"Coffee," I commanded as I stumbled into the kitchen, squinting at the brightness of the lights. The light grey walls and white cabinets didn't look so gorgeous this morning.

Noah didn't even look up from the newspaper he had spread on the massive island as he pointed at a mug to his left. He looked as impressive as ever in jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair was still wet from a recent shower, appearing darker than usual and falling over his forehead as he read. My fingers twitched to reach over and sweep it out of the way for him.

"I am assuming you still take it black with four sugars?" Joshua slid the mug within my reach.

Taking a sip and moaning, I nodded. "That's good coffee."

"Donuts are in the warming oven, to your right."

My stomach gave a little growl of appro,val and Joshua grinned.

I watched Noah over the rim of my mug. He still hadn't looked at me.

"Noah -"

"Don't let them get cold," he ordered. His tone was very matter-of-fact, eyes glued to the paper.

Grumbling to myself, I opened the door to the oven and inhaled the wonderful aroma of fresh donuts.

Joshua snuck up behind me and grabbed one. "They're fresh from the bakery, never even made it to the rack.

I took a huge bite of a donut. "How do you remember how I take my coffee and donuts?"

"The same reason I remember how you eat your egg rolls," Mal answered from the stairs leading to the lower level. Looked like working out in the morning was still his routine.

Shirtless, he strode over and bit off half of my donut as I gawked at him, once again mesmerized at the tattoos covering his rock-solid torso. Some dipped below the waistband of his sweatpants, leading me to believe he had some others that weren't visible. A sparkle of mischief sparkled in his dark eyes as he stepped in closer. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip, smearing the sweet icing. My tongue flicked out to lick it away, and he smirked.

"Put some clothes on. You've struck her stupid with all your muscles." Joshua reached around me and handed him a mug. His chest was pressed against my back, Mal pressing closer to me from the front.

The feeling of them like this was all too familiar.

"I trust you. All of you."

That memory was as effective as a cold bucket of water dumped over my head. I slid out from between them, earning a knowing and disapproving look from Mal. He opened his mouth to scold me when Noah cut him off.

"We remember everything about you." Noah finally folded the paper and looked up at me, appearing a little offended at the question as if it was stupid to ask.

"Everything?" I gave them all an assessing look as Joshua and Mal joined Noah on the opposite side of the island.

My boys.

Were they mine, though?

"When's my birthday?"

"March twenty-first." Mal.

"Middle name?"

"Elizabeth." Noah.

"Favorite color?"

Joshua grabbed his coffee and took a drink. "It's blue, but everyone thinks it's red because you used to accessorize everything in red. Your backpack, your folders, binders, cell phone cases, pencils," he raised an eyebrow at me and gestured to my flannel pajamas that just so happened to have red hearts all over them. "Should I keep going?"

I chomped into the donut to hide my look of surprise. My mind started sifting through its vault of useless information, trying to recall when Noah's birthday was. Or Mal's favorite color. I was pretty sure Joshua's middle name was Sawyer.

"Maybe Stephen isn't my only stalker."

I meant it as a joke, but my tone wasn't as light as intended, and it fell flat. All three of them stared at me, with slightly different levels of irritation on their faces, letting me know exactly how much they didn't appreciate my attempt at humor.

After refilling his coffee, Noah flicked the newspaper back open, effectively signaling the end of my pop quiz. "I have the housekeeper coming back today."

"We thought she could clean up Riley's room in case you'd like to stay in there instead of the guest room." Without me even having to ask, Joshua refilled my coffee and handed me the sugar bowl.

A blush stained my cheeks. "You heard me move my stuff? I thought I had been quiet."

Sometime in the middle of the night, I crawled out of Riley's tear-soaked bed and drug my stuff into the only empty bedroom down the hall. It was between Noah's and Joshua's. It seemed like a good idea at the time, wanting to remove myself from the black hole I could get sucked into by cocooning myself in Riley's domain. Plus, I had the rather disturbing realization that my brother had been a whore, and who knows when those sheets had been changed last.

Without looking at me, eyes fixated on that newspaper I was positive Noah wasn't actually reading, he gave a small shake of his head. "I was awake."

"Couldn't sleep?" I ventured, nibbling on my donut.

"Lot on my mind."

"Me too," I murmured. "I can take care of Riley's room. The housekeeper doesn't need to trouble herself."

"No, you won't," Joshua argued. "She's eager to get back to work. It's no trouble for her."

Mal stole a cautious look in my direction. "Besides, you'll be busy."

"Doing what?"

Noah took one final drink of his coffee and folded up the newspaper. "John is coming over to finish the paperwork."

"Your attorney makes house calls? You must pay him well."

"By this afternoon, you could be co-owner of one of the fastest-growing companies in Boston. So then you can pay him, too."

