“Doc and Gramp are babysitting for Pippa tonight, aren’t they?” Hudson asked. “That’s what Sassy told me anyway.”
I thought about what Nico had said the night before about going to the bonfire with Stevie Mansell, and I wanted to punch something. Instead of saying anything though, I pushed my anger down until a couple of hours later when the bonfire was in full swing.
My siblings and I had arrived together and greeted many of our usual friends. We’d all gone to high school in Hobie and still kept in touch with our classmates who’d stayed in town. It seemed like the same old group of people our age congregated at certain events throughout the year. Saint Patrick’s Day green beer fest at the pub, Fourth of July fireworks at the lake, first bonfire night at Walnut Farm, the Halloween party at Doc and Grandpa’s place, a holiday happy hour the night after Thanksgiving. It was events like these that made me fall in love with my small town all over again.
When I’d first sat down on a long tree trunk set up to form one of the giant benches around the bonfire, I’d wound up talking to my brother Cal for a while. King had reluctantly come too, and was sitting quietly on my other side. Cal was “taking a break” from college while he tried to figure his shit out. Mom and Dad were none too thrilled, so I tried to gently inquire what his plans were. Currently he was working at the marina as a jack-of-all-trades. He’d gone to fancy sailing camps during the summers growing up and was desperate to get a job on a boat somewhere.
While we were talking, I noticed Nico arrive. Sure enough, he was with Stevie who was clearly in seventh heaven on the arm of the exotic new guy. I could hardly blame the guy—there weren’t many good options for someone as different from the mainstream as Stevie. I was sure seeing someone like Nico waltz into town was like taking in a fresh breath after living under smog.
But that made no difference to my unreasonable sense of ownership of the purple-haired man next to him. Because I sure as shit wasn’t about to sit there and watch Stevie tee Nico up as his boy toy for the night.
“Excuse me, guys, I see someone I want to say hello to,” I said to my brothers.
“Wait, West,” Cal said, grabbing my arm.
I settled back on the log and looked over at him. “What is it?”
“If I knew something bad about someone… should I tell… someone?” he asked. I could see how unsure he was, but that wasn’t quite enough information to know how to answer the question.
“What do you mean? What kind of bad? Like a crime?” I asked.
He blew out a breath and looked at his fingers, which were twisted together between his knees. I felt King lean forward to listen in.
“I found out a married man in town is having an affair. They were, ah, in one of the boats, you know?” He reached down for the soda bottle he’d set on the ground between his feet and fiddled with the label. “It’s just… It would be bad if it got out but, like, if it didn’t… that would kind of be bad too. Right? I mean, there are kids involved.”
His nerves had brought back the insecure teen in him, and I could tell he was really upset about the situation.
“Does anyone else know? Did anyone else see?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Not sure.”
I thought for a minute, unsure of what to suggest. “Normally, I’d say to stay out of someone’s marriage. But there are certain exceptions to that rule.”
“Such as?”
Movement flashed in the corner of my eye, and I turned to see Stevie running his fingers through Nico’s hair as if to style it. But it was clear to anyone looking, he was just trying to get his hands on the guy. “Assault or abuse,” I said without really paying attention to our conversation anymore.
“New guy’s cute,” King said softly from my other side.
“Huh?” I said, whipping my head around. “No he isn’t.”
What was I even saying? Of course he was cute. He was fucking gorgeous.
Cal barked out a laugh, making me jump slightly. “You’re smoking crack, brother. Every gay guy here has been watching that dude. Not to mention, many of the women. He’s fucking beautiful. Like a rare bird or something.”
My heart sped up as I realized Nico could have his pick of the people around that damned fire, including the brothers sitting on either side of me.
“The only other gay guys here besides me are you two and Stevie.”
“Yeah. And?” he asked with a knowing grin and a wink.
Goddammit.
“How do you know who he is?” I asked, distracted by the sight of Nico laughing at something Stevie had said. “Did you hear about him from Doc and Grandpa?”