He allowed the screen to slap shut behind him, hopefully announcing his presence. The chattering voices stopped, and when he stepped into the kitchen, all eyes shifted to him.
JJ raced over, throwing her arms around his neck. Surprised, Reese managed not to tip over as he caught her weight, his arms moving around so he could give her a friendly pat.
“I’m so glad y’all are back and Kate’s safe,” she said when she pulled back, beaming up at him. “Y’all did it.”
He returned the smile. “We did it, JJ. You helped more than I did.”
The blush on her cheeks said she wasn’t familiar with praise, but she accepted it with a muttered, “Thanks.”
Reese looked past her to Cyrus, who was sitting on one of the barstools at the island, beside him a man who resembled Brantley with his dark hair, blue-gray eyes, stubbled jaw, as well as his facial features.
“I’m not sure if you’ve met Trey,” JJ said, motioning him farther into the space. “Trey’s one of Brantley’s brothers. Trey, meet Reese Tavoularis.”
Trey was on his feet, shaking Reese’s hand and smiling. “Nice to meet you.”
Reese nodded, shook the proffered hand. “Where’s Brantley?”
JJ responded with, “I think he’s got a headache.”
“He does,” Reese confirmed. “And I hate to break up the party, but his headaches fuck him up.”
“I’ll take care of him,” Cyrus offered.
It would’ve been easy for Reese to back away, avoid the conversation, and say something along the lines of, Good. I just wanted to make sure someone was takin’ care of him.
Only, that wasn’t what Reese wanted, nor was it what he said. He addressed Cyrus head on, meeting the other man’s eyes when he replied with, “No. I’ve got this.”
Dark brown eyes were pinned on his, holding steady as he said, “So it’s like that?”
Recalling Brantley had said this was a game for Cyrus, Reese ignored the idea the man was simply fucking with him. There might not be powerful feelings between the two men, but there had been intimacy. And as far as Reese was concerned, that was over now.
“It’s like that,” he confirmed.
He could feel JJ’s and Trey’s eyes on them, knew they were wondering what was coming next. But Reese wasn’t here to fight with Cyrus, nor was he there to clarify what his relationship with Brantley was. He would leave that to Brantley when he was feeling up to having the conversation.
“I agree,” JJ said. “I think we should head out, let Brantley get some rest.” She peered up at him. “You’ll tell him to call me when he’s back on his feet?”
“Of course.”
Trey cleared his throat, stepped up to Reese, and offered a mischievous smirk. “Nice to meet you, Reese.”
“Likewise.”
Trey peered over at Cyrus. “Come on, man. Whaddya say we grab a beer?”
Cyrus was still staring intently, but there was a glitter in his eyes. Amusement, maybe? Reese didn’t know, but it was cut off when Trey distracted him by placing a firm hand on Cyrus’s shoulder.
“Come on.”
Reese waited until the screen door shut behind them, then followed, closing and locking the front door before heading back to the kitchen. He grabbed another energy drink and two bottles of water before flipping off the lights in the kitchen and making his way to Brantley’s bedroom.
The bedside lamp was on, as was the bathroom light, the space brighter than he’d expected. He found Brantley on the bed, fully dressed with a pillow over his head.
He deposited the drinks on the nightstand, trying to be as quiet as possible. He went to the bathroom, retrieved a washcloth, wet it with cold water, grabbed the bottle of pills from the cabinet, and shut off the light on his way out. After taking out one pill, he set it aside, clicked off the lamp so the room was finally dark, only the dim light from the hallway bleeding in through the slight crack in the door.
“Did you take anything?” he whispered, lightly squeezing Brantley’s shoulder as he removed the pillow from his face.
“Uh-uh,” Brantley groaned.
“Well, I need you to.”
Reese cracked open one of the water bottles, then placed the pill near Brantley’s lips. When the man opened his mouth, he set it on his tongue, then helped him take a drink to swallow it down. When Brantley dropped back to the pillow, Reese moved to the end of the bed, tugged Brantley’s boots off his feet. He worked diligently to undress him. When he was down to skin, he managed to pull the blankets from beneath him and use them to cover him completely.
When Brantley moaned softly, Reese slid the energy drink can beneath his neck, adjusted the pillow, then draped the washcloth over his face but not before he saw Brantley’s face scrunch, his pain evident.
After kicking off his Adidas, Reese crawled into the bed, this time beneath the blankets with Brantley, then moved over, propping himself up so he could lightly massage Brantley’s temples. He remained like that, in the darkened room, listening to Brantley’s deep, even breaths, hoping to ease his pain a little, giving the medicine time to do the rest.