They were waiting for a reaction. It was hard to give one since I was still unsure what the hell I was going to do about this whole mess.

Lying awake last night and all too aware that Noah was lying in bed in the room right next to me, probably naked and in need of a good cuddling, I had a long conversation with myself, working through all the pros and cons of the current situation. No decision was made.

Pros? 

New city, new job, more money, a jumpstart for my completely pathetic existence, and the boys.

Cons? 

All the same.

Maybe if I could talk John into giving me a little while longer and work out staying here for a few days while I continued to mull things over would give me a chance to get a more accurate temperature check on Noah.

Once he admitted where he had been for the majority of the past decade last night, he'd left me standing in Riley's room, shocked into disbelief and with a thousand more questions for him. We will be continuing that conversation at some point today. I wasn't going to let him keep picking and choosing which details he was going to share. Which meant, Joshua and Mal would also be fessing up.

So that was my answer. I was sticking around. Not to take my share – well, maybe – but because I needed answers so badly, I'd do anything to get them.

"If you do decide to keep your share," Noah interrupted my thoughts. "It'll be a nice break from teaching art."

"So, was it Riley that was telling you all about what I've been doing this whole time?"

Joshua cleared his throat and gave me a sheepish smile. "I also might have been involved."

Mal pushed away from the counter where he'd be leaning, grabbing one more donut before heading towards the hall. "Total gossips. All three of them."

"Like it wasn't you feeding us the info," Joshua shouted after him.

"Since I know you weren't all in prison, is that what you and Mal have been doing this whole time? Acting as spies and reporting back to him?"

Noah went rigid. Joshua looked up sharply, first at me and then at Noah. "You told her? So she knows about -"

"No," Noah snapped. "She knows I was in prison. That's all."

"Come on, man, you have to tell her the rest. She needs to know."

"She's right here," I rolled my eyes at them. "And yes, she needs to know."

When I saw the muscle in Noah's jaw tense, I knew he was about to do one of two things. Either explode or completely shut down. A second ticked by, and then another. He chose the latter.

"I'll see you tonight," he mumbled to neither of us in particular and then stalked away toward the stairs for the garage.

We watched him go, aware that nothing would make him come back, short of one of us dying.

"Don't suppose you'd tell me?"

Joshua ran his hands through his hair, shaking his head and looking defeated. "It's hard for him to talk about it. It really messed him up for a while. But it's his choice what he tells you, not mine."

My stomach turned at the implications of Joshua's words. "Was he hurt? Did something happen to him in there? Tell me something, Joshua. I can't stand this."

He shrugged. Fucking shrugged. "He hasn't told us what went on in there. But Regan, once he was out, it took him a long time to get to where he is now. You were what kept him going. Just to see you again one day - that's all he wanted."

I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold and shaking. "You all helped him, though? When he got out?"

Joshua pulled me into his arms, noticing how upset I was becoming. "Of course, baby girl. We were with him through it all. Riley is the reason he was released. He got the charges dropped and Noah's record wiped clean. Noah had been innocent the entire time."

I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face into his chest. The relief I felt was overwhelming. Even with all my questions about what had happened, I had known two things for certain. Noah had either been wrongfully convicted, or he had been left with no choice but to do whatever it was that landed him behind bars. I guessed that he had been protecting someone or something.

But now that I knew he hadn't done anything at all and suffered for it - anger spread through me like wildfire. He had been kept away from me, and there was no reason for it. Ten years of his life wasted. Ten years he could have been out living the life he had wanted, a life we had both wanted.

"This was not how I thought this day was going to start," Joshua gave me another squeeze and stepped back. "I've got to go take care of some stuff. Will you be okay here by yourself? Until John gets here?"

I nodded and he pressed his lips to my forehead. "I'll be back tonight. We'll all talk then."

I watched him disappear down the hall and out the front door. Mal was still somewhere upstairs, presumably getting ready for the day and then also disappearing on me. It didn't matter. I now had a plan and there was no room to focus on anything else.

Noah and I will be talking about this later tonight - sober and serious. He was going to tell me the rest of his story. He said he wanted to prove to me that I was always his top priority and this was how he was going to do it. And I, for once in our relationship, was going to be the one making some decisions about us.

With a renewed sense of purpose, I ran down the hall and upstairs to get ready for the meeting with John. In my rush to grab my clothes, half the contents of my suitcase spilled out onto the floor. Something made a thud as it hit the floor and when I spied the familiar purple butterfly shape of my vibrator, I was positive Beth could hear me cursing her from Boston. In too much of a rush, I left it all where it lay, anxious to get in and out of the shower before John got here. I needed to make sure I was presentable.

The new co-owner of one of the fastest-growing companies in Boston needed to look the part.