“Brandon’s not interested,” Jacob said, shaking his head with an overly dramatic sigh. “And apparently neither are you, Gabe. It’s just my luck. The hot ones never are.”
“So, you think I’m hot?” Gabe asked, popping another strawberry in his mouth, waggling his eyebrows. Then, as if he’d almost forgotten, he quickly added, “Little Jakey.”
Brandon laughed. “Quit teasing him.”
“Me?” Gabe widened his eyes. Then he narrowed them just a little, smirking as he retaliated with, “Look who’s talking, Branny. Shane at home waiting up for you?”
“Oh, God. You have a boyfriend, Brandon?” Jacob asked, sighing and slumping back in his chair. “Of course you do.”
“No, I really don’t.”
“But he should,” Gabe said to Jacob. He turned back to Brandon. “Dude, stop pretending you aren’t in love with Shane. Make your move already.”
“This is what you barged in on my date to tell me?”
“No, Brandon, I barged in to see Little Jakey, since it’s only been about a million years since he’s been around. This is just some free brotherly love. Think of it as a bonus prize.”
“You really wanted to see me?” Jacob asked, perking up again.
Gabe shrugged, going a little pink. “I mean, you know, I just thought I’d say hi. I’ve only got a few more weeks of leave left, so figured I’d better grab my chance before I head back to San Diego.”
“You live in San Diego?” Jacob asked, lighting up. “I love San Diego.”
“Yep. I’m at Camp Pendleton.”
Jacob grinned. “I fly in to San Diego all the time. You should totally take me out next time I’m in town, Gabe.”
Gabe laughed, biting his lip as he went a little pink again. “Not gay curious, remember?”
“Stop spoiling my fantasies,” Jacob said, smacking Gabe on the shoulder. “But seriously, just as friends. I mean, we did grow up together.”
“Oh, did you eventually grow up, Little Jakey?” Gabe asked, looking him up and down. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Jacob laughed at the dig, but Brandon caught that same little flash of hurt in his eyes that he’d seen before.
Gabe must have caught it, too, because he immediately stopped clowning around. “Hey, sorry, Little—um, Jacob,” he said, straightening in his chair. “You’re definitely all grown up. You look great, really.” He winked. “And if my brother wasn’t already smitten, I’m sure he’d be doing something about it.”
Jacob sighed dramatically, shaking his head. “Well, I was hoping to get laid, but it looks like I’ll have to settle for a nice dinner.”
Brandon had just taken a drink of water, and he laughed, choking on it as he sputtered.
“TMI, Little Jakey. TMI,” Gabe said, grinning as he stood up. He shoved the chair that he’d commandeered back into place at the next table, earning another glare from the hostess, then pulled out his phone. “Give me your number, though, and I’ll see if I can hook you up with a hot, gay Marine next time you’re in San Diego.”
“Sold,” Jacob said, rattling off his digits.
Gabe punched them into his phone, then pulled Jacob to his feet and gave him a quick hug. “Take care, Little Jakey.” He turned to Brandon. “Be sure to bring Shane around before I leave, bro. I miss his ass.”
“Will do,” Brandon said, laughing at the lascivious look on Jacob’s face as he watched Gabe walked off.
“Taken, straight,” Jacob said, ticking the points off on his fingers. He held up a third one. “If I can find someone who’s ‘otherwise unavailable’ tonight, I can pull a hat trick.”
“I’m sorry, Jacob—”
Jacob held up a hand, smiling like he really meant it. “Don’t worry about it, Brandon. For real. It’s great to see you and Gabe. Plus, I ordered steak, and I know you’re going to make it up to me by not bitching about paying for it, right?”
“Absolutely,” Brandon said, laughing. “And I expect you to order dessert.”
“Quit making me swoon, you,” Jacob ordered, winking. “Oh my God, that reminds me, though. One time, on my first international flight…”
Brandon sat back and grinned as Jacob went on with another funny story from his travels. Even if it wasn’t going anywhere but friendship, it definitely wasn’t the worst date he’d been on. Still, maybe he should take his brother’s advice and move things along a little faster with Shane.
