Know Me Well (Wishful 3)

As Judd disappeared into the locker room, Liam climbed out of the ring. He considered putting in some time on the speed bag to get his heart rate up.

“I’ll go a few rounds if you want,” Reuben offered. “Or listen. Either way, somethin’s gnawing at you.”

“Not sure either would actually help.”

“You sleepin’?”

“Mostly.” He hadn’t been afflicted by the night terrors and flashbacks that plagued many of his comrades. “Can’t shake the habit of rising at zero dark thirty.”

“That’s not what has you in here every morning. Or not all of it.”

Liam stuffed his gloves into his gym bag. “How long did it take you to settle in to civilian life when you got out?”

“Didn’t settle until I started up this place.” A former Navy SEAL, Reuben had returned to Wishful five years earlier and opened the boxing gym. “But I knew exactly what I wanted when I got out. Your situation’s a little different.”

“Yeah.”

Liam had enlisted in the Marines the summer after graduating high school and never looked back. If not for his father’s unexpected death, he would’ve been a lifer. But as the eldest, with both his brothers deployed and his baby sister moved off to New Orleans, Liam couldn’t see leaving his mother alone. So he’d come home.

Never mind the fact that Molly Montgomery could’ve given any Brigadier General a run for his money.

He’d been going slowly crazy ever since.

“You ran out of projects at your mama’s, didn’t you?” A knowing smile creased Reuben’s dark face.

“Cleaned out the garage, the attic, repainted the house, replaced the gutters, and wiped out her entire honey-do list going back to everything Dad had been meanin’ to get around to for the last five years.”

“Damn, son. We gotta find you a proper job.”

“Been lookin’ since I got back, but I haven’t found anything that would be more than just killin’ time. I just can’t figure out what I want to do. Meanwhile, Mom’s decided she wants to rent out that apartment above the pharmacy, so I’m digging in to start demolition on that this week.” He checked his watch. “I probably ought to get on myself. If I can get some of the noisy work done before start of business, Mom and Riley would probably appreciate it.”

The sun had just cleared the horizon when Liam caught sight of a familiar POS Honda parked on the shoulder, with an even more familiar set of full-figured curves peeking out from beneath the lifted hood. He pulled his Dad’s pristine ’69 Mustang onto the opposite side and stepped out, appreciating the view.

Her voice floated back to him from where she leaned over the engine. “Now Jo, I know you’re tired, girl, but this is not okay. I need you to pull yourself together.”

“Who you talkin’ to, Riley?”

She jolted, banging her head on the hood. “Son of a monkey!”

Liam wisely swallowed down his amusement as she swung around, eyes shooting daggers.

“Where do you get off sneaking up on people?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “What are you even doing here?”

“Oh my way home from the gym. As nice a scenic stretch as this is, I didn’t figure you’d be on the side of the road having a heart-to-heart with your car at this hour just for the hell of it.”

“How would you know? I might. Jo and I have had a long and meaningful friendship.”

Given his dad had been working on her car since she got it at sixteen, Liam knew this to be true. The bigger shock was that the thing still ran at all.

He ducked under the hood himself to take a look, aware of Riley edging back. “Did you check your gas gauge?”

“I didn’t run out of gas. It’s not my battery or my spark plug wires. Your daddy taught me that much.”

He ignored the affronted tone. “Doesn’t ever hurt to start with the basics. What was she doing?”

Riley said nothing.

Glancing over his shoulder, Liam found her glaring at him, arms crossed, every inch shouting irritated female. The fact that he found it attractive rather than off-putting either made him a perverse bastard or was evidence of the incredibly long dry spell he hadn’t broken since he came home.