Read The Apartment (Apartment #1) for Free Online Page B

bit of his face that wasn’t shining with teeth displayed deep dimples and sparkling eyes.
    Adjusting himself quickly, he got out of the car, not bothering to lock the door before facing the smiling man. “Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me!”
    “Hey, sorry Ethan. I thought you heard me calling you.” Embarrassed, Ethan realized that a bomb could have dropped and he probably wouldn’t have heard it—not while he was thinking of his lovely afternoon distraction. “Come here,” the newcomer said, grabbing him tight in a huge bear hug. “I haven’t seen you in fucking forever!”
    “I thought you weren’t going to get here ’til tomorrow,” Ethan replied, grunting his discomfort into the taller man’s chest, the familiar awkwardness already setting in.
    “I caught the first flight out as soon as I could get away. The shuttle just dropped me off.” He gestured to a pile of bags near the front steps of the house. “Jeez, you didn’t hear that either?”
    “Sorry… guess I’m a bit distracted right now.”
    “Eh, no big deal. Man, I can’t believe how good it is to see you!” he said excitedly. “How the hell long has it been this time, anyway?”
    “A while, I guess.”
    “A while?! Try
years
, asshole!” Although his brother’s voice was playful, there was a glimmer of pain in his eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled you’re here, Ethan. Just maybe pick up the phone once in a while, huh?”
    “Yeah, ok,” he replied uncomfortably, wanting to look anywhere but in his brother’s eyes.
    “So mom said something about you and Rachel breaking up?”
    Ethan could feel his jaw ticking with tension as he tried to force himself to reply. “That’s… putting it mildly.”
    “Anything you want to talk about?”
    He had to fight the urge to scream this time. “
No
. Not… not right now. Sorry.”
    “Well, I hope you know that I’m here for you if you ever change your mind.”
    “Yes, thank you.” It was the same generic answer he’d been giving to the same generic platitude that everyone in his family had been offering him for days now, including relatives he barely knew or hadn’t seen in almost a decade. It didn’t escape him that he’d chosen the worst possible time to return home if he’d had any hopes of laying low. However, Ethan also knew that his brother was different: he didn’t believe in bullshit for bullshit’s sake.
    “I suppose we should go inside, huh? Mom’s probably going batshit crazy over all the little details.” He clapped Ethan on the back and walked with him to the front door, stopping only to pick up his luggage.
    They entered the house together, walking into an immaculate foyer that was larger than most homes in Aledo.
    “Mom?” the larger man called out.
    “In here!” A lot of noise could be heard from the direction of the kitchen. They walked through the doorway to find a beautiful middle-aged woman up to her elbows in flour. When she looked up at them, a very familiar, very large smile broke out on her face.
    “Eric! You made it in early!” Barbara Foster, wife of Dr. Richard Foster, ran around the counter and held out her arms, trying to keep the messiest parts of her away from his shirt.
    “Yeah, I came as fast as I could get away.” Eric leaned down and hugged her around the torso, still managing to get flour on the front of him and not caring in the slightest. “Look who I found lurking around outside,” he added, motioning behind him with a nod of his head.
    “Oh, Ethan, there you are! I haven’t seen you all day. Where did you run off to this morning after breakfast?”
    The man with the messy golden hair shrugged dismissively. “I just needed to get away for a while.”
    She looked him over for a moment with a mother’s knowing eye. “Well, whatever you did, it seems to have helped a bit. You look much more relaxed than you did before. I’m glad.” She looked as if she wanted to hug him, too, but wasn’t exactly sure