Or at least… test the waters.
He wasn’t going to push Shane any faster than he was ready, but it wouldn’t hurt to at least find out if he had a chance, right?
Chapter 9
Shane
“Wow, Shane, this is gorgeous,” Melody said, holding up a heavy, gracefully curved heavy brass clasp that Shane had aged with a vinegar and salt treatment. She turned it over in her hands, hefting its weight. “I still need something for Todd for Valentine’s Day…”
“Consider it done,” he said, plucking it out of her hand and putting it in his in-progress bin, just to make sure he didn’t forget. “I was going to do a bracelet with it using a black leather rope, but if you want something else for him, just let me know. It will be my thank-you gift for letting me set up here. Are you sure I can’t pay you some rent? It will be a business expense.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, waving him off for the eleventy billionth time. “As long as you don’t mind the noise of the washing machine, the basement is all yours. It’s not like I ever come down here for anything else.”
“Well, it’s perfect,” Shane said, grinning as he stepped back to survey the long worktable he’d arranged along one wall. It was actually nicer than working in the garage at Peter’s, given the spotty heating situation he’d had there during the winter. “I just need to get some better lighting set up, and Allen Designs will be back in business.”
“It will be ridiculously fun to have you here,” she said, grinning up at him. She pushed her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose, squinting as they fogged with her breath. “And it really does stay warm when we haven’t had the outside door open all day for moving purposes, I promise.”
Shane laughed. “It’s already warmer than Peter’s garage was half the time, and really, I’m so glad for the outside entrance. I wouldn’t want to disturb you by having to come in through the house all the time.”
She punched his arm. “Shut up. I would love it, and you need to come upstairs and gossip with me whenever I’m home, for sure. But I’m really glad this space will work out for you, Shane. Seriously, I’m glad to help.”
“Thanks, Mel,” he said, hugging her. He released her when his phone vibrated in his pocket.
“Why don’t we go upstairs for some coffee and some gossip right now?” she asked, grinning. “Give this place a chance to warm up a little before you start getting it all organized, now that we’ve got everything moved inside.”
“Sounds good,” he said, following her up the stairs as he checked the text that had just come in. Peter.
It’s not going to go well for those who try to keep us apart. I won’t let anyone steal our love. We’ll be together again. Soon.
Shane stumbled on the steps. Was Peter threatening Brandon?
“What’s wrong, love?” Melody asked, frowning.
Shane showed her the text.
“I guess Peter’s like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,” he joked lamely, trying to shake the chill that the message had given him. “I accidentally summoned his attention when I mentioned him earlier.”
She laughed, but shook her head. “Brandon is a cop, Shane. He can take care of himself. Peter is really twisted though, isn’t he?”
“I guess he is,” Shane said, pulling out one of the bar stools at her kitchen counter as she measured coffee into her Bodum.
He tapped out a quick message to Brandon with a screenshot of Peter’s text. Brandon would still be sleeping, but at least he’d see it when he woke up. And even though Mel was right—Shane was one hundred percent sure tha
t Brandon could take care of himself—Shane was still glad that Brandon had that security system armed while he slept.
And… God. How messed up was that? What kind of person was Peter, and how how how could Shane have not seen it?
“I have the worst taste in men.”
Melody poured hot water into the Bodum, instantly filling the kitchen with the delicious smell of coffee.
“Well, I don’t know about ‘worst,’ but… that boy you dated in high school was okay. Brad? Brent? But hey, at least you’ve got good taste in friends.” She winked, pouring the coffee into a mug with a picture of a planet on it that said I love you to Uranus and back, then pointed to a little ceramic jar in the shape of a man’s head. “Sugar’s over there, in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s head.”
Shane laughed. She was such an unapologetic science nerd. He decapitated Neil deWhatever Whoever and scooped three spoonfuls of sugar into his mug. Mel was right, though. He did have good taste in friends. If he could just manage to combine the two…
“So, Brandon’s dating someone new,” he said, warming his hands on his mug.
