Murph did exactly that when he first moved in after the condo construction finished. But slowly, he started spendingmore time hanging out with us in the living room, nursing a beer after dinner in the backyard, or laughing as we worked together to finish this house reno. We eat all our meals together when we’re all at home. That isn’t the hallmark of someone who likes being alone. Put all those events together, and you get the signs of a pack forming. All it took was Rose and her son moving in for us to realize it.
Shit. I can’t believe I missed all those signs.
“Yeah, well. Things changed,” Murph says, avoiding both our gazes.
I glance at Joel, who looks back at me with the same dawning awareness.
Wanting to be absolutely sure about what this is, I turn to Murph and speak slowly. “Are you saying you want to keep living together?”
Murph nods. “I am.”
I relax in my seat now that I no longer have to worry about dodging fists. “But Rose changes things. We’re attracted to your scent match, and, well… she’s yours.”
He glares at me. “She isnotmine.”
I raise my eyebrows from the force of his response. “Um…”
He rubs a hand over his face, as if frustrated that he can't put into words what he means. It took him a long time to open up about himself, his life on the road, and the fact that he even had siblings.
Talking comes a hell of a lot harder to him than it does to Joel and me. It’s why we never pushed him to talk or pried into his life. We just waited until he was comfortable with us, and to my surprise, he started opening up.
“What I mean to say is, she’s mine, but she’s her own person. I need her, and I want her, but she has needs and wants of her own. I refuse to get in the way of her happiness.”
Joel studies Murph through hooded eyes. “So you’re saying that I won’t wake up with your hands wrapped around my neck should I ever sleep with Rose?”
It’s reassuring to discover that I wasn’t alone in having thoughts that felt like undiagnosed paranoia was at play.
“I’m not telling you to sleep with my mate. Just… if she has feelings and you have feelings, I won’t kill you if you want to act on them.” Murph glances at me. “Either of you.”
“She won’t have feelings for me.” The quiet admission comes out with more bitterness than I expected, and Joel frowns as I push myself to my feet with a forced smile. “I’d better shower off all this diner grease and start on dinner.”
Murph calls after me, "What about advice to make my mate like me?"
“Listen and care about what a person is telling you,” I say, not turning around, more exhausted now than when I first walked through the front door. “That’s all there is to it.”
And as I walk out of the kitchen, I hear Joel ask Murph in a low voice, “What was that about?”
“Hell if I know,” Murph mutters, his eyes boring into my back.
Chapter 9
Rose
Joel is lifting his hand to knock when I pull open Ben’s bedroom door.
He stumbles back, and I swallow a scream. I’m not sure who's the most startled, him or me.
“Sorry.” His gaze drifts over my shoulder to land on Ben, who briefly stirs from his nap on his bed.
Ben spent most of today playing and napping after the awkward lunch we had with Murph earlier. It wasn’t awkward for Ben. He was happy to chat about his toys, his new room, anything at all, as he ate the sandwiches and cut-up fruit that Murph had surprised me by preparing for us all. I couldn’t look at Murph without wanting to fuck him or run away, so I picked at my meal and said nothing.
“Shit,” Joel softly curses. “Did I wake him?”
“It’s okay.” I step out and pull the door closed. “I should wake him in a bit, but he’s spent most of today running around this house and playing with all his toys. Win was teaching him how to do cartwheels in the backyard, and now he is obsessed.”
By silent agreement, we move away from his door and toward my bedroom, separated by one of the two upstairs bathrooms.
“Do you need a hand unpacking?” Joel offers when he sees my suitcase on the bedroom floor, where Murph left it after bringing it up for me. The windows are open, wind stirring the drapes and carrying in the scent of fresh grass and wildflowers from the backyard.
