Chapter 3 #2
“Jesus, Cain,” Ethan groaned as he leapt to cover Cain’s mouth with his hands.
But it was far too late. Everyone in my family knew that when Ethan and Cain couldn’t keep their hands off each other, one of them feigned a headache so they could sneak home for some “healing” time.
I could only imagine what my brother and his lover had been up to during the first proposal if it had necessitated a fake, family-friendly version.
“Dude, he’s still my baby brother,” I said with a shake of my head.
Cain chuckled, then must have done something to Ethan’s palm because my brother actually let out this weird little whimper that I never, ever needed to hear again. Cain reached up to pull Ethan’s hand away from his mouth. “Feeling a headache coming on, baby?” he asked, his voice deep and thick.
“I sure as hell am,” I muttered, reminding the pair that they weren’t alone. Sebastian laughed. Ethan took in a shaky breath, then turned his attention back to Sebastian.
“Sorry. We’re newlyweds,” he explained.
They’d actually been married for nearly a year, but I didn’t point that out. Nor did I mention the fact that I figured they’d be going at each other like that for the rest of their lives, considering the way they looked at one another.
That weird mix of joy and envy returned.
“We were hoping to see you perform here in San Francisco, Mr. DeVille, but then you had your accident and—” Ethan abruptly snapped his mouth shut. A look at Sebastian showed he’d gone a little pale.
“Oh God, I’m sorry—” Ethan began.
“No, no, it’s all right. And please, call me Sebastian,” Sebastian cut in.
“The hope was always for me to be able to return to the stage. It was a tough decision to retire, but there are still a lot of ways I can contribute to my troupe.” Sebastian said the words with lightness, but they rang hollow.
I resisted the urge to take him in my arms, but mostly only because I could sense Sebastian withdrawing.
“Tell you what, I think I may still have a couple of programs from that production… if you want, I could sign one for you.”
Ethan’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Of course,” Sebastian continued. “And if you’re still interested in going to see any of the performances my troupe is doing, just let me know. I can get you tickets and some backstage passes to meet the performers.”
“That would be amazing,” Ethan said. Not surprisingly, at some point Ethan and Cain had ended up holding hands again.
“We should get going,” I said to Sebastian. “Traffic is going to be pretty busy.”
“Wait, you two are going somewhere?” Ethan asked. “Devon, why are you dressed like that? And how do you two know each other?”
“Sebastian’s my new neighbor,” I said. I reached around Sebastian to open the door for him.
“It was really nice meeting you, Ethan.” Sebastian shook my brother’s hand, then nodded at Cain. I imagined he sensed the same thing about Cain that most people did… that he was a hands-off kind of guy.
Well, except when it came to my baby brother.
“You too,” Ethan said as I helped Sebastian navigate the door runner and got him settled in the tall vehicle.
I could hear the million and one questions just sitting on the tip of Ethan’s tongue, but ignored him until I had the door closed.
Sure enough, as soon I turned and motioned for my brother to head back toward his car, he began firing them at me one after another.
I didn’t answer any of them until he stopped me directly behind my truck. “Devon, wait, is this a… date?” he asked.
“No, of course not,” I automatically said, then cursed myself.
Mostly because I really wasn’t sure if it was or not. And I wasn’t ashamed of the fact that it might be. It was just all so confusing.
Ethan eyed me for a moment. He put his hand out to touch my arm. “Because if it was, that would totally be okay.” His voice was sympathetic and understanding.
I knew I could explain away the whole thing as me doing Sebastian a favor by taking him to this thing tonight so he wouldn’t be surrounded by couples and his asshole of an ex, but I didn’t want to do that. First off, it wasn’t polite. More importantly, though, it was a complete and utter lie.
And I didn’t lie to my family.
Ever.
The reality was that I’d jumped at the excuse to spend time with Sebastian again by coming up with this whole non-date date thing, but when he’d asked me about whether this was a date or not, I hadn’t known how to answer.
I’d already maxed out the creeper factor by using my dog to meet the man…
how would he have felt if I’d told him that hell yeah, it was a date, but I’d never been with a guy before or really even thought about it?
I ended up sidestepping Ethan’s question by asking one of my own. “Do I look okay?”
“What?” Ethan asked.
I motioned to the tux as discreetly as I could in case Sebastian could see me through the side mirror. “Does the tux look okay? It sounds like this thing tonight is really hoity-toity.”
“Um, yeah, you look—”
“Wait,” I said, putting my hand up. I looked at Cain instead. “Do I look good?” I asked him bluntly.
I’d never once seen Cain look flustered except maybe in the hours leading up to him saying his wedding vows to my brother, but at the moment, he looked like he’d swallowed a fish.
A big-ass, prickly fish that was still alive and squirming as it went down.
“Oh, now this I’ve got to hear,” Ethan said with a laugh as he turned to look at his husband. “Honey, my brother asked you a question.”
Cain finally managed to choke out, “Huh?”
“He wants to know if you think he’s hot,” Ethan said slowly and deliberately.
I hadn’t actually used that word, but I kept my mouth shut because I really wanted to know the answer.
The women I’d dated over the years had said I was attractive, but maybe it was different for men.
And Sebastian was beautiful. He was all perfect lines and angles and I was basically a big lump.
Cain looked between Ethan and me like he was a ball being used during a particularly rough game of tennis. He swallowed hard, then muttered, “Yeah, you’re hot.” He turned on his heel and went to the driver’s side of his truck. He looked more than a little green around the gills.
Ethan was smiling wide by the time he turned back around.
He started to smooth out the fabric of my jacket.
“He never lies, Devon, so if he says you’re hot, you’re hot.
But you should have asked him the more important question…
the one Sebastian should and hopefully will be more interested in learning the answer to. ”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I asked. There was a pretty sizeable age gap between me and Ethan, since I’d been in my teens by the time my family had adopted him as a toddler.
But my brother was one of the smartest men I knew, if not the smartest. As an ER doctor, he had a good head on his shoulders and the biggest heart of anyone I’d ever known.
He would always be the little brother I needed to look out for, but I wasn’t foolish enough to dismiss his opinion.
After all, he’d had to be the strongest of all of us.
“Whether or not you’re a good man.” Ethan paused with the unneeded petting of my jacket and looked up at me.
“I’m going to take my husband home and take care of the headache I’m sure he has by now.
But I will be calling you first thing in the morning for more details, and if I’m still able to walk at that point, I might even be coming over here. ”
“Jesus, Ethan,” I muttered.
He ignored me and continued. “And if Sebastian DeVille isn’t smart enough to already know the answer to that question, then you send him my way, okay?
” He gave me another pat, hugged me, then turned to go.
He paused at the door of the truck and casually added, “Oh, and remember ‘the talk’ you and I had when I came out to you?”
Fuck.
Ethan nodded as if I’d said the swear word out loud.
“Yeah, you and I will be having that talk.” He shot me a wink and then climbed into the car.
I watched him lean across the seat and passionately kiss his husband.
I was sure I was going to have to pound on their hood to get them to break up the embrace, but then Cain was throwing the car into reverse and hightailing it out of there.
In the direction of their home.
Since I didn’t need the image of my brother getting lucky in my mind for even a second, I quickly straightened my bow tie and then hurried around the truck and to my pretend date who was anything but.