Shane hadn’t waited up for Brandon after his date. He’d known he wouldn’t be able to hold back from grilling him if he did. Which, he’d reminded himself repeatedly as he’d tossed and turned and tried to pretend he wasn’t listening for Brandon to come home, wasn’t his place. As it was, he’d fallen asleep before Brandon returned and slept poorly, popping awake at the ungodly hour of 8:00 a.m.
Brandon had just been heading to bed, his body geared for the night shift.
“Really?” Mel asked, joining him at the counter. “Good for him. He is such a nice guy. He really deserves to have someone in his life.”
“Mmm,” Shane murmured noncommittally, reaching over to turn her coffee mug around so he could read its caption.
Let’s not mistake your Google-fu for the actual science degree I hold.
“So what’s this guy like?” Melody asked, settling in with a familiar, give-me-the-juicy-gossip look on her face. “His usual? Beefy, blond, and brainless?”
“I haven’t met him,” Shane said, laughing at her characterization of the men they’d seen Brandon with in the past. “But no, I don’t think so. Brandon said he was… nice.”
And wasn’t that the bitch of it? Shane hadn’t grilled Brandon about his date, but since they’d ended up both awake at the same time, he’d expressed a normal amount of friendly curiosity. Not that Brandon had given him much information. On top of the bland and completely uninformative “nice,” he’d just said that the guy he’d taken out—Jacob—had made him laugh.
That he’d been fun.
And interesting.
But the thing that had killed Shane and made him cut off the conversation with an abrupt declaration that he was going to head to Mel’s, was how Brandon had looked when he’d said those things. Shane hadn’t even had to ask if he’d had a good time, the answer to that had been glaringly obvious.
Brandon had looked happy.
“You don’t like him,” Mel said. Not a question.
“Who? Brandon’s new man? I told you, I haven’t even met him.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know you suck at lying, Shane. Don’t even try. You’re like an open book. Seriously, what’s up?”
He laughed, shaking his head. Why did everyone think he was so easy to read? If he had been, his decade-long secret crush on his best friend wouldn’t be, well, such a secret.
“Nothing’s up,” he lied. “Obviously, I’m the last person to give dating advice. In fact, I’ve been thinking about my dating history…” He cleared his throat, embarrassed.
“Oh, love,” she said, reaching across the counter to squeeze his hand. “It’s not that bad. Peter, maybe, but the guys before him were mostly just run-of-the mill jerks. We all end up with a few of those in our dating history.”
He traced the “U” in the word “Uranus” on his coffee mug. Poor planet. It was like being named Melvin or Gaylord or Dick… always destined to be the butt of the joke.
He snickered.
“What?”
“Um, nothing. I like your mugs.”
She grinned. “Me, too. Did you know that sixty-three earths can fit inside Uranus?”
He spit-laughed out the coffee he’d just sipped. “Shut up.”
“What?” she asked, feigning innocence. “All the guys I work with at Adler love Uranus.”
“Oh my God, is this what you science types do all day?”
“You mean dream of the day when NASA will finally probe Uranus?”
“Oh my God, I’ve unleashed your inner middle schooler.”
Melody grinned. “What do you get when—”
Shane slapped a hand over her mouth, rolling his eyes. “No. More. Uranus. Jokes. You are such a nerd.”
“Fine,” she pulled his hand away, pretending to pout. “…but I thought you wanted to talk about your dating history?”
“I hate you.”
She laughed. “Okay but seriously, hit me with it. Dating history. Go.”
Shane eyed her for a minute to see if she was really done picking on everyone’s favorite planet. She raised an eyebrow, miming zipping her lips.
“Okay, so, I was actually thinking less about who I’ve dated, than my dating, um, pattern?” Shane said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but—”
“You barely pause for breath between boyfriends?” she interrupted, laughing.
“Well, yeah.” Shane took a sip of his coffee. He frowned. “I mean, it’s not like I try to… but every time I break up with someone, it seems like I meet another great guy right away.”
