Lying Hearts

by Kelli Callahan

  “Time is never wasted if it means I get to see you, Luna. Come on; you know that.”

  I blushed under Ethan’s words, wishing he was the brother I could have feelings for. He was handsome and kind, but I told myself to stay away from all Moore brothers romantically. My life was better off without the dreaded tangled knot of being in love with any of them.

  One of them.

  “Blah, blah. We are all so happy to see each other. Yes, kisses, hugs, make out already, do the deed, but this boy is poppin’ this champagne. Before we pack and do anything, we are having a glass, celebrating an end of a chapter. Boston treated you well. So long, farewell, but Camden awaits Luna’s fine ass.” Oliver popped the cork off the champagne, and a quick fountain of foam escaped from the bottle in a rush, spewing all over my floor.

  “It is, isn’t it?” London said, giving my butt a quick slap.

  “Okay, okay, enough talking about my butt.” I let out a soft chuckle as I pretended it hurt and rubbed my butt-cheek.

  “I’m sorry that you have to come home,” Evan said, speaking for the first time since he arrived. “I know how much you love it here.”

  “I love my family more,” I said, taking the bottle from Oliver and taking a big swallow of the sweet champagne. “But thank you, Evan. I appreciate it.”

  “And no,” Ethan started and bent over to stack some boxes. “We haven’t told Easton you are coming home. We figured you didn’t want him to know.”

  I lifted a shoulder, pretending not to care if Easton knew, but on the inside, I was glad. I didn’t want Easton to know a thing about me. “I don’t care.”

  “Right, and I don’t care that none of the Moore brothers are gay. Girl, please. You can’t lie,” Oliver said as he lifted the bottle up, dancing to no music.

  Evan grinned, his slow chuckle deep as he tried to hold in the laughter, but it was no use. Oliver had voiced that the probability of one of the brothers being gay worked in his favor, but none of them were. Oliver thought one had just not come out of the closet yet, but still, after so many years, his hopes were crushed.

  Cue the Titanic theme song and the world’s smallest violin.

  Ethan stayed by my side for the entire rest of the day. There was something small between us, I could feel it, but it was something that could never be explored. The spark just wasn’t big enough to cause an explosion.

  And even after so many years of being in the debris of Easton’s destruction, the ashes were still settling inside me. I had a feeling the burning fuse would never extinguish. I’d always be putting myself back together after the bomb Easton dropped on me.

  After we ate and drank, we actually didn’t end up packing at all. We all fell asleep on the floor, and by morning, my neck was stiff, and everyone was rubbing their eyes awake. I turned over to see Ethan next to me, but not touching me, and I so wished him and I could start a story together, but it could never happen.

  Not when my hate was love and love was hate for Easton Moore.

  “Ugh, damn, the Irish really know how to drink in this town,” Evan said, rubbing his eyes with his thumbs. “Never should have dared that guy at pool. Never.”

  “Rookie mistake,” Ethan clicked his tongue.

  “Stop yelling,” London groaned from across the room, shoving a pillow over her face. “My head. There is a drunk goblin in my head, pounding against my skull.” She buried her face in the pillow again, her mascara smudged under her eyes, and red lipstick smeared over her mouth.

  “Where is Oliver?” I glanced around the room to look for him, but I couldn’t see his pink shorts anywhere.

  “I don’t know,” Ethan said, looking around the nearly bare apartment. “I thought he came home with us.”

  The doorknob jiggled, and then Oliver cat-walked in like he owned the place. “Good morning, you drunkards! I brought breakfast.” He wore the same outfit from last night but didn’t look hungover like we did. He was bright, like the sun, and it was hurting my eyes. It was too early in the morning.

  “Coffee,” Evan reached for one of the cups in the tray that Oliver held, and Oliver took it out of reach. “Yours come with a fee, Mr. Moore.”

  “Oh boy,” Ethan pushed up from the floor and took two strides to Oliver, grabbing two coffees and a bag of bagels. He sat down next to me and handed me a warm cup of coffee. “What do you think it is?” he whispered as he brought the cup to his mouth.

