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That made a lot of sense, too.
Where Murphy was a mechanic, he was also practically working a second job to get his old house fixed up.
Then there was Jasper, who was an officer with Paris Police Department.
Taos owned half the gym with Madden. Taos was also a prolific horror novelist and a retired PPD detective. Whereas Madden still worked in the SWAT division for PPD.
Soren was an emergency room doctor, and Johan, Soren’s brother, was a child psychologist.
They were all really damn busy.
Murphy less so now that he just wasn’t physically capable of doing more.
The drive to my sister’s new place with Taos was quiet. Vlad, likely sensing the tenseness in the air, remained blissfully silent.
Murphy quietly hummed to the radio while his oxygen whirred in the overly quiet car.
When we arrived it was to find Taos on the front lawn with the hood of his car up, staring at it in confusion.
I felt a pang in my heart at knowing that soon, Murphy wouldn’t be here to fix it if things went wrong.
I closed my eyes after I put it in park and steeled my heart before getting out.
I got Vlad, much to Vlad’s dismay, and headed directly past Taos without saying a word to him.
But it didn’t matter. His eyes weren’t on me. They were on Murphy, slowly making his way to Taos with the oxygen bottle firmly in his hands.
I made it to the front door without breaking down, and then to the living room where I carefully sat Vlad on his behind in front of the already playing television.
Then went in search of my sister.
The moment I found her in front of the mirror putting mousse in her hair, I broke down, cried, and told her everything.
• • •
MURPHY
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Taos asked. “Is this why you aren’t coming to workout anymore?”
I carefully lifted the green oxygen bottle and rested it against the headers. “I’m dying.”
Taos rolled his eyes. “No, really. What did you do? Have something fall on you and you have a collapsed lung? Is this why my fiancée is going around whining because she can’t get ahold of her sister?”
I pressed my hand against my heart just before saying, “I’m sleeping with, and have fallen in love with Mavis.”
Taos blinked and barked out a laugh a half second later. “I thought you two hated each other’s guts?”
I grinned faintly. That grin all but disappeared off of my face as I said, “I didn’t want her to fall in love with me.”
Taos shifted so that his hip was leaning against his car, then he stared at me with confusion. “What?”
I sighed. “I’ve had cardiac problems since I was a child. Then, when I was seventeen, I suffered a heart attack from a dietary imbalance.”
Taos’ eyes widened.
“From then on, I had heart trauma that later turned into heart failure.” I paused. “I’m in stage four now. I’m on a donor list for a new one, but for the time being…I need this.”
Taos’ eyes went to the oxygen bottle I was patting, then back to my face. “Fuck.”
Fuck was right.
“I did some book research on getting on a donor list for a transplant. It’s not…” he hesitated.
“It’s not likely I’ll get one, correct,” he confirmed. “Most likely, I’ll die while still on it.”
Taos grumbled. “And you went and fell in love with her even though you were trying to make her hate you, so she’d stay away?”
I didn’t say anything to that, but the burn in my heart might as well have been enough.
I’d gone and done the unthinkable. I’d made her fall in love with me. And I was leaving her shortly.
I knew it. She knew it.
Everybody would soon know it.
“Dammit, man.” Taos paused. “I’m really fuckin sorry to hear that. Does everyone else know?”
I leaned against the truck feeling my breaths come faster and faster just from the simple exertion of holding myself in a standing position.
“I’m going to tell them tonight.” I shrugged.
The front door slammed, and I looked to it to see Fran coming out with Vlad on her hip.
She took one look at me, and I knew she knew.
“Where’s Mavis?” I asked quietly.
Fran cleared her throat. “She’s in the bathroom getting cleaned up.”
I closed my eyes and felt a wave of something fierce hit me.
“This is why I should’ve stayed away,” I admitted. “I wish I’d never come back.”
Fran sucked in a breath at my words. “You would take away some of the happiest days I’ve ever seen Mavis experience because you’re upset that she’s going to be heart-broken?”
I didn’t know what to reply to that, so I just didn’t.
“Let me tell you something about my sister,” Fran came closer.
Of course, the little boy in her arms immediately leaned over for me, but I knew with me standing and holding him, my exertion level would go up, and it would tire me out quicker. And with a full night ahead of me, I needed to reserve my strength.
