The Apartment (Apartment #1) (8 page)

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I’ll be back. I’m not sure when… or how often. Weekends will be something of a problem.”

“I don’t care how, when, or why you come. Only that you do.” He looked deep into her beautiful eyes, knowing that the moment she left again he would miss them terribly. Slowly leaning down and bringing his mouth to hers, he kissed her softly. “Goodbye for now.”

“Goodbye, stranger.” A small smile played on her lips.

As she backed away from him toward the door, he couldn’t help but see that she spared one final glance down at his dick. A deep crimson spread across her features when she saw he’d noticed, which caused it to stiffen slightly under her regard. With one last, barely audible squeak under her breath, she shut the door behind her and ran down the stairs.

Glancing down at the offending member in question, Ethan chuckled to himself. He clearly had no control over what that girl did to his body. Walking into the small bathroom and turning on the shower, he eyed the dark garment bag that hung on the back of the door as he stepped under the stream of water. Rinsing off his sweaty frame quickly, he thought to himself that there was no better sweat than post-sex sweat.

When he was finished, he stepped out onto the cold tile floor and cursed himself for forgetting to buy some towels. Praying that he’d air-dry quickly, Ethan brushed out his hair with his fingertips, finally giving it up for a lost cause when it began sticking up at odd angles.

Fuck it
.

He turned around to the garment bag, unzipping it slowly to reveal a designer suit that had been tailored to fit. This one was a dark charcoal gray color and one of his favorites. As he tightened his silk tie in the mirror, he acknowledged that the suit he was wearing probably cost more than the average person earned in a month.

We must always keep up appearances, isn’t that right, dear?

He threw on his dress coat and made his way down to the Audi, reminding himself as he got inside that he needed to contact the rental company soon about setting up an open-ended contract. He’d originally taken it out for a week, but now he had absolutely no idea how long he might stay. Living the life of a wealthy, eccentric nomad had left him with very few ties to any one place, so the duration of his visit was completely up to him.

As he pulled out of the lot, he turned on the satellite radio, already set to one of his favorite hard rock stations. Whenever he was in the mood to start painting again, his musical preferences tended to lean more toward the aggressive side of the spectrum. Except for earlier that day; for some reason, something had made him get up and switch his iPod over from his
Painting Music
playlist to a new one he’d just made that morning, simply titled
Fuck Songs
. And as if the reason for his playlist inspiration had been summoned by the music alone, she had shown up at his door.

Shaking his head to clear it from the images of luscious pink lips and soft brown hair, he directed his attention to the song currently playing on the radio. Startled to find that it was actually a slow song, Ethan paid closer attention. It was by the band Slipknot, which was normally much heavier-sounding. He started to recognize the tune, but as it played he realized that he’d never listened to the lyrics. They were full of pain and hurt, loss and regret.

OK, that’s enough of that
. Ethan turned off the radio, instantly uncomfortable with how closely the song mirrored his own emotions at the moment. He didn’t need to sit in silence for long, though, since he had already arrived at the madhouse formerly known as his parents’ home.

There were cars lining both sides of the street. Emma had been right; their mother should have booked a hall. At this rate they were going to be lucky if they the cops weren’t called for a violation of some sort of city ordinance.

After finally parking and heading inside, Ethan looked around until he saw some familiar faces milling about the foyer. One of them was a lithe beauty with a dark-blonde pixie cut, and when she saw him approaching she smiled widely, excusing herself from the group of people she was talking with. A tall, dark-haired man followed closely behind her, unwilling to release her hand as she walked away.

“I knew you’d make it,” she said, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“Did you really ever doubt me, Emma?”

“Of course not, but Brandon owes me five bucks.” She nudged the man at her side, causing him to laugh nervously.

“Hey, I only said that I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t make it, not that he wouldn’t. This is a whole lot of people to take in at once.”

