Page 83 of By All Accounts
“Not on the calendar. Did you?”
He finally let me go, and I missed the warmth of him. “Not on the calendar.”
“I can…” he trailed off and thumbed over his shoulder, gesturing toward the elevator. “If you need time with him.”
“Hey,” Hunter’s voice entered the fray, and Lincoln and I both looked up at him. “Did I double book?”
“We double booked you without telling you,” Lincoln said, giving Hunter the exact same hug he’d just given me. He tilted his head back for a kiss, which I didn’t get.
Hunter’s stare flickered from Lincoln to me. “Is everything okay?”
No.
“Can’t I just want to get lunch with my brother for no reason at all?”
“A year ago, sure.”
“I can go,” Lincoln said, stepping out of Hunter’s arms. “I’ll see you tonight anyway.”
“I can go,” I offered.
“No,” both of them snapped at the same time.
I sighed out the corner of my mouth, shoulders sinking in defeat. “The both of you can come. It’s not like Hunter won’t tell you all about it tonight anyway.”
“I wouldn’t,” my brother protested, but I knew better.
I understood the relationship he had with Lincoln, what Silas had with Marshall, Riggs with Smith. I saw the unspoken looks and the quiet promises that didn’t even need words. Daniel and Sophie had that, and what was worse, I probably had that with both of them now too.
“Let’s just go around the corner and grab some Thai?” Lincoln suggested.
“Sure.” I stabbed my finger into the elevator button, wishing I’d decided to spend my lunch break jerking off over how gorgeous Sophie looked impaled on my cock while wearing herwedding dress, but her wedding dress and the way it felt tangled in my fingers and bunched against her hips was the problem that had sent me in search of my brother in the first place.
The three of us rode down to the ground floor and walked in silence to the restaurant. Hunter ordered for Lincoln, and Lincoln blushed so violently the cook could have prepared the soup on Lincoln’s cheeks. We got drinks and found a relatively clean table near the kitchen and sat down. Hunter cocked his head to the side and watched me, waiting.
“Don’t think your dom tricks with work on me,” I muttered.
Lincoln made a surprised noise and swallowed it away with some soda.
Hunter didn’t say anything, he just raised an eyebrow and continued to wait me out. I looked at Lincoln, lips pursed. “This is your doing.”
He shrugged at me, feigning helplessness.
The vibe became Hunter, and it was hard to begrudge Lincoln for bringing it out in him, even if I didn’t want to be subjected to it by more than one of my brothers. I could be grateful for Marshall and his ways without wanting my other siblings to duplicate him.
“To catch you both up, I’m involved with a couple,” I finally admitted, just so Hunter would stop looking at me like he could read my mind.
Lincoln’s nostrils flared and he licked his lips, pulling them together between his teeth. Worry was the first look across Hunter’s face, but he was quick to school it. This part of the conversation wasn’t a surprise to him, but paired with my mood, I understood why he was worried. None of us wanted a repeat of Neil and Annette.
“Do you want to tell me their names?” Hunter asked.
I opened my mouth and closed it, not sure if I did want to tell him.
Something between us had shifted the first night Daniel was in Boston. I didn’t know if Sophie felt it, but Daniel and I both certainly had. I didn’t get the impression either of us had been pretending we were glad to be together again the night he got back home, but there was a different kind of weight to things now.
“Sophie and Daniel,” I finally said.
Hunter nodded.