  “Something that Evan does not want to do. I can say that much,” I watched Oliver lean down and Evan not flinch the closer Oliver got to his face.

  “After this, we need to pack up. Evan and I brought one truck, so if you want, I can ride back with you and drive the moving truck, so you don’t have to be alone.”

  “Thanks, I’d like that,” I said, biting into the bagel that had cream cheese smeared in it already, and I groaned in delight as I washed it down with coffee. “So good.”

  “Kiss me and see what you’re missing hot stuff,” Oliver said salaciously.

  “Typical,” I muttered and blew cold air on the steam coming out of the small hole in the lid.

  Oliver closed his eyes and puckered his lips, waiting for Evan to kiss him. Evan rolled his eyes but seemed amused. He went along with it, cupped Oliver’s jaw, rubbed his thumb over his cheek, and I was enthralled.

  I grasped Ethan’s arm and clutched tight. Was this going to happen?

  “It isn’t going to happen. Evan is straight as a line,” Ethan said, hushed and careful to make sure no one could hear him besides me.

  “Don’t suck the fun out of it,” I said, watching as Evan leaned in, closer.

  Closer.

  And closer.

  I held my breath.

  Ethan shook his head, and right as I thought Evan was going to lay one on Oliver, he dodged his lips and kissed Oliver’s cheek, stealing his coffee off the tray.

  “You didn’t say where I had to kiss.” Evan sounded cheeky and opened the lid of his coffee to pour a small creamer in it.

  Oliver stuck out his bottom lip. “You are such a tease.”

  “You are pushy. Sorry, Oliver. I’m not gay.” Evan sounded exasperated.

  “So you say, but I won’t go down without a fight.”

  “Your funeral,” Evan said.

  “Your regret.” Oliver tossed his long blonde hair over his shoulder and swished his hips as he walked away, and all Evan did was shake his head, hiding a smile as he chewed on a bagel.

  This. I loved this dynamic, and when I got home, I knew I could have it all the time, but a dark cloud lingered. One that would suck the fun out of everything. Easton. He’d try to ruin my relationship with his brothers and moving home might be the worst decision I ever made.

  Easton was about to become a problem again; I just had to make sure that I was the solution. I couldn’t let him affect me this time.

  Not now.

  Not ever.

  Chapter Two

  Easton

  Like all of the men in my family, I stayed in public service. A few of my brothers were cops, one was a fish and game wildlife officer, but I was a firefighter, along with Ethan. Our small town didn’t get too much action. It was quaint. Everyone was so kind and the scenery? It was beautiful. Everyone said hi to everyone with a smile or a hug. It was peaceful living, which sometimes made a job as a firefighter a little tough.

  Most of the time, we got calls to go pull cats out of a tree or help someone put out a grease fire. I had only ever fought one big fire in the five years that I had been a firefighter, and that had been a fire that had started at the old.

  The Hampton mansion had been there for hundreds of years and had been in the Hampton family for generations up until the last Hampton died a year before I was born. Growing up, the Hampton mansion had become the ghost story everyone told, the dare no one acted on, and the road no one walked down because everyone was afraid to see the ghost of Glenn Hampton, the last living heir. Apparently, he died under ‘questionable’ circumstances, and the case
was never solved.

  Rumor had it, Glenn still haunted the grounds to bring justice to his death by killing anyone that dared entered the doors.

  When the fire department was called to go extinguish the fire, none of us died, but half of the home had been destroyed, which I thought was a real shame considering its historical value to the town. It was the one place that had always been here, no matter what, and now half of it laid in ash.

  It had been up for sale now for a few years, and no one wanted to buy it, considering that it was ‘haunted’, but for some reason, I had my eye on it. I wanted it. I wanted to build it from the ground up and make it my own. And if Glenn was still around, maybe he wanted a buddy.

  Ghost stories never scared me.

  There was only one person that I knew that got scared of anything ‘out of the ordinary’, and that was Luna Nightingale. I remembered her cuddling her favorite teddy bear as I held the flashlight against my face and told the story about the ghost of an old ax murderer that still took its victims off the main highway.