“Oh whatever, you still owe me five bucks.” She turned her teasing smile from her husband to Ethan, her face growing more serious in the process. “I’m not going to ask you how you’re doing again. But please keep in mind that we’re all here for you. Always. You don’t even have to talk about it—we can just hang out if you want.” Dropping her voice to a whisper, Emma added, “I miss you.”

“Come here,” Ethan said, holding his arms out. Wrapping her in a tight hug, he leaned over and spoke in her ear. “Listen to me. I may not have been around much over the last few years, but don’t ever think I don’t remember that you were always the other half of me when we were little.”

Emma and Ethan were fraternal twins, but as Ethan loved to remind Emma, he was older by twenty-two minutes. They had been extremely close growing up, going so far as to have their own secret language that pissed off everyone around them, especially Eric. Ethan couldn’t help wondering what his life might have been like if they had remained close, rather than growing apart in their teens.

“Thank you,” she replied, hugging him even tighter. “But now I’ve got my own other half, and he makes me happier than I ever could have imagined. It makes me so sad to know that you haven’t found yours yet. I’d hoped you had, but…” she trailed off awkwardly.

He bit his tongue and nodded gruffly. “Yes, well… these things happen.”

Ethan patted her on the back and shared a few pleasantries with her husband Brandon, who he hadn’t gotten to know as well as he felt he should have for someone who was married to his twin. He vaguely remembered seeing Brandon on occasion, when Emma first started bringing him home with her on her breaks from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but Ethan had already been too deep into his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago—and well on his way to becoming a first-class pompous asshole—to give a shit about him.

After a few more minutes of idle chitchat, they made their way into the main room that had been decorated elaborately for the occasion. Nearly all the furniture had been removed until it was a wide-open room, perfect for large masses of people to stand around like cattle and exchange stories about his father.

Making his way across the room, he was stopped numerous times by distant relatives and business associates of his father. The gamut ran from cousins he hadn’t seen since his teens who had come all the way from Boston to an over-enthusiastic, ass-kissing OBGYN who Ethan could have sworn was flirting with him. Over and over again he would pause, shake their hands, listen to the same boring stories and offers to get together sometime, all the while remembering to smile and nod at just the right times. He didn’t know any of these people anymore and he had a hard time hiding the fact that he truly didn’t care to.

Eventually, he was able to free himself long enough to grab a cup of coffee in the small breakfast nook attached to the kitchen. It was the one area that wasn’t swarming with people. He had just sat down and taken a large drink when he heard footsteps entering the room. Glancing up at the door, he was relieved to see a tall, distinguished looking man approaching him. He was still very fit and attractive for his age, the only telltale signs that he was now sixty were the slight graying at his temples and the laugh lines around his eyes.

Setting down his cup, Ethan stood to greet him. They hugged warmly, and as they pulled away, neither one completely let go of the other. “I thought I might find you in here,” the older man said with a smile. But it didn’t reach his eyes, which remained sad and full of concern.

“Sorry, I was trying to get over to you, but I just needed a minute. It was getting to be a little too much in there.”

“I think that’s more than understandable right now.” He reached up and stroked his hand over the back of Ethan’s head, clearly mastering the urge to ruffle his hair. “Besides, don’t worry about us. We’ll be here after all of this craziness is over.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Where were you this morning? I was hoping to see you at breakfast, but you had already taken off.”

“I was getting my studio set up. I wanted to get away for a while—this place is turning into Grand Central Station.”

“Yes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite so many presents before in my life,” Richard Foster said with a light chuckle. He was a highly respected physician in the small town of Aledo; it seemed as if almost every hospital employee had stopped by the house for a chance to rub noses with the good doctor and bring him a gift. “Your mother meant well by all of this, but I think this party got away from her.” He was quiet for a moment before adding, “Speaking of your mother, she mentioned that you were thinking of staying on for a while to work. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”

“Well, I’m not sure how long it will be, I just don’t feel the need to run off quite yet. And I haven’t had this strong of an urge to start painting again in a long time, so I want to take advantage of it while I can.”

“That’s wonderful. Maybe it’s what you need right now to get your head straight.”

