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“Yet you have a key to his place?”
Adam shrugged. “Long story.” He set one of the water bottles down by the chair before settling on the couch. He didn’t both trying to open his own bottle. Not with the way that his fingers shook.
“Thanks.” Maverick grabbed his water before sitting in the chair.
While he had the time, Adam studied his older brother. The years that they’d been apart had been kind to Maverick. He’d been a young pimple-faced kid when he’d left. Now his skin was clear, and he sported a nice even tan. His biceps bulged as he lifted the bottle to his mouth.
Maverick was solid. Not big like Adam but muscular. It hurt to look at him.
“What are you doing here, Mav?” Adam asked.
“You look good, Adam.” Maverick shook his head. “I’ve…I’ve thought of this moment for so many years. I thought I would know all the right things to say. But here I am sitting in front of you and I don’t know where to start.”
Adam had an idea. “How’d you find me?”
Maverick’s lips twitched. “It was quite funny. I was home on break, and I turned on the TV. I don’t usually watch the news.” He shook his head. “Too much bad shit gets reported. But the station was already on, and I was too fucking tired to change the channel.”
“Okay.” What did that have to do with him?
“So, I was listening to someone asshole talking about how he’d found the long-lost son of some bigoted presidential hopeful.”
Adam groaned. He knew where this was going.
“Yep!” Maverick said with a laugh. “What do I see? My baby brother standing like a fucking badass protector in front of this little coffee shop in a small town in Arizona.”
“And you decided to come here…what, weeks later?”
“I wanted to come right away. Please believe me, Adam. I would have jumped in my truck that night, but I got called away. I had to leave the country. That happens from time to time.”
The implications scared him. “You’re special forces?” Adam watched enough movies to understand that much. Sure, they were usually monster or zombie movies but there was always a special forces soldier who went rogue and saved the day.
“I do what I have to do,” Maverick said.
“Then what?”
Against his will, Adam was memorized by the story.
“Once I was headed back home, I was already making plans to come here. As soon as I had service again, I realized I had two dozen messages.”
“From who?”
“Our mother.”
Adam froze. He knew that they would have to talk about her.
“She’d seen the same news program.”
“So?” Adam shrugged. “I haven’t spoken to her since the night I left.”
“I know.” Maverick dropped his gaze before very slowly looking up at him again. “I did go back for you.”
Adam couldn’t…he just couldn’t do this! It was too much. Why did he have to talk about that time? “When?”
“It was too long,” Maverick replied. “By the time I returned, you’d been gone almost a year. No one knew where you had gone to.”
“I made sure of it.”
“Adam.” Maverick’s eyes glistened. “I failed you and I’m so sorry. I thought if I was gone that it would be easier for you. I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving you behind.”
