mirror every day, and then made a shooing movement with his hands.

Gray shrugged and turned away. He’d done his duty, nobody could say he hadn’t. When he returned to L.A., his father would be a hazy memory once again.

* * *

Maddie stared at her phone, her fingers hovering over her sister’s name on the screen. Ashleigh Lowe. She may have slipped down a few letters in Maddie’s contacts since getting married, but she’d stepped up a whole lot of social stratas when she said ‘I do’ to Michael Lowe. A prominent attorney in Stanhope, the city twenty miles north of Hartson’s Creek, Michael was also the son of a senator, and was working hard on being his father’s replacement in the next election.

The two of them had met when Ashleigh was working in a restaurant in Stanhope and had served Michael and his coworkers. She’d only been twenty when they married a little over a year later, to Michael’s thirty-one. Not that anybody raised an eyebrow. They were too busy questioning whether she was still rebounding from Gray Hartson.

Maddie pressed her finger on the screen and waited for her call to connect. She was struggling with her reaction to Gray’s name being mentioned at Chairs. She’d reacted like the teenage girl she’d been when he was last here, her heart clattering against her chest, her head feeling as light as air.

Thank god nobody else had spotted it. She was usually so cool. When did they say he was leaving again?

“Maddie? Is something wrong?” Ashleigh’s voice echoed through Maddie’s phone. “Is it Mom?”

Maddie glanced at the old Casio on her wrist. It was almost eleven. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was so late,” she told her sister. “Did I wake you?”

“No. I’m waiting for Michael to come home. I’m sitting on the deck drinking a mug of hot chocolate. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to tell you something.” Maddie pulled at a loose thread in her comforter. “It’s probably nothing, but I wanted you to hear it from me first.”

“What gives?”

“Gray’s back in town. Jessica Martin told me, and Laura called Becca to make sure it was true. You know what the gossip’s like around here.”

Ashleigh was silent, save for the rhythm of her breathing. Maddie pulled her lip between her teeth, waiting for her sister to respond. It felt strange, having this conversation. Neither of them had mentioned Gray for years. It was an unspoken agreement. They never talked about his music, his success, or about any of the gossip that seemed to surround him like fireflies in the summer. It was as though Ashleigh had cut him out of her life with a pair of scissors and thrown him in the trash can.

“Ash?” Maddie said, tiny lines furrowing her brow.

Ashleigh cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I was listening out for the children,” she said quickly. “So he’s back. I’m guessing it’s not for long.”

“For a few weeks, according to Becca.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Ashleigh’s laugh sounded forced. “Hopefully I won’t bump into him while he’s here.”

“I don’t imagine you will. That was all. I just wanted you to know.”

“Thank you. Are you still okay to watch Grace and Carter on Sunday?”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I finish work at three, so any time after works.”

“I’ll send you a message once I know. Good night, Maddie. Sweet dreams.”

“And to you.” Maddie ended the call and put her phone on the nightstand next to her bed, falling back until her head hit the soft pillow. It had been a long day, and yet her body was still buzzing like it was filled with a hive full of bees. She was due to work at six in the morning and she needed the sleep, dammit.

But her body felt strange. Electric. Like everything around her was on the edge of something different.

She wasn’t sure she liked the sensation.

Chapter Four

Gray lay awake in his too-small childhood bed and looked at the walls closing in on him. They were bare – all the posters he’d put up as a teenager in defiance of his dad’s rules were long since gone, leaving behind only dark rectangles of paint and shiny circles where he’d affixed them to the wall.

He sat up, running a hand through his hair. Maybe he should get outside for a few. Breathe some fresh air and let the breeze blow away the dreams that had been haunting his brain all night. He pulled on some fresh clothes from the suitcase he hadn’t bothered to unpack and quietly let himself out of the house. As he locked the door behind him, he hoped to hell that somebody was up when he returned to let him back in.

As he made his way down the gravel driveway, he pulled a grey knit beanie over his dark hair, by habit more than need. He was used to making himself look as unremarkable as possible in public. The roads were quiet as he walked through town, only the occasional roar of an engine cutting through the still morning air. Gray felt his muscles loosen, his jaw untense. He’d forgotten how much that house put him on edge.