Chapter 7
LANDON
It turned out that Lucas’s brother was sort of a mainstay at work events—pizza night and trivia night and swinging by randomly to take his brother out for lunch.
Not that it bothered me to see him. He was . . . he was gorgeous. Plus, as fucked up as it was, the shivery little feeling of a predator watching me didn’t bother me at all.
But nope.
That wasn’t okay.
Lucas had asked me to come to this thing, and while I wouldn’t—couldn’t—get involved with Lucas, I also wasn’t going to be that guy who came between two brothers. It simply wasn’t going to happen.
So I sort of avoided Dean.
Okay, no, I didn’t. I avoided meeting his eye, and then stared at him when he wasn’t looking.
Not creepy at all.
He showed up before me for trivia night on Thursday, and by the time Lucas and I got there, he had already ordered us drinks.
Lucas utterly beamed, like his brother had gotten him a brand-new car instead of just a beer. It was super sweet, and made me wonder if maybe they’d been going through a rough patch, and that was why the whole group of Crescent employees had sort of adopted Dean into the fold.
Regardless, I wasn’t going to be that guy.
Not ever.
No matter how pretty Dean was, and how much anything between me and Lucas was impossible.
Trivia night was still fun, with a mix of questions that ranged from sports stuff I couldn’t have figured out if they’d given me the answer, to fun things I kind of wanted to have conversations about.
Like Pluto’s sister-planet, Eris, and whether they should both be reclassified as planets—the answer was yes.
I was a fan of Neil DeGrasse Tyson and all, but he was totally wrong about this.
I decidedly did not stare after Dean when he got up to go to the bathroom partway through the night.
His tight black jeans and broad, muscled back.
The heathered-gray T-shirt he wore clung to his shoulders spectacularly.
He wasn’t exactly my type, quiet and self-assured and heartbreakingly beautiful, his dark eyes filled with whole worlds of emotion I wanted to hear all about.
Normally, I wound up with guys who weren’t half as confident as they seemed, and it was a quick slope between posturing and assholery.
“He’s cute, huh?” Lucas asked, leaning into me till our shoulders touched.
I almost jumped, turning to look at him. “What?”
“My brother,” he said, motioning toward where Dean had disappeared into the back hall.
“Everyone always says so. He’s cute. Or, like, he’s broody and something, something James Dean, blah blah blah.
I stop listening once I realize they want to sit in my brother’s lap, ’cause you know, gross. Brother.”
For a moment, I just blinked at him, feeling ridiculous and wrong-footed. “He’s . . . I mean, he’s your brother.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, well I’m not the one staring at his ass.” He stopped, sitting up straight and blinking, then shaking his head hard, like his brain was one of those kid toys and he could erase a picture in there if he shook it hard enough. “Gross. Anyway. Brother.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Brother. I . . .” I bit my lip, looking at him, wondering if I’d been reading the whole situation wrong. “My brother is going to marry my ex-fiancé.”
He blinked, staring at me a moment. “Your brother picked up your ex? That’s kinda weird and creepy.”
“No. My brother picked up my fiancé, whom I was living with at the time. And my fiancé left me for my brother.”
Lucas’s mouth fell open, and he stared at me a moment before shaking his head again, this time slowly. “That’s . . . so fucked up. I’m sorry, man.” He paused, then frowned. “So it’s . . . too soon? Is that it? Me pushing you at Dean is, like, opening fresh wounds?”
All at once, the air went out of me.
Lucas wasn’t interested in me. He was pushing me at his brother.
“No. No, it’s fine, I just—” Well now it sounded ridiculous and arrogant, didn’t it?
Me assuming Lucas was interested in me? It was obvious, in retrospect, that he was just trying to get me to spend more time around his brother.
Still, no point in beating around the bush.
We were both cats. We could practically smell deception.
“I just didn’t want to come between brothers at all. ”
His smile turned soft, and he leaned on me again. “That’s so sweet, bossman.”
I ducked my head, trying to hide the hot flush spreading across my cheeks. “I’m not technically your boss, you know. You’re a programmer. You can just call me Landon.”
His expression turned wicked at that. “I could, but where’s the fun in that? Besides, it makes Dean squirm, knowing he’s getting all twisted up over my work superior.”
All twisted up.
Dean . . .
Oh.
Lucas grinned at me, then gave me a soft poke in the ribs with his elbow.
“So. You want his phone number? I know, I know, it’s more normal to wait for him to ask for yours, or get it from him yourself, but he’s a big broody artist, and there’s no telling how long he’ll suffer in silence, thinking you’re too awesome to date the likes of a starving musician. So let’s get this party started, yeah?”
And . . . damn it, he was right. What the heck was I waiting for, an invitation? If Lucas said his brother was interested in me, then . . . then Dean was interested in me. And given the fluttery way I felt every time he so much as glanced my way, I was definitely interested in him.
Part of me worried about the whole “rebound” thing, but also, I’d never been the kind of guy who dated lightly. Dean was the first person I had been interested in since the breakup, and it had been months. I wasn’t looking for a meaningless hookup to take my mind off things with my family.
I was moving forward with my life.
“He really likes smart guys,” Lucas said, taking my phone when I unlocked it and starting to type. “And you’re one of the smartest guys I’ve met in ages, so it’s perfect. I hope you like broody motorcycle-riding artist types.”
“I . . . I’ve never dated one before. Geoff was in sales.”
The face Lucas made at that was priceless, disgusted and horrified, rolled together. “Gross. And if you don’t mind me saying, super not your style. What was he, like, a frat dude? Did he call everyone ‘bro’?”
He hit a button and his own phone buzzed, so he picked it up and typed back before messing with my phone some more.
I didn’t want to admit it, but Geoff had actually used the word “bro” a lot. It hadn’t really bothered me when we’d been dating, but in retrospect, it was annoying.
He handed my phone back just as Dean returned to the table, sliding silently into his seat and narrowing his eyes suspiciously at his brother.
I took a moment to look at my phone and found two new contacts.
Dean and, of course, Lucas. He’d even assigned them pictures—his own a silly one with his tongue out and eyes crossed, and his brother . . . well.
That was gonna make me feel a little pervy, but I didn’t think I was going to get rid of it anytime soon. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me at all, that Dean St. James looked incredible without a shirt on. I just wasn’t sure why his brother had a picture of it.