Alyssa stood there, unsure what else she could possibly say. She glanced at Marco for a long moment, and when he finally met her gaze, his eyes were hard and shuttered, reminding her of that day in the hall at Whiskey's when he'd almost opened up.

But had walked away instead.

Now it was her turn.

Emptiness ballooning inside her chest, Alyssa turned and walked out the front door.

Marco watched Alyssa leave and felt all the air suck out of the room. His chest tightened, his gut clenched, and his head throbbed until he had to sit down. He dropped onto one end of the futon with his elbows braced on his knees. Brady sat on the other.

Neither said anything for a long while. They'd fought before, many times. Usually over stupid shit. They'd both be pissed off for a few hours, and then just like that it was over, and they'd go get a beer or head to the gym or do any of a thousand other normal things as if nothing had ever happened.

In all that time, Brady had never hit him. But, then again, Marco had never deserved it.

He had violated Brady's trust. That much was true. But Alyssa was wrong on one point: there was something worth fighting Brady for. And the first step was clearing the air here.

Marco lifted his head and nailed Brady with a hard stare.

Brady glared right back.

"When I told you it wasn't what you thought, I meant it wasn't casual. I'm in love with her," Marco said.

Brady let out a long sigh and reclined against the back of the couch. "You want to tell me how she got those bruises?"

"Some piece of shit jumped her in a parking lot. She fought him off pretty good, too. You would've been proud of her."

Brady exhaled heavily. "What exactly did he...do?"

"Nothing. I got there before the situation went critical. She was rattled, but she's strong, Brady. She handled it."

"Jesus Christ," Brady muttered. "I'm sorry for even suspecting..."

Hot bile climbed in Marco's throat. "You should be."

Brady sighed and his voice softened. "So how long has this been going on?" He pointed back and forth like Alyssa was still in the room.

Marco rubbed his chest, her absence weighing on him like a two-ton boulder. Why had he let her walk out that door? How could he have let her go thinking anything but that he loved her? As screwed in the head as he was, maybe he didn't deserve her. But that didn't keep him from wanting her with everything he was. "It just started. She doesn't even know how I feel."

"Fuckin' A. Wasn't expecting to come home to this."

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"That excited to see me, huh?"

Marco glared, not particularly in the mood to deal with Brady's sarcasm. His best friend excelled at smart-ass. "You know what I mean."

"I'm stateside for the next eighteen to twenty-four months. Army Staff, Pentagon."

"No shit."

"And one thing I've been looking forward to is being there again for Alyssa. Which means I have to ask you straight up, man, and I know you're not going to like it."

Marco braced for one of a dozen possible questions and motioned for him to continue.

"Are you too fucked up with everything that happened to do right by my baby sister?"

For a long moment, Marco gave the question the consideration it deserved. "I'm not a hundred percent, but I'm doing better. And she makes me want to be better. This past year and a half, my problem has been floundering around without a purpose. With Alyssa, I've found a purpose again. Making her happy would be enough. It would be everything. So, no, I'm not too fucked up."

Brady drilled him with a serious stare for a long moment, then smirked. "Just a little."

Marco chuffed out half a laugh. "Just a little."

"You know it wasn't your fault, right? You've wrapped your head around that much, at least?"

"That would be in the part that isn't right yet."

"Marco-"

"You telling me it's so isn't going to convince me. I appreciate it, don't get me wrong. But I have to find a way there on my own."

Brady heaved a breath. "Aw, shit." He paused a long moment. "My sister? Really?"

Marco saw the teasing in Brady's eyes and gave in to a small smile. He shrugged.

"You realize if you ever hurt her, I'll have to kill you."

Rising to his feet, Marco nodded. "I'd expect nothing less. But there isn't another man on this planet who knows as well as I do how much your sister deserves happiness."

Brady stood and held out his hand. "True." They shook, and Brady playfully smacked Marco's cheek. "Gonna have a shiner. Sorry 'bout that."

Marco prodded his sore cheekbone. "Shit hurts, too, motherfucker."

Brady chuckled and rubbed his stomach. "Is that breakfast I smell?"

Marco's grin slid from his face. The breakfast he'd made for Alyssa. "Yeah. Go ahead and eat. I need to talk to your sister. Now."

But she wasn't outside, nor anywhere in the neighborhood. And after searching all day, Marco still couldn't find her.

He'd forgotten she didn't have her car at his house, so he had no idea where she might've gone or with whom. Her car was still parked at Whiskey's, so he couldn't drive around looking for it, and of course she wasn't answering her phone.