Melody raised an eyebrow. “And by ‘great guy,’ I assume you’re referring to all those run-of-the mill jerks we were just talking about?”
Shane laughed self-consciously. “Okay, well, maybe yes, in the past. But what if, this time, it’s someone I really love?”
“Well, if it’s really love, then go for it,” Melody said, shrugging. “Sure, you’ve got a pattern. But I mean, if you don’t play, you can’t win, right?”
“You don’t think I should take some time and try being on my own for a while first?”
Melody’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. Have you met someone? I thought we were talking theoretically here. Spill.”
“No, I mean, it is theoretical.” But seeing Brandon happy with someone else? It made Shane’s previous I-don’t-want-to-mess-up-our-friendship stance a much harder pill to swallow. “I’m just saying, every time I’ve rushed into a relationship, it hasn’t worked out, right? But what if I want this one to be different? I want it to last. To be forever, you know?”
Mel took a long drink of her coffee, eyeing him thoughtfully over the rim. “I think rushing into relationships isn’t necessarily the problem, Shane,” she finally said, speaking slowly, as if she were taking some time to choose the right words. “I’m not saying that I think you should rush into another one, I’m just saying… I think it’s more a matter of who you’ve been dating than how quickly you’ve found yourself a new man. So the real question, maybe, is why you keep settling for guys who don’t appreciate you?”
Because I can’t have the one that I want. He sighed, keeping that thought to himself. It had always been true in the past, for one reason or another, but now… had he missed his chance?
“So, theoretically,” Mel said, her lip quirking up. “If there was someone who appreciated you, who was a genuinely nice guy who we both know for sure would treat you right, then I would say that ‘rushing’ into things wouldn’t be a problem. If, you know, you both felt the same.”
Shane grimaced, trying to hide it behind another sip of coffee. He could whine about Brandon’s new boyfriend and worry about his own tendency to jump into things too quickly all he wanted, but Melody had nailed it.
He couldn’t miss a chance that he’d never really had in the first place.
Chapter 10
Brandon
Chicago was quiet i
n the early hours of the morning, and—now that the New Year’s revelries were over—violent crime had taken a nosedive with the bitter weather. The calls from dispatch had been routine all night, and as Brandon glanced at the clock on the dashboard, he had to bite his tongue from commenting on it being an easy night.
He and Luis were cruising the Near North Side, a part of town that usually didn’t have many problems, but still… wouldn’t want to jinx it.
“I don’t know why I ever allowed Maria to start volunteering at the pet shelter with your mother,” Luis said, shaking his head with a dramatic sigh. “It’s caused nothing but trouble.”
Brandon snorted. Luis liked to play up his role as the macho head of household for dramatic purposes, but Brandon knew that there was no “allowing” when it came to what his partner’s wife did or did not do. Despite all his posturing, he would bend over backwards to make her happy. Luis and Maria had been high school sweethearts, and the man was still head over heels for her, a dozen years later.
Brandon could relate.
“I can’t believe you’ve held out this long,” Brandon said, hanging a left to head toward Old Town. “What does she want this time, a puppy?”
“Cat,” Luis answered, covering his eyes as if the thought was physically painful. “I told her it wasn’t going to happen.”
Brandon laughed. “You’re going to ask me to feed it while you guys go to Europe this summer, aren’t you?”
Luis turned away, looking out the window, but not before Brandon had seen the guilty smile on his face. Luis mumbled a string of unintelligible Spanish under his breath, his fingers drumming against his thigh.
“What was that?” Brandon asked, grinning.
“I said, if I’m going to take that much vacation time so that we can go see old shit that nobody cares about, then I don’t want to have to worry about paying someone to feed some mangy cat, you know? And the one she liked was the meanest one of the bunch. We were watching it in its enclosure with all the other stray cats, and the bastard was hissing and swiping at anything that got close to it. Clawed her, too, when she went in.”
Be Loved (At Last, The Beloved Series Book 3) Page 11
