Chapter 2
Two
FYFE
Two years ago
Idrove down Castle Street, the main street through Ardnoch, an avenue of identical nineteenth-century terraced houses with dormer windows.
Most of the homes had been converted into boutiques, cafés, and inns.
In among them was Morag’s, a small grocery store and deli, Flora’s, the most popular café in the village, and Callie’s Wee Cakery, Callie’s mum’s bakery.
The cobbled streets and old-fashioned lampposts, the creeping ivy and hanging flower baskets in bright bloom for the summer, made the village picture-perfect. Once upon a time, I’d never imagined returning here, no matter how quaint and idyllic it was.
Yet, two years ago, I found my way back. Maybe fate had a hand.
Or maybe Deirdra.
When my old neighbor passed away, I’d gone home to Ardnoch for her funeral.
I was pissed off at myself for not being better at staying in touch when she’d done so much for me.
While I was drowning my sorrows in the Gloaming (a hotel, pub, and restaurant owned by Lewis’s uncles), my best mate’s dad, Thane, approached me, along with his brother Lachlan.
Lachlan Adair owned and ran Ardnoch Castle and Estate, a private members-only club that catered to film and TV industry people.
Somehow, our conversation turned into a job proposition, and I found myself bringing my cybersecurity company home to Ardnoch.
My team all worked from home, so it was easy enough for me to make the move.
We now protected all of Lachlan’s (and the rest of the Adairs’) businesses from digital threats, as well as some of the club members, so being able to use the estate as a base to meet those clients made the most sense.
Since I was proficient in all types of security, I also advised on the security system for the estate.
Lachlan used a drone perimeter, but I’d boosted its digital defenses so it was nigh impossible to hack.
I’d gone from wondering how I’d feed myself as a teen to having more money than I knew what to do with.
At uni, I’d created an online game in my spare time that grew so popular, I sold it for millions to a large gaming company.
They also offered me a job. Fans of the game wanted more from me, but creating games was just something I was good at. Not something I particularly enjoyed.
When one of my favorite uni professors realized what a great fucking hacker I was, he decided to employ my talents for good.
After I’d freelanced for him, he recruited me to join his cybersecurity company.
After graduation, I decided to set up my own company because I liked being my own boss.
Money. I had it now. Financial independence.
Pride, I had that too. In my achievements and in my company.
My job meant protecting people from digital threats, people I chose to work for.
I refused to work for individuals or companies whose morals didn’t align with mine. I could feel good about that.
I’d been home for two years, had bought a fancy architect-designed house, and traveled any chance I got. Once I was a forgotten kid from the Highlands and now I was a man who had seen a bit of the world, only to discover, he craved home after all.
But Ardnoch wasn’t the same without Lewis and Callie.
Not once in those first years in Edinburgh did I contemplate returning to my hometown.
Yet as the years passed, the bitter memories faded and were overtaken by the good ones.
While I’d met friends at uni, none of them had Lewis and Callie’s staying power.
Those others were surface friends who you had a good time with.
It made me realize Lewis and Callie were my home.
Yet they were broken apart. Callie was off in Paris at a pastry school and Lewis was in London.
Until now.
Driving straight through the village, I continued until I hit the small development of architect homes on the McCulloch farm.
Locals Jared and Allegra McCulloch had developed the small neighborhood on their land and sold off the lots for a small fortune.
My house had plenty of land around it and floor-to-ceiling windows that captured the views of rolling hills and surrounding woodlands.
I’d barely been in the house five minutes when I heard Lewis’s Harley growl to a stop on my driveway.
After seven years apart, Lewis and Callie had reconnected in London with a drunken one-night stand.
It was the push Lewis needed to get his finger out of his arse and go after the woman he loved.
While I might not understand his obsession with only one woman, I believed my best mate was incapable of loving any but her.
So I was rooting for them. Lewis had graduated and was now a fully fledged architect, and he’d accepted a job at his father’s firm in Inverness so he could come back to Ardnoch to pursue Callie.
They’d split up as teens because Lewis hadn’t wanted to stay in Ardnoch and Callie did. Lewis had realized over the years that all he’d wanted was to see the world. He’d been pining for his ex and his childhood home ever since.
I was damned happy my best mate had returned.
Lewis Adair was as tall as me. Back in Edinburgh, I usually felt like the biggest bloke in the room, but maybe there was something in the water in the Highlands.
Lewis got his height from two of his uncles.
His uncle by marriage was tall too, as was Callie’s father.
There were quite a few big guys you wouldn’t want to mess with walking the streets of Ardnoch.
Unlike me, Lewis didn’t stroll around in suits and Derby shoes.
He kept his long hair in a man bun, his beard wasn’t nearly as neat and trim as mine, and while I had no tattoos, Lewis had many.
One of his arms was covered in a sleeve of meaningful tattoos I was pretty sure only I knew were mostly about Callie.
He strolled into my house in jeans, biker boots, and a long-sleeve tee, looking very much like the biker who’d parked his Harley outside my front door.
It was great that he could drop by anytime we wanted now.
And I had to remind myself of that when Lewis stalked inside, preoccupied over Callie.
I’d been about to share with my friend my plans to open the house up even more by removing the wall between the entrance and the rest of the living space, but he looked like he had something on his mind.
That’s when he explained Carianne’s moronic plan to get him and Callie back together.
Carianne and I hadn’t seen much of each other since my return, but now that Callie was home, I was sure we’d bump into each other.
She was already doling out her usual nonsense because she’d suggested Lewis fake date her to make Callie jealous.
And she suggested this after admitting she had feelings for Lewis and wanted to date him for real.
He’d barely finished relaying this to me when I told him it was the worst idea I’d ever heard. It would only push Callie further away, and I could tell by his expression, deep down, he knew that too.
Before he could respond, his phone rang and he answered a video call.
It was his wee sister.
Eilidh.
A pang of emotion I couldn’t quite identify echoed inside, and I sat down next to Lewis to speak to her.
For the last few years, I’d watched from afar as Eilidh Adair became a famous actor.
A bloody great one at that. I was a fan of her TV show Young Adult.
Though I found it difficult to watch her portray such a harrowing character and I fast-forwarded through the sexier scenes she acted out.
The last time I’d seen her was in London at a wrap party for the first season of the show.
I was visiting Lewis and I tagged along.
She’d been flirty as ever, but there was a disconnect.
Like there was a wall between us and she was no longer the wee girl I once knew.
Seeing her in national ad campaigns and movies, hearing the internet gossip about her love life, and her being so beautiful she didn’t seem real … it only heightened the distance.
Once we’d been close, but now we were worlds apart.
Right then, however, with no makeup on, Eilidh was more like the teenager I remembered.
“Fyfe Moray, I always knew you were a smoke show,” she said upon seeing me.
It was a knee-jerk reaction to roll my eyes and get up off the couch.
“And you haven’t changed a bit.” I sat on the opposite couch again, giving Lewis space with his sister.
But I felt something like relief. Because the Eilidh I’d just seen was nothing like the unattainable goddess who’d broken away from her family. From Ardnoch. From us all.
Christ, it was possible that pang I felt was … maybe I’d missed her a little.
“So, what’s perfect timing?” I heard her ask her big brother.
Lewis frowned at his phone screen. “Are you okay?”
Why wouldn’t she be? I sat up straight, waiting for her answer.
“I’m fantastic. For the first time in ages, I have a few weeks off before the next project.”
“Is that the film you’re shooting in Romania?”
“The very one. I’ve been lounging around my flat, doing bugger all for a few days. It’s nice, but I’ll get bored soon enough, I suppose.”