  I completely made it up like all my stories, but she hung on every word with her unruly curly hair falling in her face and big green eyes as wide as saucers.

  On my life, I fucking missed her so much it felt like my life was in jeopardy every time I breathed in. I ruined the best friendship I ever had because I was an idiot teenager wanting fame and glory from his peers. There wasn’t an excuse for what I did. I was an asshole, and I never deserved her friendship after I discarded her like that.

  It was the one regret I had. I wished I had the chance to apologize, to tell her how sorry I was, but she blocked my number, and her parents wouldn’t talk to me either. Whenever I saw her best friend’s, London and Oliver, I always waved, but London gave me the stink eye, and Oliver flipped me off.

  I deserved that too.

  I couldn’t say why I started that rumor in high school exactly. The guys had been pressuring me, asking me if I was a virgin, which I was, but apparently, it was lame, and the star quarterback couldn’t be lame. I knew the difference between right and wrong, but not being what everyone viewed me as scared me too.

  And the only person, the only woman that entered my mind was Luna, so I threw her under the bus, consequences to her life be damned, and I was treated like a god while everyone else looked down on her.

  Everyone besides her true friends.

  It had been ten years since the rumor and six years since I had seen her. I only knew what was going on with her life because of the gossip mill in Camden. Luna had gone to school in Boston, graduated with high honors in business and design, and stayed there.

  She had no intention of coming home.

  And I had every intention to right my wrongs with her.

  Luna Nightingale had been the love of my love, my best friend, and I thought that no matter what life threw at us, we would get through it; only she got tired of going through it with me because I had taken advantage of us.

  There had never officially been an us, but there was supposed to be. That was the plan. I knew it. Everyone else knew it.

  And still, somehow, I still couldn’t find her to tell her I was sorry. No one would give me information on her. I tried googling her, but she had no social media, and she wasn’t in the phone book.

  I never got over her.

  She would always and forever be my moon, the woman I carried in my heart throughout the night, and it was time I got my girl back.

  I didn’t care what I had to do. I had to prove myself, to her, to her parents, and her friends, if I ever wanted to be in her life again. Enough time had gone by without her, and I refused to live the rest of my life in regret.

  I had come to learn that regret was an emotion that was well-deserved for wrongdoings, and in order to move on, the issue needed to be fixed.

  The issue was me, and while I wasn’t ready to be the man, the friend, or the lover that Luna needed all those years ago, I was now. I didn’t deserve a second chance with her, but I was going to fight for it.

  “Lost in thought there, brother?” my younger brother Ezra asked me, his voice bringing me out of my oddly long stupor as I stared over the cliffs at the ocean. We were at our favorite camping spot, and since it wasn’t a longer summer, a slight crisp hung in the air. Autumn nights were the best for campfires.

  Ezra was the youngest out of the hoard of us and a twin to Ezekiel. They were only two minutes apart and damn it if Ezekiel didn’t remind Ezra of it every day.

  “Yeah, just have a lot on my mind,” I said, never taking my eyes off the ocean. The water was smooth, like glass, without a single ripple or waves to destroy its fragile appearance. My legs swung off the tailgate of the truck, and I couldn’t help but still think of Luna. She was on my mind more and more lately, and the last time I saw her, it had been at this very spot.

  The Moore’s owned this spot considering it was our land, and this spot had been where the end of the year graduation party was for all the seniors at Camden High. She showed up, even when no one liked her because of me, and she had her cronies on either side of her, ready to fight. My lips tilted in a smirk, watching them push people out of the way to get the boulder they always sat on.

  I couldn’t tear my eyes off her that night, and she never looked at me once. Luna was beautiful, in a loose summer dress that was navy blue, which made her skin look lighter than usual, creamier. And her hair, which had usually been tangled in a knot on the top of her head, had been down, her curls long and defined.

  I was a coward then. I should have apologized to her then.

  “Hello? Are you listening to me?” Ezra waved his hand in front of my eyes, and the truck dipped when he hopped up and took a seat next to me.