“What do you mean?” Ethan didn’t miss the knowing look that his father gave him.

“Son, we know you’re not sleeping well. Your mother and I can hear you screaming at night. You have just been through something that’s obviously upsetting you, and you won’t talk to anyone about it. Perhaps this urge to work again is a way for your body to release some of the emotions you are bottling up.”

“Maybe. I don’t know much about that stuff,” Ethan shrugged.

“Well, whatever the reason, I’m just thrilled that you’ll be in town longer. We’ve all missed you. I know that you like your privacy and I don’t expect to see you at the dinner table every day, but it makes me feel better just knowing that you are close by.”

Ethan sighed. An uncomfortable look came over his face. “Dad, I know I’ve been… distant. I’m sorry I haven’t really been around for such a long time.”

Richard smiled, patting him lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t be silly. I know how it is to be young and in love. Sometimes it can feel like nothing else in the world exists. You and Rachel were quite the glamorous jet-setters, with art shows around the world. Who could blame you for getting wrapped up in that?”

Ethan smiled back, not having the heart to correct his assumptions. Maybe one day he would set him straight, but for the moment he couldn’t stomach the idea of seeing the light of respect die in his father’s eyes.

“Were you ready to return to the party? I noticed you haven’t had the chance to talk to your mother yet.”

“You go on ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.” Ethan picked his rapidly cooling coffee back up and began to sip it, effectively ending the discussion.

“Alright. I’ll see you in a bit.” Richard walked toward the door, stopping when his hand touched the knob. “You know, Ethan,” he turned back around. “I know that you weren’t expecting to be bombarded by the entire family so soon after your arrival. Normally things aren’t quite so crazy around here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to have you here for the celebration, and I’m so happy you’ll be staying for a while, but I can tell you’re uncomfortable. I won’t ask you to do any more than you think you can handle right now, but please stop holding all of us at arm’s length. We just want to know you again.”

Ethan watched him leave, grimacing at the now-cold coffee as he swallowed the last of it down. It was almost as hard to digest as the words his father had spoken. Ethan hadn’t realized he was being so obvious to everyone, but his father was right. He
hadn’t
wanted to see anyone right now, not even Eric or Emma. He had wanted to hole up and lock the world away until he figured out how he was going to face them all again. Taking a deep breath, he went back out into the swarm of people, trying to be a little more receptive to all the party guests this time.

Before long it was well after nine o’clock and most of the guests had filtered out. Ethan was left standing with his parents, both of them hugging him close. When they pulled apart, his mother leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“Darling, we’re so happy to have you here after so long. It meant so much to us to have you present for your father’s birthday. I know it was a little crazy, but I can’t thank you enough for staying.”

“I was happy to be here,” Ethan replied, to which his mother arched an eyebrow in disbelief. “Well, maybe not happy to be at this enormous party that you never should have had at the house,” he teased, “but definitely happy to be with you both again.”

“Well that’s good. Are you going out for a drink with the boys, sweetheart?” Maggie and Emma had already gone to bed, but Eric and Brandon were refusing to call it a night. They had announced that they were going to the local bar for a few rounds if Ethan wanted to meet them there.

“I’m not sure yet. It’s been a really long day. I don’t know if I’m up for it.”

“Alright. You do whatever you need to do. We’re going up to bed.” She kissed him one more time before grabbing Richard’s hand.

“Goodnight, son,” he added, before turning with his wife and walking to the stairs.

Ethan stood in the empty room for a few minutes, rubbing at his eyes and running his fingers through his hair. It felt so odd to be back in a place filled with so many happy memories. For so long, all he wanted was to be standing right where he was—and now that he was there, he didn’t know how to process it. His family had been nothing but welcoming and caring since he’d arrived, which is what he’d thought he needed, yet the closer they tried to get to him the more he backed away. He had wasted so many years separating himself from them for one reason or another. At first it was because he’d foolishly imagined himself above them all. Now it was because he knew that he didn’t deserve them.