Page 10 of Ours to Lose
I turned for the door, the familiar weight of exhaustion already heavying my steps.
“Hey, Gabe.”
Aubrey rounded the counter and headed for me, no hesitation in her movements, soft understanding in her eyes. Understanding that came from her own acquaintance with grief as much as her big heart.
My chest lightened as I opened my arms and pulled her in for a hug. She tucked herself against me, her ear pressing to where my heart pounded too quickly, sending warmth throughout my body.
I let the scent of her coconut shampoo comfort me as I inhaled slow and deep, then brushed a soft kiss to her head.
“Welcome home,” she said.
My shoulders dropped at the sincerity of her words. A weight somewhere inside me lifted for a moment I knew wouldn’t last but that I was grateful for all the same.
I squeezed her shoulders before releasing her. “See you around?”
It wasn’t what I wanted to say. But putting into words the enormity of the gratitude and tenderness I felt for her wasn’t something I knew how to do. And even if it was, sharing those words with her didn’t seem fair. Not coming from a liability like me.
She nodded once, her hazel eyes wide with compassion, and I left her to her work before I did something stupid like kiss her for an entirely different reason.
Back in the hallway, boisterous cheers and laughter from the party rose above the live music, flavoring the air with a contagious sort of high. One I nearly caught until my gaze reached the end of the hall.
I let out a resigned sigh.
I’d hoped to walk out of here without having to face the one person who now despised me. The person whose disdain hurt nearly as much as Mom’s death. It figured I wasn’t that lucky.
Down the corridor, stopped short at the sight of me, stood my brother.
He was still a few inches shorter than me, several pounds leaner, and a hundred times more handsome with his buttoned suit and polished sideswept hair the same blond as mine.
I almost strode to him and pulled him in for a hug the way I would have three years ago. The way I had every time I first saw him after being away for long stretches since I turned pro at eighteen and he was thirteen.
He was my baby brother. My best friend.
I missed him.
But then I saw the clench of his jaw and cold bitterness in his eyes and remembered.
He wouldn’t accept my hug if I tried. I didn’t blame him.
“Hey,” I said instead.
He turned to the elegant brunette on his arm and tipped his chin toward the stairs. “I’ll meet you by the coats. Just going to say goodbye to Aubrey and grab you a dessert, okay?”
She flashed a curious glance my way as she strode down the hall.
Evan squared his shoulders to me as if stepping into the ring. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Fair. He didn’t owe me pleasantries.
I assumed he meant what was I doing at the party since, according to Aubrey, he’d known since Thanksgiving I planned to come home for the holidays. So that was what I answered. “I wanted to be here for Aubrey.”
“Yeah?” he snapped back. “The way you were there for Mom?”
I flinched but didn’t argue. That was fair too. “I know it’s been a long time. I’m hoping to make up for it.”
“You mean you’re actually staying this time? There’s not going to be a plane you have to catch two weeks from now for an opportunity that’s just too good to pass up?”
I swallowed. “Training camp for one of my fighters starts in a week. Selection for the Olympics. I’ll be gone for a month or two, but then I’ll be back.”
