Chapter Twelve
chapter TWELVE
“S onuvabitch!” Zane growled when he walked through his front door, slamming it behind him hard enough to rattle the windows.
“What’s wrong?” V questioned from her position on the couch, her laptop resting on her lap.
Zane didn’t answer her; he simply stalked to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. After wrestling with the cap, he finally managed to open it and downed half in one gulp, never even tasting it.
“It’s a little early for that, don’t you think?” V asked sweetly.
Zane glanced over at the clock on the microwave. It was almost noon. That wasn’t too early in his book. After another swallow, he looked over at V, wondering why she wasn’t pushing to make him talk. After all, he’d dodged two of her questions already.
When he met her eyes, he saw that she was smiling. Oddly enough, he didn’t get angry at her even though his mood had taken a serious downturn after his conversation with Ethan a few minutes ago.
“So why are you home so early?” V asked, setting her laptop on the coffee table and repositioning herself on the couch.
“Not happy to see me?” he retorted, downing the rest of his beer before tossing the bottle in the recycle bin.
“Of course I’m happy to see you.”
“Then why aren’t you naked?” he asked sarcastically, an unavoidable grin forming on his lips. The thought of V naked, that always made him smile. Hell, any thought of V made him smile. She had a way about her that soothed his soul.
“Because you’re spoiled enough already.”
Okay, so this wasn’t getting him anywhere.
Zane joined her on the couch, sitting at the opposite end and leaning his head back on the cushion.
“What happened?”
“Ethan’s an asshole.” Zane peered over at her momentarily.
V tilted her head to the side, watching him carefully. “What did he do this time?”
Zane returned his gaze to the ceiling and then closed his eyes, sighing heavily. “It wasn’t what he did , it’s who he’s about to do .”
Apparently that attracted V’s attention because she shifted suddenly and eased closer to him. “Who is he with?”
Zane opened his eyes and glanced over at her, not lifting his head from the cushion. “You don’t even want to know.”
V’s smile was so radiant, Zane thought he’d be blinded for a moment.
“Beau?”
Zane jerked to a sitting position and turned to face her. “Why would you think that? Why would Beau want to be with my brother? He’s not—”
“Zane Walker,” V said, cutting him off, “you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed the tension between them. It’s been going on for... for a long time.”
Zane relaxed a little.
He dropped his head, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared down at his hands. Yes, he had noticed the tension between them. Yes, he had thought that something might be going on between the two of them. And yes, he had pretended not to notice.
“Does it bother you that Beau is gay?”
Zane felt like she’d slapped him upside the head. “Why in the fuck would that matter to me?”
“Because he’s your best friend.”
“It doesn’t matter to me what someone’s sexual preference is, V. I’ve...”
He paused, realization dawning. God, he was so fucking dense sometimes. Here he had been wondering why Beau wouldn’t continue with their threesomes ever since that night . And it had taken him all this time to finally realize that Beau wasn’t with them because he was gay? Not because he was confused. Or because of what happened. Well, maybe a little because of what happened.
Looking over at V, he found her smiling sadly back at him. “Why hasn’t he just come out and told me?”
Zane felt the rift that continued to develop between him and Beau. Originally, he thought that they were growing apart because of V. Then he figured it had to do with the fact that Zane had fucked him. It wasn’t something he thought about often, but he knew the events of that night had changed Beau. Or maybe Beau hadn’t changed at all and Zane was just noticing for the first time.
He frowned. Some friend he’d been.
V moved closer, resting her hand on his arm. “I think Beau was confused and probably hung up on you for a long time. So much so that he denied himself any kind of happiness and refused to believe that he wanted anything different than you did.”
“But he slept with women.”
“When he was with you,” she told him.
“How can he just give that up? How is it he hasn’t realized this before now?”
“He’s questioned himself, Zane. Beau has enjoyed sex with women. But only when you were there. See the connection?”
V sounded as though she knew firsthand what Beau was feeling, which raised another question. “How do you know all of this?” Zane felt like a total shit. His best friend finally figures out who he is, and Zane had spent the last year pretending that nothing had changed when everything had changed.
“Because I asked him. After the night you were with him, I think something clicked for Beau. You gave him something he’d been curious about, probably helped him confirm what he had suspected all along. But you are his friend, not his lover. He accepted that.”
“And now he’s going to be with my brother?”
“What if he is? Would that be such a horrible thing? Ethan’s a good guy.”
“So you say,” Zane argued.
Truthfully, he knew Ethan wasn’t a bad guy. Unsociable, yes. A player, probably. But he had a good heart beneath all that attitude. “What am I supposed to say to him?” Zane didn’t bother to clarify which him he was referring to.
“You’re going to support him. Both of them. It’s not your place to decide what is right or wrong. If they manage to find happiness with each other, then we’re going to be right there beside them, loving them the same as we do now.”
Zane stared at his hands for a few minutes, his mind tossing around the information he’d just learned. Finally, when he found his voice, he said, “Well, hopefully E can forgive me for sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.”
V squeezed his arm and chuckled. “Honey, he’s forgiven you millions of other times. I’m sure this one won’t be any different.”