“That night,” Zane said simply.
If Reese hadn’t been looking at the man, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the blush that infused Beau’s face. The big man’s response belied his body’s reaction though.
“Best night of his life,” Beau joked. “Don’t let him tell you otherwise.”
Zane barked a laugh.
Reese figured this was the hardest part about being friends with the Walkers. They truly were a special group. They didn’t make excuses for who they were and they had no shame. They lived their lives out and proud, whether it be Travis, who was married to a man and a woman, or Beau and Ethan, who were happily married, Kaden and Keegan, who were open with the fact that they fully intended to end up with one woman eventually. Or even Zane, who’d had a fling with a man although he was happily married to a woman now.
Reese envied them that.
But it wasn’t that he was ashamed of what he felt for Brantley. When he thought about it rationally, he didn’t feel the need to explain it to anyone. However, he did seem to have a problem being open about it. Probably could keep things going with Brantley like that, too. But where would that get them? And how would that make Brantley feel? Reese didn’t want to do that to him.
He didn’t want Brantley to have to hide who he was, and right now, Reese wasn’t sure he had even accepted the fact he was falling in love with a man.
Chapter Eight
Monday morning came quickly.
When Brantley arrived at the barn shortly after eight, he didn’t expect to find Reese already there, his head buried in his laptop, fingers pecking over the keys. He’d honestly figured the guy to leave him hanging, to gracefully resign from his position on the task force and go back to living his regular life working for Travis at Walker Demolition.
It surprised him so much, he couldn’t even bring himself to greet the man.
Then again, his attention was on JJ, who was smiling up at him from her desk as though her world hadn’t been tipped on its axis this weekend.
“Good mornin’, sunshine,” she greeted. “Was startin’ to think you’d abandoned us.”
“I’m here,” he grumbled, making a beeline for the coffeepot.
“How was your weekend?” she asked, her voice carrying through the open space.
He grunted, not intending to get into it. The truth was, Brantley didn’t really remember much of his weekend. Not after Killian had dropped him off at his house. He’d spent all of Sunday buried in that bottle of Jack Daniels Reese had found in his liquor cabinet. Finished the damn thing off, then broke the seal on a bottle of Jim Beam. At that point, he could’ve been drinking moonshine for all his taste buds cared. But it had cured what ailed him.
Temporarily.
“What about you?” Brantley asked when he rejoined them. “How was your weekend?”
“Good.” Her smile was oddly sincere.
“Yeah?”
“Yep. Went out with a couple of friends Saturday night.”
“No Dante?” he asked pointedly.
Another smile. “Just because I’m datin’ someone doesn’t mean I’ve got to spend all my time with them.”
She didn’t know.
Son of a bitch.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” she inquired, her gaze bouncing between him and Reese.
Brantley debated on whether or not he wanted to spring the news on her now. The easy decision was to let it lie. No one said he had to be the one to tell her. The thought of breaking her heart because of Dante… It was enough to have him turning away and heading for his desk.
“I was gonna call Corinne, see if she’s got time to talk to us.”
“She doesn’t. I reached out to her a little while ago,” JJ added quickly. “She replied almost instantly. She’s focused on school right now, asked if we could give her a few more days. She’d let us know.”
“Well, then I guess we’ll tackle the rest of the list. Split it evenly,” he told her without bothering to look at Reese. “I’ll take half, Reese can take the other.”
JJ nodded. “Um … okay.”
He could feel Reese’s eyes on him, but he managed to ignore him. They would eventually have to learn to work together, but right now, Brantley needed space from him.
“Shoot my list to my phone,” he told JJ, then slipped out of the barn and headed for his truck.
Part of him expected Reese to come after him, to confront him. Brantley wasn’t sure what was worse: the fact he had hoped Reese would or that he didn’t.
By the time night fell, Brantley found himself back at the house. He had bypassed the barn when he saw Reese’s truck outside. When he eventually heard the soft rumble of the truck’s engine a short time later, more disappointment came over him. And yes, he was a dumb ass for thinking Reese might have the balls to come talk to him about what had happened. Didn’t matter that there really wasn’t anything more for Reese to say. But Brantley had a shit ton he wanted to tell the man.