  “What? No, what did you say?” I ripped my eyes away from the glistening water and stared at Ezra, genuinely oblivious to anything he had said. It was crazy how much he and Ezekiel looked alike. No one could tell them apart except us brothers and mom and dad, but it wasn’t hard to figure out. Ezra was outgoing, a people person, and Ezekiel was more like Evan, reserved and a little grouchy.

  “I said we need to get the fire built soon and the tents set up. We are losing light. Man, you’re really out of it today. Want to talk about it?”

  I did want to talk about it, to anyone, but no one would ever talk to me about Luna.

  “No, it’s alright,” I said, wishing time would turn back so I wouldn’t lose the one good thing in my life.

  Time wasn’t that kind though, and neither was the universe. Life made sure there was no truly easy way out, and if someone needed to fix something in their life, it couldn’t be as simple as a wish or a snap of a finger. It had to be with hard work, tears, and maybe a little blood if shit went south.

  “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Ezra said, just as the gravel crunched from the road, telling us that Ethan, Evan, and Ezekiel were just about to pull in.

  I slapped my brother on the shoulder and gave him a small smile, one that was made with a little disbelief and doubt because I knew if I brought up Luna, he’d keep his lips shut. I didn’t know why she had become off-limits to talk about between us, but no one ever muttered a word about her, and it bothered me because while I was an ass, they could have kept in touch with her, they had been friends. We had abandoned her.

  “I know, Ezra. You’re good like that. Help me set up?”

  “You bet! I call getting the fire ready!” He hopped down from the truck and ran over to the pile of wood that we stacked underneath an awning that we built a few years back. The twigs under his boots snapped as he trotted over, and Ezekiel jumped out of the truck before it stopped to tackle Ezra to the ground.

  They hated being away from each other, and I think it had something to do with a cosmic twin thing. I didn’t know enough about it, but as I watched them, they always knew when something was wrong with the other, finished each other’s sentences, and I swore they spoke to each other in their minds.

  But if I truly
believed that, I’d be a crazy person.

  A few doors slammed, and the sound echoed throughout the forest surrounding us. A few birds flew over the canopy of the trees, their wings spread out against the last rays of the sun amid a quickly darkening night sky.

  “I didn’t think your ugly mugs would show,” I teased Evan and Ethan, plopping down on the damp ground to start setting up the giant tent. All of us slept in it. Hell, all of us practically lived together too. I had no idea why we rented our own places when we were all staying with each other anyway. We would save so much money living together. It was another reason why I wanted to buy the Hampton mansion and restore it. There was enough room there for all of us.

  “Sorry we were busy. Not that you would know anything about that being a firefighter,” Evan jabbed, and Ethan slapped him on the back of the head.

  “Watch it. I’m a firefighter too.”

  “Exactly,” Evan said, and Ethan put him in a headlock, but since Evan was trained in self-defense being a cop, he had Ethan on his stomach, arm pinned behind his back, and his knee between Ethan’s shoulders in no time.

  “Uncle! Freaking Uncle!” Ethan yelled just as Evan tossed his arm down to the ground. “You animal.” Ethan rubbed his shoulder with his other hand. “I think you broke it.”

  Evan rolled his eyes, annoyed from Ethan’s bitching. “No, you’d know if I broke it. Want to see?”

  “No touchy,” Ethan warned, taking a few steps back. He looked like he was ready to bolt.

  I snorted and started putting the pole ends together, shoving them into the ground for support. “Are you ever going to tell me where ya’ll go? Every now and then you just disappear. Is it something illegal?”

  “No,” they said in unison. And if I wasn’t mistaken, both sounded annoyed.

  “Is it dangerous?” I asked again just as Ezra and Zeke came walking back, their arms full of wood. They were filthy. Dirt clung to their clothes and faces, but both of them were smiling. They tossed the wood in the firepit, and Zeke squirted lighter fluid on it while Ezra lit a match, tossing the flaming stick in the middle. A hot whoosh filled the air, and the hot crackles of fire started. As the fire grew taller, the tendrils licked the sky, teasing the night with a hot threat.